Paper Palate

If I had to spend the rest of my life with only one cookbook on my shelf, that cookbook would be I’m Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0 by Food Network star (and true culinary personality) Alton Brown.

There are so many reasons why I’m Just Here for the Food deserves this high praise (the information, the recipes, the tips, Brown’s style) that it is hard to know where to begin.

For starters, this is the best cookbook I own (I’ll spare the hyperbole and avoid saying it is the greatest ever) because it offers something for every culinary need.  If I need a great recipe for anything from eggs to chicken to sweet potatoes to lamb, the book has it.  In fact, I’m Just Here for the Food offers a bewildering array of selections, including turkey and fig breakfast meatloaf, scampi v2.0, savory savory wraps, and red onion tomato jam.

If that were not enough, the book is wonderfully informative.  If I want to learn more about a cooking technique, Brown is happy to oblige with sections on grilling, boiling, braising, brining, even microwaving among others.  It is in these sections that Brown’s true genius shows through.

Those familiar with his show know that he is able to take complex culinary concepts and explain them in ways anyone can understand (usually with the assistance of high-school-play-level props.)  I’m Just Here for the Food is written in this same easy style and features a number of cartoonish drawings such as a demonstration of heat using Lucy and Ethel and of frying with Joe (the ex-center) and Clive (the skinny guy.)

If these drawings sound a bit goofy, it is because they are, but that does not make them any less effective.  In fact, just the opposite.  They remove any trace of pretense and let the reader comfortably learn about things like poly- and monounsaturated fats, why various steamers work best, and which part of the cow produces which cut of meat in ways that make sense.

If the book has any issues, it is that, like most of Brown’s dishes, the recipes in the book can be a little involved.  This is, after all, the man who once demonstrated how to make liquid smoke at home, so he is not afraid of having a recipe with multiple steps.  However, he does offer multiple pieces of advice on how to read recipes and useful hints and suggestions for each dish along the way.

At 323 pages, I’m Just Here for the Food is a great culinary reference, a fun book to read cover-to-cover, and my favorite cookbook.  Brown has mastered perfectly mixing information and entertainment and has produced what may be your favorite cookbook, too.