Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this book for a friend. The reviews on Amazon were very positive. It was a Best Seller. I looked at the Table of Contents, and the names of the recipes looked OK, although they had a sequential number, which was unusual, but not a red flag. There were only two pages of recipes in the reading preview, and those were extremely simple. I decided to order it. We started to make “Air Fryer Donuts”. The recipe called for self-rising flour 2 ¼ cups of self-rising flour (which would contain a little over 3 teaspoons of baking powder.) The recipe also called for “2 ¼ dry active yeast”. Having yeast and baking powder in the same product is rather unusual. (That should have been a red flag.) The amount of yeast in incomprehensible – there is no unit. (This should have been another red flag.) Is it 2 ¼ TEASPOON, or 2 ¼ OUNCES, or 2 ¼ MILLIGRAMS, or ??? It happens that my friend and I know that there are 2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast in a .25 ounce packet of dried yeast, so that is what we used. The steps of the directions did not match the order of the list of ingredients. It is convention to list the ingredients in the order in which they are used. It is much more difficult to follow the instructions if you cannot simply go down the list, but have to jump around. (This is yet another red flag.) The recipe went on “In a bowl, stir eggs, butter (softened) and milk until well mixed.” It is not possible to mix these ingredients until they are well mixed, since the butter is at room temperature, not melted. Later, it said to combine specific ingredients, and mix until “elastic, glossy dough”, but does not say approximately how long. (How do you know how long?) Later, we were instructed to let the dough rise, and then knead for 3-4 minutes. This is traditional for yeast dough. The instructions continued: “Form donut shapes and cut off the center using cookie cutters.” That instruction in incomprehensible. (Do I need to point out that this is another red flag?) It does not say how thick to roll the dough, or even if we should roll the dough. Then, with no resting time to allow the dough to rise, it instructs to arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, flipping once. How do I get a baking sheet into an air fryer? Do I bake 10-12 minutes, then flip and then bake another 10-12 minutes? How many donuts are in this batch? The result was a very dry, tough, dense, flavorless glob. There was no flavoring in the dough, no vanilla, no cinnamon, and only 3 tablespoons of brown sugar. I am not surprised that the result was so terrible. Now, I will point out that I am an experienced cook and baker. I have over 300 cookbooks, and I have read them, and used most of them. I have never seen such a horrible cookbook as this one. • There are many typos. • The units of measure are missing in several recipes. (There are other examples.) • Ingredients are not in the order of use in the instructions. • The instructions are not complete and clear. • The introduction claims that this book if for beginners and experienced cooks. Most beginners would be completely lost by some of these recipes. • It looks as if there was no editing on these recipes, and how could they have been tested? • The index is listed by category, not alphabetical, making finding a recipe difficult. I will site a few other examples. The introduction starting on page 10 contains lots of ‘sales phrases’. It also claims that an air fryer will allow you to ‘get healthy, lose weight and save dollars ….’ Later on the same page, it says “Be warned, the recipes in this book is not for those who are watching their weight….’ It is true that air fryers come on multiple sizes and forms. However, this book leaves it up to the cook to decide what accessory to use. In the recipe above, it said to arrange on a baking sheet, and insert it into the fryer. It should be possible to survey the major types of fryers and suggest appropriate accessories for various types. Instead, this book leaves it up to the user to figure it out. The ”Honey and Plum Homemade Rice” recipe calls for ½ cup plums, but does not indicate if they should be peeled. It does not specify what percent of fat the milk should be. Place in a baking dish, but does not say what size. “In a baking dish, combine all the ingredients, except for the ch.” What does that mean? One recipe says to melt chocolate, and peanut butter, and let cool slightly. Add eggs. If eggs are added when the melted portion is too warm, the eggs will be scrambled. There are many other examples, on almost every page. I decided to investigate the author of this book. We looked for him, with three different browsers. We found only mention of this book under his name. There was no background information. In fact, we found two different photos, which did not look like the same man. (Another red flag.) Other reviewers mentioned that the ingredients are often exotic and hard to find. We found the same. There are so many flaws in this book that I would warn any potential buyers to AVOID THIS BOOK. It is terrible.