From Amazon.com
What's the best meal of the day? For many of us, it's breakfast. Saluting that fact is Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison's
A Real American Breakfast, a collection of 275 traditional and innovative recipes that cover breakfast comprehensively and in the best taste. Breakfast often competes with a tight morning schedule, which the book acknowledges by offering recipes that can be prepared the night before; regional, café, and bed-and-breakfast favorites are provided, as well. Dishes range from familiar eye-openers like waffles and cinnamon toast to less conventional fare like Salmon Croquettes and the Maple-Glazed Ham, Cheese, and Leek Sandwich--food that can also be enjoyed throughout the day.
Among other outstanding chapters, "Break an Egg," "Heavenly Hashes," and "Home-Crafted Cereals" score with exemplary recipes for fried eggs and bacon, red flannel hash, and crunchy granola, as well as "new" delights like Poached Eggs on Creamy Grits, Capitolade of Chicken, and Toasted Wheat with Caramelized Bananas. Other sections offer stratas and breakfast casseroles like Calabacitas Tortilla Casserole; dairy specialties, including lassi, an on-the-go chilled yogurt drink; and sweets, such as Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, Brown-Butter Apple Cake, and Chocolate Bread Pudding. With historical notes, old menus, and technique advice, the color-photo-illustrated book is the last word on the day's first meal. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
Although most cooks would agree with the Jamisons (American Home Cooking) that breakfast "can be the homiest meal of all" not everyone has the time to cook first thing in the morning. Fortunately, many of the Jamisons's 275 delightful recipes can be served just as well at weekend brunches or weekday suppers. The 14 chapters featuring eggs, pancakes, cereals and breads, as well as casseroles, sandwiches and cobblers are full of original ideas that expand the boundaries of breakfast (such as serving Strawberry Shortcake in the morning). International dishes like Swedish Pancakes and Asian Rice Porridge with coconut milk are offered alongside the more familiar and luxuriously elaborate Eggs Benedict Souffles, Spiced Lamb Sausage, and Baked Crime Brelie French Toast. There are also simple dishes such as Fruit Smoothies and Fried Egg Sandwiches for those mornings when the school bus is honking outside. With every recipe there are helpful tips on techniques and ingredients, as well as sidebars featuring American breakfast history and trivia, all in elegantly written, snappy text. Our country's breakfast traditions are wildly diverse, and the Jamisons' enthusiasm for their subject is a great incentive to get out of bed and try them all.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
