Williams-Sonoma Savoring America: Recipes and Reflections on American Cooking

I have several of the "Savoring" series and have enjoyed the photos and explanation of foods. I found this one, though, to miss a lot of typical American fare.

I loved reading the book from cover to cover. It has excellent recipes...I've already made Green Rice and Buffalo Chili from it...both of them a super hit at my house. I tried the mac and cheese too...it was a little bland, but better than most I've tried before.

This book is really nice, even if you don't cook (but I think you will be trying, if you have a look at the pictures), it gives plenty of information on the land and people and, obviously, on what they eat. It has an interesting introduction on the land and then it is divided into several chapters on appetizers and snacks, main courses, side dishes and desserts and each recipe is gorgeously photographed, as I already said, they will make you hungry!The book is large and my first impression was that it would never get used in the kitchen, but I was wrong, because the recipes are laid out to spread out on one page only, so that you will not have to mess with dirty fingers on your nice new book, and they are delicious!I tried a few of them and they all disappeared from the plates. We tried stuffed turkey with cranberry relish at Christmas, we already had a recipe and thought it was very good, but wanted to try this new one: well, it was so much better! Not being American I cannot tell whether the recipes are truly authentic ones or not, as many of them are unfamiliar to me. All I can say is that what I tried so far was Oh so Good!At the end of the book there is a glossary of strange items and a few basic recipes for stock, flaky pastry and the really delicious Hot Pepper Jelly, if you buy the book you have to try it!Well, now the sore spot: the book is quite expensive. I know it is, but trust me, you will not regret you bought it! It is a "posh" book, if such things exist: big size, glossy high quality paper, gorgeous pictures, it really deserves to be shown on your coffee table. A great buy.