• ellabee on September 17, 2022

  Recommended by several in forum 'underrated books' thread.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Mulligatawny soup

  • gamulholland on June 21, 2017

    This is a fair bit of work with all the chopping and shredding-- not a weeknight meal-- but on a weekend, with basmati rice and some chutney, it is amazing.

• Anytime split pea soup

  • KCKB on March 05, 2025

    A good, serviceable recipe, maybe a little bland - I used a couple of spoonfuls of Better than Bouillon to boost the flavor. But it was a good, hearty dinner on a cold evening.

• Custard-filled corn bread

  • DKennedy on February 21, 2014

    Discovered this recipe while reading A Homemade Life. Saw that I had the original in Lost Recipes at p. 36. Trying a modified version using Bob Red Mill's GF corn bread mix in place of the dry ingredients but added 1/2 c. more plus 1.5 T. brown sugar. Kept the amount of the wet ingredients as stated. Divided between 2 pie tins on a half sheet pan. Baked for 50 minutes. Just came out of the oven: outstanding!!!!! Will be using the corn bread on top of my Fried Chicken Salad with herbed buttermilk dressing for mom and dad's 57th anniversary.

  • DKennedy on July 27, 2015

    Tried this recipe again using GF flour. The dry/wet ingredients ratio was way off. Use the Bob's Red Mill adaptation if going to go GF.

  • foodgloriousfood on May 17, 2021

    Omg this is so decadent! I reduced the sugar to 2Tbs from 3Tbs but might reduce it to 1.5 next time. Other than that I made it as written. It kinda came out like an impossible pie or as my husband said almost like a soft quiche with a cornbread base. I am fascinated and will be playing around with this method as much as I can without needing to buy larger jeans! Seriously if you love cornbread and love custard make this cornbread! I also searched for the recipe in other books and see that it is sometimes served with honey or maple syrup for breakfast. It would be amazing with maple syrup! If you wanted a sweet breakfast dish then perhaps the 3tb of sugar would be good. I was serving it with tequila cilantro BBQ chicken (Emeril Grill book) so wanted mine less sweet.

• Colcannon

  • macfadden3 on March 20, 2025

    This was nice but 7 minutes (half the lower end of the potato cooking time) was too long to boil the cabbage. It was pretty mushy by then. Otherwise a tasty recipe I'd make again.

• Fresh tomato gratin stew

  • Running_with_Wools on August 04, 2025

    I made this last night for a dinner party and it was delicious and comforting. The tomatoes are mellowed by the butter and cream and become silky and sumptuous with the long bake. The fresh buttered bread crumbs became dark brown and the whole dish was better than the sum of its parts.

• Oregon blue cheese crumble

  • gamulholland on June 21, 2017

    We have made this so many times, and every time it is a huge hit. We have had the best luck using Trader Joe's crumbled gorgonzola-- strong enough to compete with all the other strong flavors. We bring it with wheat thins to various potlucks, but a dad at the kids' school who is a professional chef suggested putting it on hamburgers, and he's right: it's delicious that way too. Definitely a keeper.

• San Francisco Little Joe's

  • ellencooks on August 05, 2015

    I added a clove of garlic and a splash of Worcestershire. Excellent!

• Cod with mustard sauce

  • hshubin on April 08, 2014

    Mustard sauce was good. Try 1/2 the vinegar and water. And cod does cook quickly

• Brown derby French dressing

  • DKennedy on May 08, 2014

    This recipe is perfect as written. I cut in to 1/4 of the recipe and I use a total of 1/2 c. oil (olive, walnut and hazelnut).

  • anya_sf on May 11, 2021

    Excellent, classic dressing for Cobb salad. Even 1/6 recipe was more than we needed though.

• Green goddess dressing

  • ellencooks on June 29, 2016

    I made this without the anchovies. Fantastic!

• Lemon pudding cake

  • anya_sf on November 30, 2023

    Great, basic recipe for this dessert. I had Meyer lemons, so used slightly less sugar. Baked in the stated time using nearly boiling water in the water bath. Fairly light, this dessert might only serve 4.

• Lazy Daisy cake

  • gamulholland on June 21, 2017

    Simple and delicious. The cake is so light, and the topping is the perfect caramelized complement to it. Also, this is something I can whip up in a hurry without any special ingredients. The hard part is waiting until it cools. :)

• Blue ribbon gingerbread

  • macfadden3 on February 25, 2025

    This would have been great if it called for salt. Tastes a little bland without it. I'd make it again but add 1/2 tsp of salt. I was worried it would overflow my 8x8 pan but it didn't; it just got very tall.

• Children's chocolate-chip squares

  • kshell on November 15, 2024

    Indeed, child friendly and easy. Swapped a scant 1/2 C. hazelnut meal for the chopped nuts to accommodate my crunchy-texture averse youngest.