Home Made Basics, Reviewed

  Is it just me, or are cookbooks getting bigger? The last couple that I have read must have weighed 10 pounds each. They seem to be part cookbook, part coffee-table book, and part memoir. The latest in this group is one that I have been eagerly awaiting. If you are as much of a fan of Yvette Van Boven as I am, then you will be pleased to know that her latest book, Home Made Basics: Simple Recipes Made from Scratch, was recently released by Abrams. If you are unfamiliar with Van Boven, then pick up any one of her books, page through, and you will instantly fall in love.ne that I have been eagerly awaiting. If you are as much of a fan of Yvette Van Boven as I am, then you will be pleased to know that her latest book, Home Made Basics, was recently released by Abrams. If you are unfamiliar with Van Boven, then pick up any one of her books, page through, and you will instantly fall in love.

If you are familiar with Van Bovin’s books, then you are well aware that there is a certain comfort that comes when reading any one of this author’s tomes. Perhaps it’s from the homey and engaging text, the beautiful, comforting photos, or the charming illustrations. Or, perhaps it’s all three. If these things alone aren’t enough, there are the unique and doable recipes, all carefully explained, some steps illustrated with her charming drawings, other details clearly explained through beautiful photographs.

This book is divided into five major sections: Morning, Afternoon, Dinnertime, Dessert, and For Our Pets (the latter divided into canine and feline offerings). My favorite section is Afternoon. It contains recipes for tea bites, cocktails, mock tales, and other non-alcoholic drinks. Everything here looks inviting and delicious. The “Pick-Me-Up Tea” in the non-alcoholic section, including a surprising drop of vinegar is quite good.

  In addition to recipes for main and side dishes, you will also find a lot of recipes for flavored butter, snacks, syrups, sauces, and other recipe “add ins.” You will also learn the basics of making bread and pizza dough, broth, caramel, crumpets, fries, gnocchi, mayo, as well as a heavenly mustard vinaigrette.

Main dishes run from simple to complex fare. The Homemade Fish Sticks with Spicy Dip (something in which you can get the children involved) look crunchy and delicious. Adults will surely enjoy the Poached Whole Salmon with Crab, Cockles, and Butter Sauce.

As it is her habit, van Boven provided her thoughts, tips, and wisdom in paragraphs preceding many of the recipes. I always find learning how other people use their kitchens to be invaluable.

If this book has any failing, it is certainly in its rather oddly constructed index. Although there are two of them, one by recipe name and the other by ingredient, there fails to be any mention of items by category. As someone who was once employed to create indices, I tend to give them a long look in books that I own. I’m wondering why, if I’m looking for a recipe for a tart, I would need to look under the letter “A” rather than the more obvious letter “T?” How am I to anticipate the ingredients a tart is to contain? Wouldn’t it make more sense to list it under the obvious letter “T” to make it easy to find? The chocolate almond tart in the book is listed under the former for “almond.” This is not the first, but a wide variety of instances, making it very difficult to find cakes, cookies, tarts, etc.

Aside from that, this is a lovely, useful book that serves equally well in the kitchen as it does on the coffee table. It is certainly comprehensive enough to be giftable. 

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Home Made Basics from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2021-2022.

 

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