Tag Archives: Cookbooks

May 15, 2024 · 10:30 pm

LET’S MAKE BREAD! book review

Let’s Make Bread! w Ken Forkish. a Sarah Becan. Ten Speed Press. 160pp. $22.

The inherent goodness of breaking bread with another person is something I think we can all agree on. In this age of outrageous polarity, it is those basics of life that will see us through and hold us together. Bread, the staff of life, is the subject of a wonderful new comic book cookbook. In this marvel of a guidebook, you will learn everything you need to run your own little slice of heaven out of your home kitchen.

All of us amateur bakers have a big bag of flour sitting on a shelf. You buy it and then what? It’s so big. Why don’t they ever make smaller bags for just one or two projects? Well, with this new book, you’ll get into an easy to manage baking habit that will see you going back again and again for more and more flour. You will intimately get to know and celebrate the basic ingredients needed for glorious bread treats.

Procrastination is the joy killer of many an unfulfilled impulse to bake. Well, don’t let that happen to you. Have you put off your bread-making dreams out of an idea the whole endeavor is too complicated? Well, fear no more because this is easier than you might think and this book will prove it to you. This book will dazzle you and inspire you through the magic of concise use of words and pictures. Yes, you read that right. It’s been proven time and again that people have a very positive response to highly accessible and appealing presentation. You give someone a fun and crisp comics adaptation of something they’ve been intending to do and that comics version of the very same instructions will be what finally gets that person off the couch and into the kitchen.

People appreciate and respect authority more often than you might think too. That’s why you’ve got a bread expert, Ken Forkish, author of Flour Water Salt Yeast (winner of both a James Beard and IACP award) as your guide. Plus, you have Sarah Becan, an expert in her own right as an illustrator and author of a number of foodie books, and an illustrator featured in such magazines as Saveur and Eater. And keep in mind that when we’re talking bread, we’re also talking pizza. If you’ve ever contemplated making your own pizza dough, here’s your big break. It’s all in the steps you follow, especially how to let the dough settle and rise. I have been searching for these secrets and I’ve found them here. Or maybe the secrets to making bacon bread, raisin-pecan bread, or corn kernel bread, among many more, will grab you. This is an utterly delightful, and useful, book for any skill level, no prior knowledge required. What more could you want in a bread book? This book does far more than scratch the surface. This is your ultimate bread book.

SOMEBODY FEED PHIL THE BOOK Review — The Must-Have Travel/CookBook

It’s the series come to life!

Somebody Feed Phil the Book. by Phil Rosenthal and Jenn Garbee. Simon & Schuster. New York. 2022. 352 pp. $32.50

What is not to like about Somebody Feed Phil the Book? It’s the series come to life! If you are a fan of the food and travel show, created and hosted by Phil Rosenthal, well, this is the essential companion piece. Maybe you’re like me and you’ve viewed all the episodes on Netflix and occasionally still go back to some of your favorites. Totally fine. I’m not judging. I’ll go you one better and confess that I was an early adopter to the series and got my better half hooked on it. After that, we went back and picked clean the original PBS series, also created by Phil. Finally, we went back to other stuff related to Phil, chiefly the comedy classic sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, the show that Phil Rosenthal created and wrote for and firmly established him in the first place. I wonder, does this not ring any bells for anyone? I sense there was a time when Phil was more under the radar and now it really seems that, dare I say, Everybody Loves Phil!

The wonders of Bangkok.

The first thing I did was go through the table of contents and see which cities made the cut. I was surprised not to see Paris or Florence. But I was happy to see that New York and London, among others, did make the cut. Here’s the thing, for fans of the show, this is really special and that sense of the special should carry over quite well to just about anyone. What you get is a genuinely delightful host, who cherishes and features his loved ones on the show, provides numerous heart-felt and useful bits of insights on travel and, last but not least, pays tribute to a favorite subject of mine, food. It’s like the whole show in your pocket, or your kitchen table. And you get all these recipes! I keep rediscovering my love for good cookbooks when I am presented with a book such as this that is following a theme (in this case, it is predominantly a theme of adventure and appreciation). Thanks to this book, I can honestly say, I’m seriously looking at traveling to Thailand. The first city featured in the series, and the book, is Bangkok and it’s Phil’s unbridled love for the food and culture that has completely won me over.

Yes, the recipes are solid. You could live off the recipes in this book.

And so I dove in and went for it. No, not the travel part yet. I dove in and followed the recipe for Khao Soi, which Phil admitted to being his favorite dish, or pretty darn close to it. So, yeah, I fired up the test kitchen and we had ourselves quite a feast. I learned so much from that experience. I think it comes down to always being mindful of how much you get back when you make that extra effort. Now, this dish did seem to require some patience but, overall, it’s so much fun to make, relatively easy and lends itself to so many variations. Basically, you need meat, noodles, some chili paste, coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients just fall into place. Yes, the recipes are solid. You could live off the recipes in this book.

A fantastic tribute to New York City.

Again, the ability to enjoy the series in a different format is priceless. Of course, it was inevitable that I’d go to my favorite episode, the one devoted to New York City. Hands down, this is a city made up of restaurant customers of one kind or another, whether nondescript or celebrated, from the most humble to the most fancy. Pizza, of course, gets a lot of attention. And then there is one quintessential delight in particular, the noble Egg Cream, an utterly simple drink made up of chocolate syrup, seltzer and milk. But there are essential details. Aim for about equal parts to each ingredient and serve in a chilled glass. The syrup needs to be Fox’s U-Bet. And the way the drink is mixed can cause great debate. It’s Phil’s intense interest in culture and food that inspired me to create my own tribute to the egg cream. Perhaps I digress a bit but it’s all worth noting and, from what I’ve seen, this is definitely Phil’s favorite treat.

A taste of New Orleans. It’s all about the food and the culture.

The whole point of the show is to celebrate your favorite foods but then go beyond your comfort zone. Travel! See the world. That’s what life is all about: mixing and mingling with folks from different cultures. Phil has proven time and time again to be an excellent host, an all-time great evangelist on adventurous eating and traveling. In many ways, this book is his life’s work. He’d laugh–but he’d also nod and give you one of his goofy, and worldly-wise, smiles.

Somebody Feed Phil the Book is available as of October 18, 2022. Find it at Simon & Schuster. For information on the book tour, go here.

Holiday Review: FRIENDS: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK

FRIENDS: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK

Friends: The Official Cookbook. by Amanda Yee. Insight Editions. 2020. 176pp, $29.99. And $44.99 for the GIFT SET which includes a Friends apron.

Did you know there’s an official Friends cookbook? It’s not directly in response to the unofficial Friends cookbook but, let me tell you, that one was very disappointing for one particular reason. That book didn’t incorporate the show enough into the recipes! Wow! You would think that’s TV fandom 101! Of course, you must make such a cookbook relevant to the show you are paying tribute to, right? Am I right? Of course, I’m right! Seriously, this book is the real deal, a perfect mix of pop culture and foodie goodness. And now you can get the book or the special gift set which includes a Friends apron!

Friends. Friends. And More Friends. Can’t Have Enough Friends!

I don’t know about you but I always felt there was a bit of a subversive thing going on with Friends. It was, or it seemed to me, pretty self-concious that it was treading water, a sitcom for the post-modern era that really had nothing new to offer so it would revel in that fact and not in an ultra-clever way like Seinfeld but in a mainstream way, in a way that it could have its cake and eat it too. In other words, it wasn’t out to make a statement or even be especially funny. To me, Friends was amusing, meant to be utterly escapist and fluffy comfy. And so it all adds up, in a weird but fun way, as a show waiting to be turned into a cookbook! Anyway, the book is jam packed with quite an assortment of very practical recipes with intelligent tie-ins to specific episodes. You could actually give this to someone and they could very easily live off eating food prepared from this book for a year, maybe indefinitely. It’s that good a cookbook! Who knew, right?

Definitely Not Vegetarian Lasagna! Yes!

Of course, I gave this a try!

Now, this is one serious cookbook filled with one recipe after another! Check out Definitely Not Vegetarian Lasagna! Yes! Well, of course, I had to give this a try and, if I do say so myself, I achieved excellent results!

And get a Friends apron too!

And, of course, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, this book has got you covered with a sumptuous holiday dinner recipe. Perfect! For this post, I was a bit less elaborate but not by much. So, yeah, I chose to make a lasagna dish from the book to start with and I encourage you to do the same. It actually was a lot of fun and I’m not exactly new to cookbooks. I’ve tried my fair share of them. I think the book, like the show, is oddly amusing while also quite attractive. The layout and design is very upbeat and engaging. Any fan of the show would find that book and show are in sync. That said, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. And, if you were wondering, yes, Insight Editions does have other pop culture themed cookbooks for you to choose from. Just go visit Insight Editions right here.

Insight Editions’ Friends: The Official Cookbook is one of the bestselling cookbooks of the year. Now, fans of Friends can enjoy the book’s 100+ recipes and an exclusive, new-to-market Friends Apron in the FRIENDS: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK GIFT SET (Insight Editions; 11/10). The gift set is on-sale today!

The Official Friends Cookbook. New for 2020, Friends: The Official Cookbook is the freshest officially endorsed Friends cookbook and features dozens of full-color images and delicious recipes from the beloved hit show. With over 100 recipes, readers will learn how to master Monica’s Friendsgiving Feast, Rachel’s Meat Trifle, Just for Joey Fries, Chandler’s “Milk That You Chew,” Phoebe’s favorite Faceless Foods, and of course, Ross’s Moist Maker.
Gift Set Includes Exclusive Turkey Apron. Not available anywhere else, this high-quality apron features adjustable straps, a large front pocket, and Monica’s iconic holiday turkey recreated in glorious full color.