Ok now that Judy has given her honest opinion of The Best of our Recipe Communities cookbook I may as well add mine.
The Best looking photo is the one one the cover. After that they all look like something out of the 50's. Same same as in the other three Thermomix in the set of 4 now. Page after page of boring rather insipid pics and even more so when compared with For Food Sake where the pics are almost "alive".
Having said that it is was not visually appealing, let's look inside. After the usual and necessary stuff we come to a list of the winners starting with Appetizers and Spreads. Here we see a photo of the recipe and a photo of the flag of the country from which it came but sadly does not identify that country. Underneath there is a photo of the winner with their name and a wee bit about them. Not all say where they are from so it may still be a mystery as to the country of origin if you are not familiar with, let us say, the flag of Poland.
Now on to the recipe itself. One page is devoted to it and the facing page has the pic again of the writer and the dish. Here is where we now find the country of origin in small print. There are text boxes on some pages giving variations , tips and useful things. This is where the real entertainment value of this cookbook is. For instance on page 96, which is the lovely recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon from France, the start of this recipe has us browning the onions, beef and bacon in a frying pan. The text box on this page gives us the really Useful Item needed..........a frying pan. Oh my. The photo in an attempt to look rustic I think just looks like a bowl of dog food with what may be apricots in it but is most likely to be carrots not well defined and slightly out of focus. It is a shame as this recipe was adapted from a weight watchers recipe and may be of some interest .
There are some interesting recipes in the book but certainly not mine as anyone can throw a chicken liver pate together and I do not think ii is book worthy. There is yet another carrot soup recipe. Nice as it is do we actually need a recipe for carrot soup?
On page 190 there is a recipe from Italy. Nice but the photograph lets this lovely Italian lady down . It is photographed in a clear glass bowl on a white background making it look like a bowl of slimy snot rather than the firm and creamy yogurt it may well be.
One very useful tip on page 78 for the Potato and Celeriac Puree from the Czech Republic is that it goes well with fish. Imagine that! And how exciting is this the beverage recommendation for Garlic Pepper Prawns on page 130 is BEER?
Now wait one minute. I prefer a crisp dry white. The photo of this recipe is quite good and does justice to this dish from Taiwan.
The very first recipe in the book is a Savoury Cheesecake from Italy. Now you are talking. Even though the photo looks like it was taken by the photographer standing on a chair looking down- therefore not showing the colour or texture of the inside of this interesting dish,it is one I will make.
Would I pay the €30 asking price listed in very small print on the last page? No. Some of the recipes are interesting but nothing really innovative. Lots of home cooking which is great? Where this book fails to grab me is the styling and the photography. They just do not do the food any favours. No matter how many red, purple , bits of timber, layering of STUFF underneath a dish, the food should be the hero. The worst photo in my opinion is of the Stewed Ribs with Spring Onions fromTaiwan on page 92. Here we have a clear platter on a purple cloth blacked out at the edges with orange PLASTIC chopsticks sitting on top with some bit of coriander . Looking closer and in bright light I can just make out the ribs I think but it could be anything. I could cry for the lovely lass who was the winner.
I will review a recipe with photos on the other thread.
I would love to see some other reviews of this book. The consultants have seen it. The other 9 winners have seen it. Helene from superkitchenmachine has seen it. So where isn't anybody talking about it. Oh wait maybe they have been gagged.
Gert
