191
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #173,350 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
For the culinary elite, not the common folk
This is a beautiful cookbook but come on Yotam, in this brave new world of lockdowns, empty grocery shelves, and long lines for access to the grocery store, recipes that take over an hour and require unusual ingredients that are hard to come by are just not practical or user friendly. I bought this as a Christmas (2020) gift for my 16 year old daughter because she loves to cook, like me, her mom. We both took turns leafing through it and marking the various recipes that piqued our interest, and there were many. Every time we want to make one, however, it means a protracted trip to at least one grocery store (black limes??? Urfa Chile flakes??? Gochugaru Korean hot pepper flakes???), see what I mean?! And I am a woman who loves to cook and am worth every flake of Maldon sea salt I liberally sprinkle in me dishes! But this cookbook becomes an exercise in frustration—you pull it off the shelf, find a delicious looking recipe and then, sonofabiscuit! we don’t have that, and then, okay let’s go wait on line at the fancy grocery store because they may have that esoteric stuff, and then, 1 1/2 hours later it’s 2+ hours spent in the kitchen cooking. Sigh. I have heard Yotam interviewed, I like him, I just wish he’d given a tad more consideration to the kitchen peasantry, like me daughter and mesewf.
