Everyone knows that the holidays are hectic--but Rick Rodgers, cooking teacher and bestselling cookbook author, knows that they don't have to be. Christmas 101 offers the busy cook carefree ways to entertain with surefire recipes of old favorites, menus, timetables, make-ahead tips, and more. Rodgers will help you throw fabulous cocktail parties and traditional buffets, cook a perfect roast, and spice up your favorite recipes with a contemporary twist.
You'll also learn how to make classic breads, candies, and desserts that are the tokens of this special time of year. With patience, kindness, and humor, Rodgers will help you to cook up the very best holiday season yet.
From the man who reinvented Thanksgiving comes--Christmas! This isn't to say that Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims should read no further. We're talking end-of-the-year feasting here. Gather up the family and clear the kitchen counters. Make room in the refrigerator. The old is about to give way to the new, and a great feast is the best gift of them all, be that a Christmas feast or whatever you may call it. Rick Rodgers shows the way with Christmas 101, identifying all possible pitfalls and minefields, encouraging mass preplanning so that you, the host or hostess, can also kick back at a certain point and become part of the festivities. There is more to life, after all, than polishing the silverware.
This slim volume is loaded with recipes and information in chapters such as "Making a List and Checking It Twice"; "Appetizers, Snacks, and Beverages" (where you'll find Old Fashioned Egg Nog); "Salads, Soups, and Other First Courses" (try Orange and Red Onion Salad with Cranberry-Orange Vinaigrette); "Roasts, Birds, and Other Main Courses" (if you're over turkey, try Crown Roast of Pork with Apple Stuffing and Hard Cider Sauce); "Side Dishes and Stuffings" (how about Giant Potato and Leek Rösti?); "Festive Breads" (bake up a crusty Moravian Sugar Cake); "Candies" (we liked Chocolate-Orange Truffles); "Cookies" (roll out some Linzer Cookies); "Desserts" (enjoy Deep Dark Stout Gingerbread); and a holiday menu planner. Does that sound all-inclusive or what? There's even more than the thousand-and-one things to do with turkey that Rodgers presented in his first volume in this series, Thanksgiving 101.
What's particularly nice about this book is that Rodgers focuses on the feast, not the setting for the feast. He knows his business and he sticks to it. "When it comes to holiday decorating," he writes,
if it can't be done simply and quickly, I don't do it.... My strengths lie in the kitchen. You won't find me hot-gluing Styrofoam reindeer. But if you can fit craft projects into your schedule, be my guest.
--Schuyler Ingle
