GB said:
Since I have never read this book I can not give any first hand experiences from it, but T. Bachman's review does not hold much water as far as I am concerned.
The problems he mentions with the book are not what I would consider problems. This guy does not some like someone who enjoys cooking. This is evident from his statements such as Well I enjoy cooking and lots of ingredients is not a bad thing in my book. Complicated is not a bad thing either. Plus what one person considers complicated another would consider simple.
This one just made me laugh. How hard is it to mail order spices? A lot of us here do it all the time and it is something we actually enjoy doing.
Talk about a male chauvinist statement. There are plenty of woman who BBQ too. I am a man and I can honestly say I am not looking for glory when I BBQ. I am simply looking to cook good food. What matters most in BBQ to me is no different than what matters most in sauteing or baking or anything else in the kitchen.
This is just completely bogus. I BBQ for myself plenty and I relish help from my wife.
I could continue to point out how I feel this review really is not one I personally would put any stock in, but I think I have made my point.
This is just for me though. That is the thing about reviews. Each person has to decide for themselves if that review is helpful for them or not. There is no right or wrong answer.
The only way to know if this book will be one you will like is to flip through it and see if anything jumps out at you.
Well lawsy me, GB, this feels like an invitation! Swords or pistols? (And Alix made me swear on the bible to be a good girl while the moon's full ...
)
Personally, I took those OTT male chauvanist statements to be mostly tongue-in-cheek, however ... I must say ... many men and women DO cook for admiration when they cook. Yes, yes, yes ...
and for themselves,
and for the delight of the guests, however, I still say a compliment from a guest is a very pleasurable thing and it's a bit of a fib to suggest it matters not.
As for the reviewer not liking complicated and therefore, by extension, not liking cooking, I
can't agree simply because I LOVE to cook, but I
also find complicated-looking recipes off-putting. More to the point, I find complicated
barbeque recipes off-putting because I think good barbeque is about a few good ingredients and skilled technique.
Spices mail-ordered or otherwise obtained with extra effort? I think his point was just that IF (as seems to be the case with him) you don't enjoy that activity
unto itself and would rather just get on with the barbequeing, it's again off-putting, a pain in the neck. For you on the other hand, it's clearly part of the overall pleasure.
"Plenty" of women who barbeque? When there's a man around?
Really GB? Dang, I'm a card-carrying feminist and
of course women are
capable of barbequeing, but I personally have never known a household with a full-time man present where the woman does the barbequeing! (You "relish help from" your wife, for instance ... you mean you relish helping
her as
she barbeques, right?
)
Cruisin' for a bruisin' ... I know. I'll stop.
Seven S? Still there?! Our esteemed admin (which you are, GB) got it right with his closing line, though. Only you can choose and flipping through the book's the way to go!
