Review
Title: Delicious Gatherings: Recipes to Celebrate Together
Author: Tara “Teaspoon” Bench
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Cookbook
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 260
Binding: Hardback
ISBN-10: 1639930450
ISBN-13: 978-1-63993-045-6
Price: $34.99
Reviewed by Christine Tensmeyer for the Association for Mormon Letters
Tara Teaspoon has released another cookbook, Delicious Gatherings: Recipes to Celebrate Together, and it is just as beautiful as her first cookbook. Complete with drool-worthy food pictures and Tara’s Tips, it has a wonderful mix of familiar and unique recipes, much like her first cookbook. Delicious Gatherings, as one may surmise, focuses on events that bring people together. The beginning of the cookbook has a few tips that will help ensure success in cooking recipes. Tara Teaspoon talks about mise en place, measuring flour in grams instead of cups, the merits of salted butter versus unsalted, as well as tips on lining different shaped pans with parchment paper and using a mandoline to slice or julienne, I liked that there is a picture index in the back that has little thumbnail pictures with the correlating page number for that recipe.
The main portion of the recipes is the “Gather-Around Dinners” section, where Tara has created a whole menu to follow to have a complete meal. All you have to do is follow the recipes. This section has the following menu plans in place for a: mezze dinner, holiday dinner, fiesta Mexicana, Sunday supper, and a grill party. The rest of Delicious Gatherings is sides, main events (the main dish), breakfast and brunch, and lastly, baking and sweets.
I tried a variety of recipes from Delicious Gatherings, and they were all delicious. Queso, “Blue-Ribbon Beef-and Bacon Chili,” “churro waffles,” and “apple pudding cake.. I think my family’s favourite recipe was the “churro waffles” with whipped ricotta and dulce de leche. The waffles are dipped in a cinnamon sugar mix, then covered with whipped ricotta and drizzled with a creamy dulce de leche sauce. This was enjoyed by the whole family. The waffles can stand on their own without the cinnamon sugar as well.
The “Blue-Ribbon Beef-and Bacon Chili” is more time-consuming as the recipe calls for charred Anaheim and jalapeno peppers. Once those are charred, you then peel the skin off and remove the seeds, and dice them up. This chili recipe is very tasty, and my main complaint is that it only makes 4.5 cups of chili. Of course, I can easily double the recipe. On the “Blue-Ribbon Beef-and Bacon Chili” recipe page, Tara gives some tips on what to do with the chili. She recommends it as a topping for her “Chili Cheese Dogs” if you don’t add the beans, but if you do add the beans, she recommends serving the chili with her “Golden Sweet Cornbread.” You can also use the chili for her recipe of “Ultimate Chili con Queso” as well as her “Chili Cheese Fries.” Many of her Main Event recipes have tips that tell you what to make with the main course to turn it into a full meal. These recipes are found throughout the book, they are not necessarily in the same section of the cookbook. Still, it’s very convenient; she even gives you the page numbers for the recipe in question.
Like the previous cookbook, Delicious Gatherings isn’t for those who are looking for quick, simple meals. Many of these recipes use multiple pots, pans, and bowls and create a sinkful of dishes. However, the time and energy it takes to make these recipes always yield delicious results. Overall, Delicious Gatherings is a beautiful cookbook, and I have many pages marked with all the recipes I’d like to try!