Reviews & Press
Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, Founding Editor of Apartment Therapy and The Kitchn, praises The City Cook and invites Kate to guest author an article about "How To Get The Most Out of Your CSA."— TheKitchn.com
In the second of two articles, The Chicago Tribune's "Food News" talks with Kate about how to plan meals and choose recipes for budget cooking.— The Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune's "Food News" talks with Kate about how to grocery shop for budget cooking. The article includes Kate's recipe for Couscous Salad With Chopped Vegetables from her book, The City Cook.— The Chicago Tribune
GirliChef.com -- "where all roads lead to the kitchen" -- gives an enthusiastic review to The City Cook, shares Kate's recipe for "Eggs In Purgatory," and welcomes comments from GirliChef readers.
— GirliChef.com
The New York Daily News talked with Kate about how to get more out of a small city kitchen and some of her favorite food merchants in NYC.
— David Yi, The New York Daily News and NYDailyNews.com
The City Cook was named one of 2010's Best Blogs-to-Cookbooks by TheDailyMeal.com and Huffington Post.
— TheDailyMeal.com at Huffington Post.
Kate was interviewed by The Inside Source, for their article "Turkey Tech: The 10 Tools You Need for the Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner"
— Reena Jana, of The Inside Source
"Kate McDonough's new book, The City Cook—inspired by her website of the same name—tackles the problem of eating well and cooking in the less-than-ideal conditions in which many urban dwellers find themselves. We spoke to the author about the challenges of small kitchens, busy schedules and difficult to find ingredients that are both sustainable and healthy."
Note: Link below will take you to Gourmet Live -- but you'll need an iPad to read the whole interview
http://live.gourmet.com/2010/11/the-city-cook/
— Interview with Gourmet Live
"People forget that beneath its bright and shiny surface, the city is a world of hidden corners and private homes where the food is terrific and the effort to keep it that way never ends. Kate McDonough opens the door to these little known worlds. Her book makes me want to eat the whole city all over again."
— Molly O'Neill, author of One Big Table and A Well-Seasoned Appetite
"Learning to cook, you need this book. Wanting to try something new, you need this book. For resources, you need this book. In short, you need this book."
— Barbara Kafka, author of Vegetable Love and the forthcoming The Intolerant Gourmet
"Kate McDonough has exactly the right idea: making shopping and cooking part of your daily life. Her savvy strategies and recipes show how simple and delicious this can be."
— Roy Finamore, author of the James Beard Award-winner Tasty
"As creator of TheCityCook.com, Kate embraced--no, hugged--the unique opportunities and challenges the urban home cook faces. What pleasure to see that enthusiasm carried on in this book. It's packed with citified home entertaining and cooking tips, and when Kate runs with a method--like the suite of different pureed vegetable recipes--you can really see her zeal at work."
— Eugenia Bone, author of Well-Preserved and Italian Family Dining
"With just eight words—big city, small kitchen, limitless ingredients, no time—first-time cookbook author McDonough ensures that she (and her 90 recipes) will wriggle her way into urban kitchens, and urban hearts. With more than half of Americans living in metropolitan areas, her philosophy of “less is more” (founded in part on her training at the French Culinary Institute and her editorship at TheCityCook.com) will appeal, especially to many lured by the latest gadget.
"In the first part, she sets up the kitchen and its pantry, advising the use of great ingredients, a select quantity of top-quality equipment, and shopping with specialty merchants. Buy only three knives, McDonough says: one chef’s, one serrated, and one paring knife will handle any kind of cooking task. That same kind of simplicity applies to her recipes: salads composed of a few fresh items like raw zucchini and parmesan and main courses that don’t consume a half-page for title only (such as broiled black cod with miso, and chicken breasts 10 ways). Vegetables take center stage, as she readily admits her food faves, yet there truly is a recipe for everyone. Even more educational is the emphasis on the how-tos: working with butchers; understanding the differences in salts and peppers, rices, olive oils, and vinegars; et al.
"The finale? Appendixes that won’t quit: buying great ingredients: some of America’s best urban markets (from Baltimore to Seattle); metric equivalencies; web merchants; other information sources; glossary (today’s food language)."
— Barbara Jacobs, BOOKLIST (Starred Review)
