Great Big Pressure Cooker Book is a Great Big Flop!

    I am reviewing another cookbook.  This time it is about a specific appliance and way to cook--the pressure cooker.  I remember my mom having one of these and her cautioning my siblings and myself to be careful around it.  She would even have us leave the room the first few times she would take  the pressure out of it so we were always kind of scared around it. 

   I had purchased one a few years ago, used it a few times, and haven't used it for a while so I thought some new recipes might be just the thing to liven up my weeknight meals.  Pressure cookers are great when you want a fast meal as they hardly take any time at all to cook so they really are a good thing to use when time is tight.

   This cookbook however has a lot to be desired.  It does indeed have 500 recipes but it is very uninteresting.  From the cover to the last page it is very plain and ordinary.  There is a small section in the middle of the book with some pictures of the completed dishes.  The lack of a picture for each recipe is a major flaw as far as I'm concerned.  Had I realized how few pictures are in this book, I would never have even been interested in reviewing it.  To me, a picture of what the dish will look like when completed is a must.

   The book discusses the safety issues I spoke of earlier and helps to reassure new cooks to the pressure cooker.  It is nicely divided into different types of foods and has more simple and more complex recipes.  It also has recipes that use more simple ingredients and more exotic ones.  If you don't mind very few pictures in your cookbooks than this is for you.  If you like pictures like me, then you probably will want to pass on this one.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review


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"Supermaket Healthy" not a keeper

   I  really enjoy Melissa D'Arabian's TV show on Food Network as her dishes are usually simple and no nonsense. I was, therefore, expecting the same thing  with her new cookbook. I couldn't have been more wrong.

  I do not really care for any of the recipes in this book.  Many of them are made with ingredients that I have never used and do not really want to start using.  Clams, lamb, and capers are examples of some of the things I don't use in my kitchen.

  I also believe that the lack of pictures in this book for each recipe is a huge mistake.  For me this is a deal breaker.  I most definitely want a picture of each recipe so I can have an idea if it's something my family and I might enjoy and also what to expect the dish would look like should I decide to make it.

  The title and wording on the cover are very misleading.  I do not see how the information in this book gives any specific guidance to "eat well without spending a lot" in a supermarket.  There is a very small introduction at the beginning but no where near the amount of information needed to cover such a topic.

  I was very excited to get this book and I so wanted to like it.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  For me, this book is a real dud.  I doubt I'll ever open it again.  I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.