My Review of The Good Stuff Cookbook as seen in WC

Many of you may remember the author of this cookbook as a contestant in the fourth season of Top Chef. Much loved by viewers during his run at the title, it’s no wonder Spike Mendelsohn is back to treat us to more of his cooking insights. Taking a moment off from his D.C. restaurant Good Stuff Eatery he whips up his first cookbook called “The Good Stuff.”

Spike brings us his take on the burger and some of its favorite cohorts. At first you may find yourself thinking, the burger? Really? How safe can you get? But think again my friends. What could be more challenging to reinvent then an American favorite? Can you think of one person amongst your friends who has never had some form of this tasty dish? I certainly can’t. Still I approached this cookbook review with a cautious eye after all it was a cookbook on burgers, which are made in almost every fast food chain in under five minutes.

As soon as I cracked open the cover with Spike’s earnest and endearing face on it (No really take a look! Three of the people remarked on how sweet he looked) I gave the table of contents a once over and was pleased to see that there was something for everyone. The dishes ranged from sides to salads to shakes, desserts and drinks and of course burgers! And there was a vegetarian option or two in each of the categories as well as a few other alternatives, my favorite being the mac’ and cheese with bacon!

Boy did they smell good while cooking!

True to the titles promise, we get to the good stuff. Out of the recipes my friends and I tried our favorite was the turkey burger. Sour, Spicy and hearty this recipe chased away all of my fears of a turkey burger lacking in flavor. With green apples, Chipotles, chutney and avocado this is certainly one of the most unique and scrumptious burger recipes I’ve ever had. In fact my boyfriend loved this burger so much that he went home the next night and made it again himself!

It was spicy enough for two Texans and mild enough for me (I can’t even handle the low spice at No Thai…) the creaminess of the avocado spread on top tempered out the heat of the chipotle and chutney sauce you pour on top and it’s all offset by the twang of green apples in the turkey patty itself. The instructions could have been set out in a way that made it a little easier to keep track of what step you are on but this recipe was definitely a winner!

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We also tried the sweet potato fries, which thanks to Sava’s on State St., I have very high standards for. The recipe is straightforward and simple with a wonderful resulting flavor. Things went awry however when after the forty minutes the instructions said to bake the fries the top came out burnt and the bottom a bit soggy. I will admit though that the oven I had access to does not seem to heat properly (it later burnt my friend’s bread pudding as well) and so it is most likely the fault of poorly maintained equipment (thanks NYU...we had VERY limited resources) rather than a fault in the recipe. The fries still had an amazing flavor with the perfect balance of sweet and salty so I will definitely be trying those again!

Overall the book looks colorful and is full of wonderful pictures. The burgers are all inspired (especially the Obama Burger) and for the most part the desserts seem drool worthy! There are a few recipes that I was disappointed in, like the root beer float (two scoops of ice cream two cans/bottles of root beer) or the Vanilla Shake (Ice cream and whole milk). I would hope that our parents explained these classics to us at some point in our lives... Still the Cadbury Egg Shake and the Red Velvet brownies more than make up for it. 

The only other downside? The introduction, preface, thank you's and about this book got a little bit long. Don't get me wrong, they were all sweet and inspired (especially the thank you pages!) but they got a little bit taxing after 6 pages. It's common in first cookbooks to see a lot of writing, after all the chef has a lot to say! The Good Stuff was no exception and I was often surprised that a section that I though had concluded continued on for another page or two. 

So my overall opinion? This cookbook is a great way to spice up an American favorite. I love Spike’s (almost) overall creativity and the flavors are wonderful!

My Review of Rose's Heavenly Cakes: as seen in WC

To read a review of another of Rose's cakes,  click Here
To read what cookbook author Rose Beranbaum had to say click Here!
 
Looking to impress the family with the culinary skills you picked up “at school”? Rose Beranbaum certainly knows her cakes and makes it her mission to help you look like a pro in the kitchen. 
Rose’s Heavenly Cakes’ interior is riddled with photos of spectacular cakes that will make you wish you could eat the book itself! The contents cover everything from “baby cakes” to wedding cakes. Though most of us may not have the need to make a wedding cake over Christmas, we can definitely benefit from recipes like “Holiday Pinecone Cake” and “English Gingerbread Cake.”

Doesn’t this already just sound like we’re holiday baking experts? How many of our parents wouldn’t be dazzled by homemade gingerbread? While the ingredients for this particular recipe may be a little outside of the standards for a college student (dark brown sugar and orange marmalade are both available at Meijer), raid your parents pantry or ask if you can pick a few things up on their tab.
Rose also provides plenty of tips and tricks on how to make your cake taste and look great (for a few more check out our interview with her!) so don’t worry, you won’t be left entirely alone in the kitchen. The ingredients for each cake are presented up front in cups, ounces and grams and a baking time is listed for each as well as a list of any special equipment you may need.

Since this book is also an excellent recipe source for birthdays and other special occasions, I decided to make my father something special from Rose’s book for his birthday. Knowing his love of cheesecake and my personal obsession with all things mini I made baby lemon cheesecakes for the whole family. Though I had never in my life made cheesecake before in my life the recipe was laid out clearly enough for even a first-timer like me. It also helped that the picture was just too good to pass up.

So I set out to make my first cheesecake petite style. I learned very quickly that every word counts in Rose’s cookbook, including the notes at the beginning and the end. Read carefully or you just might miss that your cheesecake needed to be refrigerated 4 hours before serving, perhaps my only negative thought about this delectable cookbook is that prep time is not included in time count for each recipe, so though it may take 4 hours overall or overnight, you only see the 45 minutes baking time. 

I did run into one last hiccup, the oven temperature for this recipe was not listed in the recipe. I checked, and double and triple checked (I am a notorious at a glance reader) but the oven temp was nowhere in sight. Cook time and internal cheesecake temp were both present but I had to go back to another full-size cheesecake recipe to get a temperature and keep a close eye on the little cheesecakes to be sure that I didn’t over cook them. The end texture and appearance were well described in the recipe though so I managed just fine. (I used 350 degrees Fahrenheit by the way.)

The rest of the recipe was incredibly detailed and if I may say so myself allowed me to create absolutely adorable flower shaped lemon cheesecakes with lemon curd topping that my whole family devoured and left us some for later! 

I definitely succeeded in my mission to test the impress factor of this cookbook and the result? 6 out of 6 people ooh’d and ahh’d  over the appearance of my cake (nevermind that I made a cheesecake, that much alone stunned my whole family and extended family) and 5 out of 6 ate every last crumb, and finished off the remains of the sixth cake! 

My conclusion is yes, this cookbook will impress the whole family. If I can make something as intimidating as a cheesecake without any experience and have it be creamy, delicious and stunning to boot then I’d say anyone can. So on your way back home for the holidays stop in at your local bookseller and pick up a copy. It certainly won’t hurt, not to mention the cook often gets to skip dish duty!

There's something about new cookbooks...

... whenever I crack one open I can't help smiling. Flipping through the pages I have this unwavering sense that the world is full of opportunities.

What you might ask, has inspired this shameless and slightly sickening gushing over culinary books?

Phaidon.

That's right Phaidon cookbooks! They've always been too expensive for my thin college student wallet, but recently, for my birthday in fact, I got not one but two!

1080 Recipes and Recipes From an Italian Summer both fortuitously fell into my lap last week and true to my impatient nature I could not wait to cook! For good reason too it seems. While I was mulling in line at Ann Arbor's finest Borders, the cashier took 1080 Recipes for me and exclaimed in an accented voice that I'd picked a great book, and regaled me with how it was his favorite cookbook. Not that I wasn't appreciative of this rave review but I definitely HAD to get home to cook!

This however wasn't so easy. I got the book on Tuesday and between prepping books and making them available online for work, my birthday disaster which involved a sick father and led to celebrating with my family a day late, friends birthdays and other magazine oriented chaos, it took a little longer than expected...

I finally got the chance yesterday and let me tell you I was so excited I was willing to forgo my sometimes vegetarianism, and cook a chicken recipe from 1080 Recipes it promised Pine Nuts, Green Bell Peppers, Onions and bread crumby goodness. For those who have the book: Recipe 811 pg 683.

As usual when I'm in the kitchen, chaos strikes again! It all started when a forgotten red bell pepper piece  in the catch tray under the burners caught on fire... It was a small bit and reduced to charcoal before much damage could be done. Then herbs de Provence ended up all over the kitchen when I ran into the other chef in the kitchen, some of which fell onto a hot burner and started smoking too. A few open windows and two fans later we were safe from the dreaded smoke alarm but my kitchen reeked.

A cut or two to my fingers later I used my new pasta roller to churn out some pasta to go with our chicken. By the way- homemade pasta? I nearly dropped dead at the dinner table it was so good. Somewhere along the line we realized we were missing two onions and wandered the city to encounter two closed grocery stores and one poorly stocked store I was seriously considering walking into Jimmy John's and begging to buy an onion when perchance I wandered into Champions Liquor store and found... yep 2 onions.

The day was saved! I ran back to finish the dish (btw someone had been standing guard. I'm not so kitchen slow to leave food in an unattended oven) and enjoyed a superfab dinner. A much better result than my two cookie sheet burns, sliced fingers and burnt frozen pizza fiasco... Now the only thing to worry about is well my next meal...