Good Eats 2: The Middle Years

Good quality book

Alton Brown has long been one of my favorite celebrity chefs, and Good Eats was also a fun show to watch for it whimsy, education and great recipes. I was super excited to see the 4 books covering the series and eagerly purchased all of them. So glad that I did! They are just as fun as the show was. Highly, highly recommend!

Great book

There are three places I turn to offline for culinary knowledge. I have tried and enjoyed dozens of AB recipes and I love the show Good Eats. In this book (as well as Volume 1, Good Eats: The Early Years) you will find recipes as well as instructions for preparation (and blueprints if you will of AB's most famous or notorious multi-tasking gadgets) sorted by episode. There's a good ol' fashioned index do-hickey included if you don't have the episode names and order memorized. Kids, you might have to get help from your parents to use it but don't worry, it won't hurt your eyes or anything. It's the perfect source for recipes and procedures I'm too lazy to write down and I can use it when the darn carpal tunnel is acting up. All the best recipes plus a few extras are included. Some of the recipes and procedures have been tweaked from their on air format. Often this has to do with feedback from the shows. Recipes are made easier, procedures are made more convenient, and sometimes they are even made tastier if AB has changed his way of thinking in the years since the original air date. Don't worry, these are improvements. It's nothing like the whole George Lucas, Star Wars Special Edition debacle. The other sources you ask? Well, there's the previously mentioned Good Eats Volume 1 and another AB book, Gear for Your Kitchen which I always consult before shopping.

This is fantastic!!!

This is the second book in the Good Eats "series" of book that Alton is putting out covering what he teaches us during the his TV show. It is a very valuable resource for people to learn a lot about a cooking in a fresh, innovative way as opposed to just reading another cookbook. It is a refreshing and entertaining way to discover they why's of cooking rather than just regurgitating recipes. For that I think this book is an excellent resource for people and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about cooking. My only complaints are the same as they were for the previous edition. The main complaint is that the index doesn't really cover all of the books. This is a very minor problem and one that only real fans of the show will find difficult since, in my case I already have seen all of his shows and might know that I want to do a version of one of the recipes he covered in one of his shows but I have to remember which book contains that episode in order for me to find the recipe. True, the individual indices have all the values we need to go look things up but at the same time, they only index what is in that volume of the series, so if you are looking for something and don't find it in the index then you have to go look it up in the other index to see if the recipe is there instead. I think I'm just spoiled by how easy Alton makes it to understand everything on his show and am wishing that the same ease of use translated to looking things up in these books. I'm hoping/wishing that after a few volumes of the book are out that they include an overall index to make things easier to look up. (I also wrote in my review of the first book that not all of the recipes from the show were included in the book. I don't know if that is still the situation with this book since I have yet to find anything that is not included in the book.) Overall I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book...especially for people that are new to cooking or shy about cooking since it does contain a treasure trove of information that can be unbelievably helpful to people whether they watch the show or not. Buy it if you have any interest at all in cooking and why things happen the way they do. Don't buy it if you don't cook or don't like thinking beyond just following a recipe step by step. Definitely buy it if you are a fan of Alton Brown and his show.

Yippie! Now I have all 3 in the series. I am really happy with the book. Alton Brown is the best chef and food authority on TV and in books. He gets a little silly sometimes, but if you can get past that, he makes cooking make sense. I have learned so much and been able to fix the problems I've had with some recipes over the years of listening to his advice. He breaks down the reasons why certain ingredients and methods work so that it's easy to understand. I would highly recommend watching his shows and buying his books. Since I'm originally from the town next door to where he lives, it's particularly helpful to me when he reviews southern recipes, but when he focuses on food from other regions, I learn something new. He's the best!

My memory for anything important is shot (filled up with useless pop culture trivia). When I watch a cooking show, I don't want to have to take notes. Alton Brown cares. He collected all of his recipes from all of his episodes of Good Eats into a few tomes of culinary knowledge. Full of pictures, tidbits of knowledge, and more. This book definitely helps you make good eats. (Sorry couldn't resist.)

I bought this book for my hubby who is a HUGE Alton Brown fan. He LOVES the book and has made many of the meals inside. It is a great book because it provides so much more than the recipe. It gives you the information as to "why" certain ingredients work well together and tips and tricks to make it perfect every time. Great book for the advanced chef as well as those just starting out!

I just made the "Love the rocks" Beef Tenderloin and it was delicious! The book is a must have for everyone.

What can you say? Alton Brown is the man. These books are as great as the show, maybe even better. Very high production quality, lots of additional details, stories, info, and tips. The perfect gift for the Good Eats fan in your life.

No single taskers in this kitchen.

If you love good eats then you'll love the book too. I got the first one before seeing Alton Brown Live and I got that one signed. The second book I got just for me. I like that some of the recipes have been updated since they aired and are actually newer than what is on the food network website.