Synopsis
Real man meals where time, fat, and calories do not matter are featured in a cookbook that includes recipes for garage-brewed beer, artery-clogging fried foods, grilled meats, and the vegetable of choice: potatoes. Original.
Reviews
The basically insecure American male has always feared the home kitchen, considering it woman's domain. Because so many men never learn to cook unless self-preservation intrudes, the Bowers have composed a cookbook for men that extends the male's cooking territory from the outdoor barbecue to the everyday kitchen. To encourage culinary prowess, the authors start with the importance of good, sharp knives (extremely masculine) and then proceed to directions for brewing beer. Once that's accomplished, a male can turn his attention to the baking of bread (but no angel food cake) and exult in his own concoctions of such rich dishes as macaroni and cheese, fried pork chop sandwiches, and cheese fries. For an international touch, a man can prepare an authentic, incendiary Indian vindaloo curry (certifiably macho). In keeping with the book's theme, dessert has to be a big cheesecake. It's all in good fun, but it is hard to picture a beefy male fretting over the Bowers' souffleed potatoes, one of French cuisine's most delicate, fussiest inventions. Mark Knoblauch
Perhaps the approach of Father's Day explains the simultaneous appearance of three "men's" cookbooks. Its catchy title notwithstanding, Boswell's A Man and His Pan is essentially an eclectic collection of favorite recipes from a man who likes to cook, whether for his family (there's a separate chapter on cooking for kids) or for guests. Boswell is coauthor of The Best Fryer Cookbook Ever (HarperCollins, 1998) and the packager of the "365 Ways To Cook" series. Here the gimmick, such as it is, is that all the recipes, from Pepper-Crusted Steak Flamb?ed in Whisky to Asian-Flavored Arctic Char, are made in a large nonstick frying pan. Many are quite easy, although they do assume some experience in the kitchen. For larger collections. With his wife, a food writer and editor, Bowers, who has a restaurant background, has written an entertaining but at heart serious cookbook. Despite his tongue-in-cheek macho tone, he conveys a lot of useful information on food and cooking, starting with "Men and Hardware" (kitchen equipment) and moving on to "Men and Flame" (grilling, flamb?eing, and "blowtorch cooking"), "Men and Fat" ("They Don't Call It a Fry-Mama"), and "Pommes des Hommes" (vegetables), among other topics. The recipes are tasty and wide-ranging, not confined to hearty "guy food" by any means. Recommended for most collections. Mauer, author of the best-selling Lean and Lovin' It (Chapters, 1996), has always been the family cook, but about ten years ago, he changed his habits, scaled back on fat, and lost 100 pounds. Disdaining diet books that consider half a cup of macaroni and cheese enough for a serving, he's come up with 175 recipes that are relatively low in fat but designed to satisfy hearty appetites. Mauer has a more "down-home" approach than Bowers and a less sophisticated style, but many family cooks, male or female, will find lots of recipes to try here. For most collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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