Foodist: Cookbook Reviews

Working Stiff Cookbook

By Bob Sloan

The Working Stiff Cookbook
Bob Sloan

With The Working Stiff Cookbook Bob Sloan has written a smart, effective, useful little cookbook. He probably has in mind a reader with a small kitchen and limited counter space. But the book works just as well for the reader with a grand kitchen and enough counter space to make room for every kitchen gizmo imaginable. Sloan's bottom line is more about time than anything. If you are a working stiff, you may not feel like you have all the time in the world to produce stylish, flavorful, and nutritious meals for you and your loved ones. Sloan shows you how.

You may not feel as though you have the requisite cooking skills. Sloan demonstrates that with limited skills to start and a willingness to learn as you grow, you too can put Flounder in the Thai Style with Coconut Rice on the table in about 30 hassle-free minutes. Or Chicken Breasts with Artichokes and Mushrooms. Or Singular Meat Loaves with Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Sloan divides his book into chapters that address technique and requisite tools, Instant recipes, One Pot recipes (Sicilian Vegetable Stew, Chicken Curry in a Hurry), Pasta (Thai Vegetable Noodles, Fettuccini with Smoked Salmon), and Soups, Salads and Sandwiches (Butternut Squash Soup, Potato Salad, Eggs for Dinner).

This is a breezy, easy-going book. It's spiral-bound to open flat and stay there and not make you crazy while you're trying to cook. New cooks can't lose. Well-schooled cooks may well want to take note. Bob Sloan believes that pancakes for dinner is a perfectly legitimate dish, and that alone deserves the price of admission.
Schuyler Ingle ...