Knife Drop: Creative Recipes Anyone Can Cook

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On that note of speaking to his audience, this might also be the perfect cookbook for the social media age because not only is the author apparently a social media cooking star of some sort, but he’s also included QR codes throughout the book leading the reader to videos demonstrating how to prepare some (not all) of the recipes. Since the show, Ramsay has become a mentor to DiGiovanni, sharing the screen with him for cooking videos on social media and even penned the foreword of his new book. For the sandwich: Place the tomato slices in a single layer on a work surface and season with salt and pepper to taste. DiGiovanni: I know we have — it sounds like — many mutual friends, and we've wanted to meet forever. The author is apparently some kind of social media star, delivering cooking videos to legions of fans. I admit, I didn’t know his work prior to reading this book. But when I stumbled across the book itself, I found it rather intriguing. The theme here seems to be interesting, creative, restaurant-quality types of dishes, but which can be (relatively) easily prepared by home cooks in a home kitchen.

DiGiovanni: She never got to see my love for food. I was too young at that time, and I think she'd like that. I appreciate the scope of this cookbook, and I look forward to sharing this book with my soon-to-graduate children to have references for successful cooking later in life. Thiessen: It's called "Here We Go Again." This will be, actually, my second cookbook. I haven't even gone from all that. DiGiovanni: Well, I was going to tell you — you have a lot of cookbooks in your house. They have a record for most cookbooks. In a large mixing bowl, cream together cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.

DiGiovanni: It is interesting. It's been interesting for me also — and I'm sure [for] many people — to watch how the whole space is evolving. What do you think about all of it, the fact that TV is not fizzling away, but it's different than it used to be? Thiessen: I have a good question for you. If you could cook for anybody, who would it be that you haven't cooked for yet? I know you've cooked for a lot of celebrities and stuff.

Using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of each slice of bread with mayonnaise, about 1/2 tablespoon per slice.It was a teaching to my children and also my husband, because he always had this analogy of "leftovers are gross," and I wanted to show him that they're not. You can do really cool things with leftovers. That's the gist of the book, showing how many things you can do with buttermilk, how many things you can do with the bottom of the pretzel bag. [If] there's a little bit left, you can do something with it, and I can show you how to do it. Thiessen: I like the stories that go along with the food. You can see I have rooms of cookbooks all throughout my house; it's not just in the kitchen. I love buying cookbooks, because they're almost like coffee table books to me, to a certain degree, but also, I like reading the stories of where the food or the recipe came from. I read them like a normal book. I do know there's a lot of people out there — I know they're not all like that — but that's what cookbooks do for me. I love how he breaks down simple beginner ideas, such as how to hold a knife or how to make butter. He progresses with intermediate and advanced recipes that look and sound delicious. I have decided that I need to make my own Vanilla extract as soon as possible! Thiessen: Yeah. Well, it's where it started for me too. It was all the women — they were always in the kitchen, and I wanted to be with all the cool women in my family cooking. DiGiovanni: It's interesting, because in a way, it's different now, right? The most recent one was probably [when] we had set up this huge project. We tried to do the Guinness World Record for the biggest dumpling.

Place the sheet in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until the sugar has started to caramelize. Flip the bacon, brush with the remaining maple syrup, and sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes more, depending on your desired crispness. It’s filled with techniques that will last a lifetime, QR codes explaining everything in detail, and great food. I still don’t have my IKEA bookshelves but I’ll be buying this book! DiGiovanni: Stuff like that is fun. Those are one of the things that for me, for a long time, would go bad all the time, and I would throw out these old, wilted dill or parsley or cilantro, whatever it was.DiGiovanni: You should look into it. It's actually currently held by someone — I live in Boston; it's held by someone from Massachusetts — but you might be able to — Carbona(ra)men- Dude asks you to cook 8 pieces of bacon, remove the bacon and leave ALL the hot fat, and dump 2 cups of water into it. I explained the chemistry behind this to my son before doing it for the review and, as predicted, hot grease exploded all over my kitchen. This book is written for young inexperienced cooks. Will someone be burned? I think so. The food itself was a chore to eat. Way too much bacon. One note flavor. DiGiovanni: Especially, I admired my dad's mom — my grandmother. She would put on these six-course meals for up to 25, 30, 40 people on these big holidays, which is insane. DiGiovanni: Yeah. So I've gotten into trying to figure out how to make herbs last as long as they possibly can. Thiessen: Was that your first love of getting into cooking — the chore that you had to actually cook?

But that’s not to say those recipes are necessarily bad or failures by any means. And despite a couple maybe not quite hitting the same theme as the rest of the book, I consider the book on the whole quite a success. Tuna Melt- The tuna was runny from too much mayo and pink from so much paprika. Also it called for sharp cheddar but the cheese in the picture was white. The finished product was super bland. Tip:You should always bake your bacon. It makes for a far better final product. No more stovetop bacon please, unless absolutely necessary. DiGiovanni: If I could cook for anybody, I'd probably cook for my grandmother. I'd probably cook for my dad's mom. DiGiovanni: Absolutely. My mom certainly could use a crash course — she'd be upset to hear this — on how to treat your leftovers well. My dad, too, makes a lot of jokes about the leftovers we had growing up, but at the same time, it's one of those things that made me appreciate food every time we had it. Now, that makes me so conscious about all this stuff.As for the recipes themselves, I’m quite pleased to report that the vast majority of them look like something I’d actually like to cook and/or eat. Obviously everyone’s tastes are different so no cookbook ever manages to be 100% for anyone (except perhaps its own author), but this one is closer aligned to my tastes than most. And I particularly like a book that combines some sophisticated classy recipes with some that are more comfort food. And I have to admit, what really caught my eye is that this book even includes a recipe to make your own home-made dino nuggies. I’m pretty sure that means this is an author who knows what his audience wants. DiGiovanni: That is such a funny thing to say as my food fail, but that was probably my latest food fail. DiGiovanni: Which is funny. But another part of it, as a kid — and I'm sure you've dealt with this, having kids — is I would literally reach into the pantry and take handfuls of sugar and eat the sugar. I just wanted sugar. I found early on that if I gave my mom an ingredient list of stuff to make a lemon meringue pie that I would share with the family, sugar's got to be on the list, and I was getting my sugar fix that way. DiGiovanni: The dough melted off the dumpling. It was horrible. We tried to make this big contraption with a big box that was a steamer, and it was going to be a 50- to 75-pound dumpling, and then it melted. I am the type of person that will get a cookbook from the library, find 2-3 recipes I like but will never make and then return it. I’m also a person that can’t cook unless I’m following a recipe.