Review: Oh, Dear
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2013
I wanted to like this book.There are two TOCs - one is hyperlinked and one is not.  Neither is integrated with the Go menu on Kindle, so one cannot "Go To" the table of contents.The introduction is somewhat bland and colorless; there's no sense of the author's personality and it ends with "We hope you enjoy the variety of southern soul food recipe choices we have compiled."  I just don't get the sense that this is a collection of someone's personal family recipes, despite the "Uncle Harold's" and "Cousin Rita's" sprinkled throughout.I was disappointed that the sweet potato pie called for frozen pastry and canned sweet potatoes.  The peach cobbler calls for canned peaches in heavy syrup.  The recipe says to save the juice but never explains why.  The banana pudding recipe calls for boxed pudding, with the introduction saying "this is the quick version and just as good."  Two recipes call for "store bought gravy," and the "Country Fried Steak and Gravy" has no instructions for gravy or recommendations, just "serve with gravy" in the introduction.  I take shortcuts, too, but I would have expected something more than "store bought gravy" in a book with this title.Of note, I will say that I don't really know whether the recipes fit the category "soul food"; cornish game hens, macaroni and cheese (from scratch), potato salad, salmon croquettes.Here's the recipe that took the book from 3 down to 2 stars:  Hog Wild Smothered Pork Chops.  The intro says "you can purchase gravy or prepare from scratch."  No instructions for preparing from scratch are given.  The ingredient list calls for sliced onions but they are never used.  The cooking instructions for 1-inch thick pork chops say to brown on each side for about 4-5 minutes and allow to cool on a plate.  From my personal experience, that seems like a slightly short cooking time, especially since the chops aren't returned to the pan to cook in a sauce.  The recipe doesn't give any information about cooking to a certain temperature or how to test for doneness.  I realize "underdone" pork is less of a concern these days, but I find pork to be unappealing and chewy rather than juicy at a certain stage of cooking, so it's something I take extra care with.  The recipe also says it's for "smothered" pork chops, but the onions are never used, so I have a feeling that some information is missing from this recipe.On the flip side, there are recipes for fried catfish and snapper, liver, black eyed pea salad, oxtail soup...a bit more interesting than your average "cream of condensed soup casserole" recipe.If you decide to go with this book, I would recommend proceeding with caution and reading carefully before you begin cooking.