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Hot Mess Kitchen: Recipes for Your Delicious Disastrous Life
Decades ago, every young woman left home knowing how to cook, but now, well, not so much. To save millenials from the perils of takeout, HOT MESS KITCHEN wants to take back the kitchen in a fun, hilarious, and helpful way. They're not serving caviar and champagne, they're making "Bounced Check Burritos." They're not offering a plan for the perfect dinner party, but "How to Throw a Fabulous Dinner Party Without Having an Anxiety Attack." These easy, delicious recipes come with personal essays that make it feel like the authors are right in the kitchen with you, showing you which knife to use and wiping the mascara from your face as you cry from onion chopping.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published September 12, 2017
20 people are currently reading
1111 people want to read
About the author
Gabi Moskowitz
9 books30 followersGabi Moskowitz is the editor-in-chief of the nationally-acclaimed blog BrokeAss Gourmet and author of
The BrokeAss Gourmet Cookbook
(May 2012) and
Pizza Dough: 100 Delicious, Unexpected Recipes
(November 2013). She is currently at work on Young and Hungry, on ABC Family, based on her life and writing.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 2, 2017
Gabi and Miranda did not write this book for me, a Gen-X homeowner with kitchen proficiency and an amateur foodie wife. They wrote this book for the hot mess millennial in their first apartment with no clue how to cook.
Yet I found myself drawn into the book’s semi confessional, madcap empowerment essays. And just when I thought I didn’t need them, I found inspiration in the very simple recipes too.
A few weeks after this book came into my life, my wife, our household’s chief cook and menu strategist, had a health crisis: surgery plus a month of bedrest. Suddenly, I was in charge of all meal planning and execution for the most discriminating cook I know.
I freaked out. How would I do it? Sure, I chop a mean onion and make dinner once in a while, but let’s be honest: I lived on a burrito-a-week diet before I got married. I was a hot mess back then--before hot messes were a thing.
So I leafed through the recipes in this book and began to feel like everything was going to be okay. Reading Gabi’s approach, I remembered how awesome and easy it is to improvise in the kitchen. I started to get excited when I remembered that dinner can be as simple as a “Bad Sex Baked Potato.” (This recipe holds your hand through baking a potato and topping it with kale and cheddar cheese.) I realized that even the fancy notion of dessert is really just no bigger deal than making a basic “Abandonment Issues Apple Pie.”
The wife is healed and cooking again, but this cookbook has earned a place beside some of my favorites. A longtime fan of Joy of Cooking, I haul out the big white handbook every time I want to remember the ratio of flour to milk to start a bechamel. (It’s pretty much one to one. Why can’t I remember that?) And I think this book will have a similar role on my cookbook shelf. Its very-good-idea recipes reminded me what I had forgotten about the basics of cooking and provided a starting point for all kinds of culinary creativity. I’ll go to the “I’m a Fraud French Toast“ recipe to remind myself the basics of French toast for years to come, I’m sure.
Another thing I loved: the essays. Some of my favorite cookbooks have gorgeous essays in them, but few authors are so generous with them. Gabi and Miranda have written one for each and every recipe plus a really entertaining introduction with charming reflections and solid advice.
It’s been almost twenty years since I’ve been caught “Pretending To Be Married in the Fish Department“ or “Flirting in the Beer Aisle,” and I know my way around my broiler. But I still had a great time reading Gabi’s point of view. “The broiler is the G spot of the kitchen,” she tells us. “Hard to find, but once you do things get a lot more fun.” This is my kind of food writing.
Both authors write in irresistibly girlfriendy voices: no judgment, no bullshit, no slut-shaming, and a lot of love. For instance, the essay that goes with the “Bad Sex Baked Potato” recipe reminds you to pee after the bad sex.
You never know when you’re going to need a friend like that, somebody who can gently remind you how to take care of your beautiful self without speaking down to you.
Gabi and Miranda have shown up as those kinds of friends with their wonderful book, Hot Mess Kitchen. I highly recommend it as a thoughtful gift for a hot mess--or even an ex hot mess--you love.
Yet I found myself drawn into the book’s semi confessional, madcap empowerment essays. And just when I thought I didn’t need them, I found inspiration in the very simple recipes too.
A few weeks after this book came into my life, my wife, our household’s chief cook and menu strategist, had a health crisis: surgery plus a month of bedrest. Suddenly, I was in charge of all meal planning and execution for the most discriminating cook I know.
I freaked out. How would I do it? Sure, I chop a mean onion and make dinner once in a while, but let’s be honest: I lived on a burrito-a-week diet before I got married. I was a hot mess back then--before hot messes were a thing.
So I leafed through the recipes in this book and began to feel like everything was going to be okay. Reading Gabi’s approach, I remembered how awesome and easy it is to improvise in the kitchen. I started to get excited when I remembered that dinner can be as simple as a “Bad Sex Baked Potato.” (This recipe holds your hand through baking a potato and topping it with kale and cheddar cheese.) I realized that even the fancy notion of dessert is really just no bigger deal than making a basic “Abandonment Issues Apple Pie.”
The wife is healed and cooking again, but this cookbook has earned a place beside some of my favorites. A longtime fan of Joy of Cooking, I haul out the big white handbook every time I want to remember the ratio of flour to milk to start a bechamel. (It’s pretty much one to one. Why can’t I remember that?) And I think this book will have a similar role on my cookbook shelf. Its very-good-idea recipes reminded me what I had forgotten about the basics of cooking and provided a starting point for all kinds of culinary creativity. I’ll go to the “I’m a Fraud French Toast“ recipe to remind myself the basics of French toast for years to come, I’m sure.
Another thing I loved: the essays. Some of my favorite cookbooks have gorgeous essays in them, but few authors are so generous with them. Gabi and Miranda have written one for each and every recipe plus a really entertaining introduction with charming reflections and solid advice.
It’s been almost twenty years since I’ve been caught “Pretending To Be Married in the Fish Department“ or “Flirting in the Beer Aisle,” and I know my way around my broiler. But I still had a great time reading Gabi’s point of view. “The broiler is the G spot of the kitchen,” she tells us. “Hard to find, but once you do things get a lot more fun.” This is my kind of food writing.
Both authors write in irresistibly girlfriendy voices: no judgment, no bullshit, no slut-shaming, and a lot of love. For instance, the essay that goes with the “Bad Sex Baked Potato” recipe reminds you to pee after the bad sex.
You never know when you’re going to need a friend like that, somebody who can gently remind you how to take care of your beautiful self without speaking down to you.
Gabi and Miranda have shown up as those kinds of friends with their wonderful book, Hot Mess Kitchen. I highly recommend it as a thoughtful gift for a hot mess--or even an ex hot mess--you love.
October 17, 2017
I "read" this as in "skimmed through all the recipes" :P
But either way -
From what I can tell, this cookbook is awesome. You need this. Seriously hilarious and the names of these dishes are just perfect. I made the mac and cheese and it was BOMB! I may just need to pick up my own copy just so guests can visit and look at my bookshelf and see "Hot Mess Kitchen" as they peek inside :D
But either way -
From what I can tell, this cookbook is awesome. You need this. Seriously hilarious and the names of these dishes are just perfect. I made the mac and cheese and it was BOMB! I may just need to pick up my own copy just so guests can visit and look at my bookshelf and see "Hot Mess Kitchen" as they peek inside :D
September 24, 2020
Cute idea, but missed the mark entirely. Recipes really are a hot mess. I made the Beggar’s Purses the other night, and everything about the recipe was wrong or off. I had to make endless adjustments for everything to come together. Otherwise, I would have ended up with a bland filling, an undercooked pastry, and filling busting out the seams. For a cookbook supposedly aimed at millennials who are inexperienced in the kitchen, it really seemed like the book was MADE by millennials who are inexperienced in the kitchen. Also some of the flavor profiles are just... wrong. I mean, who puts feta on marinara?
June 22, 2022
Finally took a look at this cookbook I won in a Goodreads giveaway a while back.
Unfortunately, I would not use most of these recipes and I understand everyone has different tastes. What actually bothered me about the cook book is that there was such much extra copy between the actually recipes. I tend to read the first blurb at the beginning of the book and expect to have small descriptions of each recipe or section but the insertion of story between recipes makes this recipe book much larger than it needs to be.
I personally prefer having a section with just recipes so I can easily flip through the recipes and find what inspires me.
Unfortunately, I would not use most of these recipes and I understand everyone has different tastes. What actually bothered me about the cook book is that there was such much extra copy between the actually recipes. I tend to read the first blurb at the beginning of the book and expect to have small descriptions of each recipe or section but the insertion of story between recipes makes this recipe book much larger than it needs to be.
I personally prefer having a section with just recipes so I can easily flip through the recipes and find what inspires me.
April 8, 2018
This is not just a cookbook, but more like a "how to survive life when you've just moved out of your parents on your own" type book. It's hilarious. It's irreverent. It uses the F-word in recipe titles. I love it. The first few chapters are not to be missed and are a great guide to stocking your first pantry and kitchen with practical items. In fact, my stepdaughter turns 21 this year, is a junior in college who still lives with us, and can barely boil water. I'm DEFINITELY getting her this for her birthday and making notes in the margins for her first apartment post-nursing school.
June 13, 2018
I do like to check out cookbooks but I don't usually enjoy the writing that much. Hot Mess Kitchen is an exception because before each recipe one of the authors pens a thilarious autobiographical essay about some sort of disaster (romantic, financial, work-related, or otherwise) which relates to the recipe. I haven't even tried any of the recipes yet, but they all look very straightforward and delicious. There are no references to fancy sounding vegetables (courgettes! aubergines!) and strange sounding cooking techniques (braising!) but just a lot of humor and useful information.
June 30, 2020
I hateD cooking ! I was good at making hamburger helpers and buying ramen packages . This book is the best cook book ever came across to. Many other books were boring or overly complicated for me to comprehend. This book comes with juicy gossip and the recipes are easily explained. Within 2 months I made A BOMB steak that had my hubby worship me after that . I enjoy cooking now . It’s has become one of my stress relievers . THANK YOU !!!
September 25, 2018
This reads more like a millenial's rant about how hard life is than as a cookbook. If you like very trendy foods this will be a useful volume for you, but otherwise you're better off picking up a book with more direction and less offshoots.
December 6, 2017
Great, practical recipes presented in an entertaining and personal approach. Looking forward to trying a few of these delicious and fun looking dishes.
March 5, 2018
There are some seriously good recipes in here. Plus they are hilarious.
September 24, 2018
these recipe titles are hilarious
June 8, 2019
Love the titles of the recipes and enjoyed these girls creativity and life stories.
December 6, 2019
Hot Mess Kitchen is not your typical cookbook in any sense of the word “sense”. Perhaps, useful for a completely frazzled but not rank beginner.
August 16, 2020
This has some solid recipes with some fun names. This could be a fun one to have around but it’s nothing too new or crazy.
February 12, 2018
Okay, this book was funny. Seriously hilarious and had me LOLing out loud at the names and some of the stories. However I marked this down because when I go for cookbooks I want more recipes and not a lot of reading. Be prepared to read through their stories and funnies to get to the recipes. It's a pretty thick book and I found that for the size it didn't have a lot of recipes and all of them were ones I already know as an experienced cook. It might be a good book for someone who is new to cooking with no idea where to start and a good sense of humor. BUT only if they like to read a lot with their cookbooks too!
The recipes themselves were sound, easy to follow and for foods that many people would be interested in.
The recipes themselves were sound, easy to follow and for foods that many people would be interested in.
October 18, 2017
loved the recipes, easy to follow directions
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews