Are you a visual person? Are you one of those people who like to have pictures in your cookbook? And when I say pictures, I don't mean a few scattered here or there, or drawings of things, I mean full color photographs of the dishes you want to prepare from the book's directions. If that's you, then "Rachael Ray's Look + Cook" by Rachael Ray is just the book to brighten up your kitchen with "100 can't miss main courses in pictures" The book also contains 125 more all new recipes plus interactive 30-minute meals, sides, sauces, and yum-o menus. (These don't have photographs with them, and are basically text only recipes. Basically, in the first part of the book, or first 100 entries, Ray attempted to make cooking easier by what she calls innovative look + cook recipes. The steps for each recipe are presented in vivid photographs so you can take a quick look and then get to cooking. I wouldn't say it is the next best thing to having Rachael Ray in your kitchen, but it certainly is a good cook book.
This cook book is definitely good for the visual learner, and the more than 600 full color photographs make it an easy book to cook from, especially when the pictures of the foods look so good. Unfortunately, dishes made at home seldom looked as attractive as the main dish photo with each recipe, but then we are not professionals preparing dishes for a cook book photo shoot, we just want it to taste good.
Each of the main 100 entries, contain a larger picture of the finished dish. These are the pictures I referred to above as looking much better than some of the dishes we prepared at home. With smaller photos, but still full color, steps to preparing the dish are presented. Most dishes have 5-6 pictures accompanying the description, but some have only 3 or 4. The dishes also have a written description, like most cook books, and these descriptions are pretty easy to understand and follow. Each entry also has a side bar that says how many it serves (usually 4) and a list of the ingredients needed. The recipes are divided into these categories: cozy food, make your own takeout, and fancy fake-outs. You'll find things such as Caesar spaghetti, chicken ragu, yellow chicken and rice, midwinter minestrone, Hungarian-style chili, pork and black-eyed-pea chili, cabbage and hay pasta, sirloin burgers, meatball subs, crispy curry fried chicken, and much more.
The back of the book under More Recipes is quite boring compared to the front. These recipes are delivered in plain text with no pictures. The only color is the orange text rather than plain black and white. There are still a lot of extra recipes here, but they are not as colorful and interesting as those in the front of the book with all of the full color photographs.
If you like Rachael Ray, if you like tasty food, and you like cook books that contain pictures to assist you with preparing delicious meals, you'll like this cook book.
Alain Burrese, J.D. is a writer, speaker, and mediator who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. He is an expert on conflict and mediates and teaches conflict resolution and negotiation. Additionally, he teaches physical conflict skills in his Hapkido and Self-Defense courses, lectures, and seminars. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com/ and http://www.yourwarriorsedge.com/
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