Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: From Cauldron Cakes to Knickerbocker Glory--More Than 150 Magical Recipes for Muggles and Wizards

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This cookbook is geared for children and young adults but it will please readers, cooks, and Harry Potter fans of all ages. My kids (ages 14, 12, and 8), have finally found an activity they can all agree on - cooking and sampling savory Harry Potter recipes. This book covers every single recipe that appears in all seven of the Harry Potter books. Ever wonder what Pumpkin Juice tastes like? Or Treacle tart? Well, you're about to find out!
Just crack open this book for easy to follow recipes, that have been authenticated and thoroughly researched and tested. Adults and children will delight in tracing their favorite Harry Potter delicacies back to the original source, while recreating some of these magical moments.

Heard about this from a well-known fansite and immediately put it down on my wishlist. Well, whilst the idea is good, the execution is very disappointing. As a Brit, I have already eaten a good number of the recipes mentioned and have made quite a few of them. However, the recipes in this book seem terribly over-complicated for even me to follow. And as far as things like trifle are concerned, the main wow factor is the presentation, which must be very hard for those who have never seen these foods before. Photos would have made it better.
Not to sound harsh, but I don't think the author herself has actually been to the UK and sampled these foods from restaurants or peoples kitchens. To really demystify them for non-Brits, you can't just experiment and hope for the best; you need to compare them to the real thing and then try to adjust them to suit whatever products are sold in America.
As for the example pages shown, I have never heard of two rashers of bacon being called a "gammon". They're just rashers. It might be a regional thing, but I've asked others and they don't call them that either. Gammon is meat from the hind legs of a pig. I might be nitpicking, but if you're going to add in interesting asides, they have to be accurate.

* Recipes: Some of the recipes are a little bit silly and overly simple (I'm thinking of the recipe for bacon... Ingredients? Bacon). Some of the recipes sound disgusting to this non-foodie American, like Haggis or Steak and Kidney Pudding.

Most of the recipes fall into the category of VERY simple, like mashed potatoes and buttered peas, or VERY complicated, like the Herbed and Spiced Fried Sausage Patties that call for ingredients like veal (?!), grated lemon zest, and dried marjoram.

Still, I've tried a few of the recipes, and the Cinnamon Pull-Apart Breakfast Rolls are seriously delicious, as are the Cheesy, Chivy Scrambled Eggs.


* Not really party food: Almost all of the recipes in this book are for sit-down meals. If you're looking for a book that has more fun-sized treats and appetizers for a Harry Potter party, I'd recommend The Unofficial Harry Potter Party Book: From Monster Books to Potions Class!: Crafts, Games, and Treats for the Ultimate Harry Potter Party, which includes more of the party-food type of recipes.


* Biggest Annoyance: No pictures. It's really hard for me to tell if something is appealing enough to make without seeing a picture first. Some of the recipes in here are for things I've never heard of, so I would have no idea what it should look like, like mince pies.


* No Butterbeer: I assume because of trademark issues. Too bad.

Here's my favorite butterbeer recipe of the many I've tried:
1 can of Cream Soda
1 teaspoon of Rum Extract
1 teaspoon of Butterscotch Extract
1 tablespoon of Brown Sugar
1 cup of Vanilla Ice Cream

It's delicious and very frothy - it looks just like beer.


Overall, I think this is a fun and useful cookbook. I'll be pulling it out at holidays, especially Christmas.
Any Harry Potter fan would be happy with this cookbook, but they might have to look up pictures for some of the more foreign recipes.

I just received this book and the recipes look great (aside from one served at Nick's deathday party), but I was very disappointed to not find a recipe for butterbeer. Other treats were included such as pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties, Hagrid's rock cakes, acid pops, Harry's first birthday cake, treacle fudge, treacle tart, lemon drops, peppermint humbugs, canary creams, and also many meals made by Mrs. Weasley or at the Hogwarts feasts, which unfortunately I cannot eat because I am a vegetarian and they are nearly all meat-based. Anyway, great cookbook! =)

Great and thorough book. Recipes are amazing. Includes quotes from various Harry Potter Books regarding the specific food mentioned and informative or humorous tidbits. Easy to follow recipes that even my 9 year old can do on his own. The perfect gift for ANY Harry Potter fan.

this cookbook is AWESOME! it has like every single food that's mentioned in harry potter and the recipes are GREAT! its a great present for harry potter fans. if you are one you should really buy this. its so cool.

If you're a Harry Potter fun-this cookbook is for you! The cookbook has a lovely appearance and the recipes are mouthwatering-so even if you haven't read the Harry Potter books you will enjoy trying some of the unusual foods listed inside.

Who hasn't read the Harry Potter books and wondered what all those delicious foods tasted like?? This book is masterfully written by one of us- a true Harry Potter fan! Its the perfect gift for any real fan, a lot of fun, easy to follow recipes, and the results taste fantastic! A must-have!

I bought this book for the recipes, but love it most for the explanations of all things British. When I read the Harry Potter books I used my imagination to try and picture the food J.K. Rowling was describing. This book clears up the mystery of what exactly foods such as treacle, pasties, and bangers are. The author also explains the origins of the food in a fun way.

All you wannabe wizards and witches out there, listen up: Use your wand and point to this book in the bookstore and say, "Accio!" (The summoning spell), because you'll want this on your bookshelf in your kitchen.

This is a bewitching brew of a book, a collection of recipes by Dinah Bucholz whom I suspect has worked behind the scenes at the Hogwarts kitchen. The publisher has wisely published this as a hardback, and gone to great lengths to give it an aged look--the paper simulates parchment printing, and the sidebars are comprised of parchment scrolls. The hardback book also lays flat, which is essential: don't you hate it when recipe books flop shut?

Throughout the book, where specific dishes have been mentioned in the Harry Potter novels, Dinah explains the connection; for instance, in a recipe for Vol-au-Vents: "Mrs. Weasley is really an amazing cook. To prepare all the food for her son's wedding, especially such elegant, classy savories as vol-au-vents, is just simply, well, impressive, to say the least (see HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, Chapter 6.)"

Vol-au-Vents are puff pastry, in case you didn't know.

What makes the recipes themselves fun is that the sidebars tell the story behind the recipe: its historical basis, and some fun facts.

Dinah clearly knows her way around a kitchen and can ladle it out--150 recipes that cover everything from breakfast foods to after-dinner deserts, a mouthwatering selection of food that will leave you hungering for more. (The book is 239 pages.)

If you are a cook or know anyone who is a cook and wants to try some traditional English dishes specifically mentioned in the seven Harry Potter novels, this book is a "must" buy.

I suspect it'll find its way on Muggles' kitchen shelves worldwide, and over time their copies will be splashed upon with ingredients; it will be well-thumbed, and dog-eared, until it's worn out from use--at which time one should buy a replacement copy.

I wish the publisher's budget had included an 8 to 16-page section of color photos, but the publisher had to draw the line somewhere as to costs. (Maybe they'll eventually relent if we all send our owls with letters saying we want color photos.)

Even without the omission of photos, this is a first-rate cookbook, sure to please even the most finicky diner.

Note: I did contribute an introduction to this book because I thought so highly of it.

George Beahm, author of MUGGLES AND MAGIC, and FACT, FICTION & FOLKLORE IN HARRY POTTER'S WORLD.