Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes

by Alison Roman

Alison Roman's Salted Butter and Chocolate Chunk Shortbread made her Instagram-famous. But all of the recipes in Dining In have one thing in common: they make even the most oven-phobic or restaurant-crazed person want to stay home and cook. They prove that casual doesn't have to mean boring, simple doesn't have to be uninspired, and that more steps or ingredients don't always translate to a better plate of food.

Vegetable-forward but with an affinity for a mean steak and a deep regard for fresh fish, Dining In is all about building flavor and saving time. Alison's ingenuity seduces seasoned cooks, while her warm, edgy writing makes these recipes practical and approachable enough for the novice. With 125 recipes for effortlessly chic dishes that are full of quick-trick techniques (think slathering roast chicken in anchovy butter, roasting citrus to ramp up the flavor, and keeping boiled potatoes in the fridge for instant crispy smashed potatoes), she proves that dining in brings you just as much joy as eating out.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Foodie, Culinary

303 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2017

About the author

ALISON ROMAN is the author of the bestselling cookbook Dining In, a bi-weekly columnist for the Cooking section of The New York Times and a monthly contributor at Bon Appétit Magazine. Creator of #thestew and #thecookies, her highly cookable recipes frequently achieve massive popularity in both home kitchens and on the internet. A native of Los Angeles, she lives in Brooklyn until she moves upstate like everyone else.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super unimpressive and uninspiring. A page on cooked asparagus with olive oil and salt? Are people just throwing out cookbooks these days?

I get the concept of making easy dishes for dinners at home - but Blue Apron would be more interesting and better meals if you are going easy. These are things like baked asparagus? A classic birthday cake? Nothing new or original about this book at all.

Disappointing. Thankfully got this from the library and did not purchase - although there is no way I would have bought it if I had seen it in person at a book store.

[Andrew]

I feel whiter for having read and enjoyed this. I have gentrified myself.

[kate j · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes, i read this entire cookbook. every recipe. every footnote. alison roman is snarky and hilarious and a cooking genius. i want to make every single one of these recipes, and i also want to be her friend.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is very little in here I don’t want to make and that I couldn’t make with what’s in my kitchen now. She’s one of the fun, voice-y writers that made Bon Appetit a blast to read, so I read this like a page-turner.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had never heard of Alison Roman before this past month, when I kept seeing her referenced among key cooking resources during quarantine times. So I ordered her cookbook from my local independent bookstore. And it is... fine, but disappointing. A lot of the recipes are good but unnecessary - duplicative of what you'd find in Samin Nosrat or Ottolenghi books, but with a more minimalist Instagram aesthetic to the book design. Other recipes seem very basic - wow, let's cook asparagus in olive oil, salt, and pepper - or else unbalanced, with too much of some trendy ingredient (for instance, beets drowning in greek yogurt).

But beyond how unnecessary this book seems, I really didn't like Alison Roman's narrative persona. Starting the vegetables chapter with a photo of her, beautiful and blonde, walking through a produce market with the bold text, "When I was about seven or eight, I had a thing for supermarket shoplifting," seemed to telegraph the entitled dilettante experimenting with others' livelihoods. And starting the chapter on fruit salads with the sentence, "Before you skip this chapter because of the idea of out-of-season berries, cubed melon, and halved grapes all tossed together really turns you off, just know that it turns me off, too," also just came off as obnoxious and disdainful of how others eat.

My reaction to this book is of course heightened by her recent negative comments about other cookbook and lifestyle authors, but frankly her book already rubbed me the wrong way, and I think she should look inward before talking ill of others. Not saying I won't use any of her recipes in the future, but I've been reading a lot of cookbooks recently, and this one seems like the least necessary on my shelf.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, this is a very fun and humorous cookbook. I am unfamiliar with her blog, which is where she got her start, but it might be worth checking out if the cookbook is any indication.

This is not about putting together quick meals on a weeknight, but neither is it about fussing over food until you get it just right. It is about making strongly flavored and well balanced food that works. She has some of the aspects that I like about Alice Waters, which is letting the flavor of the food shine to it's best advantage, but she also doesn't take herself too seriously. She pokes fun at us, the home cook, but also at herself, and she has a dialogue with the reader about what is great about this recipe, what it can do for you or your dinner party, and what it cannot do. She has simple to prepare dishes and then there are dishes that you are simply not going to have half the ingredients on hand to make and you are going to have to go shopping. Maybe even in a different state if you are like me and you live in Iowa. But it is very fun and very beautiful, and one of the few cookbooks of 2017 that I chose to buy.

[Emily Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to marry Alison Roman and have her food babies. OK, that’s extreme. I want to drink a beer and eat some head-on shrimp with Alison Roman.

Her conversational writing makes reading this book more like talking with a friend about food, something I do all the time. I appreciate her approach to creating meals that are delicious and doable in a weeknight. And, as another person who can’t handle sweet breakfasts, adore not only the savory breakfasts section (the Decidedly Not-Sweet Granola is amazing) but all the sour, spicy, briny dishes contained within.

I plan to work my way through the entire collection because each and every recipe sounded good to me.

[Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

All recipes are easy-going and flavorful, refreshing ways to interpret vegetables, clear and crisp and thrilling. As someone who once hated raw vegetables, I am now eating spicy greens with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My heart feels brighter as the days are getting shorter! Would recommend to anyone looking for a renewed sense of Joy in the kitchen and in the world.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I buy maybe one cookbook a year. Maybe. This is the one I’ll buy in 2021. I love the way the simplest recipes are explained, and I’m given the”why” of each step. My favorite recipes have very few ingredients and are prepared just so, and Alison does just that in this book. 10 stars.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures, well written, delicious recipes. Alison Roman is the tops.

[Kate]

I was so excited to get this book, in part because it had like 200 holds on it in the New York Public Library so I had to wait about 4 months to get it. I had read a bunch of recommendations on it from various sources, including a bunch of hot takes on that chocolate chip shortbread. It's a nice-looking book with pretty photographs. Unfortunately I felt like the recipes weren't that interesting. Technically I have a deal with myself that if I get a cookbook I have to cook a recipe from it, but I make variations on these recipes all the time (roasted vegetables, baked eggs, various iterations of fish). I guess I rely on cookbooks to offer new information, so this one wasn't for me. But I think it would be a nice gift for someone who was just getting into cooking, like a recent grad or something.

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed the book from the library hoping I could just return it and think, just another one of many. I did return the book but immediately ordered it on Amazon. For anyone loving food and the entire concatenation of eating this is a must have. I read cookbooks from cover to cover and this one is tjock full of smart knowledge with incredible flavour combinations and clearly tells where to take short cuts while giving the longer option ( preserved lemons comes to mind ). I also particularly like the fact that the recipes makes one ingredient the focus. It works for me.
This is not a book full of recipes, it is a book full of insight.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was, is, hugely popular and I can very much see why. The recipes whole not being revolutionary hit just the right spot of things I (and presumably many others) would want to eat, and would consider cooking, all written in a snarky but very practical, elucidative way. Her tone can be a bit off, a bit too flippant sometimes (no rice for you!), it is very american geared at an american target, but to her credit, she writes like somebody who cooked that MANY times, and can warn you exactly of what to do and when to do - that is weirdly rare in cookbooks and something I really appreciate.

Ended up with lots of sticky tabs.

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been the person who reads cookbooks like, you know, a regular book, so naturally, I devoured Dining In with enthusiasm. Not only did I learn a lot of new techniques and flavor combinations I can't wait to try, but her humorous writing style and whip-smart observations made Dining In so entertaining as well.

[Jennifer]

"If you find it tragically annoying to buy salted butter just for this recipe..." was the first thing I read in this new cookbook. Can something be tragically annoying? Possibly, but - butter?? Nope.
Visually beautiful and I'm sure will be a fantastic hit among hipster foodies.

[Jenny Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Achievable, delicious recipes. I loved it most for giving me cooking tricks and tips I could tuck away and apply widely to create simple and flavorful dishes. Also the prose is lovely: funny and interesting, not just a hollow filler.

[cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

These recipes are a no for my household. Too ‘fancy’ ;)

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly the anchovy butter rubbed chicken and the impostor al pastor recipes alone make this worth buying. So happy to have received this as a gift! What a joy!

[Sheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished "reading" this cookbook tonight, by which I mean I skimmed all the recipes, looked at all the pictures, and read all of her introductory essays and notes.
As literature, I loved it. I first discovered Alison from her Home Movies recipe series on YouTube, and I just love her style and attitude. And, she cooks the way I most like to cook---with lots of garlic and lemon and herbs. Her videos have brought shallots and anchovies to the table for me as well, and my garden seed order this year is extremely dill and parsley heavy.
That being said----the chances that I will ever cook a recipe straight from the book are kinda small. I will definitely take inspiration (and I might follow some of the baking recipes. They look amazing), but for the most part I got this book for the essays and I was not at all disappointed. She's much younger and hipper than me, but I think we would have a nice time talking about Gabrielle Hamilton and Patti Smith over some rosé and little radish toasts.

[Julia Mattis · Rating 5 out of 5]

whoever did the food styling for this book deserves a RAISE! so many really solid, relatively easy recipes in this, i’m excited to start making them!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Steak, steak, steak!" Now I want to eat everything she talks about in this book.

[Abby Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just got this for Christmas & was another cover to cover cookbook read. I really liked her layout - the book is like artttt. Also the recipes feel fun & different to me & im excited to try them!!

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally read this cover to cover & my favorite essay was on how to “casually frost a cake”. I appreciated her knack for good but “lo-fi” cooking.

[Taska Amani Zakaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please let me find the time to cook some dishes out of this book

[Elicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve made three recipes from this so far and they have all been delicious! I enjoyed reading the various stories though out. A good cookbook inspires you to cook and this one does:)

[Katie Cayton-Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first cookbook I’ve ever read front to back. So fun! The recipes are relatively easy, using ingredients that, for the most part, are already in your kitchen.

[Mahin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Among a certain set, I've heard nothing but raves about Alison Roman's Dining In. But I wasn't impressed. There is such a thing as too simple, too uninspired. It's akin to visiting a contemporary art museum (which I love, BTW) and seeing a monochromatic canvas hung on the wall. Featured in this cookbook are deconstructed salads (to be eaten with a fork and knife) and assemblages of a few vegetables with salt (kosher, natch), olive oil, and a spice or two. While some recipes are too easy, others are inexplicably complicated--why, for instance, roast tomatoes with olive oil only to use them in a tomato sauce? Do these interminable steps actually make a difference in taste?

Dining In isn't all bad, though. Roman is creative and made me reconsider how some ingredients are used, and as an unrepentant sweet tooth, I need advice about cooking more savory dishes. I am never going to like beans, but I will learn how to prepare some of those dishes for my friends and family. The book itself was well-written in a conversational style and includes a ton of recipes (so it's guaranteed to have something for someone). The photography is nice, too; though it relies heavily on flash.

If you're curious to try Dining In, borrow a copy from your library.

[Sarah Guldenbrein · Rating 4 out of 5]

She makes great use of some of my favorite things, like preserved lemons, zaatar, and anchovies. I'm always interested in the "what's in my pantry" section of cookbooks, and this one is a goodie, with some solid sauce recipes, and three different quick-pickle brines, which I very much appreciate. However, overall the book is too heavy on meat dishes for this semi-vegetarian, so I won't be purchasing a copy. I am totally down with a little anchovy here, a little fish sauce there, but with large sections dedicated to meat and fish, it just wouldn't be a good value for me.

[Cynthia Paschen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good inspiration here, thought probably not a lot of things I'd actually fix. Roman likes fennel and tarragon and preserved lemons, I don't.

I appreciated the bean recipes and the chapter on fruit salads. Two of the fruit salads that sounded interesting: Blood Oranges with Crunchy Red Onion and Avocado, and Watermelon and Cucumbers with Spicy Sumac Salt.

[Jennica Watson · Rating 1 out of 5]

My big issue with this one? The title says “highly cookable recipes” and every single recipe had 1-2 ingredients I’d never be able to find in my local or small chain grocery stores. Maybe highly cookable if you live in a big city with markets.