Before we begin,I should point out that I’m not actually an Achewood fan. I’m fully in the “don’t get it”camp. Except for this one [mildly NSFW] because I hate Comic Sans more than anything.
I first heard of The Achewood Cookbook in this Salon.com article which excerpts the recipe for home fries.
The first thing you will notice about that recipe is that it’s very funny.
Once you make a potato chewy you are doing things so wrong that you would be better off just not touching the potato at all,and instead giving it to the customer so that he could take it home and try to make sense of it himself.
If you read through the recipe,you’ll find that it includes a welcome level of technical detail.
The best thing you can do to a cooking home fry is leave it alone. Constantly flipping them all around just keeps them from getting that nice golden brown crust.
If you actually follow the recipe,you will make the best freakin’home fries you have ever tasted. I’m not kidding. This recipe was a revelation. I had to have the cookbook.
When you order this (self-published) cookbook,it’s shipped promptly via USPS Priority Mail. My copy arrived in about three days. Spiral-bound,half-height,with a clear plastic cover sheet –the form factor is perfect.
The rest of this cookbook does not disappoint. Okay,there are a few joke recipes (like the baloney sandwich) thrown into the mix. The rest (written in the characters’voices) are absolutely wonderful. Every bit as funny,accurate,and useful as that recipe for home fries.
The recipes are clear,concise,and basic. No fancy ingredients,no weird equipment required –just regular stuff you can buy at the grocery store,and use to cook up regular food. I’ve already tried the omelette recipe –fantastic! And the recipe for Flavor Burgers,which was OUTSTANDING.
If you,like me,are not the best cook in the world –if you’re daunted by regular cookbooks,with their insistence on strange ingredients and techniques –if you try recipes but they fail because the author assumes you know what they mean by “4 potatoes,blanched”–then this,my friend,is the cookbook for you. Buy it! You will not be disappointed.
Thank you for posting about this –I went and read the Salon article and then went and bought the cookbook. Kidlet is going off to university this autumn and she wants to learn to cook some basic recipes but my idea of basic and her idea of basic don’t mesh too well so we’ve been a little limited. The Achewood Cookbook sounds like it will be just about the right speed.
…but does it have an index? Cross-referenced?
In fact it does not –but it doesn’t really need one. It has a TOC with all the recipes listed,and there aren’t any special techniques listed within the pages that should be indexed separately.
I’m fine with books that don’t have an index when they don’t need one. It’s books that need an index but don’t have one that tick me off.