How to Repair Food

Rating:
Summary: This book was awful
Review: ...This was badly constructed and a total waste of money. I read it in a few hours and promptly thru it in the trashcan.

Hello!!!

Rating:
Summary: This book was awful
Review: The cover copy sums it up perfectly: "What to do when you discover that just about any kind of food or drink is ... overcooked | undercooked | stale | burned | lumpy | salty | peppery | blank | too spicy | frozen | mushy | too dry | too wet | flat | tough | too thick | too thin | wilted | fatty | collapsed | curdled | or stuck together"

You won't use it very often, but when you NEED it ... when your guests are waiting, and something dreadful has happened to your masterpiece, you'll be glad this slim volume is at hand. It is packed with truly helpful, and sometimes ingenious, suggestions on how to fix just about any possible kitchen problem. Don't have enough broccoli? "Cover it up with hollandaise sauce. Everyone knows hollandaise sauce is terribly rich, so they'll eat less."

As you can see, the advice is not served plain. The authors obviously decided to have fun while writing, and the result is often startlingly funny. I read this book from cover to cover, laughing often, and learning plenty in the process. Bland mushrooms? Add marjoram. Overdone steak? "Continue cooking it until it is completely charred and use it to scratch pictures on the walls of your cave." Ketchup won't pour? Now, now, I can't be giving away ALL the authors' secrets ...

Rating:
Summary: Very silly but truly valuable
Review: This book probably appeals most to two kinds of people: those who don't cook and therefore are stuck when the recipe in BH&G doesn't pan out they way they expected, and the typical Alton Brown kitchen science person who not only has I'm Just Here for the Food but Cookwise, Kitchen Science, the complete Best Recipe series, and a sufficiently warped sense of humor to be rolling on the floor on each and every page of Kitchen Confidential. Pity that, because it's good for far more than just those two groups.

This book is really about crunch-time creativity (especially when the crunchy stuff is stuff that shouldn't be crunching). The sense of humor in the book is a bit dotty and (Julia) Childish, but it really goes out of its way to portray cooking disasters as something not to cry over, and even tells the rather sad story of the chef François Vatel and his suicide over a misunderstood fish order to make its point. It's not a book for culinary purists -- creative uses abound of convenience foods that most wannabe master chefs wouldn't normally touch -- but keep in mind the best section of your average church/school/community cookbook is probably the section on hints, tips, and substitutions, and remember that this is a whole book of that kind of thing. It's the culinary equivalent of a hospital crash cart.

Someone else said that this is something you will need mainly in emergencies. Well, that's pretty much true, but it's still a good book to pull off the shelf and just read, both for the information and the jokes. It also has the bonus of including a complete (rather sophisticated) meal made entirely with "spare parts" ingredients and instructions on dealing with balky equipment. Good stuff, and should be on every cook's bookshelf, not just the ones who need it most.

Rating:
Summary: Must Have for Kitchens and Bookshelves
Review: This is one book that every household should have, especially if you just moved out and Mom's no longer doing the cooking for you. I found this book in a single friend's stack of books and started browsing through it and can't put it down. As the title suggests, there is a remedy for most of your cooking mistake. And if there's none, then the book itself is still a funny read.