Guest Review: Brokeass Gourmet Cookbook

Today I'm featuring a guest column by my daughter. She recently acquired a cookbook that I wanted. In a fit of jealousy, I told her that she would just have to review it for this blog. And in a fit of stubbornness, she agreed. Who knows where she gets that?

The Brokeass Gourmet Cookbook

by Gabi Moskowitz

Review by Aana

I don’t usually buy cookbooks. As horrible as it is to say, the Internet is full of more free recipes than I could ever find in a cookbook, and I am generally too “brokeass” to buy things I could get for free.

However, this is the exception to the rule: Gabi Moskowitz’s The Brokeass Gourmet Cookbook.

The recipes in this book are so creative, yet so simple, with prices listed for each ingredient. There are some recipes, like Sriracha-glazed carrots or cranberry-zinfandel brownie bites, whose ingredients you’d never think to combine. But they always turn out to be delicious! There are others (white corn and spring onion soup… mmm) that are just downright feel-good staples. The variety is intense! There’s Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, Indian, barbecue, homemade mayonnaise, cocktails, desserts… the list goes on. And if you’re as clueless as I am about what goes best together, there’s even a page at the end with suggestions on meals for different situations, from Superbowl parties to romantic nights in.
It’s pretty much everything I could hope for in a cookbook – range, simplicity, and, as the icing on the proverbial cake, wit.

Gabi Moskowitz is seriously funny. I turned to page seven to find a recipe for monkeyspanker, a basic mixed drink. There’s also a recipe for hipster dogs, at a total cost of $6.75 per dog. Ms. Moskowitz says “When I think of hipsters, I think of skinny black jeans, pretentiousness, bad haircuts, and sausages. Yes, sausages. Think about it – sausages are just unclassy enough to seem ironic (hipsters like doing anything ironically), yet overpriced gourmet sausages abound…” I think I have found my ideal cooking partner.