Sam Stern's Cooking Up A Storm

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Jamie Oliver has just three words for Sam Stern's new cookbook Cooking Up a Storm: The Teen Survival Cookbook (Candlewick Press 2006): "a cracking book." And it is. Cool and cute, 14-year old (at the time) Sam is a celebrity chef in the making, getting his gang to cook, eat, and hang out with him as he shows teens (or anyone who doesn't know their way around a kitchen) how to whip up some tasty chow. The recipes are easy and lighthearted, and the book never sounds like an adult editor teased out the teenager, though it can be a bit precious at times. Sam's mother, Susan Stern wrote the book with him, to mind the recipes: the voice is all his: There's food here for all tastes. There's what I call "big" food– the stuff you want when you've been playing lots of sports, when you're mega-hungry and want some real eating. There's brain food–treats to get the brain cells and the taste buds awake and the nerves calmed down when you've got exams. (Introduction) That's not exactly how most grown-ups view food, but its refreshing. There is a whole chapter called Exam Survival (p. 112) with ten top tips, like drink lots of water throughout the day (Tip One) and keep up the vitamins (Tip Four). Sam gives recipes for vitamin-rich drinks like Banana, Blueberry, and Raspberry Ice Cream Smoothie and Carrot, Apple, and Ginger Juice (p. 115). These are great tips, perfect for high school or college students - or anyone working late on a project. In School Recovery (p. 44), Sam offers recipes for Chocolate Crispy Crunchies (p. 46), essentially homemade Coco Krispies, and Polly's Gingersnaps (p. 47). Sam is British, so there are recipes for Scones (p. 50) and Vanilla Shortbread (p. 48). In other chapters there are recipes for Plowman's Lunch (p. 38) and Eaton Mess (p. 96) a kind of strawberries, cream and meringues melange served at Eton. Read a cookbook and learn about Britain at the same time! Just like one of Jamie's cookbooks, there are plenty of photographs of cute Sam, his buddies, and even his family by Trish Gant and Lorne Campbell. It's a paperback with a stiff cover and easy-to-read print. Sam has an encouraging voice, and his recipes are healthy, tempting and fun. This would make a great Christmas present for any teen or a student returning to college. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: Food Adventures: For Kids Christmas Remembered: Tomie dePaola Nora Sands: Nora's Dinners Back to School: Mollie Katzen's Salad People Annabel Karmel: First Meals [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks superchefblog --> back to superchefblog