Molly Dunn really needs to stop writing about cookbooks, because I'm going broke and gaining weight. That goes for you, too, Patrise Shuttlesworth!
I was browsing the shelves at Brazos Bookstore less than two weeks ago, and mentioned to manager Jeremy Ellis how much I had enjoyed the cookbook Plenty, which I picked up after Patrise recommended it here on EOW.
"Have you seen The Smitten Kitchen?" Jeremy asked, leading me over to a display. As I flipped through the pages, Jeremy mentioned that one thing that really sets The Smitten Kitchen apart is what a great read it is -- SOLD.
Since purchasing the book 13 days ago, I have been reading it during between conference calls. I brought it to the gym. I baked a cake on a Monday, and then baked the same cake all over again the next Friday, after we had finished the first one.
To say that I am obsessed is an understatement.
I am not a confident cook, although I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was just a few years ago. Part of the problem is that I started cooking so late in life, and part of the problem is my type-A personality, which causes me to panic and hyperventilate at the thought of not following a recipe exactly. Kitchen improvisation is not my strong suit.
The Smitten Kitchen is a cookbook written by home cook/blogger Deb Perelman, who developed all of her recipes in a teeny-tiny New York City kitchen. Her writing is warm and inviting, lightly self-deprecating, and full of stories about her own recipe substitution hits and misses. Perelman's stories have given me (or at least encouraged) a certain level of confidence in myself I didn't possess before. It doesn't hurt that so many of her recipes include ingredients we regularly keep on hand, and that she includes common substitutions in the footnotes.
The chapters include: Breakfast, Salads, Sandwiches/Tarts/Pizzas, Main Dish (Vegetarian & Meat Eaters), Sweets (cookies, pies, etc.), and Party Snacks & Drinks. Her recipes are set up in paragraph form rather than bullet points, which some Amazon reviewers didn't like but I didn't mind at all. What I really love about the book, though, are the chapters on measurements (including a conversion guide, HOLLA!), her tips, and her assessment on stocking a kitchen with gear and gadgets. She works in a small space, so her choices and reasoning are interesting -- even if you have room for a zillion appliances, it's still very informative.