'The Great Big Butter Cookbook' - Cookbook Spotlight

by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jun 24th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Photo: Amazon.com

'The Great Big Butter Cookbook'
Edited by Diana von Glahn
Running Press -- 2007
Buy it on Amazon

Not unlike meat, butter has gone through a renaissance of late. Scorned as recently as a few years ago, it's now being embraced. And as anyone who has tucked into a bar of European butter lately knows, it's good stuff.

"The Great Big Butter Cookbook," then, with its cover glowing with orbs of golden goodness, is a heart-stopping sight in the best of ways. Any book that has "Because Everything's Better with Butter" as its subtitle makes a great first impression.

Unfortunately, as we flipped through its pages to see recipes for Microwave Cheesy Potato Soup, Broccoli and Cheddar Soup and the frightening-looking, bright-yellow Double Cheese Souper Bowl, all of which glow golden with butter and cheese, we started thinking that maybe there can be too much of a good thing. A quick peek at the copyright reveals that, hmm, this book is copyrighted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

See what we tested and whether you should buy the book after the jump.

Takeaway tips: These are straightforward recipes for straightforward cooks. Few of them look that difficult, but they also don't look terribly adventurous: Ginger Cookies, Chicken A La King and Chicken Cordon Bleu are all in there.

Quality of Pictures: Buttery. These are definitely not the most appetizing pics we've seen, with a certain 1980s je ne sais quoi. Primary-colored, they're more reminiscent of the jellied dishes set out on the sidewalk outside a Little Italy restaurant than of real, edible food.

We tested: Blueberry Ricotta Coffee Cake.
Blueberries, as those who linger at farmers markets know, are out of control right now: Sweet, plump and punchy with flavor, they're practically fruit candy. We optimistically tossed together this coffee cake thinking it'd be oozing with them. Only half a cup of blueberries for the whole thing? Really? Hmm. We added a handful more, just in case.

The result was much more savory, like a cornbread, than sweet, and the recipe could have used twice as many blueberries. And oddly enough -- despite the fact that most every recipe is peppered with dairy products of every stripe -- four tablespoons of butter didn't seem like enough for this one.

Worth the investment: Not so much. We only tested one recipe, so there may well be gems lurking within, but when the first one is such a dud, and the photos so Technicolor, we're not inclined to be buttered up for another chance.

Filed Under: Raves & Reviews
Tags: cookbook review, cookbook spotlight, CookbookReview, CookbookSpotlight, review, the great big butter cookbook, TheGreatBigButterCookbook

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-25-2009 @2:33AM Alex said... I received a review copy of this book January last year and tried two recipes: the crispy chicken strips & the carrot cake and both worked out well (the carrot cake was a bit on the sweet side for me but I find that with 95% of American recipes).

I thought it was a good, all round sort of cookbook, as it covers a lot of ground. You're right that the Heston Blumenthals of the world are unlikely to be challenged but sometimes you do actually need a recipe for carrot cake!

My full review is here: http://eatingleeds.co.uk/2008/01/great-big-butter-cookbook.html
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