How to Repair Food

by Marina Bear

You need never be embarrassed by bland, burned, or otherwise substandard food-and the book's a hoot to read, even if you haven't suffered a kitchen disaster...yet.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Juli Anna]

What a strange little book. The concept is really great; it's sort of an encyclopedia of things that can go wrong with your cooking and how to fix them. In practice, though, I can only see myself using maybe 1/8 of the tips in this book. If you cook with whole foods on a regular basis, most of these tips are useless: I am not about to start keeping canned hollandaise sauce and vanilla pudding mix on hand so that I can smother ruined dinners in them. Most of the problems with vegetables addressed in this book arise from using frozen veggies rather than fresh--another problem I don't have to worry about. Surprisingly, there is very little information on fixing ruined bake goods, which I feel the book could have used.

However, there are some good tips for rescuing ruined cookware, getting stains out, etc. And the authors have a great sense of humor, which makes it a pleasant enough read. This could perhaps make a nice gift for a newlywed couple who are just learning to cook and have no problem with prepared ingredients. Overall, though, this is not a book I will be adding to my collection.

[Dereth]

This book is wonderful and hilarious.

I love that there are a lot of "ok, so this is how it is now. So this time, fix the thing this way. For next time here's how to do it completely differently" I really appreciate that.

Also, it's just funny. For example, it says that to revive wilting green onions to "simply stick the root end in the ground and it will take root and grow healthy again. This does not, alas, work with most other things, including human beings."

Tee hee!

[Saleris]

Well, I like this book. It's not 100% comprehansive in solutions to "unlucky" cooking, but in the cases where help can be given, it's there - though as with all cooking solutions, it's only as effective as a knowledgeable cook can apply it. That's all that can be hoped for in a book like this.

[Martha]

I rarely find a book that is both extremely practical and absolutely hilarious, but this one is both. I want a copy!

[Kat]

I laughed my butt off on page 1 of the intro and am looking forward to using the advice.