Christmas 101: Celebrate the Holiday Season - From Christmas to New Year's - Softcover

Rodgers, Rick

3.77

60 ratings by Goodreads

9780767903998: Christmas 101: Celebrate the Holiday Season - From Christmas to New Year's

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0767903994 ISBN 13: 9780767903998

Publisher: Broadway, 1999

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100 easy, fun recipes--with menus and timetables for stress-free entertaining--to put you in the holiday spirit!

Your tree is up and decorated, the carolers are singing, and there's just one thought on your mind: How am I going to get Christmas dinner on the table and still have enough energy to plan that New Year's bash?

Rick Rodgers, cooking teacher and author of the bestselling Thanksgiving 101, once again takes you by the hand to help you entertain (and still be entertaining) during this hectic season. Christmas 101 features 100 of Rick's never-fail recipes, from holiday classics such as egg nog, glazed ham, and gingerbread cookies, to contemporary ideas such as Shrimp Bisque with Confetti Vegetables, Prime Ribs, and Apple Shortcakes with Brandied Cream. And since the holiday season keeps going long after the last Christmas present is opened, there are plenty of New Year's ideas, from an intimate dinner for four to an open house buffet for the entire neighborhood.

Whether you're a novice preparing your first holiday dinner or an experienced cook seeking new ideas, Christmas 101 is all you'll need.

Learn everything you need to know about Christmas cookie making, with detailed instructions on baking, storing, and mailing
Create the flavors of the season, from spirited drinks like hot buttered rum and spiced punch to holiday goodies like special breads and homemade candies
Save time with soup-to-nuts menus and detailed timetables for holiday parties, from an all-dessert "Nutcracker Sweets" party to a tree trimming buffet

Christmas 101 has holiday entertaining all wrapped up, with enough festive recipes to keep you celebrating all year long.

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Review:

From the man who reinvented Thanksgiving comes--Christmas! This isn't to say that Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims should read no further. We're talking end-of-the-year feasting here. Gather up the family and clear the kitchen counters. Make room in the refrigerator. The old is about to give way to the new, and a great feast is the best gift of them all, be that a Christmas feast or whatever you may call it. Rick Rodgers shows the way with Christmas 101, identifying all possible pitfalls and minefields, encouraging mass preplanning so that you, the host or hostess, can also kick back at a certain point and become part of the festivities. There is more to life, after all, than polishing the silverware.

This slim volume is loaded with recipes and information in chapters such as "Making a List and Checking It Twice"; "Appetizers, Snacks, and Beverages" (where you'll find Old Fashioned Egg Nog); "Salads, Soups, and Other First Courses" (try Orange and Red Onion Salad with Cranberry-Orange Vinaigrette); "Roasts, Birds, and Other Main Courses" (if you're over turkey, try Crown Roast of Pork with Apple Stuffing and Hard Cider Sauce); "Side Dishes and Stuffings" (how about Giant Potato and Leek R�sti?); "Festive Breads" (bake up a crusty Moravian Sugar Cake); "Candies" (we liked Chocolate-Orange Truffles); "Cookies" (roll out some Linzer Cookies); "Desserts" (enjoy Deep Dark Stout Gingerbread); and a holiday menu planner. Does that sound all-inclusive or what? There's even more than the thousand-and-one things to do with turkey that Rodgers presented in his first volume in this series, Thanksgiving 101.

What's particularly nice about this book is that Rodgers focuses on the feast, not the setting for the feast. He knows his business and he sticks to it. "When it comes to holiday decorating," he writes,

if it can't be done simply and quickly, I don't do it.... My strengths lie in the kitchen. You won't find me hot-gluing Styrofoam reindeer. But if you can fit craft projects into your schedule, be my guest.

--Schuyler Ingle

About the Author:

Rick Rodgers is the author of more than thirty-five cookbooks, including the bestselling 101 series (Thanksgiving 101, Christmas 101, Barbecues 101) and beloved cookbooks on everything from fondue to slow cookers to comfort food. His recipes have appeared in Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, and Food & Wine and on epicurious.com, and he is a frequent contributor to Bon App�tit. He lives in the New York tristate area.

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