Alton Brown continues his record of his distinctive and fun, but still educational food program Good Eats. He includes a DVD with 15 very short clips that include the subjects: cotton candy, plum pudding, cowboy chow talk, grog, egg nog, sugar, turkey carving, fish, French toast, knives, peanut brittle, macaroons, rice, pickles, diner speak. The turkey carving is very useful and well done.
All are done in Alton's inimitable quirky style.
Included in the book itself is an interview with Alton and seasons 6 through 10 which are episodes 81through 164. There are colour illustrations, diagrams and pictures to show various techniques such as shucking oysters. Two or three recipes are included with each episode. There are many good ones here including Cuban sandwiches and Alton's favorite on frying turkeys. Included are equivalent charts and a recipe index.
Everything is done in the fun quirky style of the show which would make this a good book for those a bit hesitant about their ability or the fun of cooking. Cookbook collectors and fans of Alton Brown of course would also appreciate this book. Good Eats 2: The Middle Years
I don't know if I just didn't remember the scripts from the first 80 episodes, but the first book it seemed like he took more time with the information at the beginning of each episode. The first book had stories and anecdotes about why each episode subject was chosen or a little story about it. In this one he just copied and pasted the opening script from the show. I still love that I get all the recipes plus a few extras, but I wish he had taken as much time with this one as he did with the first. Maybe it was the publisher's fault, pushing him to get it out faster.
I just hope the next one goes back to the first book's style.
This is the second book in the Good Eats "series" of book that Alton is putting out covering what he teaches us during the his TV show. It is a very valuable resource for people to learn a lot about a cooking in a fresh, innovative way as opposed to just reading another cookbook. It is a refreshing and entertaining way to discover they why's of cooking rather than just regurgitating recipes. For that I think this book is an excellent resource for people and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about cooking.
My only complaints are the same as they were for the previous edition. The main complaint is that the index doesn't really cover all of the books. This is a very minor problem and one that only real fans of the show will find difficult since, in my case I already have seen all of his shows and might know that I want to do a version of one of the recipes he covered in one of his shows but I have to remember which book contains that episode in order for me to find the recipe. True, the individual indices have all the values we need to go look things up but at the same time, they only index what is in that volume of the series, so if you are looking for something and don't find it in the index then you have to go look it up in the other index to see if the recipe is there instead. I think I'm just spoiled by how easy Alton makes it to understand everything on his show and am wishing that the same ease of use translated to looking things up in these books. I'm hoping/wishing that after a few volumes of the book are out that they include an overall index to make things easier to look up. (I also wrote in my review of the first book that not all of the recipes from the show were included in the book. I don't know if that is still the situation with this book since I have yet to find anything that is not included in the book.)
Overall I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book...especially for people that are new to cooking or shy about cooking since it does contain a treasure trove of information that can be unbelievably helpful to people whether they watch the show or not.
Buy it if you have any interest at all in cooking and why things happen the way they do.
Don't buy it if you don't cook or don't like thinking beyond just following a recipe step by step.
Definitely buy it if you are a fan of Alton Brown and his show.
Alton Brown and his merry band of studio accomplices have created the best dual medium cooking product since Julia Child launched Mastering the Art of French Cooking and PBS' The French Chef. On his televised series (I also bought the DVD set), Alton demonstrates a gift for clearly presenting dishes I want to cook while increasing my understanding of cooking techniques and equipment and how things all come together. As in Good Eats 1: The Early Years (which I also own), the text closely tracks the televised episodes. For fans, the book has sidebars with inside tidbits about filming, which of the merry band did what and a written version of the DVD "Ask Alton" section. Buy the package and you won't regret it. Plus, you get the whole teaching-training program of tell 'em what you'll teach, show 'em how and finally, remind 'em what they've learned. With this book, Alton even gives you the notes!
Alton organizes each recipe using "GeekSpeak" titles: 'knowledge concentrate', 'application', 'software' and 'procedure'. "Hardware" items are discussed in sidebars about, say 'pots and pans.' I find this presentation to be very well organized but the titles seem a little 'precious' with repeated cooking from the book. I do like Alton's commentary on running changes he has made to recipes and techniques based on his own experiences with food preparation. The overall effect is one of having a personal tutorial by Alton in your home, complete with conversational 'asides.'
Unlike the "Iron Chef" series Alton hosts, there is nothing 'foodie' about ingredients and there is nothing elaborate about procedures. This is 'straight ahead' cooking for all of us but with really good recipes and techniques so things come out better than expected and better than the recipes do from the 'average' cookbook. - Cookbook - Cooking - Food Network - Good Eats'
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