Aren's Library

I always look for cookbooks that could provide good recipes, but not seem cold and distant. I was not disappointed with this. Reading the recipes and his introduction of each one seemed like I was having a discussion with him to the point I felt like I wanted to have more of a dialogue on some of those recipes.

What drew me to this one was the fact that this was about main courses. This is nice for those who want to just make dinner or someone who has wants to make a meal with appetizers, sides, and/or dessert, but doesn't know fully what they want to make. Yes, having a book solely on main courses may cause to having extra books for sides and appetizers, I actually appreciate it due to the fact that sides are a bit easier to plan once you have your star picked out.

I most enjoyed reading about the Thanksgiving Turkey, Christmas Goose, Beef Bourguignon, and Stockholm Boar dish. With an exception of the last one, I have read many different recipes to make these dishes and I must say Mr. Ayrom's dishes are quite delicious compared to the others and I can't wait to try them. I am not much on Game, but at the same time I wouldn't mind trying the wild boar dishes. I would have liked t see a bit more pheasant too. There is even a lobster dish I am quite interested in trying on my own.

Unfortunately as good as this was there were two issues that I found, though they aren't that important to me. I am quite happy that pictures were included, but I wish they were in color; again it didn't bother me too much, I just wished it was in color to have as a reference as well. The other issue was that for Chapters 2 and 3, even though they are completely different chapters, and are separated by their titles and the food fit in each chapter, the top portion of the pages during those chapters mentions pork. Pork dishes don't appear until Chapter 4 so it can be a bit confusing when reading about chicken in the chicken chapter, but the page also mentions loving pork. It's not too big of a deal for me, but it can throw someone off if they aren't aware of it.

All in all this is good for a cookbook for those who are somewhat experienced and is able to have help in the kitchen with them.

I received this book through Goodread's first reads and had no bearing on my review.