Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining: At Home with Ease & Grace

Nathalie Dupree is one of the most practical, yet creative chefs around. She has created (many) beautiful books, the being the culmination of her efforts at culinary, literary and artistic undertakings. I have watched her develop over the years and recommend this to all those who want to entertain properly as well as those who just want some wonderful recipes.What will she publish next? I'm waiting!!!!!!

I not only enjoy the Comfortable Entertaining Cookbook by Nathalie Dupree, but I feel Nathalie Dupree's Comfortable Entertaining television series is one of the best cooking series ever. I can identify with Nathalie more than other cooking show personality's. She makes me feel as though perfection is not a prerequisite for a good cook. She comes across as someone who finds joy in cooking and entertaining and does not require prefection in herself or others.

I've always been a fan of Nathalie Dupree's books. You can almost always count on her recipes and cooking tips. But after watching her most recent PBS series, I have to admit that my admiration for Ms. Dupree has significantly decreased. If you haven't seen the woman before or realized who she is in the culinary world, you would never believe that this is a graduate of the prestigious Le Condon Bleu. Ms. Dupree appears inconfident, ill-prepared, unorganized, and sloppy in the kitchen. She's nothing like I'd imagine my favorite cookbook author would be on TV. Compared to other prominent TV chefs, Ms. Dupree flunks out big time. Some of her favorite sentences on TV include (paraphrase): "I missed a step, but that's okay. We can fix it. Follow the recipe. Don't do what I do.", "These popovers are a little bit overbrowned. Yours should look much lighter than this.", etc. The way Ms. Dupree sloppily pipes whipped cream on top of a pie or struggles to remove silver skins from a piece of beef tenderloin (resulting in a very sloppy and jagged looking piece of party roast) makes one wonder if she really belongs up there with Jacques Pepin or Julia Child. The show needs to be retaped and edited. The host herself needs a new haircut which doesn't require constant flipping and allows people to see more than half of her face.Like I said, get the book but skip the TV show.

A great gift book for those who have entertaining skills as well as those who aspire to. Natalie Dupree does an excellent job of demystifying gracious entertaining. I will also enjoy keeping the book myself as a good resource.

As an owner of all of Nathalie's cookbooks, she again has proved herself a consummate professional and a perfectionist as far as format and content are concerned. Her book is delightful (of coffee table category) and is divided into four major categories: sit-down meals, fork meals, finger meals, and holiday. Tom Eckerle's beautiful photography again contributes to the overall success of her latest work and is even better than Nathalie's Southern Memories. I was inspired by her innovative recipes -- even all these cookbooks later. I plan to try buffet tenderloin mini-rounds, melon cubes with slivers of prosciutto, as well as the low country shrimp bowl. Nathalie's "how-to" pages and tips are invaluable; I plan to spend a few hours "reading" more of her cookbook during my holiday vacation. One last big plus (another reason for buying this cookbook for yourself or a Christmas gift this year) is the excellent format, including ingredients printed in columnar bold print to the left of directions. Five-star all the way!! This would make an excellent bridal shower gift, also. Submitted by Jean Arkens