At once hilarious and inspiring, CookFight is a one-of-a-kind cookbook that that pits the strategies and recipes of popular New York Times food reporters Julia Moskin and Kim Severson against each other as they take on the challenges today's home cook faces both in and out of the kitchen. An epic battle for kitchen dominance, CookFight features two well-seasoned cooks, 12 tough culinary challenges, and 125 mouth-watering recipes, plus a foreword by Frank Bruni, former chief restaurant critic of the New York Times. Fans of Mark Bittman, Melissa Clark, Ruth Reichl, and Dorie Greenspan, as well as top-rated cooking shows like Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef, and Hell's Kitchen, will be riveted by every round of this intense, no-punches-pulled CookFight until the final (dinner) bell!
CookFight
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Bookforum
The women take frequent, somewhat tongue-in-cheek jabs at each other, and the result is an endearing, quirky (and occasionally odd) combination of memoir and menus, all wrapped in an abiding faith in the power of friendship and food… Their authenticity in these pages, played up as it is for an odd-couple charm, has a core of truth to it that makes their manufactured challenges fall away, leaving behind a book that is as useful psychologically as it is in the kitchen. —Melanie Rehak
From the Back Cover
Colleagues.
Friends.
Food obsessives.
Work wives.
New York Times writers Julia Moskin and Kim Severson were all of the former, until legendary Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni challenged them to go head-to-head in a culinary duel—a battle for dinner dominance that turned them into kitchen combatants. Armed with only $50 each, Bruni dared them to prepare a full meal for six, a showdown which he would judge for the newspaper.The thrill of battle proved too exhilarating to resist, and that initial clash turned into a yearlong kitchen war as Julia and Kim faced off to tackle the most vexing kitchen predicaments, from how best to console friends in need through old-fashioned home cooking to conjuring kids' food that keeps both parents and children happy at a party.
CookFight is the delicious result of their brinksmanship, a chronicle of their skirmishes over the course of twelve months and a look at how two very different people—best friends from wildly divergent backgrounds—approach the kitchen. In each heartfelt and hilarious chapter, Kim and Julia confront a new "challenge"—those quandaries all home cooks deliberate, from how to strategize a dinner party (the Fancy Food Challenge) to how to eat more seasonally and locally (the Farmer's Market Challenge). Every recipe, from Julia's Caramelized Corn with Mint to Kim's Carnitas, is a delectable testament to their creativity and savvy—only the reader will be able to call the winner.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By krschulman
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got this cookbook this week and made the gougeres (from Juila) and the pork braised in milk and cream (from Kim) last night. Both recipes worked like a dream and my guests and I loved them! I have been a fan of Severson and Moskin for a long while now and I always read their articles in the NY Times. This cookbook not only has great recipes (there are a bunch more I am going to try), but it is also a great read. My favorite cookbooks don't just give you delicious recipes, but also tell an interesting, compelling story. This cookbook completely delivers. I love it!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Kasey
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I pre-ordered this cookbook from Amazon so I could get my greasy fingers all over it as soon as it hit the market and it's everything I was hoping for and more. The recipes are fantastic, as I expected, but I find that I've been reading it almost like a novel. The stories that accompany the Cook Fight recipes are personal and make this so much more than just another cookbook. Julia and Kim are such different people but you get a glimpse into their lives and personalities and by the end of it you feel like they're friends. My personal life feels far removed from NYC and working for the Times, yet when Julia talks about having her first child and the bewilderment and the breastfeeding and the solace that comes from just getting the fudge out of the house and eating a cookie that becomes way more than JUST a cookie, well, that resonates with me. As a mother, as a human being, as someone who takes pleasure and comfort from food. It's more than just a cookbook at that point for me and it's a fabulous cookbook.
The stories behind the recipes are as good as the recipes and the recipes have all been stellar and I've made a bunch. The milk braised pork was insane (the UPS guy caught me in the kitchen guzzling the leftover reheated sauce directly from the container - happy shame). The fiery sweet potatoes graced a Thanksgiving table this year. The domino potatoes, the cornflake chicken (I want to dip and dredge pretty much everything this way now), the salmon and cucumbers and raspberry vinaigrette, the apple pie. And the bacon fat gingersnaps have literally changed my life. I think of this recipe as my personal litmus test for future boyfriends and friends. They really were so good that my eyes rolled back into my head...I had a mouthgasm people. It was salty luscious bacon fat making sweet love to molasses and they made a tender, hauntingly sweet, beautiful little baby that I want to eat as much as humanly possible. If you can't get on the bacon fat snap train with me (vegetarians excluded) then I honestly just don't know what to do with you. Just get out.
Every recipe in Cook Fight looks intriguing to me, the variety is fantastic and the challenge aspect of the book is just fun. No recipe looks over fancified, even the fancy challenge. Everything not only looks like something I want to put in my mouth, but it also looks realistic enough for me to actually make and enjoy doing it. My spawn (6 and 9) have enthusiastically embraced and eaten every recipe so far. My BFF (aka my life wife) and I have started Sunday night Cook Fight challenge dinner parties. We pick a theme and pick team Kim or Julia and we cook, we eat, we laugh and we love. Really all the very best parts of life...
The stories behind the recipes are as good as the recipes and the recipes have all been stellar and I've made a bunch. The milk braised pork was insane (the UPS guy caught me in the kitchen guzzling the leftover reheated sauce directly from the container - happy shame). The fiery sweet potatoes graced a Thanksgiving table this year. The domino potatoes, the cornflake chicken (I want to dip and dredge pretty much everything this way now), the salmon and cucumbers and raspberry vinaigrette, the apple pie. And the bacon fat gingersnaps have literally changed my life. I think of this recipe as my personal litmus test for future boyfriends and friends. They really were so good that my eyes rolled back into my head...I had a mouthgasm people. It was salty luscious bacon fat making sweet love to molasses and they made a tender, hauntingly sweet, beautiful little baby that I want to eat as much as humanly possible. If you can't get on the bacon fat snap train with me (vegetarians excluded) then I honestly just don't know what to do with you. Just get out.
Every recipe in Cook Fight looks intriguing to me, the variety is fantastic and the challenge aspect of the book is just fun. No recipe looks over fancified, even the fancy challenge. Everything not only looks like something I want to put in my mouth, but it also looks realistic enough for me to actually make and enjoy doing it. My spawn (6 and 9) have enthusiastically embraced and eaten every recipe so far. My BFF (aka my life wife) and I have started Sunday night Cook Fight challenge dinner parties. We pick a theme and pick team Kim or Julia and we cook, we eat, we laugh and we love. Really all the very best parts of life...
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A wonderful adventure in story telling and eating and recipes - a fun, cookbook you will actually use and share the recipes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this book!
I honestly read this book cover to cover when I first got it. It's the perfect blend of good recipes and good food writing!
Published 4 months ago by Megan E.
3.0 out of 5 stars
some good recipes
The concept of this cookbook sounded fun..two chefs
competing to make a meal meeting each deadline for different
kinds of menus. Read more
competing to make a meal meeting each deadline for different
kinds of menus. Read more
Published 4 months ago by merle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow...great read and good resource in the kitchen
This is a great book and available at just the right time. Would be an excellent stocking stuffer with recipes that we can use for the Holidays and all year round. Thanks
Published 5 months ago by Keith J. Severson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific! Can't put it down!
This is more than just a good cookbook. I got this cookbook last week and was surprised to discover that it's an excellent read. Read more
Published 5 months ago by NYC Mom
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Cookbook EVER!!
This is the most interesting cookbook that I have ever seen. The recipes are fun and different. I can't wait to taste the Spaghetti Pie.
Published 5 months ago by Susan Matz
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
