Food for thought: Tips for cookbook shopping
Posted
Feb 21 2008, 02:26 PM
by
Karen Datko
Kris at Cheap Healthy Good knows cookbooks, and she knows her favorites. "The "HI Y'ALL!" cackle and planet-sized diamonds aside, I secretly love me some Paula Deen," she writes. "For a brief time, I even considered replacing my blood with her chocolate bread pudding."
This gets to one of the essential points in Kris' tips for buying cookbooks: Consider the dietary restrictions of the recipient. Kris says her days of fat-intensive desserts are long gone. Along the same line, she says, you might not want to buy a barbecue book for a vegan.
Kris breaks her tips into "do's" and "don'ts."
For instance, do examine the cookbook in person (after studying reviews online) and peruse the author's bio, the index and several recipes. You want to make sure the book is a good fit for the recipient's skill set, kitchen tools and readily available ingredients. (We once coveted a certain Mario Batali cookbook but realized the required duck, platypus or whatever eggs he demanded weren't at our local IGA. And no, we're not talking about "Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style.")
Another important do: Check to see if many of the recipes can be found free online.
Don't judge a cookbook by its cover, and beware celebrity cookbooks, Kris says. Be careful when shopping in the discount bin: Those cookbooks might be marked down for good reason. Also avoid gimmicks. She writes, "I do know I wouldn't purchase a cookbook that made shady promises about accelerated weight loss or tapping the inner mind through lemons."
