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This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking Kindle Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,253 ratings

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An Eater Best Cookbook of Fall 2020

From caramelized onions to fruit preserves, make home cooking quick and easy with ten simple "kitchen heroes" in these 125 recipes from the
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Deep Run Roots.
 
“I wrote this book to inspire you, and I promise it will change the way you cook, the way you think about what’s in your fridge, the way you see yourself in an apron.”

Vivian Howard’s first cookbook chronicling the food of Eastern North Carolina,
Deep Run Roots, was named one of the best of the year by 18 national publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Bon Appetit, and Eater, and won an unprecedented four IACP awards, including Cookbook of the Year. Now, Vivian returns with an essential work of home-cooking genius that makes simple food exciting and accessible, no matter your skill level in the kitchen.

Each chapter of
This Will Make It Taste Good is built on a flavor hero—a simple but powerful recipe like her briny green sauce, spiced nuts, fruit preserves, deeply caramelized onions, and spicy pickled tomatoes. Like a belt that lends you a waist when you’re feeling baggy, these flavor heroes brighten, deepen, and define your food.

Many of these recipes are kitchen crutches, dead-easy, super-quick meals to lean on when you’re limping toward dinner. There are also kitchen projects, adventures to bring some more joy into your life. Vivian’s mission is not to protect you from time in your kitchen, but to help you make the most of the time you’ve got.

Nothing is complicated, and more than half the dishes are vegetarian, gluten-free, or both. These recipes use ingredients that are easy to find, keep around, and cook with—lots of chicken, prepared in a bevy of ways to keep it interesting, and common vegetables like broccoli, kale, squash, and sweet potatoes that look good no matter where you shop. 

And because food is the language Vivian uses to talk about her life, that’s what these recipes do, next to stories that offer a glimpse at the people, challenges, and lessons learned that stock the pantry of her life.
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From the brand


From the Publisher

Somewhere South Chef's Life Vivian Howard Chef and the Farmer Kinston North Carolina southern

My first cookbook, Deep Run Roots, is a love letter to Eastern North Carolina, the place I’ve lived my whole life.

But it really doesn’t represent the way I cook at home most days. At home and at my home-away-from-home office (a place we affectionately call VHQ), I’m a modern day domestic engineer who calls on a roster of flavor heroes to make simple food fantastic food. These things, my kitchen MVPs, are what this book is about.

If you come on this journey with me, if you go to the mat and make a hero or two, and then make a recipe or three that builds on that hero, I promise with every ounce of my highly accomplished self that you will be inspired.

This book will change the way you cook, the way you think about what’s in your fridge, the way you see yourself in an apron. I swear on my dog Gracie’s grave that you will be empowered, confident, dare I say even nimble, in your kitchen. Your journey to make your cooking taste good will shatter the chains of recipes you’ve struggled to follow. It will reshape, even streamline, the time you spend feeding yourself and the ones you love.

roast chicken toast

baked feta

collard greens

Roast Chicken Toast

To all the toast I’ve cooked before—I’m sorry you don’t hold a candle to this guy. Basically a piece of bread transformed into a crouton under roasting chicken legs, the bread itself is squishy and rich with chicken schmaltz in some spots and astonishingly crisp for the same reason in others. It’s stupid easy to do, makes use of not-fresh bread, and is a revelation to eat. I seriously can’t understand why we haven’t been doing it for centuries. So while I’m probably not the first person to roast chicken over bread, I want to be the one who takes the technique mainstream.

Cherry Tomato Baked Feta…Surprise!

I’ve taken to the habit of calling something a “Surprise” when I don’t know how to classify it. But if you think about the Mediterranean tradition of dipping bread into seasoned olive oil, then you add cherry tomatoes and feta and then you bake it, you have the gist of what’s happening here. Not technically a dip, but perhaps more of a broken spoon-able sauce or spread, LGD stands in for the “seasoned” part of the olive oil and brings more pizzazz with it than dried oregano ever did. Surprise! While the gateway vehicle for this dip is toast, I love it over grits, pureed cauliflower, couscous, fish, or chicken. I’ve paired it with swordfish here because swordfish is meaty enough to balance the action—but let’s be clear, this recipe is about the Surprise, not its companion.

Collards Break Character

I stumble around the question of how I find inspiration for new dishes because generally the process is more research than revelation. But when my friend Von Diaz made her collards braised in coconut milk on an episode of my show Somewhere South, I was blown away by the idea of collards braised in anything other than porky pot liquor. Von’s collards landed in my bowl dark green, earthy, and a little bit bitter against a white backdrop of mellow, comforting coconut milk. They were familiar but different and I was totally inspired.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reading through Vivian Howard’s This Will Make It Taste Good is like reading a cookbook by your real or imagined North Carolinian best friend... Howard’s intended audience is the time-crunched kitchen novice, though a more experienced cook will surely find some useful tips, as well. Each section is based around a recipe that can be prepped in advance and then used throughout the week in a multitude of dishes...In any time, This Will Make It Taste Good would be a great help to those of us who prefer recipes that look and taste more complex than they are to prepare. That it happens to arrive at a moment when we’re likely all sick of the contents of our fridges and our own culinary limitations is just a bonus.

Madeleine Davies, Eater

Simple and approachable doesn’t mean boring here—there are plenty of colorful infographics for those who need a little coaxing to read a recipe, and it’s all fun food: burgers crowned with glossy ‘cheese toupees,’ mouth-puckering pickle juice popsicles (picksickles, if you will), and four whole pages devoted to the savory umami bomb that is perfectly caramelized onions. And I mean it when I say this is for the no-cook crowd: for proof, just flip to the eggs softly scrambled in a cup in the microwave on page 190.―
Epicurious

Howard’s ability to weave story into her fantastic recipes is part of what makes me so excited for her next book coming out this fall. In “This Will Make It Taste Good,” Howard solves everyday cooking dilemmas and provides next-level meal prep ideas (hello, great pantry staples).―
The Kitchn

North Carolina chef, restaurateur, and PBS host Howard follows 2016’s 
Deep Run Roots with a personal and playful introduction to her fare. Chapter titles and recipe names are upbeat and engaging (Herbdacious, Can-Do Kraut), and explained in a pun-packed, chatty voice. Dishes are introduced with frank confessions, including her struggle to correctly spell “hors d’oeuvre” and various kitchen failures... Howard’s enthusiastic exploration of her life in and out of the kitchen shows her at her best and most delightful. ―Publishers Weekly

In her newest book, Howard brings that same storyteller sensibility—paired with serious restaurant-honed kitchen chops—to teach home cooks easily achievable building block recipes and techniques that lend an extra level of pleasure to the simplest dishes, while letting the ingredients shine through.―
Kat Kinsman, Food & Wine

Chef Vivian Howard’s last cookbook, 
Deep Run Roots, is an epic love letter to the foodways of Eastern North Carolina, where she grew up and eventually returned to launch several successful restaurants. Her new book, This Will Make It Taste Good, is less regionally focused but just as personal, as it explores home cooking and ways to make everyday dishes better.―Southern Living

Vivian dares to change the way people think about home cooking by introducing the concept of “flavor heroes”... That she gives her hero recipes names such as Little Green Dress and R-Rated Onions and her chapters titles like In Pursuit of Decadence and Snacktastic, gives you an idea of the personality in her approach. If you need further evidence, consider that she poses in the cookbook dressed as Rosie the Riveter while bearing a jar of homemade sauerkraut. Yes, you CAN do it!―
Institute of Culinary Education

This Will Make It Taste Good is Howard’s second cookbook and an essential work of home-cooking genius that makes simple food exciting and accessible with 125 recipes, no matter your skill level in the kitchen... Nothing is complicated, and more than half the dishes are vegetarian, gluten-free, or both, with ingredients that are easy to find, keep around, and cook with. There are also kitchen projects to bring some more joy into your life! Howard's mission is not to protect you from time in your kitchen, but to help you make the most of the time you've got.―Yes! Weekly

Anyone who has found themselves trying to steer out of the cooking ruts that inevitably developed from preparing dinner six or seven nights a week over the past eight months will find culinary salvation in Howard’s new cookbook, 
This Will Make It Taste Good.―Food & Wine

Never a dull mouthful.―
Atlanta Journal Constitution

Howard’s first book, Deep Run Roots, is an homage to Eastern North Carolina cooking and produce, brimming with rustic shots of collards, sweet potatoes, sausage amid her recipes and narratives. ButThis Will Make it Taste Good offers a different perspective: Howard swaps the boots for mules and a red lip, and shares “Kitchen Heroes,” versatile sauces and toppers that inspire 125 simple recipes. Presented with honest wit, lively pictures and catchy titles, Howard hopes this book will change the way people cook and invite them to discover humble kitchen items that are brimming with potential.

Walter Magazine

About the Author

Vivian Howard is the New York Times bestselling author of Deep Run Roots, which was named Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She co-created and stars in the public television shows Somewhere South and A Chef's Life, for which she has won Peabody, Emmy, and James Beard awardsShe runs the restaurants Chef and the Farmer, Benny's Big Time, Lenoir, and Handy & Hot. Vivian lives in Deep Run, North Carolina, with her husband, Ben, and their twins, Theo and Flo. 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B084FXZZDX
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Voracious (October 20, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 20, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 354157 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,253 ratings

About the author

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Vivian Howard
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Vivian Howard is the owner and chef of acclaimed restaurant Chef and the Farmer in the small town of Kinston, NC, fifteen miles from her home of Deep Run. Before the restaurant opened in 2006, she trained under Wylie Dufresne and Sam Mason at WD-50 and later was a member of the opening team at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market. She created and stars in the award-winning PBS series A Chef's Life, which is in its third season.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
1,253 global ratings
What would Vivian do? THIS is what Vivian would do and this book shows you how you can too!
5 Stars
What would Vivian do? THIS is what Vivian would do and this book shows you how you can too!
Honestly, I thought that Vivian would be hard pressed to top her last incredible book.I mean, if your first book is an expansive ode to Eastern North Carolina (and one that weighs around the same as a small car) and that locale is where your inspiration hails from, then where do you go from there?In the introduction to This Will Make it Taste Good, Vivian confides in us that she did struggle with that issue for a long time before finally landing on the concept of how to cook delicious, fast, simple, every day dishes at home without sacrificing big flavor and she has succeeded in that, BIG time! I LOVE how this book provides ten piquant “hero recipes” complete with substitutions and then gives each hero an entire chapter to explore each one fully, via some wonderful sounding recipes for mains, snacks, drinks, salads, smoothies, desserts, glazes the list goes on.In addition to the recipes themselves she also provides a heap of other ideas on how to use each hero recipe, so that you can imagine yourself stockpiling it and reaching for it time and time again to amp up everything you cook!This book is 1950’s rollicking, with truly great, quirky, super cute pics of Vivian, funny recipe names, every food photo looks delicious – some are ugly delicious because we are not sacrificing flavor for a delicately garnished plate here, and every dish looks like something I want to eat immediately. From Where's My Medal Grits and Chicken, Fried Chicken Finally, Mussels Will Work For You, This is 40 Fettuccine (with fried zucchini and herbdacious sauce), Gingered Cabbage in a Quirky Cream, Little Bit Scrappy Little Bit Rock n Roll Parfait. I haven’t even tried to list the ones I want to cook, because I actually want to cook everything in this book. Seriously.There is something for everyone, from healthy sides, to cheese dip. From Glazed Ribs to Hippie Burritos it’s got it all!Vivans book is divided into the following chapters, and I have described the hero recipe for each chapter below:Little Green Dress – a briny herbaceous bright and vinegary condiment with olives, capers, garlic, shallots, parsley, mint, lemon, anchovy (you can omit this) hot sauce.R-Rated Onions – you guessed it caramelized onionsCan-do Kraut – a simple cabbage and cucumber krautRed Weapons – Tomatoes and Jalapenos in Brine with olive oil (and Vivian uses these four components as four separate ingredients!Citrus Shine – preserved citrusCommunity Organizer – similar to a sofrito but more vinegary and sweeter, using tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell peppers, red wine vinegar and brown sugar.Herbdacious – a pesto with garlic confit, basil, parsley, scallions and another soft herb of your choice.Quirky Furki – a punched up version of furikake using salt and vinegar chips (sign me up!)V’s Nuts- caramelized, spicy, umami toasted nuts. Yes to all of that!Sweet Potential - fruit preserves. Vivian gives a single recipe with a description of many different fruits and how to handle them for this simple recipe.So there you have it. Ten flavor bombs. Ten different chapters.To give you an idea of how extensive a chapter on a single flavor bomb is, I will go through the Sweet Potential chapter as that chapter gives us a broad selection of sweet, savory and drinks options.Sweet Potential Recipes:The Sweet Potential preserved fruit recipeRoasted BrusselsFruit Spinach Smoothie(it sounds really good)Chicken salad wrap with pumped up flavor courtesy of the Sweet Potential, and apples and grapes and goat cheese.Glazed Grilled Side of Salmon (we are told we can also try the same method on chicken wings, duck, pork)Four different pan sauces for pork A Bubbly Hot Sweet/Savory Cheese DipFour CocktailsGlazed Baby Back RibsA cake that is hard to describe so I will leave that to Vivian “its quick, its gooey, it’s sweet and tangy, it’s like tres leches cake and corn muffins had a messy casserole baby” and it looks delicious.A bread pudding breakfast BakeAll of the above recipes are made using the preserved fruit recipe that is provided. However, the variations don’t stop there, as Vivian goes through the following fruits as being suitable for the main hero recipe, Sweet Potential: Apples and Pears, berries of all kinds, figs, peaches, cherries, nectarines and apricots, grapes (all kinds) watermelon, citrus, and she also discusses the inclusion of spices.You could actually make all of the recipes above using dozens of different versions of Sweet Potential (using the same Sweet Potential formula) for a completely different flavor profile each time! The really cool thing here is that once you have know your way around a particular recipe, you can switch it up by giving the hero recipe seasonal variations.Confession time, I regularly make a delicious component for a dish and have leftovers of the condiment, or dressing or sauce etc. Often the recipe tells me how long it keeps in the fridge but fails to give me any ideas on what to do with it, besides the one recipe.It is a particular gripe of mine and one that generally hasn’t been addressed in any of my other cookbooks. At least not in any concerted way.A chef often gives an amazing sauce recipe and ONE recipe using it, or a couple of vague “also good with pork” wishy washy lofty, dismissive hand waving, its easy, type comments, and then says “make double or triple, it will keep in the fridge for two weeks” yeah but what to do with it exactly? How to use it before you have to toss it?That’s one of those conundrums that seems easy to a chef, right? Vivian knows that we mere mortals struggle with this, and here she gives us all the tools to riff like a chef in our own kitchens.This is a tour de force. This is brilliant. I love the concept, the recipes for each hero AND the recipes using each hero. I am thrilled, I can’t wait to cook my way through this book and I heartily recommend it to anyone who loves punched up flavors, simple delicious recipes and who has the desire to riff like we know what’s goin’ on!If this review was helpful to you, would you please click the helpful button? It always gives me a huge kick to see that my reviews were helpful to other like minded cooks. You might also be interested in my other cookbook and ingredient reviews and my ideas lists of kitchen tools etc. On my profile I also have an "ideas list" containing all of the books that I have reviewed previously. You may be interested in reading some of those also.Happy cooking!
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020
Honestly, I thought that Vivian would be hard pressed to top her last incredible book.
I mean, if your first book is an expansive ode to Eastern North Carolina (and one that weighs around the same as a small car) and that locale is where your inspiration hails from, then where do you go from there?

In the introduction to This Will Make it Taste Good, Vivian confides in us that she did struggle with that issue for a long time before finally landing on the concept of how to cook delicious, fast, simple, every day dishes at home without sacrificing big flavor and she has succeeded in that, BIG time!

I LOVE how this book provides ten piquant “hero recipes” complete with substitutions and then gives each hero an entire chapter to explore each one fully, via some wonderful sounding recipes for mains, snacks, drinks, salads, smoothies, desserts, glazes the list goes on.
In addition to the recipes themselves she also provides a heap of other ideas on how to use each hero recipe, so that you can imagine yourself stockpiling it and reaching for it time and time again to amp up everything you cook!

This book is 1950’s rollicking, with truly great, quirky, super cute pics of Vivian, funny recipe names, every food photo looks delicious – some are ugly delicious because we are not sacrificing flavor for a delicately garnished plate here, and every dish looks like something I want to eat immediately. From Where's My Medal Grits and Chicken, Fried Chicken Finally, Mussels Will Work For You, This is 40 Fettuccine (with fried zucchini and herbdacious sauce), Gingered Cabbage in a Quirky Cream, Little Bit Scrappy Little Bit Rock n Roll Parfait. I haven’t even tried to list the ones I want to cook, because I actually want to cook everything in this book. Seriously.
There is something for everyone, from healthy sides, to cheese dip. From Glazed Ribs to Hippie Burritos it’s got it all!

Vivans book is divided into the following chapters, and I have described the hero recipe for each chapter below:

Little Green Dress – a briny herbaceous bright and vinegary condiment with olives, capers, garlic, shallots, parsley, mint, lemon, anchovy (you can omit this) hot sauce.

R-Rated Onions – you guessed it caramelized onions

Can-do Kraut – a simple cabbage and cucumber kraut

Red Weapons – Tomatoes and Jalapenos in Brine with olive oil (and Vivian uses these four components as four separate ingredients!

Citrus Shine – preserved citrus

Community Organizer – similar to a sofrito but more vinegary and sweeter, using tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell peppers, red wine vinegar and brown sugar.

Herbdacious – a pesto with garlic confit, basil, parsley, scallions and another soft herb of your choice.

Quirky Furki – a punched up version of furikake using salt and vinegar chips (sign me up!)

V’s Nuts- caramelized, spicy, umami toasted nuts. Yes to all of that!

Sweet Potential - fruit preserves. Vivian gives a single recipe with a description of many different fruits and how to handle them for this simple recipe.

So there you have it. Ten flavor bombs. Ten different chapters.

To give you an idea of how extensive a chapter on a single flavor bomb is, I will go through the Sweet Potential chapter as that chapter gives us a broad selection of sweet, savory and drinks options.

Sweet Potential Recipes:
The Sweet Potential preserved fruit recipe
Roasted Brussels
Fruit Spinach Smoothie(it sounds really good)
Chicken salad wrap with pumped up flavor courtesy of the Sweet Potential, and apples and grapes and goat cheese.
Glazed Grilled Side of Salmon (we are told we can also try the same method on chicken wings, duck, pork)
Four different pan sauces for pork
A Bubbly Hot Sweet/Savory Cheese Dip
Four Cocktails
Glazed Baby Back Ribs
A cake that is hard to describe so I will leave that to Vivian “its quick, its gooey, it’s sweet and tangy, it’s like tres leches cake and corn muffins had a messy casserole baby” and it looks delicious.
A bread pudding breakfast Bake

All of the above recipes are made using the preserved fruit recipe that is provided. However, the variations don’t stop there, as Vivian goes through the following fruits as being suitable for the main hero recipe, Sweet Potential: Apples and Pears, berries of all kinds, figs, peaches, cherries, nectarines and apricots, grapes (all kinds) watermelon, citrus, and she also discusses the inclusion of spices.
You could actually make all of the recipes above using dozens of different versions of Sweet Potential (using the same Sweet Potential formula) for a completely different flavor profile each time! The really cool thing here is that once you have know your way around a particular recipe, you can switch it up by giving the hero recipe seasonal variations.

Confession time, I regularly make a delicious component for a dish and have leftovers of the condiment, or dressing or sauce etc. Often the recipe tells me how long it keeps in the fridge but fails to give me any ideas on what to do with it, besides the one recipe.
It is a particular gripe of mine and one that generally hasn’t been addressed in any of my other cookbooks. At least not in any concerted way.
A chef often gives an amazing sauce recipe and ONE recipe using it, or a couple of vague “also good with pork” wishy washy lofty, dismissive hand waving, its easy, type comments, and then says “make double or triple, it will keep in the fridge for two weeks” yeah but what to do with it exactly? How to use it before you have to toss it?
That’s one of those conundrums that seems easy to a chef, right? Vivian knows that we mere mortals struggle with this, and here she gives us all the tools to riff like a chef in our own kitchens.

This is a tour de force. This is brilliant. I love the concept, the recipes for each hero AND the recipes using each hero. I am thrilled, I can’t wait to cook my way through this book and I heartily recommend it to anyone who loves punched up flavors, simple delicious recipes and who has the desire to riff like we know what’s goin’ on!

If this review was helpful to you, would you please click the helpful button? It always gives me a huge kick to see that my reviews were helpful to other like minded cooks. You might also be interested in my other cookbook and ingredient reviews and my ideas lists of kitchen tools etc. On my profile I also have an "ideas list" containing all of the books that I have reviewed previously. You may be interested in reading some of those also.
Happy cooking!
Customer image
5.0 out of 5 stars What would Vivian do? THIS is what Vivian would do and this book shows you how you can too!
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020
Honestly, I thought that Vivian would be hard pressed to top her last incredible book.
I mean, if your first book is an expansive ode to Eastern North Carolina (and one that weighs around the same as a small car) and that locale is where your inspiration hails from, then where do you go from there?

In the introduction to This Will Make it Taste Good, Vivian confides in us that she did struggle with that issue for a long time before finally landing on the concept of how to cook delicious, fast, simple, every day dishes at home without sacrificing big flavor and she has succeeded in that, BIG time!

I LOVE how this book provides ten piquant “hero recipes” complete with substitutions and then gives each hero an entire chapter to explore each one fully, via some wonderful sounding recipes for mains, snacks, drinks, salads, smoothies, desserts, glazes the list goes on.
In addition to the recipes themselves she also provides a heap of other ideas on how to use each hero recipe, so that you can imagine yourself stockpiling it and reaching for it time and time again to amp up everything you cook!

This book is 1950’s rollicking, with truly great, quirky, super cute pics of Vivian, funny recipe names, every food photo looks delicious – some are ugly delicious because we are not sacrificing flavor for a delicately garnished plate here, and every dish looks like something I want to eat immediately. From Where's My Medal Grits and Chicken, Fried Chicken Finally, Mussels Will Work For You, This is 40 Fettuccine (with fried zucchini and herbdacious sauce), Gingered Cabbage in a Quirky Cream, Little Bit Scrappy Little Bit Rock n Roll Parfait. I haven’t even tried to list the ones I want to cook, because I actually want to cook everything in this book. Seriously.
There is something for everyone, from healthy sides, to cheese dip. From Glazed Ribs to Hippie Burritos it’s got it all!

Vivans book is divided into the following chapters, and I have described the hero recipe for each chapter below:

Little Green Dress – a briny herbaceous bright and vinegary condiment with olives, capers, garlic, shallots, parsley, mint, lemon, anchovy (you can omit this) hot sauce.

R-Rated Onions – you guessed it caramelized onions

Can-do Kraut – a simple cabbage and cucumber kraut

Red Weapons – Tomatoes and Jalapenos in Brine with olive oil (and Vivian uses these four components as four separate ingredients!

Citrus Shine – preserved citrus

Community Organizer – similar to a sofrito but more vinegary and sweeter, using tomatoes, onion, garlic, bell peppers, red wine vinegar and brown sugar.

Herbdacious – a pesto with garlic confit, basil, parsley, scallions and another soft herb of your choice.

Quirky Furki – a punched up version of furikake using salt and vinegar chips (sign me up!)

V’s Nuts- caramelized, spicy, umami toasted nuts. Yes to all of that!

Sweet Potential - fruit preserves. Vivian gives a single recipe with a description of many different fruits and how to handle them for this simple recipe.

So there you have it. Ten flavor bombs. Ten different chapters.

To give you an idea of how extensive a chapter on a single flavor bomb is, I will go through the Sweet Potential chapter as that chapter gives us a broad selection of sweet, savory and drinks options.

Sweet Potential Recipes:
The Sweet Potential preserved fruit recipe
Roasted Brussels
Fruit Spinach Smoothie(it sounds really good)
Chicken salad wrap with pumped up flavor courtesy of the Sweet Potential, and apples and grapes and goat cheese.
Glazed Grilled Side of Salmon (we are told we can also try the same method on chicken wings, duck, pork)
Four different pan sauces for pork
A Bubbly Hot Sweet/Savory Cheese Dip
Four Cocktails
Glazed Baby Back Ribs
A cake that is hard to describe so I will leave that to Vivian “its quick, its gooey, it’s sweet and tangy, it’s like tres leches cake and corn muffins had a messy casserole baby” and it looks delicious.
A bread pudding breakfast Bake

All of the above recipes are made using the preserved fruit recipe that is provided. However, the variations don’t stop there, as Vivian goes through the following fruits as being suitable for the main hero recipe, Sweet Potential: Apples and Pears, berries of all kinds, figs, peaches, cherries, nectarines and apricots, grapes (all kinds) watermelon, citrus, and she also discusses the inclusion of spices.
You could actually make all of the recipes above using dozens of different versions of Sweet Potential (using the same Sweet Potential formula) for a completely different flavor profile each time! The really cool thing here is that once you have know your way around a particular recipe, you can switch it up by giving the hero recipe seasonal variations.

Confession time, I regularly make a delicious component for a dish and have leftovers of the condiment, or dressing or sauce etc. Often the recipe tells me how long it keeps in the fridge but fails to give me any ideas on what to do with it, besides the one recipe.
It is a particular gripe of mine and one that generally hasn’t been addressed in any of my other cookbooks. At least not in any concerted way.
A chef often gives an amazing sauce recipe and ONE recipe using it, or a couple of vague “also good with pork” wishy washy lofty, dismissive hand waving, its easy, type comments, and then says “make double or triple, it will keep in the fridge for two weeks” yeah but what to do with it exactly? How to use it before you have to toss it?
That’s one of those conundrums that seems easy to a chef, right? Vivian knows that we mere mortals struggle with this, and here she gives us all the tools to riff like a chef in our own kitchens.

This is a tour de force. This is brilliant. I love the concept, the recipes for each hero AND the recipes using each hero. I am thrilled, I can’t wait to cook my way through this book and I heartily recommend it to anyone who loves punched up flavors, simple delicious recipes and who has the desire to riff like we know what’s goin’ on!

If this review was helpful to you, would you please click the helpful button? It always gives me a huge kick to see that my reviews were helpful to other like minded cooks. You might also be interested in my other cookbook and ingredient reviews and my ideas lists of kitchen tools etc. On my profile I also have an "ideas list" containing all of the books that I have reviewed previously. You may be interested in reading some of those also.
Happy cooking!
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Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024
Arrived in good time. Excellent- like new condition.
I checked this book out from the library and knew I had to have a copy for myself. Excellent cookbook!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020
What has18 chapters, 331 pages and leaves you drooling, a Vivian Howard cookbook! She has outdone herself again. Her first cookbook! Deep Run Roots is an award winning cookbook, and it also won Vivian many kudos. This cookbook is similar in one way, Vivian tells the story of the recipe or how this cooking has impacted her life. This cookbook makes simple cooking exciting and accessible. You start out by reading this as you would any book, the stories of the food.

There are 18 chapters and 10 chapters dedicated to the food and recipes. The photos are simply luscious, the photographer is Dexter Miller, and he knows how to glorify the food. Everything about this cookbook is exquisite and yet simple. Each chapter and recipe has an unusual and eye catching name. Hippie Burritos, Rock Me Don’t Shake Me Lemon Pie, Tomato Gravy To Me, and Caesar Me Convinced, are just but a few of these quirky recipe names. What fun must have been had thinking up these names.

The point, of course, is that this is food for everyday. A simple addition that makes everything taste better. The side dishes often bring the food alive. Little Green Dish is a dish that is the most famous, a combination of olives, Shallots, fresh herbs, a particular vinegar, anchovies, capers and olive oil that can be kept in a jar in the fridge for up to a few weeks. Good luck making it last that long. This side dish is delicious on baked potatoes, chicken, steak, a filling with grilled cheese and even on pizza. This is the kind of food that brings back memories of good times and families. A really fun page is a list of things Vivian would do with food or her recipes. You will have to read it for yourself. This book is more than a cookbook, it is a lesson on family, life and how it all comes together.

Recommended. prisrob 10-21-2020
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Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024
Love her PBS shows. Recipes are clear and scalable - read a library copy first and had marked so many pages that i just went and bought it.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023
Vivian always does a great job with all the items she cooks. This book has each dish focus on a particular 'mixture' added to each dish. We seldom whip up the 'mixture' and use our own to make them, and she does an excellent job describing preparation and instructions.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2020
The title of my journal entry tonight is, "Why I Love Vivian Howard." And among many other reasons, whether you watch her shows, read her books, or cook her recipes, what is true of Vivian Howard is: "This Will Make it Taste Good."

This is such a generous cookbook, from the art, to the range of suggestions with what to do with the flavor heroes, to the flavor heroes themselves. It does feel very personal, it's so fun to read, and it's a great extension of Vivian Howard's accomplishments, but the bottom line is that all of the flavor heroes in this book will literally make anything you cook taste good.

I've watched many of her Zoom demos to promote the book on her FB page, and was inspired to make the R-Rated onions before the book even arrived on my doorstep. Like she says, she's developed the recipes in a way that you can hit or miss the mark by 10 degrees and still get a delicious result. Scrambled eggs have never looked so fancy, but these onions will elevate soups, stews, breads, pizza, and just about anything else.

I'm excited to next try 'Red Weapons." I bought a small batch of these from her online store, and OMG. I don't know how else to describe them. They're a condiment like you've never known, and they serve so many purposes. I made my roomate nearly cry in joy when I threw them last-minute into some seared scallops. She thought I'd reached the 'next level' as a home cook, and all it took was a spoon in a jar.

This book is a gift, Vivian Howard is a gift. Watch all of her shows, buy all of her books, live a more satisfying life.
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Top reviews from other countries

Marcia T. Cameron
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple fun ways to make your cooking taste great!
Reviewed in Canada on February 3, 2021
I like this book so much that I ordered one for a daughter. Also Vivian Howard has a sense of humor and these recipes are fun!
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