The Gourmet Potluck: Show-Stopping Recipes for the Buffet Table

by Beth Hensperger

Yet another potluck invitation in the mailbox? This one-stop collection is the antidote to the what-should-I-bring woes. Organized seasonally and focusing on fresh ingredients (with lots of veggie options), THE GOURMET POTLUCK gives cooking for groups style, panache, and inspiration. From Super Bowl parties and summer barbecues to birthdays and bridal showers, catering vet Beth Hensperger dishes up ideas aplenty for every potluck occasion.The definitive guide to being the star of every potluck, with straightforward, sophisticated recipes scaled to serve 10 to 16 people.Features more than 50 main and side dish recipes and 20 full-color photographs.Each recipe includes prep timeline, serving dishes and utensils needed, transportation notes, and reheating requirements.Reviews"The definitive guide to being the star chef at the next meal cooked by committee."-Cookbook Digest

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Beth Hensperger is a passionate professional- and home- baker who is both extremely creative and extraordinarily prolific as an author and developer of quality recipes. Her training included a ten-year apprenticeship as a restaurant and hotel pastry chef as well as having her own custom wedding cake business and attending classes given by some of the top bakers in America. Though restaurant trained, she considers herself more of a dedicated home baker than a chef.
Beth’s writing career began when she was chosen as the Guest Cooking Instructor for the March 1985 issue of Bon Appetit. She is now the author of fifteen cookbooks, many of them best sellers. Her most recent books include: Williams Sonoma Breads (Weldon Owen), Bread For Breakfast (Ten Speed Press), and The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (HCP). The Bread Bible (Chronicle Books) is the recipient of The James Beard Foundation Award for Baking in 2000. Beth's Basic Bread Book (Chronicle Books), a sequential text for the beginning home baker, published in the Fall of 1996, was chosen as one of the best baking books of the year by People Magazine. She has been nominated twice for the IACP Julia Child Cookbook Awards. Her books are all represented at the prestigious Culinary Collection of the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When she isn't up to her elbows in flour, Beth is a monthly food columnist with the San Jose Mercury News "Baking By the Seasons". She is a regular contributor to Cooking Pleasures, Food & Wine, Shape Magazine, Bon Appétit, Veggie Life, and Pastry Art and Design Magazines.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beth Hensperger is a caterer in San Francisco which entitles her to write about quantity cooking. Tragedy awaits the cook who thinks that one may quadruple the ingredients in any recipe which serves six to produce a dish which will serve 24. That sort of multiplication works well for making lemonade for a crowd but not for many other recipes. Her use of the term "gourmet" in the title is belied by the inclusion of one recipe which calls for Campbell's cream of chicken soup in the sauce. Several of the recipes appear to be of the sort common to Ladies Home Journal. But the stuff on technique is very good. She has lots to say about what can be prepared in advance and the best ways to reheat dishes without destroying them. Her suggestions on which tools to take to the event and how to transport the food might seem elementary, but not to the person who has forgotten to bring a ladle to a place where there are none or who has spilled a saucy dish all over the upholstery in the back seat of their car. There are what appear to be some exceptional recipes in this little book, e.g. the Gorgonzola Bread Pudding, and the Salmon en Croûte. There are not enough books in print on quantity cooking and those that are tend to be awfully expensive. This is a useful addition to the library of anyone who enjoys cooking for more people than can be seated at their dining room table.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to take to the next potluck? This book overs a great assortment of dishes to share.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing selection of recipes for potluck dishes, with a few familiar favorites, but most are items I've not seen on a potluck buffet table. As I'm always looking for something out of the ordinary, but still crowd-pleasing, this book should prove quite useful. Recipes are arranged seasonally, with helpful hints for advance preparation, transportation, prep required at the potluck site, & items to bring for serving. Contrary to the opinion of another reviewer, I don't think that including one recipe that uses canned soup negates the "gourmet" of the title. Most of the recipes sound delicious, and the photos look very tantalizing. Looking forward to trying some of these very soon!

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of tempting receipes if you are serving 8-12 people.