2006-10-13
Saving Dinner Basics
Author: Leanne Ely
This shouldn't really count as a whole book. There are about 50 pages of text that are not recipes. In it, the author tries to describe the basics of cooking, how to set up a kitchen if you've never done it before, etc. Each chapter has explanation and recipes mixed together.
I didn't find the book very satisfying. For a "Basics" book it seemed to move too fast. Good sections include one on which tools to have and which are worthless, and one on pantry setup and organization. If you're desperate to learn those things, the book may be worth the purchase price for those pages alone. The sections on actual cooking seem to have an underlying assumption that the reader grew up with a mother making delicious food every night and wants to duplicate that arrangement for her family. The reader is of course a woman with at least two children, because women cook for their families, and families have multiple children, right? Aside from that possibly unintentional slight, the requirement that the reader has seen some of the tools and techniques before seems to invade many of the explanations.
Maybe this isn't such a great topic for a book, or at least for an unillustrated book. Pictures or video are required to learn cooking. Video is helpfully supplied by a half dozen cooking channels on today's digital cable and satellite TV systems, but little to none of it is aimed at a beginner. Good photography would be a must for a true "basic" cooking instruction book. Such a book should also not attempt to be a recipe book, except for including enough recipes to illustrate the points of instruction. You don't need 150 recipes to fill 50 pages of instruction into a full book -- try 150 pages of color photos.
Maybe the book I describe has been published. If I learn cooking before I find it, maybe I'll write it. Either way, roll the dice and buy a different basic cooking book. Saving Dinner Basics is not recommended.
This shouldn't really count as a whole book. There are about 50 pages of text that are not recipes. In it, the author tries to describe the basics of cooking, how to set up a kitchen if you've never done it before, etc. Each chapter has explanation and recipes mixed together.
I didn't find the book very satisfying. For a "Basics" book it seemed to move too fast. Good sections include one on which tools to have and which are worthless, and one on pantry setup and organization. If you're desperate to learn those things, the book may be worth the purchase price for those pages alone. The sections on actual cooking seem to have an underlying assumption that the reader grew up with a mother making delicious food every night and wants to duplicate that arrangement for her family. The reader is of course a woman with at least two children, because women cook for their families, and families have multiple children, right? Aside from that possibly unintentional slight, the requirement that the reader has seen some of the tools and techniques before seems to invade many of the explanations.
Maybe this isn't such a great topic for a book, or at least for an unillustrated book. Pictures or video are required to learn cooking. Video is helpfully supplied by a half dozen cooking channels on today's digital cable and satellite TV systems, but little to none of it is aimed at a beginner. Good photography would be a must for a true "basic" cooking instruction book. Such a book should also not attempt to be a recipe book, except for including enough recipes to illustrate the points of instruction. You don't need 150 recipes to fill 50 pages of instruction into a full book -- try 150 pages of color photos.
Maybe the book I describe has been published. If I learn cooking before I find it, maybe I'll write it. Either way, roll the dice and buy a different basic cooking book. Saving Dinner Basics is not recommended.
