How to read a cookbook: runpunkrun delivers helpful analysis and humor

[jesse_the_k]

I’ve been benefiting from runpunkrun’s cookbook reviews since 2017. While Punk has reposted some here, I wanted to shine light on the others as well. These posts have taught me how to evaluate a cookbook as a tool.

• Is the title accurate?
• What measuring system does it rely on?
• Do the instructions provide all the information needed?
• Are there pictures to teach the reader what success looks like?
• Is the timing information true?
• Are there storage suggestions?
• Will the index help the reader find what they’re after?

runpunkrun has reviewed so many! Two overview posts from 2018 give the big picture:

Forty cookbooks considered in February 2018

Various gluten-free cookbooks that aren't terrible

For now, here's a bunch of gluten-free cookbooks that aren't terrible but for whatever reasons don't fit my needs. If you're in the market, all of these are worth a look. I still have some of them checked out from the library—like the two almond books, My Paleo Patisserie, Pure Delicious, and Martins's Learning to Bake Allergen-Free—as they're worth having around as long as they're free.

Maybe one of these categories is you?

• Basic
• Almond-Based Eating
• Self-Proclaimed Paleo
• Gluten Free and Grain Free
• Gluten Free and Milk Free
• Gluten Free and Dairy Free
• Gluten Free and Vegan
• So You’ve Got a Ton of Food Allergies
• Whole Grains, Whole Foods, Whole Raw Foods, Etc

All practical and useful. The March follow-up, on the other hand, made me cackle with glee like a drunken turkey:

Miscellaneous underperforming gluten-free cookbooks sorts another forty works in seven categories.

• Require a custom flour blend
• Require making your own flour
• Call vaguely for “all-purpose gluten-free flour”
• Don’t require custom flour blends but have other problems
• Require moving into Bob’s Red Mill in order to have all the necessary ingredients on hand
• Actually Contain Gluten
• Too Goddamned Obnoxious to Deal With

So many lemons! (Lemon Bar and Lemon Curd recipe links)

[sonia]

A friend with a prolific Meyer lemon tree gave me a whole bag of lemons, so I decided to search the internet for a lemon curd recipe made with coconut milk. Along the way I also found a lemon bar recipe that has closer to the shortbread crust I remember, both from jessicainthekitchen.com. Recommended, and see notes.

Easy Vegan Lemon Bars

Easy Vegan Lemon Curd

Lemon Bar notes:
- The recipes call for Coconut Cream, not Milk, although you can take the solid part from a can of Coconut Milk and call it good. I happened to notice that Trader Joe's carries cans of Coconut Cream, so I got one to experiment with. Trader Joe's has inexpensive maple syrup, too.
- Turns out my square pan is 9x9 rather than 8x8. I looked at how much coverage I got from one crust recipe and promptly made another full recipe to cover the rest. I think it's supposed to be thinner than I made it (around 1/4 inch) but I would still have needed 1.5 recipes. I liked the thicker crust and it baked more quickly than I expected, starting to toast around the edges at 12 min.
- I had hazelnuts, not cashews, so I used those instead. Worked fine.
- I only had olive oil, no "neutral" oil. That worked better than I expected, but a neutral oil would be better.
- I used four lemons to get 1/2 cup of lemon juice. I took the zest from two lemons to pack a half-tsp, but that made the bars a little bitter. The zest from one lemon is plenty.
- I accidentally got rid of all my parchment paper when I moved. Fortunately the bars still came out of the pan easily. (You can cut them just fine when they're warm, despite the recipe's warnings.)
- I forgot I had gotten rid of my vanilla extract when I moved! An additional trip to Trader Joe's fixed that.

Lemon Curd notes:
Then I had half a can of coconut cream and more lemons, so I tried the lemon curd.
- The recipe sounds like you're stirring for a long time, but it went faster than I expected.
- I used tapioca starch instead of cornstarch, and it thickened some but not as much as I wanted, so I added another tbsp halfway through. This was not ideal for consistency but worked out ok.
- I have brown sugar. It turns the lemon curd darker than expected, but tastes great.
- It didn't have the consistency I wanted with 1/4 cup coconut cream, so I added another 1/4 cup. Yummy! And I was trying to use it up anyway.
- Tastes great over apples!

In summary, I modified the recipes a lot (as usual) and everything turned out fine. And I still have more lemons!