What's the best meal of the day? For many of us, it's breakfast. Saluting that fact is Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison's A Real American Breakfast, a collection of 275 traditional and innovative recipes that cover breakfast comprehensively and in the best taste. Breakfast often competes with a tight morning schedule, which the book acknowledges by offering recipes that can be prepared the night before; regional, café, and bed-and-breakfast favorites are provided, as well. Dishes range from familiar eye-openers like waffles and cinnamon toast to less conventional fare like Salmon Croquettes and the Maple-Glazed Ham, Cheese, and Leek Sandwich--food that can also be enjoyed throughout the day.

Among other outstanding chapters, "Break an Egg," "Heavenly Hashes," and "Home-Crafted Cereals" score with exemplary recipes for fried eggs and bacon, red flannel hash, and crunchy granola, as well as "new" delights like Poached Eggs on Creamy Grits, Capitolade of Chicken, and Toasted Wheat with Caramelized Bananas. Other sections offer stratas and breakfast casseroles like Calabacitas Tortilla Casserole; dairy specialties, including lassi, an on-the-go chilled yogurt drink; and sweets, such as Raspberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, Brown-Butter Apple Cake, and Chocolate Bread Pudding. With historical notes, old menus, and technique advice, the color-photo-illustrated book is the last word on the day's first meal. --Arthur Boehm


From Publishers Weekly
Although most cooks would agree with the Jamisons (American Home Cooking) that breakfast "can be the homiest meal of all" not everyone has the time to cook first thing in the morning. Fortunately, many of the Jamisons's 275 delightful recipes can be served just as well at weekend brunches or weekday suppers. The 14 chapters featuring eggs, pancakes, cereals and breads, as well as casseroles, sandwiches and cobblers are full of original ideas that expand the boundaries of breakfast (such as serving Strawberry Shortcake in the morning). International dishes like Swedish Pancakes and Asian Rice Porridge with coconut milk are offered alongside the more familiar and luxuriously elaborate Eggs Benedict Souffles, Spiced Lamb Sausage, and Baked Crime Brelie French Toast. There are also simple dishes such as Fruit Smoothies and Fried Egg Sandwiches for those mornings when the school bus is honking outside. With every recipe there are helpful tips on techniques and ingredients, as well as sidebars featuring American breakfast history and trivia, all in elegantly written, snappy text. Our country's breakfast traditions are wildly diverse, and the Jamisons' enthusiasm for their subject is a great incentive to get out of bed and try them all. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
The Jamisons' last book was American Home Cooking, so perhaps this could be considered a spin-off. However, that description seems too slight for this immensely appealing book, which is packed with culinary history and lore, tips and techniques, and selections from period menus and cookbooks, as well as 275 regional recipes collected on the authors' travels throughout the country. Along the way, the Jamisons also asked hundreds of people for their favorite breakfast dishes, and they have compiled an amazingly diverse selection of recipes, from egg dishes such as Amana Hoppelpoppel and Bacon-Basted Fried Eggs to Baked CrŠme Br–l‚e French Toast to Ginger Cream Scones and Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits. As much a social history as a cookbook, this is highly recommended. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Despite decades of touting breakfast as nutritionally the most important of the day's meals, most Americans give it the short shrift, preferring extra sleep to the time it takes to prepare a really savory breakfast. Cheryl Jamison and Bill Jamison propose to change that attitude with A Real American Breakfast. They inventory dozens of recipes for egg dishes, quick breads, pancakes, waffles, bacon, ham, and seafood. The Jamisons' recipes reflect Midwestern, New England, Cajun, and Mexican culinary traditions. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
There's no better way to start your day than with a hearty breakfast. And there's no better book about breakfast than A Real American Breakfast by the award-winning authors Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.A Real American Breakfast is a coast-to-coast feast of 275 breakfast recipes. You'll find everything from old favorites like waffles and homemade cereals to Charleston Shrimp and Grits, Mississippi Bacon Sandwich with Milky Tomato Gravy, Oregon Salmon Hash, the LEO (Lox, Eggs, and Onions), Bronx Matzoh Brei, and so much more.This indispensable collection of bountiful breakfasts adds new tastes and variety to the morning meal. Eggs Goldenrod, Brown Butter Scramble with Avocado, and Rio Grande Egg Puffs are just some of the food fancies guaranteed to help you break out of your bran flakes routine. Traditional breakfast fare is transformed into whimsical treats such as Crunchy French Toast, New England BrownBread Griddle Cakes, and Grits and Bits Waffles. The American melting pot heritage is also seen in our national breadbasket, from Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and Herbed Popovers to Very Blueberry Muffins.Breakfast doesn't have to be just for breakfast. These recipes can be enjoyed any time of day. Dishes such as hearty Salmon Croquettes and Portsmouth Salt-Cod Hash make nourishing dinners. Morning meats like Pan-Seared Iowa Breakfast Chops and a Prime-Time T-Bone are great for entertaining, any time of the year. Give brunch a boost with a creamy chicken casserole and cottage fries. Dairy delights like healthful fruit smoothies are invigorating and refreshing anytime.Filled with historical notes, old menus, and plenty of advice on ingredients as well as technique tips, this comprehensive breakfastcookbook is one that you'll want to begin your day-especially with sixteen pages of full-color photographs that show how many of the dishes will look. So make the most important meal of the day the best meal of the day with A Real American Breakfast.


About the Author
Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison are considered the most respected authorities on American regional home cooking. Their previous cookbooks have sold more than half a million copies. Awardwinning authors of fourteen cookbooks and travel guides, the Jamisons write with passion and wit about topics as varied as American home cooking, barbecue, the food and culture of the Southwest, and tropical beach travel. The Jamisons are recipients of the culinary field's most prestigious honors, with James Beard Awards for Smoke & Spice and The Border Cookbook, which also received a Julia Child/lACP Award nomination. Their most recent cookbook, American Home Cooking, took both major prizes in 2000, earning a James Beard Award and the IACP Crystal Whisk Award. They live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Most likely, you've never heard anyone say that dinner or lunch was the best meal of the day, and that's no accident -- breakfast is the clear favorite in America. We seek out casual restaurants that feature breakfast served all day long, rather than narrow-minded establishments that cut us off at 11:00 a.m., just when our waffle readiness hits 10.

This wonderful collection of 275 recipes for breakfast is perfect for breakfast boosters everywhere. Cheryl and Bill Jamison, experts on American regional home cooking, draw on every part of the country for inspiration. There's Portsmouth Salt-Cod Hash from New Hampshire, Chipotle Potato Pancakes from the Southwest, a Mississippi Bacon Sandwich with Milky Tomato Gravy, and the LEO (Lox, Eggs and Onion scramble) from New York. Just take a look at the 16 pages of full-color breakfast photos -- if the photo of the tall stack of silver-dollar pancakes doesn't make you hungry, nothing will.

The Jamisons lavish attention on every section of the breakfast menu, from eggs and cereals to hashes, stratas, cobblers, coffeecakes, preserves, jams, and hot and cold beverages. For fun, they add historical tidbits like the breakfast menu on the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1899 (Preserved Cherries, Broiled Spring Chicken on Toast, Baked Beans) and other bygone restaurants, as well as ingredient and technique tips. (Ginger Curwen)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

There's no better way to start your day than with a hearty breakfast. And there's no better book about breakfast than A Real American Breakfast by the award-winning authors Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. A Real American Breakfast is a coast-to-coast feast of 275 breakfast recipes. You'll find everything from old favorites like waffles and homemade cereals to Charleston Shrimp and Grits, Mississippi Bacon Sandwich with Milky Tomato Gravy, Oregon Salmon Hash, the LEO (Lox, Eggs, and Onions), Bronx Matzoh Brei, and so much more.

This indispensable collection of bountiful breakfasts adds new tastes and variety to the morning meal. Eggs Goldenrod, Brown Butter Scramble with Avocado, and Rio Grande Egg Puffs are just some of the food fancies guaranteed to help you break out of your bran flakes routine. Traditional breakfast fare is transformed into whimsical treats such as Crunchy French Toast, New England Brown-Bread Griddle Cakes, and Grits and Bits Waffles. The American melting pot heritage is also seen in our national breadbasket, from Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and Herbed Popovers to Very Blueberry Muffins.

Breakfast doesn't have to be just for breakfast. These recipes can be enjoyed any time of day. Dishes such as hearty Salmon Croquettes and Portsmouth Salt-Cod Hash make nourishing dinners. Morning meats like Pan-Seared lowa Breakfast Chops and a Prime-Time T-Bone are great for entertaining, any time of the year. Give brunch a boost with a creamy chicken casserole and cottage fries. Dairy delights like healthful fruit smoothies are invigorating and refreshing anytime.

Filled with historical notes, old menus, and plenty of advice on ingredients as well as technique tips, this comprehensive breakfast cookbook is one that you'll want to begin your day-especially with sixteen pages of full-color photographs that show how many of the dishes will look. So make the most important meal of the day the best meal of the day with A Real American Breakfast.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal