Peanut Butter + Co. Cookbook

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Food is stuff that feeds mind as well as body. As it turns out, food feeds the funny bone, too, or so Jerry Seinfeld argues in the foreword to The Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook by Lee Zalben (Quirk Books 2005). Seinfeld also manages to work in material about his studio apartment on the Upper East Side as well as a for "The Comedy Special," essentially a toasted bagel with peanut butter, honey and cinnamon. Peanut butter is scientificially proven to contain a chemical that is a natural antidepressant, which you are going to need as you head out to face a New York nightclub audience with some very shaky material. (p. 7) He goes on to recommend H & H bagels and the peanut butter sandwiches at Lee Zalben's shop in New York City. Peanut butter is big stuff. Lee writes that Americans spend more than $1 billion on peanut butter a year. Lee's storePeanut Butter & Co. sells and distributes, online and in retail stores, peanut butter in six flavors like Dark Chocolate Dreams and The Heat is On. The recipes in this book are fun and might just awaken a hankering for PB&J in the wee hours of the morning, if not something more exciting like The Elvis (p. 36), the sandwich that the king made famous, or Frozen Dark Chocolate-Banana Bites (p. 42) perfect for a sizzling night in August. There is basic information on peanut butter, including how to make your own, but he is obviously happy to sell you his flavors, which you'll need for many of the recipes in the book. The Peanut Butter Timeline (pp. 14-5) will fill you in on George Washington Carver, the "father" of peanut butter and when Jif, Skippy, and Peter Pan were introduced. Along with good recipes for Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies (p. 49 ) and Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes (p. 58) and other sweets, Lee includes recipes for savory dishes like Peanut Butter Barbecued Chicken (p. 65) and Thai Peanut Soup (p.74). This is a very fun book for a young cook to explore a familiar ingredient in new ways. Most of the recipes are simple and straightforward, the book is small and unintimidating, and with a little adult guidance, something like Vegetarian Masaman Curry (p. 75) or Cold Sesame Noodles (p. 78) might end up in the lunchbox. On the other hand, Lee says that adults eat more peanut butter each year than kids do, so it's safe to say that this is a cookbook for young and old alike to enjoy. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Book details: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog