Good Eats 3 Quite Possibly Best Cookbook for 2011

Good Eats 3: The Later Years (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $37.50) hit bookstores this week with fans of the Food Network program anxiously awaiting the third installment in the cookbook set encapsulating the series. Building on the success of the series and the two previously published cookbooks, both New York Times bestsellers, host, writer and director Alton Brown once again brings the show’s quirky nature, food science, culinary techniques to print.

Since airing the last regular 30 minute run of shows in May, Good Eats fans no longer have new episodes of their beloved program; however, they now can now have all 249 episodes in a convenient 3-volume set. For any fan of the program, the book is a must have and not just to complete the set. It contains all of the “applications” (what Brown calls recipes) in the episodes covered–from episode 165 “Tortillas Again” to the final episode 249 “Use Your Noodle V”–it also has behind the scenes photos, tidbits and trivia about the show, illustrations, and drawings of kitchen hacks used through the episodes. Additionally, the applications from the episodes have been reviewed and reworked to make them better than they were in the episodes.

As with the other two books, Good Eats: The Early Years and Good Eats 2: The Middle Years, Brown begins the cookbook with an interview… an interview of himself. This unorthodox feature of the book is just what fans of the program have come to expect of Brown and the cookbook itself is filled with cleaver captions, witty sidebars, and insider information. Definitely not the run-of-the-mill cookbook for a not the run-of-the-mill cooking show.

The pièce de résistance for the book is the blueprint and sticker kit to build your own yeast sock puppet. The burping yeast puppets, a long time character featured in the show, are a favorite among viewers and now with GE3 fans can build their very own. Sock not included.

Topics covered in the new book range from coconut cake to gumbo and even some not ordinary ingredients like pomegranates and items to make a Japanese pantry. Like the show the book is based on, it is heavy on information and technique with a dish of wit and whimsy.

GE3 is a fantastic companion book to the series since it imparts the information from each episode. The book is handy if delving into an application for the first time, that way instead of referring back to the television you have all of the needed guidance at your fingertips.


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