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Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat. Hardcover – December 3, 2013
| Katie Shelly (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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“An ingenious cookbook” ―Mark Wilson, Fast Company: Design
RECIPES WITHOUT READING
With illustrations instead of text, Picture Cook will reinvent the way you make food. Over 50 homey recipes are distilled into their most basic components, each rendered step-by-step in enchanting line drawings like nothing ever before seen in a cookbook.
Covering everything from omelets and lasagna to chocolate cake, this cheery bunch of recipes will cure your kitchenphobia, delight the design lover in you and satisfy every tummy in your path. Including a visual tutorial on knife skills, illustrated metric conversion chart, and an index especially organized for various dietary needs, Picture Cook makes the perfect gift for budding chefs, college students, or any home cook in need of some visual inspiration.
- Print length128 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUlysses Press
- Publication dateDecember 3, 2013
- Dimensions8.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101612432344
- ISBN-13978-1612432342
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Really great graphic” ―Mark Bittman, The New York Times
“An ingenious cookbook” ―Mark Wilson, Fast Company: Design
"I totally loved the stripped-down graphics that Katie Shelly illustrated for Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat. I particularly enjoyed how Shelly presented basic dishes that could be adapted to different flavor palates, such as hummus and raita. The book contains enough staple recipes for a beginner cook, while still suggesting advanced variations for the more experienced." ―SeriousEats.com
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Ulysses Press (December 3, 2013)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 128 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1612432344
- ISBN-13 : 978-1612432342
- Item Weight : 1.42 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.25 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,462,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,854 in Culinary Arts & Techniques (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Katie Shelly is a media designer and native New Yorker. Her first book, Picture Cook, is a collection of fifty-seven recipes that completely re-invents the recipe format, rendering each recipe as a flowchart-like illustration that uses a minimum of words.
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The illustrations are so funny and clever, I don't want to give anything away, but the drawing of letting an item just stand is quite brilliant. While the author is witty and a very skilled illustrator, the recipes are great too--the author adds twists and tweaks to create a very contemporary compilation of recipes. Her White Lasagna illustrations may be the best way I've ever seen to describe the composition of a lasagna.
I think this would be an awesome grandparent/grandchild teaching cookbook to share--almost as a story book, with lots of fun to pictures to laugh at together. I think it's a great concept for the beginning cook--teenager, or someone going off to college--they will be entertained by the drawings and won't have to suffer through tedious written instructions which just seem vague to the new cook. I think this is a clever book for the experienced cook (who has a library of standard cookbooks). He/she can smile at the illustrations, enjoy the humor in them and learn some new recipes.
Finally!--something really new in cookbooks.
In addition to the yummy food, I am totally smitten with Katie Shelly’s drawings. The lines are beautiful and clean, the colors bold, and the recipes very tempting. Cookbook innovation is pretty infrequent. People stopped trying to change it up once they figured out a standard format. And don’t get me wrong, that format is wonderfully efficient; but not all recipes have to be that way! This cookbook is beautiful, interesting, and delicious. Some cookbooks have a tone of haute cuisine, but Picture Cook is just an artist sharing her favorite recipes.
NB: This review was written for my work blog, Read @ MPL.
It lays out every step of the cooking process in cartoon flow charts, leaving no guesswork on preparation. The clear visuals offer a detailed explanation of cooking, all in a snapshot. This is especially helpful when you are in the midst of cooking and you need to look for a step without having time to scan a paragraph of text. The illustrations are also better at capturing the details in recipes that traditional recipes leave out, such as cutting techniques and exact timing of ingredients. Each picture is definitely worth a thousand words!
My second favorite part of the book is the philosophy that seems to undergird the book. It promotes individuality and creativity for the reader; it doesn’t put forth a set of rules to follow, but rather, something like a roadmap for the reader to choose different options in the kitchen. As the author writes in the beginning of the book, “The following recipes are not intended as precise culinary blueprints. Instead they are meant to inspire improvisation, experimentation and play in the kitchen.” Picture Cook is one of the smartest cookbooks I have ever seen, and I think you will enjoy it!
Top reviews from other countries
Das Buch, über das ich auf den Seiten der Autorin, des Verlages und in social media viel gelesen habe, ist noch nicht erschienen. Es scheint aber super spannend zu werden.
Ich traue mich zu dieser frühen Aussage, da ein völlig neues Konzept die Grundlage des Buches bildet, die Ausstattung hervorragend zu werden verspricht und mein Interesse in höchstem Maß geweckt ist.
Schon allein für die Idee eines "gezeichneten" und bebilderten Kochens nach dem Prinzip "Malen nach Zahlen" hat das Buch fünf Sterne verdient - Näheres folgt, sobald ich es in Händen halte
English (shortened): The book isn't to buy till now. But have a look inside and look at the homepage of the author and distributor.
I guess: The highly innovative and new idea to "draw" a book about cooking concentrating of the visual aspect is worth to give five stars. I'll write more as soon as holding the book in my hands
Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat








