Jamie's 15-Minute Meals Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
071815780X | Format: EPUB
Jamie's 15-Minute Meals Description
- Hardcover
- Publisher: Penguin Group
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 071815780X
- ISBN-13: 978-0718157807
- Product Dimensions: 0.2 x 7.3 x 9.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
My husband bought this so we could have fun cooking together every night for a month, on a "let's eat healthier, honey!" kick. It might sound obnoxious to say so, but I'm being honest when i say I'm a very experienced cook -- and I collect cook books, especially vintage and classic ones -- so I feel I have a lot to compare this one with. And? And we both found "15 Minute Meals" seriously lacking in a few really important ways. I was almost offended by the lameness of several problems with it, and I felt so strongly about it that I had to come online and write a review. Here are our beefs: 1) We actually -- no joke - timed how long each recipe took to make, over the course of a few weeks, and the "15 Minutes" claim is total hype and bunkum. It's ridiculous marketing hoo-hah. Yes, we followed his method of boiling water in advance, heating pans in advance, and measuring and laying out the ingredients in advance -- and, no, those steps were NOT counted in the preparation times we recorded -- but our average effort was 45 minutes. This was with two of us, usually, doing the cooking, and neither of us is a beginner. I kept thinking of "The 60 Minute Gourmet," the classic cookbook by Pierre Franey and Craig Claiborne of "The New York Times," and wishing we'd just stuck with that classic, which not just deals honestly on the time factor but delivers the deliciousness. Because . . . .guess what? 2) More than half of the recipes in "15 Minute Meals" were definitely not tasty enough to try twice. That's a bad success rate, let's be frank! There is also a ton of repetition of flavors and techniques. Yessiree, this man loves a cutlet pounded flat and dusted with coriander, he sure does! He also really seems to love a big, mushy pile of mushed up grain and vegetables and sauce.
Jamie's zeal and energy are contagious. I caught his show on one recent Saturday morning and was hooked. I set his show immediately to DVR every Saturday. I made his Steamed Moroccan mussels from that initial viewing, and they were great, my kind of meal. I then ordered this cookbook. If you are a Foodie and/or cook, then you will have almost all of the ingredients you need for this book. I am an avid cook, and I am one with way too many cookbooks and plenty of ingredients. This is my first cookbook by Jamie so I have no way to compare it to his others. I like that there are a lot of pics along with the recipes (although some of them I must say look sloppy and at first blush, unappealing); and I like the metric system used bc I use my digital scale all the time, especially with flour. I made the coconut buns, uses coconut milk and self-rising flour, that's it; but this time I had the book in hand along with the DVR. I halved the recipe as I do the first time I make something new. You put the 2 ingredients in the food processor, but it did not make a dough ball like Jamie showed he got. It was wet paste. I had to keep adding flour until it made a cohesive ball to turn out--then I proceeded as one does in making biscuits, cut the log and put them into cupcake holders. I had to note in my book to add more flour or less coconut milk, the measurements were off...and I weighed the flour as given. That being said, the buns were now to be steamed in a bamboo steamer, which I don't own. But I do have a new digital Pressure Cooker with a Steam function, so I used that instead; and they cooked through and looked exactly as his. They tasted ok, like a biscuit. Although Jamie DID mention to steam them 10 mins. on the show, the book does not say that--it just says steam them 'hard.
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