Do cookbooks work?

I didn’t realise there was such a large difference between American cookbooks and European ones. According to Slate in its review of G, Americans don’t have scales so I presume they measure everything by volume. It doesn’t really matter as most cookbooks apparently don’t work, as Laura Shapiro says:

“Cookbook writers are different from you and me, even the ones who look oh so domestic on their book covers. They’re professionals, which means they’re in the habit of working efficiently. Speed is part of their batterie de cuisine, just like sharp knives. And while they’re constantly telling you the best way to chop an onion, or why you should always keep canned tomatoes around, the ones who write 15-minute recipes are never going to tell you the single most crucial thing about quick cooking, which is that 15-minute recipes are irrelevant.”

I must admit I have more than a few books with recipes that don’t work and Ramsay’s is one of them.

New model for cookbook publishers

The internet has changed publishing for ever. even if you are addicted to paper and binding, you can now produce your book on demand with very little effort at all. Michael Ruhlman, whose Elements of Cooking was recently published in Australia, looks at some of the new models adopted with Alinea in chicago taking a sensible DIY approach:

“Nick Kokonas, the restaurateur who, with Grant Achatz has created the restaurant Alinea in Chicago (pictured above), was unhappy with the conventional deals publishers were offering Grant for his cookbook. Kokonas figured, given that they have an in-house designer and photographer, they could do it themselves. They have hired several writers to handle various aspects of the text (myself included—I’m doing the intro and I also comment on the essays Nick and Grant are writing). The Alinea Cookbook is scheduled for a fall publication, and they are creating an intriguing website with demos and recipes and techinques to go with it.”

He also notes the new model adopted by Harper Collins in cutting the advance but increasing the payment per copy sold:

“Without these advances, I’d wouldn’t have been able to write the book. But that means I’ll have to sell a lot of copies in order for the book to earn out—that is, make back that advance at about $3 per book.

What this new group intends to do is to get rid of the advance but give the author a greater share of the profits.”

The belly of the critic: super sized Michelin style

More fat food writers and critics. While writing his latest book The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner The Guardian’s Jay Rayner did what any self respecting food writer would do. He ate at Gordon Ramsay pretty much everywhere in the world he could. He even took more than a bite out of Morgan Spurlock’s burger supersizing in Michelin starred restaurants for a whole month. The experience left him 132kg and with red welts around his tummy from his 43 inch belt.

As Rayner, whose agony aunt mum Claire used to spruik panty pads with wings on TV, said in The Observer:

“To finish the book I decided to test the luxury-restaurant experience to destruction by doing the high-end Super Size Me. Where Morgan Spurlock ate in McDonald’s every day for a month, I would eat in a Parisian Michelin three-star every day for a week. If I was invited to take the tasting menu I would have to say yes. Seven days; 21 Michelin stars. Like Spurlock, before and after I had a medical.

And so, the day after my return from Paris – my 41st birthday – I found out exactly what I weighed. At the time I was so horrified I could not bring myself to put the number in the book. Now, having done the work, I can. It was 132 kgs or – in language you understand – a shade under 21 stone. Cue sharp intakes of breath.”

Incredibly Rayner is still alive and lost weight.

My current weight: 105kg+

The chum bucket of new food

“For a moment, there’s the sense that you’re traveling out on some rusty-bottomed trawler with the alcoholic fishermen of Asheville, chugging rotgut until one of you (maybe you. Why not you? You’re a smart person) strikes upon the idea of dredging up kelp and Irish moss to add to the chum bucket and then drinking the mixture by the mugful for nutrition’s sake.”

Submitted to McSweeney’s New Food by Jake Ruiter. Wot, not heard of McSweeney’s? Boy (Dave Eggers) writes best selling autobiographical novel. Boy starts imprint, literary magazine and website. Zadie Smith likes it.

Check out the quirky reviews and explore the site. Aspiring writers submit your own review.

The fat of the media

Never trust a skinny chef? What about a stick-thin food writer? Are there any? I must admit that a year ago I piled on the pounds reviewing food and that I’ve learnt to leave food on my plate. I know Melbourne food critic Stephen Downes swims while The Age’s John Lethlean is cycling.

Super-sizing is a hazard for us all but what about Jason Perlow, the founder of egullet? According to the New York Times:

“In October, Mr. Perlow was in Denver on business for his day job as a systems integration expert. He fell ill, and what seemed like a case of altitude sickness turned into a three-day hospital visit. There he heard the grim truth: He was diabetic. Read more

The little brown book

As little books go, this is one is living larger than one might expect. The Little Brown Book aka “What’s Your Poo Telling You?” is a field guide to human stools. Writing in Salon, Leslie Crawford:

“…discovered that mine had an ideal shape, sinking nicely to the bottom of the bowl. Read more