The Accidental Gourmet

I could spend a considerable amount of time focusing on the modern misuse of the word "gourmet", but that soap box will have to wait. I have finally reached a new genre: the cookbook.

I'm sure you've all been poised on the edges of your seats for my next installment in this ever-so-viral blog of mine. Well I apologize. You see, in order to properly judge a cookbook, one must sample some of its claims to greatness. Sally Sondheim and Suzannah Sloan have taken every weeknight of the year and created a full meal plan for a family of 4.

Each day includes an entrée, salad, and dessert, and some starch somewhere. This is obviously written for someone like me who survives on order and lists, because each meal also has a list of equipment needed AND a countdown with ordered steps, telling the "gourmet" how to complete the full meal so everything comes out just at the right time for eating.

Sounds wonderful, right? Well I've tried 4 of these meals so far. Two were good. Two were so-so. The part that bothers me about this book is not the quality of the meals, however. It's this need that cookbook "authors" feel they have to find cute names for their dishes. Lets face it. There are only so many ingredients in the world and only so many ways to combine them into edible form. So in order to make the recipes their own, Sondheim and Sloan give us themed meals like You're Egging Me On, Yes I Yam, Bluffin' Muffins, and Tomfool Tapioca. Having run out of creativity, they depend on each state for inspiration. For Iowa we have Hawkeyed Sausage, State Fair Salad, and Ames to Be Pudding. However clever you may feel this is, it does pose a problem. The names have VERY LITTLE to do with the dish itself. If I want to search for a pasta dish with shrimp, I have to search through 300 recipes to find one.

I will most likely be consulting this book again, but as a disclaimer, I must recommend NOT getting caught up in the structure of the book. Rather, if something looks good, try it. I give it a 4