The turkey may be the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving table but we all know that the stuffing (we always called it dressing)is the litmus test of the the entire dinner. Rick Rodgers, known for his turkey day bible, Thanksgiving 101, showcases stuffing(dressing) and gives us a regional breakdown.

I have long read about the delicacy of cornbread stuffing, a decidely Southern version of stuffing/dressing. So in my pursuit of a knowledge of American culinary history, I made Mason-Dixon Cornbread Dressing with Bacon and Pecans. WOW! This was a perfect match for my deep fried turkey. This Yankee surrenders to the delicacy of our Southern cuisine. My friends and neighbors were at first skeptical of that pot of oil boiling away in the backyard, but when they got a taste of the meat and a sample of the cornbread stuffing, they are now believers that Southern cuisine is exquisite.

But this book is not a showcase of Southern cuisine. It is Greek, Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Cajun and Southwestern cuisine as well. You won't have to limit your stuffing/dressing meals to Thanksgiving anymore. These are delightful side dishes to accompany any meal.

You will like this book. Rick Rodgers is the Thanksgiving guru and this will be a welcome addition to your library. It makes a nice gift for the first-time cook too!

This book may not have any pictures but each stuffing that I have tested has turned out perfectly delicious. There are stuffings for any taste. There are chapters on bread stuffings, cornbread stuffings, rice and grain, fruit and vegetable and finally, meat stuffings. My family's favorite is the Florentine sausage, ricotta and spinach. I especially appreciated the pages on how to make a perfect roast turkey with gravy. Don't wait until the holidays to try out these recipes!

Face it, given the choice of side dishes, most of us will choose stuffing over rice or potatoes any day. Unfortunately, most of us also consider the only options to be our Mom's Thanksgiving stuffing, or else something out of a box. Now there are a few new ideas. All the recipes work well either stuffed into a turkey or a chicken (or even into an acorn squash), or baked in a casserole. Sourdough bread stuffing, with artichokes & sun-dried tomatoes is one of my favorites. It's never been easier to get creative with dinner!

The book gives an impressive display of tough management philosophy. Yet if this is the one right way to manage what a sad thing -- I'd never want to work there. Readers will want to check out Hidden Value by Charles O'Reilly III and Jeffrey Pfeffer which includes an update on Cypress and where is has gone wrong.

I've owned my own business for seven years, and this book remains a source of ideas for me. Some people want to work in a country club and some want to be in a more competitive environment. The success of the two types of companies may vary, but I still want to be in the competitive place. Curiously, both this book and another favorite, Dennis Conner's Art of Winning, use the phrase "no excuses". I happen to believe in the the keys to performance described in this book: the value of top performers, the value of disciplined approachs to job performance, the use of automated metrics to remind us to do what we set out to do. If you do, too, you'll like this book. If you don't, you probably won't. I'm not sure it's a convincing book, but I found it illuminating.

It only gets a nine because no one is perfect. I have a purloined copy from a friend and this is one of the most readable/focused management books. Masquerading as a discussion of Cypress philosophy it manages to explain a very detailed and usable method for goal setting and achieving as well as employee compensation. Anyone who is not meeting their numbers should read this book. Anyone running a company should read this book. Any fan of T.J. Rodgers should read this book. Anyone who goes... automated control ... I'd never work there .. shouldn't read this book because they won't get it. Furthermore, they shouldn't apply to work for Cypress or for me either....

We picked this book off of...... after receiving a very nice fondue set for Christmas. It reads very easily and is interesting for the avid chef as well as the casual cook. There are simple recipes and lots of history, and it can easily be skimmed in an hour or so. The author sticks close to the idea that fondue is about fun, not complexity. This is really all that is needed to get that new (or dusty old) pot and forks hot and ready to dine.

Like most people, my fondue pot was gathering dust on a high shelf in the hall closet. This book gives clear & easy recipes for appetizer and meal-size fondues, but also for desserts--something I had never attempted before. I recently made fondue for houseguests who were as tired as I was after a day of sight-seeing. It made for a perfect, easy meal as we sat around the table relaxing and talking about our adventures of the day. Thanks for a great time-saving book!

Before you even get started with the fabulous recipes found in this book, the author is kind enough to give you a "fondue revu" - Serving styles, Equipment, Ingredients; it's an extensive overview, but quick and to the point. The book itself is full of updated fondue recipes, it takes you through cheeses, hot oils, broths (Asian Hot Pots), dipping sauces and dessert fondues. It has quickly become my book of choice when breaking out the fondue pot!

Rick Rodgers' sumptuous cookery book travels through the history, romance and elegance of the coffee houses of Vienna, Budapest and Prague. His writing is both fluid and descriptive; the pictures a delight. The basic methods and detailed execution of the pastry, cake and bread recipes are easy to follow, as written. That being said, the "descriptive" part of the book is very hard to read. This is because the editor has chosen a very stylized font in what I would estimate is approximately 8 point. The recipes, while in the more conventional Times New Roman, are also in a point size not conducive to reading across a kitchen counter. I bought this book as a gift for my elderly mother, who lived in Vienna during her youth, but did not give it to her as I knew she would never be able to read such small print. Even with 20/40 vision and "relatively" young eyes, the book is difficult for me to read.

The other problem is the layout of the recipes on the pages. For example, the recipe for Sachertorte begins on the bottom of page 59 and resumes on the top of page 62. The recipe for Viennese Crescent Rolls begins on page 96 and resumes on page 98. Not a problem for someone reading this book as entertainment in an easy chair in the den, but definitely a problem for the cook who has the book in a book holder on a crowded kitchen counter.

The tone of this book makes me believe the author wrote it because he enjoyed his subject, not just because it was time to write another book. While reading this cookbook, I was also reading A NERVOUS SPLENDOR by Frederic Morton (Vienna 1888-1889), and the two dovetailed nicely.

I have just begun working on the recipes, but have to comment at the outset they are well written and easy to follow and have been successful thus far. There are several I want to try to compare with our typical American desserts.

I agree I would liked to have seen more photos of the finished product, but I loved the pictures of the cafes and city life.

It's been an enjoyable experience reading through this book. Until now, I didn't know the difference between Sacher Torte and Sachertorte and the legal ramifications thereof.

Millions of thanks to Rick Rodgers for bringing exquisite Austrian and Hungarian recipes to America. This is one very rare book since in America, it's very difficult to locate recipes like the ones Rick Rodgers presents to us...you can certainly count on Rick Rodgers.. he is one of the most demanded and best cooking teachers in the country. His recipes are famous for being "fool proof". I have tried numerous cookie recipes. The walnut crescents are simply sublime...they go perfectly with coffee. The thumbprint cookies are too pretty that I decided not to dust them with powdered sugar. The chocolate-almond macaroons are crispy, like meringue and they disappeared by nighttime. The cherry-almond coffee cake is out of the world and my neighbor already requested it for her birthday! Rick Rodgers' book is very resourceful..many interesting historical writings...I never knew the odd mystery behind Sachertorte! I have never seen a book like Kaffeehaus...and I'm quite sure there will not be another book like it for a long time if not never. Get it while it's available!

I was very dissapointed when I received this book. There are a lot of unusual recipes that kids just would not eat, nor would a meat and potatoes man. As for me, I'd say that I wouldn't even waste my time trying some of the recipes...just a little too "off the wall" for our taste. Many recipes call for expensive or seasonal items, too. I'm returning my copy...

This cookbook has a quality not normally associated with pressure cooking: glamour! These are not Grandma's pressure cooking recipes! New techniques, great pictures and graphics made this book a joy to read and use. I haven't had a chance to try many recipes yet, but I'll be using this one a lot. I went straight to the rice pudding, a favorite comfort food of mine. It was done in 11 minutes and tasted great, with no added fat besides milk. I can't wait to try some of the more fancy desserts, like Black Forest Croissant Pudding and Cafe' Con Leche Flan. I need to get a springform pan and try the cheesecake, as well (I noted in my pressure cooker review that it would be great if the manufacturers made custom inserts for this! I may be dreaming...)

I'm giving this book 4 stars simply because no one cookbook can cover it all. For the basics, and for more "family" type meals, you may want another book. This book really does reflect the way my family eats (with a baby and 4-year-old) but we also eat a lot more basic soups, steamed vegies, and grilled seafood (one thing that doesn't work in the PC.) I usually improvise, and in fact I found a few of these recipes were nearly identical to meals I've cooked recently (beet and orange salad, Mexican chicken tacos).

I'll skip the red meat recipes, but the bean recipes are fresh and wonderful, and there are some great chicken recipes as well (Moroccan chicken, Mexican chicken in soft tacos). I recommend taking a class in pressure cooking, but if you can't, this is the next best thing. I'm not surprised that pressure cooking seems to be experiencing a revival, but I am surprised it took this long. I love my pressure cooker (see review) and would be hard-pressed to cook most meals without it!

Bon appetit!

I am relatively new to pressure cooking (about 1 year) and what led me to THIS book was the fact that I'd just purchased the crockpot/slow cooker cookbook written by Rick Rodgers and was truly thrilled to find a book that held crock pots to a "higher standard" - it's a very very good book if you want excellent results from your slow cooker. . . but this review is about THIS book - again written partly by Rick Rodgers -- and once again, I was not disappointed!

Great recipes - above and beyond the bland and ordinary. My kids have eaten everything I've made from this book (they have been introduced to a lot of unusual foods as well so they're not at ALL picky) -- anyway - their favourites so far are spaghetti w/meatballs (incredibly fast to prepare, particularly if you make the meatballs the night before!), beef bourginon (sp?), and the 3-meat bolognese pasta sauce. I usually up the garlic and some of the spices because we like rather highly seasoned food - but the basics here are very sound - not found one recipe yet that we didn't sit down to where we were floored as to how good the result was. I have to say, I am now using my pressure cooker more than my crockpot or any other form of cooking.

Flash-frozen shrimp is a staple in my freezer pantry because I can use it for a fast family meal or for a snack for drop-in guests. I wanted to try some new recipes, so I bought "Simply Shrimp" by Rick Rodgers. This high quality paperback combines the basics, such as choosing shrimp by type (warmwater,coldwater, freshwater, wild-caught, farm-raised, fresh, frozen), by size (cocktail pinks to super-colossal), and preparation (peeling, deveining, and brining), with simple recipes for shrimp stock and cooked shrimp. I discovered that this favorite seafood is not only low in fat, but, according to the cited recent Rockefeller University study, shrimp is also a heart-smart food because eating it increases the good HDL cholesterol, with no increase in the bad LDL cholesterol. This study's shrimp diet also showed lowered triglyceride levels.

So far, I like these recipes: "Scandinavian Vodka-Soused Shrimp"; "Grilled Shrimp Caesar Salad"; "Sichuan Shrimp with Cashews"; "Buttermilk Biscuits with Low Country Shrimp and Ham"; "Shrimp Diane"; "Grilled Shrimp a la Plancha with Romesco Sauce"; "Shrimp Peacemaker Sandwich." As well, the "Shrimp on Pasta and Rice" recipes I have tried are quite good. The section on grilling shrimp has seven marinade recipes. Also included are recipes for Shrimp Boil Spices and Chesapeake Bay Seasoning. The strength of this shrimp cookbook is the entrées, which are easy-to-make and delicious. However, I wish there were more appetizer and salad recipes, along with more color pictures. "Simply Shrimp" is a good cookbook for taking along on a trip or vacation where cooking will be involved.

This is an attractive book with mouth-watering recipes for shrimp-lovers of all types. It will certainly give you many menu ideas, from New Orleans Shrimp Ramoulade, to oriental coconut shrimp, to the elegant "Martini Shrimp Cocktail" pictured on the cover. I have enjoyed my copy so much that I have bought additional copies as gifts. Enjoy! Bon Apetit!

I recieved this cookbook as a gift for Christmas and I know already that it's going to be one of my favourites. All of the recipes sound delicious and most use ingredients that you're likely to have on hand. The Spanish Shrimp with Red Peppers and Garlic sauce was superb as well as fast and easy to make. We're going to try at one recipe a week from this gem of a book!

I bought this book hoping to find recipes with a lot of flavor and minimal effort when it comes to preparation. The recipes definitely take minimal effort to prepare, which is a blessing, but the flavor part is where the book goes weak. This is all about 'good enough' eating. Nothing too adventurous, nothing too fancy. Recipes range in cooking styles from American to Italian to Asian to Moroccan, but none of them stand out as exceptional. The spicy Szechuan eggplant is quite good, the curried cauliflower just okay because it asks you to use preprepared curry powder instead of the author's own spice blend, the chicken ragu the kind of fare you'd expect to find at a homey, local restaurant--yummy, nothing exceptional. It's an inexpensive book and I don't regret buying it, but it's not peppered with culinary jewels. There are a lot of good ideas, though, so if you want another book in your collection, get it. If you want more exotic fare, try Seductions of Rice. That's a very good book.

I have another book by Rick Rodgers, and I really liked it, so when I saw this one I thought I'd check it out. Five recipes into it I wanted to head to the kitchen and cook. Before this book, I didn't cook meals with rice very often. I do now. The recipes are not complicated, and I always have the ingredients in my kitchen. The recipes that say "Can be cooked in under 30 minutes" really CAN be cooked in under 30 minutes. I haven't encountered a dud recipe yet. All are delicious. Among my favorites are Shrimp and Green Beans with Peanut Sauce, Chicken and Asparagus with Mustard-Tarragon Sauce and Sirloin and Black Bean Chili (in under 30 minutes no less!). This book is a boon to all those of us who work a long stressful day, and then have to come home and cook.

On Rice is one of the few cookbooks I've found that actually have recipes for the way my husband and I eat. There are very few "big hunk of meat" recipes in this book. The meals are light, filling, and easy to make. They range from slight twists on the familiar to the surprisingly simple exotic.