Good Eats

May 1, 2022

Although the popular TV show Good Eats may be ending (note "Final" in the book title), host Brown has put out another cookbook in his series based on the beloved show. In this volume he covers recipes cooked on Good Eats Reloaded and Good Eats, The Return, plus a bonus section from Good Eats, The Lost Season. The TV show, equal parts Julia Child and Mister Wizard with a generous scoop of Monty Python thrown in, has made understanding the science of cooking an entertaining enterprise and Brown's relaxed and inviting tone is evident throughout the book. Included are straightforward culinary science details and easy to follow recipes with plenty of pictures from the show (even backstage shots). The recipes follow the episodes' order so there's a little of everything a range of cooks might need: seasoning a cast iron pan; perfecting a patty melt; working with flatbreads; churning ice cream. The recipes are geared to everyday home cooks with lots of sidebars and no technical jargon. The intent is to explain concepts so readers understand exactly how cooking works. VERDICT Fans of the show and its host, as well as those interested in the science of cooking, will find joy in this laid-back offering.--Ginny Wolter

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 7, 2009
Every so often a cookbook comes along that wishes it were a television show. Brown's latest effort actually is a television show, or rather, a marathon of all 80 episodes from the first six seasons of his Food Network hit. Egotistical yet thrifty, Brown interviews himself in the introduction, describing this work as “four hundred pages of liner notes.” And that is sadly accurate. For all its girth, there are merely 140 recipes, ranging from chocolate syrup to butternut dumplings with brown butter and sage. That these entries appear sequentially exemplifies the book's biggest problem; it is organized by TV episode number, causing readers to repeatedly visit the index to make sure they're not missing anything. The roast turkey is toward the beginning of the book, for example, but the turkey salad is hiding out somewhere in the middle. “Recipes that never made it into the show!” are promised, but good luck identifying them, and is that really a bonus? Accompanying each meal is a chart labeled, “Knowledge Concentrate.” These contain the fun, quasi-scientific facts that are the author's bread and butter (“The higher the egg-to-dairy ratio, the firmer the custard”). The remainder of the pages are cluttered with photo strips, sketches and squiggly lines, lest you get bored and turn on the tube.