"Cook the Book" challenge: I've got my virgin copy right here...will try anything that

M

marilynfl

Moderator
does not involve the following:

Offal (tripe, tongue, sweet breads...basically, if it's in Gray's Anatomy, it's offal the table)

Frying

Kidney beans

Lima beans

cantaloupe

liver

Bi-valves

Anything with tentacles

Anything that requires disemboweling any thing.

(see...this is why I stick with chocolate.)

 
I'm not sure exactly how this works. Do we all pick one book and then

all make the same recipe in it or do we all make a different recipe from it? I've never done this before so someone needs to clue me in please.

 
We're still in the discussion stage for setting the framework. Here's some background

Basically the idea is to pick one book (not sure who will be picking books. Suggestions on how this could work?) and for a month, people can choose to pick recipes from the book and report back on it. I find other's feedback valuable and they've pointed me to recipes I may have overlooked or wasn't interested in, that quickly became one of my favorites!

I have a group that meets in person for a potluck based on cookbooks. We've been at it for almost 5 years and have learned a lot. I've seen it work online and thought we could try it here!

http://www.eat.at/swap/forum1/230163_A_good_example_might_be_the_Cookbook_of_the_Month_on_Chowhound_There_people

 
Yes, I followed that discussion. I say you, Traca, should be

in charge of picking what book and I say we all should make suggestions of books. I've already suggested The Gourmet Cookbook but I'm game for anything. Hopefully I would be able to get it at the library. That would be helpful.

 
That's the rule we have for my meet in person cookbook group. Must be able to get it at the library

or worst case scenario, at Amazon for less than $5. Our library system is really great. So far, we've only had one book we needed to buy (and share. ) Lots of recipes from books are online these days too. Publishers send recipes/photos out with press releases about the book. And then there's blog coverage.

When it comes to choosing books, we have learned it's better to tackle books that have been around for a while. With 3,000 books published annually, it's hard to get past the hype and figure out which ones are worthwhile. (We covered one highly publicized book--Jose Andreas--and the results were awful. He's definitely not a recipe writer!)

 
I've also found that if you google the name of a book, then the word"recipes," most often you happen

across a blog or a posting of many of the recipes in the book.

 
Yes, yesterday I chose 6 recipes out of the book that interested

me and I just googled the name of the recipe. I was able to find every single one of them that people had done on their blog. Basically I'm lazy and it means I don't have to type it out. ;o)

 
From what I can gather, it looks like we should start with the Gourmet book (either edition). I

was torn between that and Gourmet Today, which several others have and it's higher rated on Amazon, but apparently more folks own Gourmet. I suggest we start there. And as others have noted, many of the recipes are online and the appendix is on Amazon as well (cross-reference with Google and Epicurious.com)

I suggest we start this book through the month September (get a week-long jump on September.) Okay? Any objections?

 
I'll throw this out there too...One of the things I sorely missed, originally I started

doing interviews with the author. We'd Skype before dinner and in the end, my group nixed that. They gathered together more for the social aspect than for the book/author experience.

If this is something you guys would like to do, I'm happy to continue it. Next month my other cookbook group is doing Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table and Dorie is going to Skype with us. In fact, it's after Midnight her time in Paris, but she's agreed to do it anyway. LOVE HER! So, we can make this part of the project if you want (I've only had one author turn me down and that was her gatekeeper with the publisher.)

If this is something we want to do, I suggest the best vehicle in my experience is Google Hangout. A Google + account is required, but that's easy...especially if you have already have a Google account. Everyone can jump in the conversation from whatever location they are. There's also a feature to be able to record it and have the conversation stored on YouTube, so you can watch later.

So...if we want author access, I think there's a way. Unless it's Julia Child. Can't promise rising from the grave, but I wouldn't rule that out. smileys/wink.gif

 
I'm on board! The Gourmet Cookbook...and the yellow titles really

was a dumb mistake. What were they thinking. So anyway, I just pick whatever recipe (or more?) in the book that I want to try and then post what we think of it? This sounds like fun and I hope we have a bunch that join in.

 
if it would help, I can setup a little uservoice type of thing where people could suggest a book

and then others could upvote the ones they want

 
So during the month of September, we cook recipes from Gourmet cookbook 1 or 10, our option.....

then report on the recipe? Do we rate it?

 
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