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

Comments

[sonia]

Thanks for pointing these out! The posts are amazing!

[celli]

they're always a good read even when it's not my style of cookbook!