Steven Raichlen's High-Flavor, Low-Fat Cooking

This book should be appreciated by anyone who loves to cook, enjoys elegant but simple food and is interested in limiting fat and sugar in their diet. Mr. Raichlen does not sacrifice taste and flavor, and even though the removal of fat usually changes the texture and flavor of a dish, the addition of familiar and unusual herbs and spices more than compensates for the low amout of oil and other fats. Do not skimp on the herbs and spices and do not be put off if some of the ingredients are not in your local supermarket. Making the effort to find the ingredients is well worth it. Recipes are easy to follow with a fair estimate of preparation time. I have been working my way through this book and have yet to be disappointed and my palate is constantly amazed.

What makes a credible review of a cook book? Is it enough to read the well written intro material and look at the beautiful pictures? Surely one does not have to prepare all the recipes to get a flavor of the book. I suggest that four recipes constitute an adequate test. Conveniently, I have just finished my third and fourth dish and can honestly say the book lives up to it's title. The food tastes great! I'm a novice cook and found the instructions to be fine. The prep and cook rigor is a little more than I'm used to, but not out of reach. Mr. Raichlen's kitchen must be better equipped than mine (hint: a common four sided grater and a shallow cup will work for the delicious herb spaetzle). A few ingredients are beyond our normal supermarket, but well within a decent gourmet or ethnic shop. These are minor anoyances to be dealt with and worth it. I've been a little reluctant to follow my wife down the low fat road due to bland taste, but this book fully resolves that issue.

My parents have this book and my mother uses it all the time. The food is low fat and really good for you but it tastes like normal food. Actually it tastes better than normal food. I'm taking it with me to college next year, definitely. :)