Beat This! Cookbook: Absolutely Unbeatable Knock-'em-Dead Recipes for the Very Best Dishes [Paperback]

Ann Hodgman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 1999

Do people take one bite of your food, moan with delight and beg you for the recipe? Do they exclaim, "Out of this world!" and "Beyond perfect!" when they taste your cooking? When you cook from BEAT THIS!, they will. In a book that has become a classic for its unique combination of irresistible recipes and hilarious prose, Ann Hodgman throws down the gauntlet, with more than 100 recipes that she guarantees to be better than anyone else's. Recipes include: Apple Crisp, Baking Powder Biscuits, Beef Stew, Blueberry Muffins, Caramels, Chicken Salad, Clam Chowder, Deviled Eggs, Fudge, Fried Mushrooms, Gingersnaps, Guacamole, Lemon Squares, Lime Sorbet, Molasses Cookies, Onion Soup, Pesto Torta, Plum Pudding, Potato Salad, Shrimp Salad, Spaghetti Sauce, Sugar Cookies, Tomato Soup, Vinaigrette, White-Chocolate Raspberry Pie, and Whole-Wheat Bread.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Delightfully witty . . . Every recipe I've tried has become one of my favorites." - Phyllis Richman The Washington Post

"Surely the funniest book ever written about food - anyone who has been blue lately, or has spent more than five minutes in the kitchen, should buy it." - Corby Kummer

Atlantic Monthly

About the Author

Along with the original Beat This!, ANN HODGMAN is the author of Beat That! and One Bite Won’t Kill You. She has written more than forty children’s books, including, most recently, How to Die of Embarrassment Every Day. Hodgman has written articles for The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Food & Wine, Smithsonian, and just about all of the women’s and parenting magazines.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395971772
• ISBN-13: 978-0395971772
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #680,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ann Hodgman is author of more than forty children's books, several humor books, and the BEAT THIS! and BEAT THAT! cookbooks. She has two children and twenty pets. Ann Hodgman lives in Washington, Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A huge pleasure to read and cook from, April 3, 2002

By 

Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beat This! Cookbook: Absolutely Unbeatable Knock-'em-Dead Recipes for the Very Best Dishes (Paperback)

For those of us who like to lie in bed and read cookbooks like other people read novels, Ann Hodgman's superb "Beat This!" is a surefire winner. You will find yourself nudging your bed partner to read aloud the funny parts--which is most of the book (I can't think of any other cookbooks you'd want to read aloud from, with the exception of Hodgman's wonderful sequel, aptly entitled "Beat That!").

Hodgman has been launched from the late lamented SPY magazine to writing cookbooks and although her trajectory might seem a little strange, I think she has landed exactly where she should. I love this woman AND her cookbooks! The title of the book refers to Hodgman's challenge to readers to come up with better recipes than she provides herein. It's a real challenge, believe me--everything I've tried from both this cookbook AND the sequel has been wonderful.

I can't finish this review without quoting at least briefly from Hodgman. The woman is a hoot:

[On Mom-Style Chocolate Cake] "This cake is straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but it tastes even better than . . . uh . . . paint and canvas, I guess. Even for a nice traditional cake, the best mixing method can be found in Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'Cake Bible,' which is such a good book that I think the Gideons should put it in hotel rooms instead of the regular Bible."

[on Perfect Fudge, if You're Lucky] "My problem has always been that 50% of the fudge I make turns out creamy and delicious, and 50% turns out like chips of flint."

[On The Best Regular (Or I Guess I Should Say Classic) Apple Pie] "Remind me why people like apple pie so much? Well, partly because of the cinnamon, or at least that's why I like it. It took a McDonald's apple pie, of all things, to make me realize how important cinnamon is. (I'm saying 'of all things' to make it sound as though I never eat at McDonald's.)"

Buy this book and cook and laugh--what a great combination!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's so good, it's become a cult, February 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Beat This! Cookbook: Absolutely Unbeatable Knock-'em-Dead Recipes for the Very Best Dishes (Paperback)

I love this book. My mom got it for me years ago, and lately I've been bringing stuff I've baked into the office. I've now converted three co-workers, who each went out and bought this AND her second cookbook, "Beat That." I bought "One Bite Won't Kill You" (for moms of picky kids) for my sister-in-law for Christmas. She loves that.

It's just the perfect cookbook to have when you're in the mood for something specific, and you want it to knock people's socks off: gingerbread, cornbread, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, etc etc. To own it is to love it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best!!, May 16, 2004

By 

M.P.V. "pia3433" (Vail, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beat This! Cookbook: Absolutely Unbeatable Knock-'em-Dead Recipes for the Very Best Dishes (Paperback)

I have to admit that when I bought this book years ago, I was disaponted because it has no pictures. (And I love pictures). But...something cought my eye: Ann Hodgman says in her book "My feeling is that every main dish is better if you add some bacon" and actually another million funny coments, but that is why I kept reading and reading.
First recipe I tried was the "Best Banana Bread", page 23 (my book opens at that page all by it self)"FANTASTIC".
Carrot Cake, page 47: OUT OF THIS WORLD (and I don't even like carrot cake).
I seriously belive that by the time I finished trying all this recipes I would be able to say that they are "all" magnificent.
Thank you Ann Hodgman for you great palate and your incredible sence of humor!