Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I saw this at work - here's the skinny:

it's a thick lovely book.
I was just doing a quick peruse through and while Annie did say a lot of it was modifable, if you are an international person you may want to boycott or wait to read more reviews about it. I know we don't have things like the vegan shrimp/fish/etc, and a lot of other things (mach? match?) either. So my thing would be, okay so i have a nice "fish" alternative, say chickpeas with pickles etc. would it cook the same? would it taste the same?

I'm not certain.

I've put this on hold so i might play with this when i get it then. (which won't be for a.g.e.s).

I think I'd like it better if Betty Crocker's actually made a vegan cookbook. It would be encouraging if a mainstream company like that showed interest for vegan cooking. Also, Betty Crocker's has cooking expertise, which is what makes their recipes good. There is little way of knowing whether this "Betty Crocker's" cookbook has the same quality, short of giving it a try.

Well, if you mean do they have an industrial test kitchen, then no. They probably don't have the same quality as a Betty Crocker or Good Housekeeping book would. But no one puts out a cookbook* without having at least a couple of recipe testers to try things and let them know if they work or not.




*i'm sure someone has, but it seems like a bad idea that most people would avoid.

Anyway, industrial test kitchens don't always mean much. If you use pro cooks in a giant, well stocked, perfect kitchen and test for mainstream appeal, you also probably loose a lot of the quirkiness that is the biggest appeal of most cookbooks. (for me anyway)

I also appreciate when authors, like Isa, use kitchen klutzes like me for testing. Many people buy cookbooks because they don't know how to cook.

You are right, I personally appreciate the reliability of test kitchens, but I also like cookbooks to be all kinds.

It's available on Amazon now. You can see the index on the "look inside" - there are quite a few recipes that sound interesting, so I'm ordering it. I enjoy the blog, so I imagine I'll be happy with it.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think most vegan cookbook writers have access to test kitchens. So most, if not all, of the cookbooks discussed here on this forum (including Isa and Terry's books) are created in home kitchens and rely on testers for quality control. So if you're looking for the "reliability" of a cookbook created in a test kitchen, there are going to be very few (if any) vegan cookbooks that fit the bill. (I used the scare quotes because as lavawitch pointed out, what works in a test kitchen might not translate well to the kitchens/klutziness that most of us are working with at home.)

That said, I likely won't be getting this book for the reason daisysunshine mentioned. Cheezly aside, we just don't have the range and quality of analogues here that are available in N. America. I even tend to shy away from online recipes that call for Daiya or Field Roast sausages.

I did the search inside and it looks like every recipe has some vegan sub. I tend to shy away from books that use a lot of vegan subs and I'm not a fan of Daiya (and that seems used in almost every recipe). I live next to a vegan online store and lots of my local grocery stores (even my regular grocery stores) carry vegan subs. I just prefer not to buy them and I miss the good old days of noochy cheese sauces.

This book isn't at the top of my list because of all the meat and dairy analogues, but I'm definitely interested. It's just a little pricey to eat that way all the time, so I think this would be more of an occasional cookbook instead of a weekly one. The recipes on their blog look great. Maybe I'll win one of the giveaways!

I should get mine on Friday....bring the analogs on!

I got the kindle version. I don't mind the analogues because tasty, creative ways to use up Gardein stuff fills a certain niche. I don't eat them all the time, but I do once in a while, and something other than dad ding tenders to a salad would be nice.

They use a lot of cheese though! A few recipes call for more than a cup of Daiya per serving. How can that possibly be good?

Overall though, it's a cute book with some different stuff. I can find most items except the may way shrimp things, but they only use those in a few recipes. The most common items are Gardein scallopini, Daiya shreds, Daiya pepper jack wedge, Vegenaise, Tofutti. Wegmans here carries all of that.

There is no reason the recipes wouldn't work with homemade seitan etc.

I'm mostly excited about the whoopie pie and donut recipes and those don't use any hard to find subs, although now I seem to need a whoopie pie pan.

I bought a copy of the regular Betty Crocker Cookbook on sale over Christmas. I don't mind veganizing recipes myself. I've been doing it for a long time.

I am aware there are no vegan cookbooks from test kitchens, that is why I was disappointed after believing for a brief, naive moment that this book was from Betty Crocker's.

Having testing for every Isa and Isa and Terry book, I think I'd prefer to have recipes that have been tested by regular people in regular kitchens. Things are different for everyone and when an author sees the variety of responses they are getting to a recipe, they can adjust it or give tips on how to get the right results. Recipes only tested in a test kitchen by professionals are probably going to come out perfect every time. Also, those "test kitchen" cookbook authors probably aren't as readily available to answer questions as authors like the Betty Goes Vegan people or Isa and Terry are.

Your point makes sense. It is simply that in my past experience, test kitchen cookbooks used to give faultless results while I was not so lucky with my other cookbooks, which is why I liked the former better. Anyway, it's no big deal.

I had no intention of buying this, but I picked it up at the book store yesterday out of curiosity. It's HUGE. Much heavier than Veganomicon. And then I saw there was a casserole section and ended up buying it.

I've only read through the breakfast section so far, and I'm not sure I'll ever make any of those recipes. The tofu fried egg sounds really fussy to make. Eggs (fried, scrambled, omelets) are one of the few nonvegan foods I miss, but I think I miss the ease of making them rather than the actual taste.

I was so happy when I saw the dedication "for the lobsters." I knew exactly what they meant by that, and it tickled me.

yeah, thats how I felt about the tofu fried egg. I'd eat it if somebody else made it. I think I'm in this for the whoopie pies and donuts.

wow - this book is huge! i want to try some of the 70s like casseroles first!

Got an email saying I've won a copy of this from goodreads.com, so hopefully in a few weeks I can try some of the recipes. Wasn't sure I'd buy it, glad I don't have to now.

Dammit, I think I need to quit reading threads about cookbooks I don't even want. But a whole section on Betty-style casseroles? Seriously? I can even justify it by knowing that I can use "real food" thanks to Cookin' Crunk's cream of mushroom and celery soups and Artisan Vegan Cheese's cream cheese and sour cream.

What's "for the lobsters" mean?

I'm interested, but completely distrustful of anyone who loves Daiya as much as the authors do. I totally love the blog though, but mainly because it is such a cute and unique idea and the writing voice doesn't peas me off. More reviews, please!

Oh I see how it is!

I think i'm going to go to B&N and flip through it. And then buy it anyway. Being so full of analogs is a peeve even if I can get a lot of them, but one of my fondest childhood memories is looking through my grandma's Betty Crocker cookbook and I am a sucker. Also casseroles. Also I bought some fake shrimp and have no idea what one even does with shrimp.

maybe it's referring to Julie and Julia (book and movie) where she cooks through all of Julia Child's book and there's a pretty gruesome lobster killing scene. blech.

I tried looking through the book but what is up with the pink Himalayan salt? Is it used for a special purpose? I switch between that and hand cranked sea salt...I cannot really tell the difference in cooked food. I do not use a lot of salt though.

I bought shrimp a couple weeks ago, I did a thai green curry and added it to it. I think stir fries are generally good. My husband thought it was hilarious, it was the Sophie's kitchen brand and they even have little tails. crazy.