Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes [Paperback]

Sam Zien (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2008

‘I can't cook.’ I hear that all the time. And it's not that you can't--it's that you don't. It's that we've been wrecked by cooking shows with their millions of complicated steps and crazy-ass ingredients. Ingredients you can't find, let alone pronounce. That's not how I want to cook. I want to eat well, but I don't want it to take a year. Who's making stuff like 'Truffled Peruvian Mountain Squab with Chilled Framboise Foam' anyway?

"So this book is about food that's big in taste and small in effort. Just great-tasting stuff with no fancy techniques and definitely no over-the-top ingredients, as in everything-comes-from-a-regular-supermarket--cool concept, huh? It's just a bunch of recipes you'll easily be able to make and enjoy."
--From Sam the Cooking Guy

Look inside for great recipes like these:

• One Dank Tomato Pie • "Whatever" Spring Rolls • Five-Minute Stir-Fry Noodles • O.F.R.B.P.J.G.O. • Awww Nuts! • BBQ Chicken Pizza • Halloween Chicken Chili • Fridge Fried Rice • Sam's Sticky Sweet BBQ Ribs • Stuffed Burgers • Pesto BBQ Shrimp • Chili Salmon • Motor Home Meatballs • Spicy-ish Sausage Pasta • The Great Potato Cake • Brussels Sprouts You'll Actually Eat • (Fake) Creme Brulee • Chocolate Toffee Matzoh  • Peanut Butter Ice-Cream Cup Things

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zien, creator and host of the television show Sam the Cooking Guy, is very clear from the onset that he is not a chef; he also believes that certain things, like measuring ingredients (unless baking), are a "waste of time" and that 350 degrees is the "universal temperature" at which to cook everything. A self-proclaimed "regular guy," Zien thinks that people have "been wrecked by cooking shows with their millions of complicated steps and crazy ass ingredients." His recipes are for people who want to cook, but want to spend as little time and effort in the kitchen as possible. Two of his favorite ingredients, which show up frequently, are prebaked pizza crust (used in his pesto pizza recipe, which also calls for ready-made pesto) and "ready bacon," which simply needs to be microwaved. Other dishes include a Tomato and Potato Chip Sandwich and Stir Fry Noodles made with Styrofoam cup instant ramen. Some dishes, though lacking originality, call for fresh ingredients and explain simple techniques, like the Adobo Chicken or Ginger Scallops. Foodies won't be impressed, and even those with mild interest in putting together their own meals might want to be challenged a bit more. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap

Sam Zien is a regular guy who cooks great food. No cutesy patter. No foo-foo ingredients. Just easy, great-tasting stuff that real people like you can make, served up with lots of humor. All of which has made him one of today's fastest-rising TV food stars—the host of Sam the Cooking Guy as well as Just Cook This! on the Discovery Health Channel. Sam's e-mail inbox has long been flooded with requests for a cookbook. Now, he finally delivers.

Just a Bunch of Recipes features 126 of Sam's all-time favorite recipes. All of them are big in taste and small in effort—crowd-pleasingdishes that skip the weird ingredients and complicated steps and focus on the flavor. You can't go wrong with any of Sam's recipes—they're all seriously good and seriously easy. Once you start fixing them for your family and friends, you'll be the one everyone turns tofor great everyday food.

For quick family meals, Sam is your man. Choose from recipes like Shrimp Tacos,Buffalo Chicken Pizza, and Steak Salad withBlue Cheese Crumbles as well as super-fast favorites such as Chili Corn Chip Bags and Tomato and Potato Chip Sandwiches. On weekends, kick things off with a Pastrami Benedict or Banana Bread French Toast for brunch—then wow your friends with "company" dishes like Tomato and Yellow Pepper Gazpacho and Teriyaki and Bacon Scallops. Try out a "Three-Two-One" Bloody Mary, Sammy-Boy's Margarita, or Lager and Lime for good measure. And for dessert, forget about it—you haven't lived until you've tried Sam's Ice-Cream Sandwich Deal, Doughnutmis? ("tiramis?" made with powdered doughnuts), and Grilled Pound Cake with Fresh Fruit.

Complete with photos of Sam as well as his inimitable take on essential kitchen tools and ingredients, Sam the Cooking Guy is all you need to start fixing food that's unbelievably easy and delicious. So make a run to the store, invite some friends, and head for the kitchen. As Sam says, "You can cook too, but some of you just don't know it yet."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470043733
• ISBN-13: 978-0470043738
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sam Zien

I quit a job at a San Diego biotech company in July of 2001 to try to get a travel show, with me as the host on the air. The fact that I had zero travel or even television experience didn't seem to matter. I felt I could be at least as good as some of the people on TV - and maybe even better. But a month before a trip to shoot demo footage in Tokyo and Hong Kong, September 11th hit - and that changed everything.

I decided to stick with TV, but switched from travel to cooking. OK, still no experience but did it really matter at this point? So I shot a demo and a couple months later ended up with a twice-weekly 2-minute cooking segment on a local morning news program. Sweet. Not paid, but still sweet.

The segments caught on and grew into a 30-minute show appropriately named 'Sam the Cooking Guy' - an irreverent mix of humor and easy-to-replicate recipes that have won 11 Emmy awards. Then Discovery Health came along and I ended up producing 'Just Cook This' which featured my same offbeat style with more easy-to-prepare, great-tasting recipes that also happen to be healthy. It's true - healthy doesn't have to taste like crap.

I'm still known for my 'big in taste and small in effort' philosophy, and have proven that as a frequent guest on The Today Show (the NY Times called me a regular). In fact, my visit there with Kathie Lee Gifford has now been watched over 600,000 times on YouTube. And Howard Stern has called me his 'hero' because of it. Crazy, I know.

My first cookbook, 'Just a Bunch of Recipes' was released in March of 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, and book two, 'Awesome Recipes & Kitchen Shortcuts' will be released in April of 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Cook Book! Great Recipes, Great Read!, March 13, 2008

By 

Allie Rees - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes (Paperback)

I love this cookbook! I was never really into cooking until I got hooked on Sam The Cooking Guy's show on Discovery Channel. He makes cooking unique recipes look so easy. Each week I cannot wait to see his show so I can practice making a new recipe. I heard this book was coming out and I could not wait to get it! I knew I would not be disappointed. It is a complete mirror of his show. It has Sam's warm, open and friendly personality with that hilarious Seinfeld like humor throughout the book. But the recipes are the best part! From brunch to appetizers, the main course and desserts. Wow! There are tons and tons of recipes that are so clearly written and really easy to make, yet you will blow every one away with the presentation and the amazing taste. This is a book you will be able to refer to for years to come. Thanks, Sam!

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Husband uses it to cook!, March 20, 2008

By 

Cate's Mom (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes (Paperback)

This is a WONDERFUL book! Like Sam's show, the recipes are easy and delicious, unpretentious and healthy. And Sam's personality comes through, which makes it not only useful but fun! My husband, whose repertoire previously included at most 2-3 dishes (burritos, boxed mac and cheese, and barbecued steak), has made several recipes already.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hometown hero makes it big, June 6, 2008

By 

paygenie "Pianist and sheet music collector" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes (Paperback)

Released in March, "Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes," coincides with San Diego TV chef Sam Zien's ascent to the national cable lineup. With his creative, quick-and-easy recipes and everyman personality, Zien, better known as Sam the Cooking Guy, already is a celebrity on his home turf, drawing hundreds to book signings in Mira Mesa and La Jolla this spring. "Just Cook This! With Sam the Cooking Guy" is now playing on TVs across the country on Discovery Health Channel.

Those familiar with the local show "Sam the Cooking Guy," a low-budget cooking show shot in Sam's kitchen available on 9 local stations like San Diego's County Television Network, will recognize the book's 200-or-so recipes -- all requiring little kitchen know-how, no fancy equipment, and (almost) no gourmet ingredients.

But although Sam is on his way up, his first book remains true to his casual culinary style and down-to-earth personality.

Sam's recipes use everyday items, including eyebrow-raising variations of far-from-elegant products like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Top Ramen noodles. Think Rachael Ray, but more creative, even off-the-wall, and lacking the New Yorker's overuse of extra-virgin olive oil.

With each recipe we get Sam's take via a short intro and sporadic comments. In one of the book's crazier recipes, "Chili Corn Chip Bags," he instructs readers to dump hot chili and shredded cheddar into individual-sized Fritos bags. "This is one of those things that people make fun of until they try it," he writes, and then tells readers to eat it straight out of the bag. "Stupid, but great," he concludes. Like the everyman anti-chef he is, he tells us to try it before we knock it. In "Cinnamon Pull-Apart," he uses prepackaged refrigerated biscuits as a base for a gooey delicious concoction. He's like that college roommate, whose kitchen concoctions seemed completely absurd at first but upon sampling were delicious, simple to prepare...and cheap!

Despite its zanier moments, the 250-page collection provides a comprehensive variety of dishes that everyday households would actually want to make on a regular basis. Although the recipes reflect California cuisine styles, they are big on flavor, not effort, and at times the results appear more gourmet than they actually are. Foodies will delight in the more gourmet recipes such as "Pesto BBQ Shrimp"; "(Fake) Crème Brulee," prepared with pre-made vanilla pudding; "Gooey Blue Cheese and Red Onion Quesadillas"; and "Mini Crab Cake Sandwiches."

The book includes Sam's favorites, including "Sammy-Boy's Margarita," built on sweet-and-sour mix. While his dishes cross all categories, readers can expect quite a bit of Asian influence, as in "Black Bean Salmon," which uses prepared Chinese black bean sauce. Recipes also have much Latin influence, as in "Mahimahi with Salsa Cream." Also, you'll find lots of great uses for blue cheese and ready-made bacon, Sam's favorite ingredients, as in "Warm (Napa) Cabbage Salad."

While not specified as a collection of healthy recipes, the book well could be, as Sam stays away from heavy ingredients and fried goods. In "Easy Bunuelos," he modifies a traditional Mexican dish by baking puff pastry sold in the freezer section, rather than deep frying homemade dough.

The recipes are all on his Web site at [...], but it's worth the Amazon price to snag a copy of this collection so his no-nonsense recipes are always easily accessed. The book, unfortunately, is as low-budget as his local show. There are no photos of recipes, only the occasional black-and-whites of Sam and his dogs. The book is entirely black and white with a green spot color. Once readers get past its no-frills appearance, they will see that it's actually quite a useful collection of creative, everyday recipes and tips. It's also quite entertaining, as Sam wrote it himself (not ghost-written, as some of the bigger celebrity chefs' books are) and so the book is not without his wry, funny personality. He writes, on the back of the book:

" `I can't cook,' I hear that all the time. And it's not that you can't -- it's that you don't. It's that we've been wrecked by cooking shows with their millions of complicated steps and crazy-ass ingredients. Ingredients you can't find, let alone pronounce. That's not how I want to cook. I want to eat well, but I don't want it to take a year. Who's `making stuff like `Truffled Peruvian Mountain Squab with Chilled Framboise Foam' anyway?"

Definitely not Sam.