30 Years of Our Best Recipes

If you're an average cook, be sure to buy this book because afterwards, you won't be! You'll be a master chef! The recipes are so very easy and you really don't have to worry about interpreting some strange cooking language like that in other cooking magazines. The editors make these recipes absolutely wonderful but easy too. I can't say enough good about them - just that I started with a couple and now I have over 30 Southern Living cookbooks and I use them all!

l like Southern Living because their recipes are accessible to people like me who have only moderate skill in the kitchen but who like to cook from scratch. Plus, the ingredients are easy to find in my local grocery, unlike a lot of the recipes from Bon Appetit or Gourmet. This "Best Of" cookbook is GREAT. It is the first cookbook I reach for on an ordinary weekday and for holidays and dinner parties too.Some of the recipes are incredibly easy to make (Bibb Salad w/ Raspberry Maple Vinaigrette; Jalapeno Coleslaw) and taste fabulous. Others, like the Almond Braid, seem more complicated but turn out great and taste wonderful. This is because Southern Living creates their recipes from the point of view of the average cook in the average kitchen, so the instructions always make sense, use techniques and equipment I am already familiar with, and are easy to follow. I have made many of the recipes in this cookbook and every one of them has tasted great and gotten rave reviews. My only complaint is that there are too few recipes. I highly recommend this book!

I have been cooking for 30 years, but this cookbook inspires me to cook the recipes without hesitation. As the previous reviewer wrote, I also have never made a Southern Living recipe that didn't turn out great! My husband can hardly wait for me to make the French Onion Soup again (it was the best he had ever had). Last night the Chicken and Mushroom Marsala was absolutely delicious. I'll just work my way through the entire book. No other cookbook has inspired me so.Be careful about lending out the book. I made the mistake of showing the cookbook to coworkers - now I am "allowed" to take the book home at night, but someone else always wants to borrow it to get the recipe for Black Walnut Cake or Mississippi Mud Pie, etc. Everyone comments that the ingredients are commonly available. Some recipes are simple, some require more time. But if you have a hankering for a certain dish, you know you can trust the Southern Living recipe!This would be a great gift for a new cook (I can imagine no better way to build an instant reputation as a "great cook") or for the cookbook addict who adores great food.p.s. I am not tied to the magazine or the publisher.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves creative and classic recipes. Southern Living over the years has published some fabulous recipes and this book contains the best of the best. I have never made a recipe from any Southern Living book that didn't turn out wonderful. The recipes are appealing to a novice cook as well as a seasoned one. This is 30-years worth of tried and true greats. If you are thinking about buying this book, go for it. It would make a great wedding or shower gift as well. Enjoy--I do.