Diner: The Best of Casual American Cooking

Diane Rossen Worthington's "Diner", a volume of Sunset Magazine's "Casual Cuisine of the World", celebrates true American classics like beer batter onion rings, mile-high chocolate cake, chicken pot pie, and---yes, tuna melt! Since the events of last September, many Americans have returned to the "cocooning" joys of family life, and comfort food meals. Frankly, despite the lures of exotic recipes and of the latest fad wonder diets, many of us have always used these American classics as staple family menus. The photography is gorgeous, and guaranteed to make your mouth-water and head you toward the kitchen. The recipes do require some actual kitchen time and preparation, but as most mothers can tell you, sometimes preparing comfort food is a solace in itself. Experienced cooks will be able to use microwave shortcuts, although these recipes are stove-top and oven in design. This book can also serve as a coffee-table book because these perennially popular American dishes, so artfully photographed, constitute an art form. Now how about tying on an apron and putting together a coconut custard pie for dessert this evening! Recommended.

Each week, folks in our neighborhood get together for "Soup Nite". Nothing fancy - Someone brings bread, another salad, another desert etc., good food, good folks, a great time. Soup is our contribution. A few weeks ago we had one of those all-American menues - Cream of Chicken Soup, biscuits, salad & banana cream pie. For kicks I did a little web-surfing for recipes. All roads led straight to this cookbook. Cream of Chicken Soup = the filling from the Chicken Pot Pie recipe plus extras. Banana Cream pie = Coconut Custard Pie recipe sans coconut plus bananas. Results = Absolutely NO left-overs, the couple from England thought they'd died & gone to heaven & many belts had to be loosened a notch or two. Best part = the look of blissful contentment on each and every dinner guest's face. Can't ask for more than that. One other thing, we don't expect to find Chicken-fried Steak with biscuits & gravy as an entree at the superb 4-star restaurant we make a pilgrimage to each year. You'll find that along with burgers, chili & cornbeef hash (but no mention of goat cheese) on the menu at a little place called "The Diner" over on Main St.

The two other reviews for "Diner" are diametrically opposed so I would like to break the tie.This is a wonderful little cookbook and everyone I show it to absolutely loves it. The reviewer who "one star-ed" this book for not being up to snuff is completely missing the point. "Diner" is one book in a series entitled "The best of CASUAL cuisines of the world" and by the name is obviously filled with hearty Diner-style recipies. It is not a "Lets make the most outragous thing we can think of from a list of ingredients that would make Martha Stewart green with envy" type of book. It is not supposed to be.The Forward that briefly cronicles the history of the American Diner and the side notes to the recipies are worth the price of admission. The photography is terrific and, even though a FEW of the items are very simple to prepare, all the recipies I have tried are very tasty.If you are a cookbook SNOB this may not be the book for you, but for the rest of comfort food loving America I think it would be a welcome addition to any cookbook collection! (Especially one that sits out for people to thumb through!)

This cookbook celebrates basic American food with beautiful photographs and wonderful recipes. Yes, some of its recipes are simple; but even these recipes offer seasoned cooks with new ideas and interesting alternatives. The Tricolor Coleslaw and Apple Crisp with Dried Cranberries are far superior to their counterparts with which I grew up. And the Chicken Pot Pie and Barbecue-Style Braised Short Ribs are well worth the time and effort it takes to make them. Using this cookbook is a visual pleasure and results in meals that are pleasing to both family and guests.

Everything we've tried out of this book has been delicious! The corned beef hash has was amazing. Yes- I knew how to cook decent french toast before, but the recipe here is better. This book has the recipes for classic comfort-food favorites.