To the Last Bite is a good cookbook. With the idea being no waste.
I like the fact that at the end of each recipe is a list of recipes that would use the left overs from the recipe you just made. What a great idea. So you would choose the first recipe the normal way you use any cookbook, but then you would try a recipe that is listed to use the things you have left after cooking the first recipe.
There is a list of staples to be used in the cookbook. Example would be the types of salt or types of oil recommended. There is also a list of recommended kitchen tools. There is a section on growing some of the herbs for the recipes. That was really interesting.
Alexis shares a lot of her life with you in the beginning of the book and more on some recipe. Favorite recipes to try for me - BLT Salad, Eggplant Parmesan, Squash with Herby Salsa Verde, Tuna & White Bean Salad and Fruit Crisp.

This is a very bougie cookbook. That's not to say it's a bad one. The recipes sound delicious, but I wouldn't really say it's about making the most of your ingredients. The author does give you tips on how to use the rest of your buttermilk for a recipe on another page and things like that, but it's mostly just a very nice cookbook that deals with a lot of specialty ingredients and gourmet dishes. There are gorgeous photos, including many of the beautiful author out in her beautiful garden artistically holding leeks and things like that. Nutritional information is not included. Most of the recipes involve gluten and/or animal products, though they can generally be adapted for other diets.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

I cannot wait to put this book into action! There are so often times that food goes to waste because I don't know what to do with it or have too little left to make a full meal, To the Last Bite solves those issues and better it teaches you how to solve those issues yourself. Alexis deBoschnek provides some amazing recipes that are easy to follow and matched with gorgeous images to show you the perfect end result.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have loved Alexis since her Tasty days and wow is this cookbook just so beautiful, fun, and actually different. I first of all loved learning more about one of my favorite internet personalities and just to see her joy translate to this cookbook was beautiful. I love how Alexis says from the beginning this is a mix and match cookbook which is very much the way I cook. I loved how the staples are so easy to make and so adaptable. The pictures were also just so beautiful and made me want to start gardening.

Some of my favorite recipes Ive made so far include Marinated Red Peppers on Toast, Whipped Feta and Charred Scallion Dip, Pasta with Tomato Confit and Ricotta, and Fingerling Potato and Leek Top Frittata. All were so delicious and insanely easy to make.

I can't wait to purchase my own copy and cook from this book all the time.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for my ARC for an honest review.

I feel like "To the Last Bite" by Alexis deBoschnek was written just for me. It's my kind of book, talking about growing food, the importance of food in our lives and not wasting this precious resource. This book gives ideas, recipes, and inspiration on how to creatively expand our repertoire regarding using food and stopping food waste but delivered along the way with great writing, moving stories, and gorgeous photography.

The photo with the garlic bundles, I've done the same thing. This whole book brought a smile to my face. I oohed and ahhed and said I have to remember to start doing this! Or "I'm definitely going to make this"! The vegetable section was my favorite and I dug right in 'Shaved Zucchini with Bagna Cauda" and it was fantastic.

It's a beautiful book that holds such joy.

Judged solely by the recipes, To the Last Bite is almost a 5 star cookbook. It has some great recipes, and beautiful, appetizing photographs. But, it doesn’t quite do what it says it wants to do – teach tips and tricks for reducing food waste. It starts to go there, but then doesn’t really commit. After spending a couple of weeks with it, I wondered if a decision was made to put more of it emphasis on being pretty than useful.

But let’s talk about the recipes first. The first time I scrolled through the recipes, I thought of my Alice Waters and Deborah Madison cookbooks. Very vegetable first with flavorful recipes. Though I have some quibbles all the recipes I tried worked beautifully. My 3 favorites things are elements rather than complete recipes. The black garlic butter (I used plant butter) from the Black Garlic Butter Salmon with Scallions is fantastic. I sliced up some cabbage and carrots, put them in a cast iron skillet, put chicken thighs on top and then smeared everything with black garlic butter and roasted it. So good. She uses the herby salsa verde on some roasted acorn squash, but I would put it on everything. It’s got a really nice, bright herby flavor that’s guaranteed to brighten any dish. And the corn stock. I discovered that you can make stock with dekernaled ears of corn a few years ago and it was a life changing discovery. Now, deBoschnek’s recipe calls for a parmesan rind. That is entirely unnecessary, and for me, unwelcome. I make mine with just fresh corn cobs, water salt and pepper and it’s just the best thing ever. It’s like liquid gold. This whole cookbook is worth it for just the corn stock.

Cutting back on food waste continues to be one of the most effective ways we can combat climate change. But when recipes only call for a small portion of an ingredient, what do we do with the remainder? Alexis deBoschnek has the answer.

This blurb is why I requested the book. I am always interested in finding ways to reduce food waste. I had expectations, and maybe that was unfair, but they were not met. To be fair, what deBoschnek does is include recipes at the foot of each recipe that will use up remaining ingredients or leftover bits of ingredients. It felt like she took 5 steps on a 10 step journey. I wish there had been more recipes like the Any Fruit Granita that encouraged flexibility and creativity in using up produce. The likelyhood that I’m going to make a merengue semifreddo to use up egg whites is very very slim, and that’s only one of two recipes that call for egg whites.

All of that said, I would still buy To the Last Bite, because I love the recipes. It is best for people who have access to a farmers market or a store with a really good produce section. A good cheese shop would also be recommended.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

To the Last Bite: Recipes and Ideas for Making the Most of Your Ingredients by Alexis deBoschnek is very timely, since most of us don’t want to waste food and this book teaches how to use everything while still preparing fabulous meals. How often do we purchase ingredients, use part of them, and let the remainder go to waste? This cookbook has mouthwatering solutions which will not only give us ideas to use up those ingredients, but make some new dishes that everyone will like.

One very good thing is that at the end of each recipe, the author lists other recipes that use the leftover ingredients; and it goes on and on, like a chain reaction.

The recipes are such that there is something for everyone; they are very appealing, and not just for same-old-same-old dishes. These recipes are unique enough to make dinnertime more exciting without seeming too gourmet or outlandish. The recipes are written in traditional form and are easy to follow. Most call for standard ingredients that are available at any large grocery store, and it’s a real bonus that there are enough good dishes that you will use up the ingredients rather than store them in the fridge until they go bad. You’ll like knowing that you can use up the entire tub of ricotta cheese or sour cream, as well as the jar of olives, or produce that spoils quickly. There are also beautiful photographs.

All told, this cookbook has recipes that are worth making, are delicious, and eliminate waste and those furry unknown ingredients that seem to be stuck in the back of the fridge.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Fancy delicious recipes using scraps! Just make sure you usually use fancy ingredients to begin with in order to have fancy scraps to use for these recipes. This is the most elegant collection of recipes I've encountered with the aim of using up every last bit of the ingredient with several recipes catering to one ingredient.

To me, this is the perfect cookbook. I very rarely go through a book and mark EVERY recipe as “want to make” but To the Last Bite was the exception. The focus of the book is on cooking with whole ingredients with the seasons, but also on eliminating waste. We all know that food waste contributes to our footprint, but we don’t always know how to use up that leftover bunch of parsley when a recipe only called for 2 TBSP. What the author does is genius, I think. Alexis deBoschnek gives us the recipe, and then at the end of the recipe she lists other recipes from the book that could use up your leftover ingredients. I.e. you make the California Citrus Salad and then use the leftover 1/2 of a red onion for crispy potato skins with crème fraiche on page xx. It feels VERY attainable and really made me feel confident that I could cook these recipes in a way that was cohesive, not just for a menu, but also for my food waste.

The other thing about this book that really spoke to me is it is MOSTLY vegetable forward cooking, and with really accessible ingredients at that. There are a few meat and fish recipes throughout the book, but it leans veg. The photography is also gorgeous, some of the most striking and memorable photography I have seen in a book as of late. The author lives in the Catskills and I feel that the general aesthetic of the book and the food perfectly captures that cozy, mountain vibe.

When I say I want to make 98% of the recipes in this book I am not exaggerating. It is like Alexis called me up and asked me what I like to eat and made a book around that. I’ll obviously be pre-ordering immediately. A few that I have to make urgently: poached shrimp with thousand island dressing, marinated ricotta salata with cracked spices, panzanella with tomato, melon, and pickled mustard seeds, bucatini with tuna and olives, and the buttermilk shortcakes with roasted strawberry.

RUN! This book was so inspiring and simple, yet informative and exciting. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. To the Last Bite is out 4/19/22!

My favorite kind of cookbooks have to check two boxes: interesting to read and interesting recipes to choose from. Alexis deBoschnek's book is both of these. From the strong introduction with a sliver of her history and helpful tips on stocking your fridge and pantry, the best ways to shop to reduce food waste and how to create a beautiful cheese plate, this is a cookbook that all readers will find helpful and delicious!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This cookbook had a few recipes I was interested in but not enough that I would purchase a copy for myself.

In an era where we face (amongst numerous other challenges), a broken and exploitative food production system filled to the brim with waste, rising prices across the board and also a genuine need to limit trips outside to the store for safety’s sake, I know that at least I personally could definitely use more cookbooks like Alexis deBoschnek’s “To the Last Bite.” It has everything that I could want and then some, including intentionally vegetable-focused meals, common ingredients that I can obtain without much fuss at my local grocery stores, and succinct easy-to-follow recipes. Also, I absolutely loved the footnotes at the end of nearly every recipe that detail PRECISELY in which other recipes from this very book that any scraps can be used up.

My first browse resulted in a scribbled list of several new recipes that I’d like to try in the kitchen, and I’m sure that list will quickly grow in near-future read-throughs. I don’t often use the word “excited” when describing a cookbook, but I’d be lying if I said that’s not how I currently feel about this one. “To the Last Bite” is practical, definitely a little inspiring, and overall just a delight.