This Christmas, I got two new cookbooks -- one from the awesome Jeffrey and one from his awesome parents.
Jeff got me Alton Brown's Good Eats -- The Early Years (more on the second cookbook gift in a future post). What a good choice! If you've never seen his television show on Food Network, I highly recommend catching an episode or 12. This is a chef who really understands how recipes work. He knows and is able to explain the science behind why ingredients go together or why cooking methods work the way they do.
This book (the first of three) is more than just a collection of recipes. It's also a collection of sometimes seemingly random trivia. He doesn't just give you his recommendations for how to build a great burger, for example. He talks about the kind of beef to use, gives tips about buns and explains why the only way to cook a burger is medium-rare (Amen to that).
This book has even more though. It has stories, and how I love a good story. The into is a Q&A with Alton asking and answering the questions. So from the first page, I was already doing what we call "dramatic readings" of the book as Jeffrey played his new video game. I haven't made it through very much yet, because I want to take my time with this one. I haven't even decided what I'll make first. I am leaning toward pimento cheese though. It may sound like an odd choice for a former Yankee/Southern girl transplant, but I have to make something for a baby shower luncheon, and I am thinking that might be just the thing.
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