Teens - Health & Fitness, Children - Cooking & Food

Get Cooking

Name: Get Cooking
Author: Sam Stern
ISBN: 9780763639266

by Sam Stern, Susan Stern, Lorne Campbell

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Overview

Favorite ingredients from cheese to chocolate provide the theme as teen chef Sam Stern returns with a third cookbook full of fun, healthy recipes.

With two cookbooks under his belt, Sam Stern was up for a new challenge. So when seven of his friends asked him to conjure up great-tasting recipes based on their one favorite food, he went for it. The result? GET COOKING — one fabulous cookbook with eight sections (including one for Sam), focusing on tomatoes, cheese, pasta, vegetables, meat, potatoes, sweets, and chocolate. Feeling healthy? Try out the Leek and Onion Soup. Eating on the run? Boil up Spaghetti with Oil, Garlic, and Chili. Augmented by helpful tips from Sam as well as nutritional advice, these slightly more advanced recipes, from tasty appetizers to delectable deserts, are sure to offer something for everyone.

Synopsis

Favorite ingredients from cheese to chocolate provide the theme as teen chef Sam Stern returns with a third cookbook full of fun, healthy recipes.

VOYA

The newest book from Britain's teen celebrity chef does not disappoint. With four books on the market, a blog, and many talk-show appearances, Stern does an excellent job of introducing teens to the kitchen. He shows a little more creativity than in his first book and enlists seven of his top mates to choose their favorite ingredients. Each chapter is dedicated to a different friend's favorite food—everything from meat to potatoes to vegetables to pasta to cheese to sweets. This reviewer is especially fond of the chapters devoted entirely to tomatoes and chocolate. Every page boasts bright colors and pictures with large print and a user-friendly ingredients list in sidebar format. The recipes run from very easy to a bit challenging, but the step-by-step directions will help even the most challenged cook find a way around the kitchen. With DIY recipes and ideas for pasta, pizza crust, and bread, the author provides readers with plenty of chances for building their own creations. All in all, this cookbook would make a wonderful addition to any collection. Reviewer: Angie Hammond

About the Author, Sam Stern

Sam Stern loves music and hanging out with his friends and family, including his mother and mentor, Susan Stern. He lives in England.

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Editorials

VOYA - Angie Hammond

Children's Literature - Beverly Melasi

Why cook? Cooking gives you power in lots of ways: It makes you independent, it can be a great escape from the day's stress, it gives you energy and can cheer you up when you are feeling lousy. Sitting down and having a good meal with either friends or family is all about having good times. Because the entire process of cooking a meal gets you out of the house to the market, deli, or even to a farm stand, you can exchange many cultural ideas over raw vegetables or the meat counter. You can even speak to the people who grow your vegetables and in the end make new friends while trying out new and great tasting foods. When writing this book, this young author asked seven of his closest friends to give him some ideas. And so with a little help from his friends, the delicious meals inside can become everyone's a burst of flavor that works brilliantly with other tastes and textures. Henry is a big cheese fan but had never cooked with it. Cheese is a wonderful thing. You can grate it, slice it, melt it, bake it, or spread it. And Viola'! You can create cheddar, chili, and onion muffins that are great for a late breakfast or break-time snack. Pasta from Ariyo; this friend is an athlete and likes to eat pasta as much as three times a day, so something that sounds fancy but is not is a great way to tease his taste buds. Pasta al Forno means, "baked." It is just like lasagna but with stuffed pasta shells instead of sheets. Vegetables from Joe: think fiber, energy, minerals, and vitamins that keep you going. Like a spinach, avocado, and bacon salad. Meat from Andy: meat is major protein, eat it to power yourself and sharpen your brain. Try the perfect beef stir-fry. What better way to marryvegetables and meat. Potatoes from Liv: let us face it—everyone is passionate about spuds. Whether baked, mashed, or fried, they make a great comfort food for everyone, like luscious Shepherd's pie. Sweet stuff from Verity: how about a retro French pastry. Crisp pastry puffs meet soft vanilla cream and rich chocolate drizzle. Gorgeous! This cookbook has a lot of pictures of the chef and his friends having fun, and it also showcases scrumptious meals with mouthwatering photographs. They make you want to try every one. Bon Appetite! Reviewer: Beverly Melasi

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up–This British import is organized into eight chapters, each featuring a different main ingredient chosen by teenage Sam’s “mates.” Potatoes, pasta, vegetables, and chocolate are some of the items represented. There is a commendable emphasis on local food and fresh ingredients, although nutrition information is not included. Each recipe is accompanied by a photo of the dish, and throughout the book there are also many photos of the teens cooking, eating, or just hanging out. Some of the recipes will have wide appeal; others are more exotic, like “Cool Cauli Curry.” Unfortunately, some of the recipes are vague. For example, the main ingredient for “Steak Jalapeño Pockets” is listed as “4 rump or sirloin steaks,” with no weight given. Does Stern really mean “lemon rind” instead of lemon zest in the “Carrot Pasta” recipe? “Eggplant Roll-ups in Tomato Sauce” advises readers to break eggs into a dish but doesn’t tell them to stir them before dipping the eggplant slices. Experienced cooks can probably read between the lines in cases like these, but that shouldn’t be necessary. Those looking for a cookbook by teens, for teens, might want to try Megan, Jill, and Judi Carle’s Teens Cook: How to Make What You Want to Eat (Ten Speed, 2004).–Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL