Cooking Beyond Measure: How to Eat Well Without Formal Recipes

by Jean Johnson

Pathbreaking measurefree cookbook featured in The Washington Post. Delicious, affordable, ultrafast farm to table food.

209 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Jean Johnson ^2
Cooking

In Jean's words, she's a "writer-historian-sustainable-type from the Sixties up for a last subversive hurrah."

Her work reflects the new trend in cookbooks and is aimed at inspiring everyday people to take back their kitchens. That's why rather than a compendium full of paint-by-numbers recipes, Jean's books are full of vignettes, color photos, and tips on theory. They are like kitchen companions, highly readable cover-to-cover. Her aim is to inspire--and she does.

Jean's a food historian as well and knows that 100 years ago we didn't have measuring cups in this country. More, she thinks we'd cook more healthy, thrifty food if cooking wasn't like doing a small chemistry experiment.

So, she's written the first cookbooks on the modern market without measurements. Indeed, Jean wonders: "Why should the elite cooking authorities get to have all the fun? This is just everyday cooking like women around the world have been doing for centuries--after long days in the fields. Simple, easy, delicious food."

So join Jean. Leave your measuring cups behind and take back your kitchen!

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The other day, Dutch came hope with a stack of cookbooks he got on cheap at Stacey's going out of business sale. He knew I liked cookbooks with short ingredient lists and even shorter directions. He guessed right, and Cooking without Measure is a cookbook I wish I had written first. The writer combines fresh, seasonal produce with fun ingredients to create savory, straightforward dishes. I tried the rolled ups (or crepes) and the way she described making the batter was so clear and direct that I had no problem replicating them at home. She also uses a lot of cheese, which is always a good thing (now I am looking for the Ski Queen caramelized goat cheese she keeps raving about). Plenty of the other recipes look good enough to try at home.
The only reason giving four stars is that sometimes her folksy, narrative style of writing gets in the way of understanding what to actually do while I trying to decipher the directions.
This is a great book for cooks who love to play and experiment with new things and old friends, who need an excuse to try a new vegetable, or combination, or who have a fridge full of random things that need to be eaten. In a word, for people who actually cook.

[Aki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to be Jean Johnson when I grow up...