Category: Cookbook Reviews

Reviews of cookbooks and other food-related books.

Cookbook Review: “Anglo-Indian Cookery” by Errol Anderson

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date May 14, 2020

Anglo-Indians are either a mix of British and Indian ancestry, or of British descent and born in India. This cultural group has developed its own cuisine, fusing both British and Indian cooking techniques and flavors. Anglo-Indian Cookery shares a selection of well-known dishes from this culture.

Summary of Anglo-Indian Cookery

The author immigrated from India to the U.K. and found himself missing the foods he had grown up with. So he learned from his mother how to cook them himself and gathered the best into this cookbook.

The book is organized into the following categories:

Soups
Fries
Curries
Sundries (sides)
Desserts
Homemade Wines

What Worked for Me

There is a nice variety of recipes and the photography is not intrusive.
There are guidelines and charts to help you understand the basics of Anglo-Indian cooking.
The book stays open for most pages, so it is easy to use while making a specific dish.
The recipes are laid out nicely and easy to follow.

What Didn’t Work for Me

The introduction and non-recipe text are very poorly written. I had to read them a few times to understand what Errol was trying to communicate. That said, that’s not why you’d buy this cookbook, so it shouldn’t make too much of a difference.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

I would love to see the book professionally edited and the introductory text massaged so that it read well. The author has an interesting story to share, but the current writing just doesn’t do it justice.

Recommendation for Anglo-Indian Cookery

If you like Anglo-Indian food this might be a good addition to your cookbook library.

Rating for Anglo-Indian Cookery

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Anglo-Indian Cookery – A Selection of well-known dishes
Author: Errol Anderson
Format: Paperback, 108 pages
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing Limited
Language: English
ISBN-10: 178148970X
ISBN-13: 978-1781489703 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past book reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to read or not read the book, even if you disagree with my opinion.

Tags anglo-indian cuisine, foreign flare

Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “Good Cheap Eats” by Jessica Fisher

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date May 11, 2020

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. I know that a tight budget certainly brings out the creativity in the kitchen. In her book Good Cheap Eats, Jessica Fisher provides 200 recipes that illustrate this point. The mother of six, she knows how to make the food dollar stretch and shares her experience with budget-friendly cooking in this book.

Summary of Good Cheap Eats

The author describes her book this way: “This book is a road map toward shopping wisely, choosing ingredients carefully, and planning meals that your family will enjoy.” She also says it will help you do this with taste and style while staying under budget. She provides the reader with a quick overview of ingredients and tools that will be needed, then plunges into the recipe content.

The first chapter is all about going meatless. Plant-based meals, in general, tend to be more cost-efficient than those that are meat-based. In a logical progression, the next chapter helps the reader stretch meat out. This is where you’ll find dishes that may feature meat, however, they also give vegetables and starches equal billing. Next up is the chapter that focuses on meat as the star of the meal.

Once these three basics are out of the way, Fisher sets her eye on the environment of the meal, rather than the ingredients. The next chapters are about “Grilling and Eating Outdoors,” “Company Dinners,” “Make-Ahead Meals,” “Breakfast for Supper,” and “Meals on the Run.”

Sprinkled throughout are useful charts and helpful tips, such as knowing when meat is done and knowing what to do with leftovers.

What Worked for Me

I kind of enjoyed Fisher’s organizational framework for this. She eschewed the traditional organization based on time of meal or type of recipe, such as “Breakfast,” “Lunch”, and “Dinner,” or “Main Dishes,” “Sides,” and “Dessert” and did something all her own. I thought it was clever to look at meal planning through the lens of cost-effectiveness instead.

That said, if your brain works more in alignment with a traditional format, you can still find what you’re looking for using the index.

The photography is good. I like the icons that tell you when a recipe is meatless, gluten-free, make-ahead, and the like.

What Didn’t Work for Me

Because there is so much photography in the book, it is printed on glossy paper, which is pretty heavy. This cookbook has a heft. And, as is my wont, the trade paperback format makes it hard to keep the book open in the middle pages.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

The suggested menus show up next to the main dish of the meal. This means you need to know what the main dish you want to make before you find the suggested sides. I would love to see a chapter that just lists the menus. I think it could be quite useful to peruse them first. Also, maybe include some suggestions for mixing and matching.

Recommendation

If you’re a busy mom, this could be the cookbook that helps take the chaos out of your kitchen and helps you keep the food budget manageable. It really is possible to eat well on a budget, and this book will help you do it.

Rating for Good Cheap Eats

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Good Cheap Eats: Everyday Dinners and Fantastic Feasts for $10 or Less
Author: Jessica Fisher
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Harvard Common Press
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1558328432
ISBN-13: 978-1558328433 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “Taste of Tanzania” by Miriam Kinunda

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 29, 2020

Just before my third birthday, my family moved to Nairobi, Kenya. My memories start there and the two years I lived and attended school there have shaped much of my life. So, when the opportunity to review Miriam Kinunda’s cookbook Taste of Tanzania, nostalgia compelled me to say, “Yes!”

Summary of Taste of Tanzania

“I love to cook and entertain and have always served Tanzania dishes to my guests and friends,” said Kinunda (now Malaquias). “After receiving many requests for my recipes, I decided to start a website where they would be accessible to the masses.” And from there, Taste of Tanzania was developed.

The cookbook focuses on the cuisine of Tanzania, which shares a border with Kenya and Uganda on the East coast of Africa, along the Indian Ocean. This cuisine is influenced by Swahili (Bantu), Persian, Indian, and European cuisines. There is a wide variety of dishes from appetizers to main dishes to desserts.

What Worked for Me

I enjoyed the introduction, which included a lot of background information about Tanzanian cuisine, adding to what I already knew.

The photographs are homespun, which really lends a sense of authenticity to the cookbook. This isn’t some sleek, corporate book pushed out to make bucks. You can tell this was a labor of love.

The recipes look straight forward and easy to follow, and the author made an effort to translate authentic recipes into something that a cook in the U.S. could make.

What Didn’t Work for Me

The cookbook is printed on glossy paper, probably to make the photographs look better, but this also adds to the weight. It has quite a heft and increases the price of the book.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

I would love to see an edition that was more wallet-friendly. There are some pretty amazing recipes in this book, but the $30+ price point makes it beyond what a lot of people may be willing to spend on cuisine with which they are unfamiliar.

Recommendation

If you enjoy exotic foods, full of flavor, then I suggest you give Taste of Tanzania a try. It was fun to peruse the book and remember the cuisines of my childhood. You might enjoy them, too.

Rating for Taste of Tanzania

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Taste of Tanzania: Modern Swahili Recipes for the West
Author: Miriam R. Kinunda (she now goes by Miriam R. Malaquias)
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: Miroki Publishing
Language: English with touches of Bantu and others
ISBN-10: 0988735903
ISBN-13: 978-0988735903 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags East Africa, Tanzania

Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “Trap Kitchen” by Malachi Jenkins and Roberto Smith

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 24, 2020

“When two former members of Los Angeles’ most nefarious rival gangs decided to unite under one oven, they had no idea that they would be creating an empire.”
~ From the back cover of Trap Kitchen: Bangin’ Recipes from Compton

The Trap Kitchen, a restaurant with locations in Los Angeles and Portland, was founded in 2013, originally in Compton, Calif. Malachi “Chef Spank”, a Crip, partnered with his best-friend Roberto “Sous Chef News”, a Blood, with the goal of using food to change the path their lives were taking in the streets. Their business provides five-star restaurant meals without the five-star price.

Starting out as pop-up restaurants, The Trap Kitchen has grown in popularity, with celebrities and residents alike flocking to their locations. Trap Kitchen was inspired by this success.

Summary of Trap Kitchen

This is the story of how two former gang members, from rival gangs, decided to change their lives by coming together and sharing food with their friends and the community. This book sports many urban dishes from their restaurants, but also a bit of their story.

What Worked for Me

This cookbook is full of personality. From typos that grow out of how they probably talk in real life to word choice in general. This is not a squeaky clean cookbook from Rachel Ray or Martha Stewart!

The photography and how it integrates with the overall design is beautiful. I very much enjoyed leafing through the book before reading it.

What Didn’t Work for Me

The cussing. My goodness, do they kiss their mommas with those mouths? I understand that cussing is part of their street cred, but I found it very jarring.

I also didn’t like how the recipes were displayed. You first got the instructions and had to turn the page to find the ingredients. This was made more confusing because the ingredients for the recipe on the page before ended up being next to the instructions for the next recipe.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

If they do come out with a second edition, although I don’t see why they would, I’d rethink the recipe layout so that ingredients and instructions are more clearly together.

Recommendation

If you’re interested in street soul food and aren’t disturbed by bad grammar, bad language, and confusing layout, this is a lovely book to look at. In addition, some of the recipes look quite tasty, such as Byrd Gang (chicken rice), You Were My Cinnamon Apple (Apple Cinnamon Corn Bread), and Chicken & Waffles.

Rating for Trap Kitchen

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Trap Kitchen: Bangin’ Recipes from Compton
Author: Malachi Jenkins and Roberto Smith with Marisa Mendez
Format: Paperback, 120 pages
Publisher: Vodka & Milk
Language: English (with explatives)
ISBN-10: 0997146265
ISBN-13: 978-0997146264 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags soul food, street food

Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “All-Time Best Brunch” by America’s Test Kitchen

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 16, 2020

Many people don’t eat breakfast, but they will do brunch. Brunch is that wonderful meal that takes place instead of breakfast and lunch, taking place at an intermediate time, somewhere between 10 am and 3 pm. Therefore, you can have — on the same plate — eggs, bacon and a hamburger!

America’s Test Kitchen, publishers of Cook’s Illustrated (one of my favorite food magazines) came out with All-Time Best Brunch a couple of years ago, and it features a variety of dishes, beverages, and accents you can use to build a wonderful brunch for your family and friends.

Summary of All-Time Best Brunch

If you ever thought of hosting a brunch, whether for a special occasion such as Easter or someone’s birthday or just wanted to make it a more regular occurrence for your family at home, All-Time Best Brunch provides you with tips, advice, and recipes to make it simple and special at the same time.

The book starts off with some tips and advice for hosting a beautiful late morning meal then gets right down to the recipes, which are organized using the following categories:

Eggs
Pancakes, French toast and waffles
Savory main dishes
Quiches, tarts and casseroles
Muffins, breads, etc.
Side dishes

It also provides charts of conversions and equivalents, in case you need to scale a recipe up or down, or need to make ingredient substitutions.

What Worked for Me

When you read the Introduction and first chapter, you get the impression this book is only for those who are hosting brunch as a party. However, when I looked at individual recipes, I found many served only four, which is much more reasonable if you want to serve brunch outside of a special occasion with company over. And even some of the dishes that serve 6 to 8 would make great leftovers, so you can find value in this cookbook even if you’re cooking for one or two.

The recipes are easy to read and to follow. And there is an index, making specific recipes easier to find.

I also really liked their approach to the concept of brunch. Their step-by-step guidelines for creating your perfect late-morning meal allows for plenty of creativity.

Because I received an advance copy in black and white and paperback, I can’t provide a complete commentary as I do with other titles where I receive the same book you would buy, however by perusing the “Look Inside” feature on Amazon, it looks like the full-color version is well designed with plenty of good photographs.

What Didn’t Work for Me

I wasn’t fond of the emphasis on hosting a brunch. I’ve sure there are many people would love to incorporate more brunch meals into their weeks who either live alone or with a significant other. It would be nice to acknowledge this application of the meal and to provide either recipes for two or at least tip on how to convert the recipe to a smaller number of servings.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

The chapter titled “Come Over for Brunch” covers both advice for hosting a noteworthy affair, but also several recipes for beverages. If I were to work on the second edition of this book, I would break that into two chapters. The first expanding on the advice, including providing options and ideas for intimate brunches for two. And the second devoted to beverages.

Recommendation

I’m a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated and so had high expectations for this cookbook. I wasn’t disappointed. As is the brand’s style, the information is sound, allows for creativity, and easy to understand and follow. If you see more than one brunch in your future, this book could be a Godsend.

Rating for All-Time Best Brunch

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: All-Time Best Brunch
Author: America’s Test Kitchen
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: America’s Test Kitchen
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1945256605
ISBN-13: 978-1945256608 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags brunch

Cookbook Reviews

Book Review: “Cooking, Baking, and Making” by Cynthia O’Hara

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 9, 2020

The freshest foods are those that are in season. But with the freezer aisle beckoning and the wide array of processed and packaged foods available, our culture has gotten away from seasonal cooking. That is probably why there is a growing trend of cooking, baking and making foods that are fresh, local and in season. However, if you’re not used to thinking this way, you may be challenged when deciding what to make tonight. That’s where Cooking, Baking, and Making by Cynthia O’Hara comes in.

Summary of Cooking, Baking, and Making

From the woman behind the “Harried Housewife” blog, Cynthia O’Hara comes a book with DIY recipes and ideas for the entire year. Cooking, Baking, and Making includes 60 recipes and 40 crafting and decorating ideas that tie your home together all year long.

The book is divided into the four seasons. And within each section, you’ll find recipes that make use of seasonal ingredients and that evoke the feel of the season. For example:

Spring: Strawberries are at their peak in the spring, so you can make Creamy Strawberry Stuffed French Toast or Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.
Summer: The most popular cherries, Bing and Rainier, are in season from May to August, so bring out the blender and make some Mango/Cherry Smoothies.
Autumn: Winter squash of all sorts (e.g. pumpkin, acorn, butternut) comes into season in early fall and usually last well into winter. Therefore a Roasted Acorn Squash Bisque is a great way to start a meal.
Winter: Winter is when people come together and share food and beverages to celebrate the season. At your next winter festivity, perhaps you’ll serve Pomegranate Champagne Sparkler or Creamy Eggnot Cupcakes.

In addition to the recipes, there are a number of DIY decorating ideas to bring your home and table together nicely, including Doily Wrapped Utensils, Decorative Coasters, and seasonal centerpieces.

What Worked for Me

I like the idea of seasonal foods, as well as DIY home decor. The motto of this blog is “Unleash Your Kitchen Creativity” after all. The idea of blending creativity in both food preparation and home decor is right up my alley.

The recipes are laid out well, and so are easy to follow. The crafting instructions are easy to understand, as well.

The photographs make this a fun book to peruse and ignited my desire to make the recipes.

What Didn’t Work for Me

The title, for one. “Cooking, Baking, and Making” is a bland, nondescript title that really wouldn’t catch my eye at the bookstore. I had to really engage with the book before I understood what O’Hara was getting at.

The crafting section isn’t a section on its own, it is just thrown into the Winter section, which makes no sense when the first craft is “Spring Centerpiece” followed by “Easy Easter Edibles.”

In addition, the recipes in the Winter section really don’t make use of the variety of produce that is in season. Yes, this isn’t her stated promise, but it is implied.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

I would love to see this book better organized. For example, perhaps break each season into recipes and crafts. That way “Spring Centerpiece” could be found in the Spring section. Also, make it more clear which entries are recipes and which are crafts. Shouldn’t “Easy Easter Edibles” be listed as a recipe and not treated as a craft?

Recommendation

Although poorly organized, the book is full of tasty-looking recipes and interesting decorating ideas. It is also written with a limited budget and cooking skills in mind, so it is good for beginners.

Rating for Cooking, Baking, and Making by Cynthia O’Hara

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Cooking, Baking, and Making: 100 Recipes and DIY Ideas for All Seasons and Reasons
Author: Cynthia O’Connor O’Hara
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Mango
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1633535568
ISBN-13: 978-1633535565 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags Cynthia O'Hara

Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “Geek Sweets” by Jenny Burgesse

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date April 2, 2020

I’m a geek who loves to bake. So when Jenny Burgesse’s Geek Sweets: An Adventurer’s Guide to the World of Baking Wizardry my inner child jumped for joy. This book is filled with not recipes and part ideas for those who love science fiction, fantasy and adventure.

Summary of Geek Sweets

From Marvel Comics to Doctor Who, from Cthulhu to zombies, from unicorns to Mayans, you’ll find a recipe for a cookie, cupcake or cake pop that will have your inner (or outer) geek squealing for joy. Regardless of what level your baking skills are, there is something here for you, as well.

Geek Sweets divides the recipes into skill levels:

Squire: These recipes are for beginners and are the easiest to follow and assemble.
Knight: These recipes require a bit more skill and time.
Dragon Slayer: These recipes are a for diehard bakers with a lot of time on their hands.

In addition, the book includes information about the tools and basic skills you will need, as well as some basic recipes that will be used as a basis for the fantastical creations later in the book. Sprinkled throughout are also party ideas called “Side Quests.”

What Worked for Me

Every time I pick up Geek Sweets I can practically feel my inner child shaking with excitement. What cool thing will I discover this time I open the book?

The photographs are stunning. There are images of the final results, as well as steps along the way for many of the recipes.

The diversity of geekiness is also well done. You’ll find recipes inspired by a number of fandoms, including Minecraft, Dungeons & Dragons, The Legend of Zelda, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, H.P. Lovecraft, Willy Wonka and more.

I also really like the way she divided the recipes by skill level. That way you can build up your skills starting with a Snozberry Cake Pop (Willy Wonka), graduate to Gallifreyan Galaxy Black Bottom Cupcakes (Doctor Who), and finally try your hand at Frozen in Carbon-Bite Chocolate Bars (Star Wars).

And you don’t have to create your templates from scratch. You can download them from the author’s website.

What Didn’t Work for Me

My inner geek is screaming, “Nooooooo! Don’t do this. Nothing is wrong with this book!” And, my outer geek kind of has to agree. Perhaps it would have been nice to have the geek source inspiration more clearly identified. That way you’d know if this was a fandom you were part of or a new one you might want to explore.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

I think it would be cool to expand this book. More recipes. More party ideas. More cool stuff.

Recommendation

I really enjoy perusing this book. I look forward to trying my hand at many of these creations. It seems clear to me that Burgesse had some fun writing this book. I think you’ll have fun perusing and using it, as well.

Rating for Geek Sweets

[one_fifth] [/one_fifth]

[one_fifth_last] [/one_fifth_last]

[one_half]

Specs

Full Title: Geek Sweets: An Adventurer’s Guide to the World of Baking Wizardry
Author: Jenny Burgesse
Format: Hardcover, 261 pages
Publisher: Mango
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1633536165
ISBN-13: 978-1633536166 [/one_half]
[one_half_last] [/one_half_last]

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags baking, fandom, geek