One thing I am seeing in the 2 star reviews is a lot of "he's not being his zanny self!" "there is a recipe for a fried egg!!" "I am disappointed because this is for beginners and I, dear sir, am NO beginner"...
Allow me to remind you all that this book was written by a man, not just a YouTuber, who loves food and has likely had this dream long before he became popular in 2020. This book was made for EVERYONE and not just those who have been cooking for years and want more of a challenge. I promise you, these beginner home cooks you are referring to as being the only ones that will enjoy the book are NOT making homemade mozzarella, they are NOT making branzino and milk bread is likely a new thing to them. They could say the exact same thing; that this book has a few recipes for "them", but it's really for people that already know how to cook.
I wholeheartedly disagree with these reviews and I will tell you why. My fiancé and I are very different in the kitchen. He measures an 1/8 teaspoon pepper any time he cooks and is very "by the book" and prefers a lot of explaining. I on the other hand have been the main cook in my family, both living at home and as an adult, since I was 13. I go by feel and will often use a recipe as an idea / guideline more than gospel. I have recently become more interested in yeast breads (where you can NOT go by feel alone). Both of us have already fallen in love with Joshua's ability to make the kitchen a comfortable place for anyone. I would bet that most everyone will learn something in this book and feel JW's passion for things as simple as, yes, a fried egg. I think there should be great pride in making a book that is approachable enough for a beginner who just stumbled on But Better and wants to make their own Crunch Wrap Supreme and the folks who found him through the Leftover Challenge because they already watch other YouTubers.
I understand not everyone can use every recipe (here's looking at you, friend that complained the bread portion of a book where the author ALWAYS makes his own bread was too long because you are celiac.), but I promise, this book IS for everyone and every skill level. and if you look at it through the eyes of someone who wants us all cooking from home more and from scratch often, I think you will see the vision for what it is and realize that it delivers on every such promise.
Now, excuse me while I plan the next several date nights at home from this book.
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Customer reviews
Same recipes as his YouTube channel but in paragraph form
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2021
Updated 9/16: I tried the recipe for salt butter and jam toast. I used a 33g slice of hostess white bread (as grocery store as white bread gets), 30g of Kirkland salted butter, 50g of knotsberry seedless blackberry jelly. All measured on an oxo food scale. Butter and jam weights were selected to be somewhere in the middle of his selected range. I was shocked at how much butter and jam this is. I don’t know how his recipe for white bread comes out but even if it’s double the size of its namesake “grocery store white bread” this is a sickening amount of butter and jam. I couldn’t eat more than 2 bites. In his picture it seemed he used far less jam and much less butter too, which confuses me a bit as to why the range extends out to such massive amounts. He didn’t give a weight for his bread slice so maybe it’s 150g or something massive that you might need this much butter and jam. This is the first piece of toast I’ve thrown away in probably a decade. Maybe user error for not making his bread? But even if I doubled up and made this a sandwich to get it “thicc” it’s still way too much butter and jam for my taste. I really don’t feel like this cookbook is going to set anyone up for success. I want to try the popeye’s chicken next, hopefully will update with a more positive result in a few days. I’m curious to see the results you guys get and what the folks on his subreddit will come out with.The bottom line: this book is for Joshua’s fans. It is NOT for anyone who is on a tight budget there is not much new here you cant already get for free on his channel, and the few new recipes include simple things like how to make toast or cook an egg.What you think of this book is largely going to depend on why you buy it. If you are a huge fan of Joshua Weismann then for you this is probably a 5 star review, and I have no doubt that the Amazon ranking will be flooded with 5 star ratings from adoring fans. That is the biggest strength of this cookbook to be honest. It’s a way for his fans to get more of a creator they love, and its sort of like a tip bucket for them to give back for any of the video content you may have enjoyed and feel more immersed in the fandom. Why do I say a tip bucket? Well pretty much every single recipe in this book is freely available on his YouTube channel already and done “but better” in video form because the instruction in this book is far inferior to what you get from a video. The very few “new” recipes include things like how to boil an egg, how to make toast with butter and jam (pictured) and how to fry an egg. Not really great value for the purchase price. For most people I would suggest that this is not a good cookbook to buy. Personally this is a painful realization to me because I preordered pretty much the first possible day. You see Joshua has a knack for making some of the most beautiful food you will find on a YouTube video. If you look for all the big YouTube cooks making sour dough bread for instance Joshua’s bread looks better. With nice amber and bronze crust, complete with char marks and nice crumb. If this cookbook was a good path for getting an aspiring cook to that level I’d enthusiastically be singing its praises. Unfortunately this book is more about ego, vanity and flex than it is about actually teaching. When it comes to the teaching part this book is downright lazy. I’ve tried to make his sourdough twice and failed (pictured), and that is based on his videos which offer much better detail than the instruction in this book. In here many of the recipes offer confusing descriptions of what to do but include no photo or diagram to help explain. Like for the sourdough bread when he describes how to shape it I would have no clue if what I was doing was correct using this book alone. It was only by looking at the video that I could understand. Which is the added misery of how lazy this book is. He could have easily linked to his own content with time stamps to show you videos of all of these steps but did not. I suppose the fear is that it would make plain that there is very little new in this book and the instructions on the video are light years better.The book is based on a promise that it will help build your culinary intuition, and it is possible that this is true. But if it is true, it is likely going to take you on a trip through frustration, disappointment and ‘hard learned’ lessons from mistakes and failures to get you there. Here is an example: There is a section called “lacto—fermented vegetables” where we are supposed to learn how to make flavorful condiments to increase the depth of flavor of your cooking. But the instructions are sort of this generalized 10,000 foot view of the method, coupled with a very technical instruction on salt percentage that somehow gets glossed over at the same time with the caveats like ‘vegetables with more water need more salt’ (only mentioning peppers and cucumbers specifically…and this is the first I’ve thought of as peppers being ‘high water’…so what else is?) and we are advised to ‘just play around with veggie types and fermentation times until you find combinations that turn out well.” Number of specific recipes he provides to demonstrate his method? Zero. Not even one. At least in his “pickle-anything” he provided the one concrete example of dill pickles. That’s the measure of what I consider laziness in this book. It would have taken next to zero effort to crank out 4-5 examples of recipes that are known to work and have a good flavor profile so that a newish cook could have some basis of comparison. So this approach he takes might be a catalyst for improving your intuition, but its going to take a leap of faith to accept the advice of ‘just play around with it enough and you’ll figure it out’ when you bought a cookbook expecting it to teach you.And honestly its not impossible that that’s not the best path to go to ultimately develop skills…maybe you do have to suffer a bit to learn master level skills. For me the verdict is open. I could imagine being too beholden to recipes that are explicit and well written might make you too reliant on others and circumvent your own thinking and ultimately your own creativity. I just think its discourteous not to give more of a baseline for people to work with if you actually care at all about teaching them.Structurally the book is kind of weird too, which makes me think the editing and planning could have used a little more effort. Like in the section that’s the big overview of whats included in this book he goes into detail about working bread dough…describing the ‘Rhubaud method’. So I’m thinking wow when I get to the chapter on bread it must have some really detailed instruction on how to work the dough! But when I get to the bread section, and it talks about working the dough there is no instruction…it just links back to the general book overview where you find the technical details of how to work the bread. What?! It also might just be a kindle thing but the labels on the photos are too small to read, you actually have to open the image and zoom in to even see what the text says. God help you if you bought the physical book and its this small. You will need a magnifying glass.Little things I liked: this book provides both metrics and imperial units. That’s a big win. I like that he often includes guidelines for how long things can be stored and under what conditions. He specifies the brands of flour he uses which could be a big deal in getting good results in the bread section (H-E-B organic, central milling, and Bob’s Red Mill). He gives both conventional and convection settings in recipes.Little things I did not like: the bread section does not include bakers percentages for scaling recipes, no mention of percent hydration. I find his comedic schtick sophomoric, shallow, and grating. He is proud enough of his ego to flip the reader off in like the second photo in the book, and honestly I think if he could get over his ego he would be both a better cook and a better teacher. He claims this is about building intuition but doesn’t give you a base. Like he gives you an egg pasta recipe and a gnocchi recipe and sends you out to go try making pasta, without telling you there is water based pasta and which types of pasta are best for which shapes and why (google Helen Rennie pasta if you want to learn). I find him rambly, ranty, and disjointed…anything but his stated aim of being ‘thought provoking’… I don’t believe there are many people who don’t know what asparagus looks like. There are plenty of terms he just throws at you without ever explaining. Use a “pinch jar” to weigh down your lacto-fermented veggies? Use a “cast-iron combo cooker” to cook your bread? Where it would take next to no effort to explain, he just doesn’t bother.I advise against getting this book. I give it 2 stars. I have no doubt Joshua is a brilliant cook and is capable of cooking 5 star food, I just don’t think this book is a way that he is going to teach it to you. It’s my saddest purchase when I consider what it could have been.Recipes included in this bookSTAPLES FROM SCRATCHpickled anythinglacto-fermented vegetablessimple jamsnut buttersbasic stock out of anythingpho brothdashiextracted animal fatunsalted buttercompound buttersmozzarellaricottachèvrehot sauceketchuppesto sauceall-purpose barbecue saucemayonnaisejalapeño salsaflavored mayosranch dressing saucegribichehorseradish-chive creamkatsu sauceBREADS AND STARCHES FROM SCRATCHsourdough starterbasic sourdough breadbig boy michemy famous multipurpose doughburger & sandwich bunshot dog bunsdinner rollsgrocery store white breadbagel loafcubano breadfresh pastapotato gnocchibuttermilk biscuitsenglish muffinsflour tortillasbrowned butter cornbreadladyfingersgraham crackersBREAKFASTperfect soft-boiled eggsbrowned butter–basted fried eggsbreakfast sandwicheseggs benedictcinnamon toastcongeehokkaido milk breadcinnamon rollsfrench toastricotta pancakessalted butter & jam toastaustin breakfast tacosAPPETIZERS AND SNACKSpretzel stickswhipped ricottagarlic dipcheese board that everyone will eatsmashed patatas bravasavocado & egg toastFISHbeer-battered fishfried fish tacosgrilled branzinothe easiest crispy skin fishparmesan & nut crusted salmonmaine-style lobster rollsgravlax smørrebrødMEATthe perfect steakmojo-braised pulled porkchicken parmesanchicken katsuperfect pork chopschicken breasts that are actually goodrestaurant-style duck breastsmom's chicken fried steakroasted chickenmom's pot roastchashuchicken nuggetsPASTAS AND SANDWICHESpesto gnocchicarbonaracacio e pepecubanosbetter than popeyes chicken sandwichhoney butter chicken biscuitstuna melt allison's heartthe perfect blt grilled cheesesteak sandwichessmash burgersVEGETABLES AND SALADSfried brussels sproutscharred kalebroccolini with toasted peanuts & chili oilesquitesthe greatest caesar salad of your lifecobb salada respectable wedge saladSOUPmom's chicken noodle souproasted mushroom soup with garlic chantilly creamfrench onion soupbeef phochicken tortilla soupshoyu ramentomato soupwatermelon gazpachoegg drop soupDESSERTthe simplest chocolate cakesticky bunskey lime piebanana hot fudge sundaethe ultimate chocolate chip cookiecoffee ice creamtiramisurussian tea cakesstrawberry shortcakepeanut butter cookies
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2021
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Amazon Customer
I expected more
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2021Caroline
Not Thorough Enough to setup beginners to succeed
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2021
Caroline
Reviewed in Canada on September 18, 2021
I read the prologue and was itching with anticipation. The premise of helping develop culinary intuition is a tall order that sadly this book did not deliver. The recipes are good to follow if you are an experienced cook ( like I am ) but not thorough enough to steer true beginners from pit falls. For example under his staple hot sauce recipe it states that you need 680kg ( a typo on the book, I’m pretty sure he meant 680gms ) of red Fresno Chile or whatever Chile you encounter like Serrano or habanero. Now an experienced person knows that 680gms of habanero will produce an inedible hot sauce because that chilenos much spicier than Serrano or red Fresno, but a newbie might not know, so a side note would be helpful.
The “perfect chicken recipe” is another example. He is using a sous vide, but provides no further explanation on why this method is the ideal one to cook perfect chicken every time.
Overall I like the book but it does not deliver its promise if it’s targeted towards cooking novices. His channel is much more education and provides super useful information. My advice? If you are a novice skip the book and go directly to his YouTube channel!
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DrDuckQuack
It's quite apologetic actually
Reviewed in Germany on September 19, 2021Alex_Pea
A "but better" take on the all-in-one cookbook
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2021
