Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites: A Cookbook

First of all - I love Deb. Her blog is my favorite and the first resource I check when trying a recipe.This cookbook is wildly “fussy”. It is not an everyday cookbook. It’s frustrating when I read an introduction saying that dinner will be done in less than 30 minutes - then read the recipe, and see that it will take well over 90. I love the meatballs Marsala, but they take forever. Same with so many of these recipes. The original SK cookbook was better

Let me just start off by saying how much I love the smitten kitchen blog. I've been following it since around 2008, and I've made (and loved) countless recipes from the site over the years. I've been eagerly anticipating the release of this book ever since it was announced back in 2015. I'm so disappointed to not be leaving a glowing review, because I absolutely adore Deb.Like a few of the other reviewers, I just didn't find many recipes here that I want to make. One of the greatest things about Deb as a food blogger is her obsession with making the "perfect" version of a given dish. In her quest to get it just right she will test and re-test until she gets there, often taking the best parts of several recipes and combining them into her own perfect one. Her blog is often my first stop when searching for a specific recipe, because I know that her version is always great. Things like her "ethereally smooth hummus", "favorite brownies", peach pie, pecan pie, double chocolate banana bread, "perfect blueberry muffins", "better chocolate babka" (and so many others) have become go-to recipes that I'll never deviate from. Other dishes, like the chicken pho, carnitas, consumate chocolate chip cookies, pork ragu, root vegetable gratin etc. are not her own, but carefully chosen, perfect recipes from other authors that I would not have discovered otherwise.Unfortunately, there is far more pressure to be original when publishing a book instead of a blog post. I think the book suffers from this need to make something "brand new", when her strength lies elsewhere.I also think the title of the book is unfortunate; many of the recipes are indeed very fussy. Looking at the breakfast chapter for instance, barely any of them can be done in less than one hour. The "loaded breakfast potato skins" are truly perplexing to me. Who on earth is spending 60 minutes baking a potato for breakfast? The "jam-bellied bran scones" also seem needlessly fussy to me. The point of making scones for breakfast is that they come together in five minutes. Why spend all this time carefully making jam-filled ones when breaking open a perfect, warm-from-the-oven scone and slathering it with butter and jam probably tastes better (with much less work). The same goes for the "granola biscotti". It looks very similar to the granola recipe from the first book (that I've made many times), just more fussy and gimmicky.Like I mentioned, I generally found very few recipes that I'm tempted to make. Obviously, this is very subjective, and other people might find plenty of things they want to cook. Personally, I was particularly let down by the "Salads" and "Vegetable mains" chapters. The salads were not appealing to me at all, while many of the vegetable mains are more like side-dishes (pommes anna, zucchini with salsa verde, roasted halloumi and vegetables etc). The blog recipes are often vegetarian, so I was surprised that these chapters were not better. (Also, please no more fritters!).It is not all bad though. I will definitely be trying the "chicken and rice, street cart style", the "ricotta blini with honey, orange and sea salt", "Manhattan style clams with fregola", and the "meatballs marsala with egg noodles and chives". But that's probably also all..

My bad for buying this without reading the reviews first, based on loving almost everything Smitten Kitchen. I thought the "Everyday" in the title would be my ticket to great easy weeknight meals. Wrong. I don't consider grilled squid, chicken under a brick, dumplings with dough made from scratch, street food style chicken and rice with about twelve steps to get it ready to serve, or anything involving wonton wrappers "everyday." The book is also heavy on deserts. The broccoli toasts and one-pan farro, those are great weeknight meals. Unfortunately this book is sort of wasted on me, and I wish I had read the reviews before buying it.

I follow a ton of food blogs. Deb at Smitten Kitchen is the only one that I basically 100% trust. She takes pride in her recipes and tries them again and again. I am not exaggerating when I say that every. single. recipe. that I have tried from Smitten Kitchen - the website or her books - has been awesome, and I either have made, or will make, more than once. Unlike a lot of food bloggers, she is a true writer, super entertaining and not "OMG THIS IS THE BEST RECIPE EVER!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!" Deb is personable, honest, and totally devoted to her craft. I will buy every cookbook she writes until I die. I know this sounds exaggerated, but I have tried SO many new techniques through following this cookbook and the blog (like the most incredible galette crust I've ever eaten despite being a total newbie to dough) and I will always be grateful!

I have a 5 year old and a 1 year old, so I don't have as much time to cook as I would like. Also unfortunately my five year old isn't really into that much of what I would cook for my own pleasure. This has gotten me into a rut with cooking where I'm not that excited about what I'm making and it is a bit of a let down. I first got this cookbook out of the library and immediately I cooked about 5 recipes from it in the first week. Love the pizza beans, and the cover recipe -- the cacio e pepe potatoes anna -- is delicious and elegant and made me proud to have made it. I even made the butternut squash flatbread this past weekend. This is a cookbook that reminds you of things you have done in the past but then pushes you to try it in a new way. This is good because cooking with a ton of new ingredients or new techniques is just not on the docket these days. These recipes inspire me to take the every day recipe one step further so it feels more triumphant -- to quote the subtitle. Have loved Smitten Kitchen for years and honestly love this cookbook way more than the first one (although that has some great stand-out recipes like the granola and the mushroom bourguignon)

Bought it for my girlfriend which is a Smitten Kitchen fan and loves cooking. She loved it and enjoyed this book more than the previous one as it has recipes she can use more often. The pictures are amazing and the book edition is of great quality. I have only read a few pages here and there but I like Deb style of writing with a short introduction before the recipe and sharing some of her life experiences which makes you somehow feel close to the author. I like the style of food and I will definitely borrow it sometime and try it.

I heard so many good things about this book so decided to order my own copy. Wow - I was blown away! Deb is really good at taking comfort food to a new level - her recipes aren't over the top sweet or super unhealthy, but wholesome and easy to whip up. Highly recommend this book - the recipes are amazing!

Nothing wrong with this book, the recipes are still easy to follow etc but didn’t get me excited like the first book. Some nice things in here but left me a little underwhelmed

Using the recipes on my holiday and cannot wait

Lovely recipes. Deb Perelman is a genius, her recipes seem to be truly tried and tested as without fail they are easy to follow and delicious to eat!