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58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for first-timers with a kitchen, August 7, 2006
This review is from: The Everything College Cookbook: 300 Hassle-Free Recipes For Students On The Go (Everything: Cooking) (Paperback)
I'm a junior in college, and my parents bought this cookbook for me as a gift for my first apartment. My experience with cooking hasn't really gone past heating up chicken cutlets in the oven, so I was a little wary of using an actual cookbook. But this book is really useful.
The recipes are varied (snacks, "date-worthy" meals, desserts, healthier cooking, etc.), and there are also a lot of tips that can help out new cooks, be applied to other recipes, or adjust the ones already in the book for less ingredients or quicker preparation. A couple examples...
-Blueberry Muffins: "Don't have buttermilk? Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup regular milk and let it sit for a minute before adding the egg."
-Creamy Chicken with Noodles: "To serve the basic sauce in this recipe with other foods, leave out the frozen spinach and experiment with a different combination of seasonings, such as cayenne pepper or a hot sauce for seafood."
-Grilled Honey & Garlic Spareribs: "Don't have a grill? The ribs can also be baked....[gives instructions]. Baste the spareribs frequently with the honey & garlic marinade during the final 30 minutes of cooking."
In addition, the book provides helpful advice on food safety, how to store leftovers, and cooking terms ('simmer' I know, but 'blanch' and 'dredge' were helpful to have explained).
Some people with more experience in the kitchen might find a lot of this book a little too basic, but I appreciate having instructions on how to hard-boil an egg, or to remember to leave a quarter-inch of potato pulp inside the skin when making stuffed potatoes so that the whole thing doesn't fall apart.
I agree with the previous reviewer that this book is by no means for anyone living in a dorm (though it claims to be). Maybe some colleges have fully-stocked dorm kitchens and grocery stores right near campus, but this book is definitely better for a student living in an apartment with a kitchen, storage space, and time to make actual meals.
There are definitely certain things about this book that some would consider drawbacks, but for a real first-timer with a kitchen, like myself, this book is perfect.
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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Aimed at the wrong audience..., July 28, 2006
This review is from: The Everything College Cookbook: 300 Hassle-Free Recipes For Students On The Go (Everything: Cooking) (Paperback)
With the hotplate and microwave on the cover, you might think that this is a book of recipes that are prepared using those two items. This is not the case. Yes, there is a hotplate chapter and a microwave chapter, but a large number of recipes in the other 11 chapters require an oven. And even the microwave and hotplate recipes tend to require counter space, extensive preparation, and a large number and variety of ingredients.
If you really do live in a dorm where you will have very little room, and only a mini-fridge and microwave, I suggest either finding another book, or just making it up as you go.
Or if, like me, you live in a tiny studio with no counter space and only a fridge, microwave, and hotplate, it offers a few more options, but not much. Most of the recipes require too much preparation. And, if you are concerned about energy use and safety, many of the recipes also have fairly long cooking times.
Overall, I'd say this would be a good book aimed at the beginning cook. Perhaps for someone who just moved into their first real apartment with a full kitchen. This is not a good book for anyone with limited space and resources.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe for Graduate Students..., April 25, 2008
This review is from: The Everything College Cookbook: 300 Hassle-Free Recipes For Students On The Go (Everything: Cooking) (Paperback)
While the recipes are fairly basic and the ingredient list not too exotic, I think the book is more suitable for graduate students than your basic college student, especially those living in dorms. Hotplates are not for making meals with more than two ingredients - like a ramen pack and water - and not many college kids are going to slice 'n dice on their desks to prepare a stir fry in their dorm room. Even the kids who have moved out of the dorm and into off-campus housing are not overly adventurous in the kitchen. Yes, there are some who fancy themselves cooks and enjoy making muffins and quiche, but they are certainly the minority. Scrambled eggs, yes. Chicken curry, probably not. They get the complicated stuff at restaurants or relatives' homes, or from a frozen dinner that they pop in the microwave. Popcorn, Ramen Noodles, a bagged salad mix here or there,and of course pizza (delivered), spaghetti with bottled sauce, cereal for dinner, to name a few, are the standard fare for this group.
So, while the book is excellent for a second tier cook - for first tier cooks see the previous sentence - labeling it a college cookbook is off base and a little bit of wishful thinking by the moms who buy it for their college freshmen offspring. 50 Ways to Leave Your Mother
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