Good Food, Good Friends

Margaret Bremmer was an artist and illustrator in Chesterville, Ontario.

It’s an original idea: this book by two women experienced in organizing and coordinating dinner clubs provides the how-to for a do-it-yourself dinner club. Although designed for four couples (One hosting and everyone contributing to the menu), it can be adapted to any purpose.

There are three sections: Simple Gourmet, Gourmet, and International (Chinese, French, German, Hawaiian, Italian, Mexican, and Scandinavian). Each section offers approximately eight menus detailing hors d’oeuvre, a main course, and a dessert; occasionally a salad or first course is included. The recipes are given in both imperial and metric measurements, and a “Time and Temperature Chart is included to help co-ordinate the cooking. Each menu also has a “Co-op Chart,” advising which couple should prepare which dishes, and each recipe has a “Last Minute Preparation” note as to what should be done in the hour before dinner once everyone is assembled and socializing. The book is well illustrated with four appetizing color photographs and an abundance of excellent black-and-white drawings.

The variety of recipes is mouth-watering, from Curried Beef Bites to Zucchini Provençale to Black Forest Cake. The recipes are clearly and simply given, for everything from Tomato and Cucumber Salad to Grasshopper Pie. If you’re a vegetarian or a teetotaller, you’ll have to do some mixing-and-matching or adapting; all the main courses feature a meat dish and two-thirds of the desserts contain alcohol. Spiral binding is, of course, always appreciated in a cookbook. My only complaint is that the pen-and-ink artist is not credited anywhere that I could find! There are some hundred and fifty recipes in this book, and they’re well worth the price.