dance64's review against another edition
3.0
I read this after I read his Binging With Babish cookbook, and personally I prefer that one. It's difficult to rate a cookbook, but this one just felt not quite developed. This one, truthfully, feels like a little taste (heh) of what his entire channel is based on, and it is good to read if you want an idea on Babish's style. But personally, if you were looking to buy one or the other, I'd go with Binging with Babish. This one was simply okay.
jhstack's review against another edition
4.0
Having regularly viewed Babish's videos, getting to read and look over his film-inspired recipes in print was quite enjoyable.
mancolepig's review against another edition
2.0
Let me preface this by saying I’m a huge fan of Andrew Rea and his show, Binging with Babish. Any YouTube connoisseur worth his salt knows about this show, and knows how fun, professional looking, and entertaining it is. Andrew has done some stunning work over the years to recreate the famous foods from our favorite tv shows and movies, so I was excited by the prospect of his cookbook coming out with some of the recipes that I could follow and create at home. Unfortunately this book is an absolute mess.
I should do a double preface here, only to say that judging a cookbook is a hard thing to do. There are so many different styles and everyone wants something different, so let me just tell you what I look for in a cookbook. In my cookbook I like:
• Recipe Organization
• A variety of easy to difficult dishes
• Color photographs
I don’t think that’s asking for much, but obviously it’s too much for this book.
Let’s start with the positive: The color photographs are gorgeous. Scott Gordon Bleicher did all the picture work and he did a great job of not only showing off the dishes, but creating backgrounds that match the movie that food comes from. The Hawaiian burger from Pulp Fiction is nestled up against a Big Kahuna Burger Bag. Butter Beer from Harry Potter is placed on a hardwood desk surrounded by candlesticks, old books, and owls. They look perfect, and give you a sense of how scrumptious the dishes can look once you complete them. Like they actually belong in a Hollywood movie.
Now to the negative: Like I said before, this book is an absolute mess. I should mention first of all, that there are only recipes in here for food from movies, no recipes from tv shows. Maybe Andrew plans on putting the foods from Always Sunny, The Simpsons, Friends, and Seinfeld in a follow-up book, but I was disappointed since these were the recipes I was most looking forward to trying. Yes this point is totally subjective so let me tell you something that is objective fact: This book has zero organization.
Breakfast foods, desserts, dinners, and drinks are all randomly scattered across this thing. Andrew made the decision to arrange all the dishes alphabetically, not by movie title, but by recipe title and I think this was a really poor move. I was looking through for a dinner recipe and I literally had to go page by page because, well, a dinner recipe could show up at any moment. I couldn’t simply flip to a section and make my choice from there. The book makes you read cover to cover. How many cookbooks do you read cover to cover?
Maybe he wanted to arrange the book by recipe difficulty but then he realized that would also be a bad idea, because nearly all of these recipes I would rate as difficult. Between hard-to-find ingredients, kitchen utensils I don’t own, and the pure amount of time some of these recipes take (some as long as 7 days), I feel like I need culinary schooling before even attempting almost anything in here. I don’t really want to blame Andrew for this point because most of the movie foods we remember are big, show-stopping, incredible dishes. It makes sense that a lot of them are difficult, but it’s really discouraging when I’m looking for a dinner to cook and the only thing I could actually have the time and skill and supplies to make would be Pasta Aglio E Olio from Chef (The only dish I have attempted from this book. It was pretty good).
On top of all that, the book does this annoying thing where it will interrupt the recipes for Andrew’s “Oscar-Worthy Food Performances.” Random two page spreads will show up where Andrew writes a paragraph about a food moment he liked in a given film. That’s great and all, but do these need to interrupt me while I’m already going page by page to check out the recipes? Do they seriously need to take up two whole pages for a single paragraph? We already have plenty of text break-up thanks to the awesome photos. Do we seriously need more? It was infuriating to go through. I love lists as much as the next guy, but stick them at the end of the book, and keep them to ONE page next time.
This pains me to give such a low rating because Binging with Babish is a five-star channel. I guess all of his magical editing makes these recipes look easier to make than they really are, and maybe that’s my fault for looking for something a bit more accessible. I’m sorry Andrew, I love your show, but your cookbooking needs some work. At best, Eat What You Watch is an interesting coffee table book. At worst, it’s more evidence that you suck at cooking. I guess I’ll just watch what I watch instead of eating it. Very very hungrily.
I should do a double preface here, only to say that judging a cookbook is a hard thing to do. There are so many different styles and everyone wants something different, so let me just tell you what I look for in a cookbook. In my cookbook I like:
• Recipe Organization
• A variety of easy to difficult dishes
• Color photographs
I don’t think that’s asking for much, but obviously it’s too much for this book.
Let’s start with the positive: The color photographs are gorgeous. Scott Gordon Bleicher did all the picture work and he did a great job of not only showing off the dishes, but creating backgrounds that match the movie that food comes from. The Hawaiian burger from Pulp Fiction is nestled up against a Big Kahuna Burger Bag. Butter Beer from Harry Potter is placed on a hardwood desk surrounded by candlesticks, old books, and owls. They look perfect, and give you a sense of how scrumptious the dishes can look once you complete them. Like they actually belong in a Hollywood movie.
Now to the negative: Like I said before, this book is an absolute mess. I should mention first of all, that there are only recipes in here for food from movies, no recipes from tv shows. Maybe Andrew plans on putting the foods from Always Sunny, The Simpsons, Friends, and Seinfeld in a follow-up book, but I was disappointed since these were the recipes I was most looking forward to trying. Yes this point is totally subjective so let me tell you something that is objective fact: This book has zero organization.
Breakfast foods, desserts, dinners, and drinks are all randomly scattered across this thing. Andrew made the decision to arrange all the dishes alphabetically, not by movie title, but by recipe title and I think this was a really poor move. I was looking through for a dinner recipe and I literally had to go page by page because, well, a dinner recipe could show up at any moment. I couldn’t simply flip to a section and make my choice from there. The book makes you read cover to cover. How many cookbooks do you read cover to cover?
Maybe he wanted to arrange the book by recipe difficulty but then he realized that would also be a bad idea, because nearly all of these recipes I would rate as difficult. Between hard-to-find ingredients, kitchen utensils I don’t own, and the pure amount of time some of these recipes take (some as long as 7 days), I feel like I need culinary schooling before even attempting almost anything in here. I don’t really want to blame Andrew for this point because most of the movie foods we remember are big, show-stopping, incredible dishes. It makes sense that a lot of them are difficult, but it’s really discouraging when I’m looking for a dinner to cook and the only thing I could actually have the time and skill and supplies to make would be Pasta Aglio E Olio from Chef (The only dish I have attempted from this book. It was pretty good).
On top of all that, the book does this annoying thing where it will interrupt the recipes for Andrew’s “Oscar-Worthy Food Performances.” Random two page spreads will show up where Andrew writes a paragraph about a food moment he liked in a given film. That’s great and all, but do these need to interrupt me while I’m already going page by page to check out the recipes? Do they seriously need to take up two whole pages for a single paragraph? We already have plenty of text break-up thanks to the awesome photos. Do we seriously need more? It was infuriating to go through. I love lists as much as the next guy, but stick them at the end of the book, and keep them to ONE page next time.
This pains me to give such a low rating because Binging with Babish is a five-star channel. I guess all of his magical editing makes these recipes look easier to make than they really are, and maybe that’s my fault for looking for something a bit more accessible. I’m sorry Andrew, I love your show, but your cookbooking needs some work. At best, Eat What You Watch is an interesting coffee table book. At worst, it’s more evidence that you suck at cooking. I guess I’ll just watch what I watch instead of eating it. Very very hungrily.
nerdlibrarian's review
4.0
Great cookbook and reflection on the comfort of food and movies. Short book but if you want more of food in films and tv you can check out the author's Youtube channel. A must read for foodies and those who enjoy film + television.
nicholasbobbitt1997's review
5.0
Andrew Rea, of Binging With Babish fame, shows he can compile a wonderful cookbook.
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