How to Boil Water: Life Beyond Takeout
The folks over at the Food Network are certainly mastering the art of creative marketing when it comes to their newest cookbook - How to Boil Water: Life Beyond Takeout. The cookbook was released on August 22, 2006, but the marketing campaign for it has lasted much longer than that and has utilized blogs as an integral part of getting the word out.
The cookbook has its very own MySpace page, just as many movies and tv shows are doing lately. The MySpace page promotes the book and also evidences a quirky sense of humor. Under the favorite television listings, the authors have posted the Food Network logo and the following: “And we also secretly love Spongebob; he’s a cook.”
Cate at Sweetnicks recently alerted me to the Food Network Behind the Scenes blog, which also has an entry about How to Boil Water. The post includes an explanation of the genesis of How to Boil Water:
As professionals in the Food Network Kitchens, we constantly get calls from little brothers, newly-married friends, or suddenly-single neighbors who never learned how to cook. They want shopping tips, menu advice and recipes, recipes, recipes. We’re always happy to help, but it is hard to describe how to cook a juicy, crispy-skinned roast chicken over the phone, or the difference between rough or finely chopped herbs via email. What they really need is a friend in their kitchen explaining things step by step. Since we all have busy lives (and jobs we love), we came up with a cookbook, How to Boil Water: Life Beyond Takeout, to take our place as that expert friend teaching you essential techniques and helping the kitchen make sense.
The blog also provides a little insight into what is in the book. There is a know-how section that explains “everything from how to hold a knife to how to properly cut a mango cheek (and what that is!) from the pit.”
A sampling of recipes from the book includes Chicken Curry, Chinese Lacquered Baby Back Ribs, Lasagne, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Spiced Edamame, Pan-Fried Salmon with Cucumber-Radish Salad, Polenta with Sausage, Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Roast Turkey with Gravy, Green Beans with Shallots, and Apple Pie.
This cookbook appears to be a modern, hip, go-to cookbook for the novice cook. Less about canning and more about the basics of cooking and recipes to help you throw out all those takeout menus. This one is definitely on my wish list.
