How To Be A Bad Cook: The Ultimate Quick Guide

By: Ruth Finnegan
Publisher: Callender Press
Publication Date: May 8, 2024
ISBN: 978-1739432829
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle
Review Date: September 17, 2024

In How To Be A Bad Cook: The Ultimate Quick Guide by Ruth Finnegan, readers are introduced to an unconventional take on the classic cookbook. Unlike the popular cookbooks that might already grace a bookshelf in your kitchen, this book is like none other that you have already bought.

The author’s approach to presenting this book is to teach the bad cooks that they aren’t so bad in the kitchen after all. Right from the first page, this cooking guide doesn’t present the usual things such as an index of recipes, colorful finished food pictures or even an extensive ingredient list – although the author does mention the very basic nondescript ingredients needed to make a particular dish. There aren’t even measurements offered as a conventional cookbook would offer. Finnegan’s reasoning for all the normal exclusions is that you can wing making a decent meal without having to follow meticulous cooking lists and endless instructions. She promotes the theory of using what you have in the kitchen and being creative.

This reviewer’s first impression of this book was one that was based on humor more than a serious cookbook that readers would go to in order to make a meal for their family. Seeing how there were extremely limited ingredients listed, no measurements offered on the ingredients you would be using, nor any finished colored pictures of the meal you wanted to make, it was difficult in taking this book as an ordinary cookbook.

Readers will be entertained in the extensive historical background presented about certain foods. One example was olive oil. We learn that it comes from olive trees as far back as 20 million years ago in what is now known as Italy. Other foods she offered researched history on were oats, eggs, soups, and even alcohol used in cooking.

The recipes offered vary from soups, meats, breakfast foods, even including a few desserts sprinkled in to satisfy those readers with a sweet tooth. One breakfast recipe that this reviewer found interesting was the Banana Pancakes. This recipe was as unconventional as you might imagine. Instead of making the pancakes the usual way, the author suggests using a mashed ripe banana with one egg mixed in to make the batter and allowing it to fry up into a pancake.

Quill says: If you are looking for an unconventional cookbook because you aren’t a master chef in the kitchen, look no further. How To Be A Bad Cook: The Ultimate Quick Guide is one fun cookbook that is completely different in design than other cookbooks out there.

For more information on How To Be A Bad Cook: The Ultimate Quick Guide, please visit the author’s website at: www.ruthhfinnegan.com.