Bring It!: Tried and True Recipes for Potlucks and Casual Entertaining

by Ali Rosen

Bring It! is the ultimate source for potluck, picnic, or dinner party-worthy dishes that combine simple prep with big taste!

The word "potluck" may inspire memories of church dinners and mystery covered dishes. But today's potlucks are essentially outsourced dinner parties, which make gathering around a shared table a cinch. Inside Bring It! , you will find dozens of impressive-looking recipes that come together easily, and are perfect for carrying to any occasion.

Author Ali Rosen has put a long career in the food world to use, drawing on chef and restaurant secrets for easy dishes that will have friends begging for the recipe. Must-have dishes

· Pimento Cheese and Crab Dip

· Snap Pea Salad with Parmesan and Bacon

· Pistachio and Anchovy Pasta

· Short Ribs with Quick Pickled Shallots

· S'mores Bars

Each recipe includes a note called "How to Bring It," for make-ahead, reheating, and transport instructions. Flavors are designed for maximum impact, but won't take hours to cook, or require special ingredients. Have dinner with the neighbors, sit down to a picnic in the park, or bring a dish to the school luncheon. They come together easily, hold well, and travel beautifully. They'll have you rethinking the potluck.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking

240 pages, Hardcover

First published March 13, 2018

About the author

Ali Rosen is a bestselling author of both cookbooks and novels, and is the Emmy and James Beard Award-nominated host of Potluck with Ali Rosen on NYC Life.

Her latest novel— described in a starred review by Kirkus as “a swoonworthy romance reminiscent of a Nora Ephron movie”—is Unlikely Story. She is also the author of three cookbooks including the recently released 15 Minute Meals.

She has frequently been featured on shows like NBC’S Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America, and in publications including The New York Times, Bon Appetit, The Washington Post and New York Magazine.

She is originally from Charleston, SC but now lives in New York City with her husband, three kids, and rescue dog.

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm bad at potlucks. I never remember to think of stuff to make ahead of time, so I thought maybe this would be a helpful book, but man, this stuff is...weird. I mean some of it looks good, but a lot of these recipes don't really seem like easy things to take for large groups of people and many seem way too fussy or fancy for the vast majority of potlucks normal people are likely to encounter at work or church or family reunions or whatever. So yeah, not super helpful.

[Sheila Garry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little 200 page cookbook with recipes for potlucks or casual dining. She tells you how to prepare each dish, how long it takes to make, how far in advance you can make it, and whether it can go from fridge to table or will need to be reheated. Very comprehensive, I flagged 11 recipes right off the bat to try.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pot luck! Great selection of recipes which I hope will make me a star—ha!

[Lynnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a cookbook club at my local library. Overall I was impressed. This book takes the guess work out of potluck events with specific instructions of what to serve hot or cold & the best ways to transport it. We made a variety of the dishes with the big winners being salmon cucumbers, spicy Brussels salad tart, & the S'mores Bars.

The recipes were easy to follow & rarely used an ingredient that was hard to find. If you're looking for ideas for your next potluck, this is a great place to start.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from our library because I'm always trying to think of yummy items to bring to potlucks. I guess our potlucks are much simpler in this part of the country than where the author is from. Most of the recipes in this book are fairly costly to make with hard to find ingredients, and only serve a handful of people. There were a few recipes that I bookmarked - mainly in the desserts section. I also would appreciate pictures for each recipe, as there were a few that sounded good to try, but as a very visual person I need to see what the end result should look like before attempting; so those recipes, unfortunately, just got skipped over.

[Cheryle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually recipes for potlucks are very good, but I did not find anything I wanted to add to my recipe collection.
Bring It! is the ultimate source for potluck, picnic, or dinner party-worthy dishes that combine simple prep with big taste!

The word "potluck" may inspire memories of church dinners and mystery covered dishes. But today's potlucks are essentially outsourced dinner parties, which make gathering around a shared table a cinch. Inside Bring It!, you will find dozens of impressive-looking recipes that come together easily, and are perfect for carrying to any occasion.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook, nothing overly complex (which I was assuming because of the subject matter, but it's nice that you don't need to set aside a whole bunch of time to make anything in this book), and easy-to-find ingredients. I appreciated that it's not the same dishes you always see at potlucks while still keeping things pretty simple (I think - haven't tried anything yet, but copied 18 to try). Not every dish has a photo, but the ones that do are very nice.

As always, will update after trying some recipes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This neat little cookbook features potluck recipes, though many of the dishes could be made for families or eaten at home. Most of the recipes can be made ahead, made in less than 30 minutes, or can go from fridge to table. She uses some shortcuts, like frozen vegetables, but mostly these are simple, fresh recipes that are easy to share.

Highlights for me are the appetizer chapter, and vegetables.

If you cook for groups, or like to entertain, this is worth checking out.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a convenient size and nicely arranged for use in the kitchen. It has a wide range of recipes and additional information at the bottom of most recipes with freezing, thawing, and warming instructions. A lot of times I find myself guessing about if something can be frozen before or after cooking, so it was nice to find that information on each recipe.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I xeroxed a couple of things, but most things were too complex for my abilities.

Also, I like to see pictures of what a recipe should look like and not every recipe had a picture or if it did, not every picture matched the recipe. For example, for Squash Bowls, the picture is of different kitchen / cooking utensils and wooden spoons.

Overall, I was disappointed.

[Dray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique premise: a cookbook focusing on recipes you bring to gatherings or potlucks. The first part of the book goes into depth about how to best transport food (must report I survived having a large pot of soup spill in my car), None the less, the recipes stand on their own, whether you transport or not.

[Christa Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of things you can make ahead and take with you. I'm intrigued with some of the interesting combinations of ingredients along with some regular stand-byes that have been created with portability in mind. I think there are a lot of good ideas and I've copied several recipes to try soon.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy-to-follow and easily accessible cookbook with recipes for just about everyone. Some folks with tighter dietary restrictions may need to make more substitutions, but there's plenty of fish and vegetable options included for pescatarians and vegetarians. I've made the goat cheese pumpkin pie and a slight variation on the bacon mushroom quiche for family events, and both were a hit!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I would like this, but these foods are kind of "out there" for my experience of family or church potlucks. Salmon? Salmon roe? Wine noodles with pine nuts? Kind of puzzling. Maybe potlucks in Iowa are very different. LOL.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book with eye-appealing yet straight forward recipes. I most recently made the Tarte Tatin and it was delicious, beautiful, economical and very easy to make. Looking forward to trying the unique flavor combinations in Ali Rosen’s salads next.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has so many wonderful recipes both for taking to a potluck or serving at home whether with company or not. I'd love to buy this but don't really need another cookbook at $25. I just keep renewing it. Tomorrow I'm fixing one of the. Deviled egg recipes. Maybe the one topped with fish roe.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I am just not fancy enough for this pot luck book, but recipes that include salmon eggs or eggplant towers just don't do it for me. I have 2 or 3 recipes from the main section and the dessert section was intriguing, but the rest is a pass from me.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It exceeded my expectations. A cookbook full of recipes for potlucks and casual entertaining. Many good ideas on transporting dishes to locations. I copied several recipes from various categories to try. A pleasant find

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of recipes. Some have photos while others don’t. Also, heads up to readers and potential cooks who have nut allergies- many recipes here call for various nuts. All not necessary. Makes me wonder what the author was thinking including so many with needless nuts.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of good recipes here!

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I liked the different ideas for quick things to make instead of just buying a bag of chips, but some of the recipes are overly complicated, or at least felt that way.

[Carole Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed this book! I never can think of what to bring to a potluck. The book had lots of good recipes and good directions. And it also has suggestions on how to bring it. Perfect!

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise for a cookbook, the "how to bring it" section was useful, some things just work better than others for a potluck dish.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing stood out to me, but a nice cookbook nevertheless.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 2 out of 5]

Borrowed the online version from my library. Some strange recipes/ingredients for potlucks in my opinion, no pictures so I’m not sure how some of the finished items are supposed to look like?

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of interesting recipes and lots of advice on transporting & reheating food.

If I cannot attend potluck events, at least I can enjoy reading about them.

[Susmita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

[JC Cornell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had some good recipes, but not a lot that I really wanted to try. Rating is based on wanting to cook less than 25% of the recipes in this book. Doesn't mean it was bad, just not for me.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little cookbook because of the way it was set up. The recipes aren't overly complicated, and each one has a note about "How to Bring It," for make-ahead, reheating, and transport instructions. The author is also good about saying, I used this, but that or the other thing would work just as well. I've marked several pages on my bookmark for recipes that I'd like to try.
As an added bonus, it fulfills my AtY challenge for week: 47. A book related to food (i.e. title, cover, plot, etc.). PSC - A book about a hobby