Pies

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Company’s Coming Ltd. describes its books as Canada’s most popular
cookbook series. There are numerous factors, in addition to astute
marketing, that contribute to the validity of this claim.

The books—Lunches and Pies are numbers 17 and 18 in the series—are
colorful, cheerful, easy to read and use, imaginative, and practical.

Paré manages to produce cookbooks that inspire readers to try new
recipes, that make it easy for everyday cooks to venture at least a few
steps down a new path. And she does this without the aid of exotic
ingredients or esoteric techniques. The recipes are easy to follow, the
ingredients readily available. The results range from a particularly
nice version of an old favorite to something a little different but not
so unusual as to be unacceptable to traditionalists.

Next, the recipe collections are generous. For example, in Pies Paré
delivers an incredibly diverse serving of recipes: fruit pies, crustless
pies, cake pies, mock pies, frozen pies, cream pies, chiffon pies,
custard pies, ice-cream pies, fried pies, fancy pies, and plain pies.
Lunches has salads and dressings, entrées, muffins, soufflés, squares,
casseroles, fruit dishes, cakes, vegetable dishes, soups, quiches,
biscuits, omelets, puddings, cobblers, burgers, and sandwiches. In other
words, each collection is large enough to satisfy the average cook’s
need for recipes on the subject.

The books are well designed and produced. The ingredients are listed in
bold type in both metric and imperial measures. The method is orderly
and divided into sections, which makes it easier to read with flour on
your glasses. The coil bindings allow the books to open flat and the
type is large enough to read at a glance: both key factors in books
intended to be propped open on a cluttered kitchen counter.

Generous use of color photos and tinted pages make the books visually
attractive. Comments on the recipes and the use of jokes for fillers
make them fun browsing.

Anyone who owns one Company’s Coming book will want to acquire the
other titles in the series.