Our aim has been to present a cookbook with recipes for the kind of food that we feel people really eat and that are not too complicated to prepare. We have tried as much as possible to select ingredients that are generally available.
We have felt some concern that certain cuts of meat called for in the recipes are expensive by the pound, but in testing we found that this is often offset by the lack of waste in well-trimmed, prime meat.
The use of fresh ingredients of fine quality is as important to the final results of a recipe as is care in preparation. Good cooking and baking demand a considerable expenditure of time and effort, and we urge you to make the time and effort worthwhile by always using ingredients of the best quality.
Good cooking equipment is another important component of successful cooking. Saucepans and skillets should be heavy bottomed and sturdily made. We recommend those made of heavy aluminum, of copper lined with tin, or of stainless steel with cast aluminum bottoms, as these are all good conductors of heat. Our favorite dishes for casseroles are those made of enameled cast iron. A Pyrex double boiler is useful when you wish to keep something hot—a sauce Béarnaise for example—but do not want the water in the lower section to boil. And we have been devoted users of the KitchenAid food preparer (electric mixer) for years.
A stove with well-insulated ovens and burners that can be adjusted easily is important also. All of the recipes in this book were tested on a Garland range, which while designed for commercial cooking has become popular for home use because of its excellent, heavy construction. The burners are wide so that the heat extends to the edges of pots and pans, thus assuring even cooking, and they can be lowered sufficiently to permit cooking at a point just below a simmer, which is so important in the preparation of many dishes.
We would like to make a strong plea for the use of fresh herbs, as we feel they give interest and distinction to so many foods. With the addition of fresh herbs, a simply made blender mayonnaise, for example, becomes an exotic and savory sauce for seafood or cold chicken. A poulet à la crème is quite delicious with just a sprinkling of freshly cut parsley, but a sprinkling of fresh tarragon so enhances its taste and aroma that it becomes a dish special enough for any occasion.
Fresh herbs have become increasingly available; if you have a garden or a window sill, you can have them the year round. Potted herbs are on the market in early spring or can be ordered by mail at any time from many herb farms throughout the country.
We have not recommended specific wines for each menu, but we hope that you will serve and enjoy wine with all of them.
Most of the recipes were planned for four people. The exceptions are the buffet and Christmas dinners, which were planned to serve from ten to twelve.
We hope that this book will help you enjoy all the phases of cooking; and together we conclude that the most we could wish you is that you will find as much pleasure in cooking and tasting from the pages as we have had in putting them together.