The Working Class Foodies Cookbook by Rebecca Lando

My rating: 3 of 5 spoons
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There is some good information in this book, but also some bad or mis-information. The author seems to promote farm-raised fish, but never mentions that farm-raised fish have higher fat content, many have antibiotics and who knows what else in them, higher PCB's and toxin levels as well as less Omega 3's than wild caught fish. As far as "cheap" goes, I had to laugh when I saw the pantry section. It says "How to Stock a Pantry for $60 to $80), but the very first item is olive oil with the price listed as '$6.00 to $24.00'. Now, I know for a fact that organic extra virgin olive oil is very expensive. Taking that into account and looking at the rest of the pantry "staples", unless you're buying small quantities and for only one or two people, you are NOT going to stock your pantry and come in at $60-$80. There-in lies the rub in this book: this book seems to be written with single people, or couples at most in mind. A good portion of the recipes seem to serve 2-4. There are six in my family, so I will constantly be having to double or triple recipes.

As far as the recipes themselves go, many are just basic, simple recipes that many of us have cooked for years. There's some pantry staples (making your own ketchup, mayonnaise, and so forth), basic sauces, roasted veggies and the like. There are, however, some lovely recipes in this book that call to be tried out such as "Green Beans and Hazelnuts with Tarragon-Cider Vinaigrette", "Pancetta, Squash and Shallot Risotto", "Jumble-Berry Pie" and "Sea Salt-Honey Caramels".

This book would be better with more photos. Four pages of photos stuck in the middle of the book with pictures of less than 20 recipes is a big turn off for a lot of people when buying a cookbook.

I would recommend this book for singles or couples that have enough money to play around with the pricier produce and meats. For families like mine, however, it probably won't be used a lot.

I received a copy of this book from Gotham Books (via Penguin Group) for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.