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Cooking: a cook's dictionary
Gadget: Any mechanical device that performs a kitchen task in one-twentieth the time it takes to find it. Fermentation: Chemical reaction, caused by microbes, that turns malt into belches and grapes into hangovers. From the 2.4-million-copy bestselling series that gave new meaning to the word dictionary for sailors, golfers, computer users, and more, here is the last-and funniest-word on cooking.
Skewering the world of food preparation and its phrases and foibles, the authors mince through all the confusion and pretension to serve up the ultimate book for cooks, gourmets, and gourmands. Calorie to craving, al dente to al musho, over 200 delicious definitions and 50 full-color, full-page drawings add spice and wit to the kitchen. 102,000 copies in print.
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1985
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Henry N. Beard
61 books38 followersHenry N. Beard (born ca. 1945) is an American humorist, one of the founders of the magazine National Lampoon and the author of several best-selling books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
Beard, a great-grandson of Vice President John C. Breckinridge, was born into a well-to-do family and grew up at the Westbury Hotel on East 69th Street in Manhattan. His relationship with his parents was cool, to judge by his quip "I never saw my mother up close."
He attended the Taft School, where he was a leader at the humor magazine, and he decided to become a humorous writer after reading Catch-22.
He then went to Harvard University from which he graduated in 1967 and joined its humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, which circulated nationally. Much of the credit for the Lampoon's success during the mid 1960s is given to Beard and Douglas Kenney, who was in the class a year after Beard's. In 1968, Beard and Kenney wrote the successful parody Bored of the Rings.
In 1969, Beard, Kenney and Rob Hoffman became the founding editors of the National Lampoon, which reached a monthly circulation of over 830,000 in 1974 (and the October issue of that year topped a million sales). One of Beard's short stories published there, "The Last Recall", was included in the 1973 Best Detective Stories of the Year. During the early 1970s, Beard was also in the Army Reserve, which he hated.
In 1975 the three founders cashed in on a buy-out agreement for National Lampoon; and Beard left the magazine. After an "unhappy" attempt at screenwriting, he turned to writing humorous books.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 6, 2017
My brain has not been up to concentrating for deep reading for the last little while, so I happily picked up this bit of fluff. It was obviously written about and for people with my level of cooking skills. Most amusing.
December 28, 2017
Silly but fun.
May 14, 2007
This book added a funny twist to the concepts of cooking.
September 19, 2015
Must be the first time in my life I've read a 'dictionary' from cover to cover, and had great fun doing so, as many of the explanations made me chuckle :-)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews