Thursday, January 29, 2015

Cookbook Review: Thug Kitchen

After cooking through the Thug Kitchen, I'm finally ready to give it a review.

It seems to be that I am the last person on the planet to have heard of the Thug Kitchen, being a total stranger to the blog. I think I first came across them when I was looking for a burger recipe and I found their Smokey Spinach and Black Bean Burger on their site. I made it and actually quite liked it.

I will admit that I was kind of shocked by the language and in-your-face attitude. I didn't feel like there was any racism going on here but I'm kind of sensitive to foul language and so I was initially turned off. I took to Facebook to ask my McDougall Friends for their opinion and they warmly recommended it if I could get passed the language. The inexpensive price on Amazon was the impetus that drove me to buy the book as I was already placing an order.

So what did I think? Read on to find out.
The book indeed is loud, in your face and full of attitude. You see this with regards to the layout, quotes and tips strewn throughout. The photography is well done and makes the dishes look very tempting. As for the curse words, they are everywhere. Literally, in almost every sentence. I think it's a bit excessive and the gimmick gets old fast. Eventually, my mind starting blocking them out and I stopped noticing them.

As for the recipes that I tried, I made a few, some of which I talked about on the blog already. I tried the Baked Spanish Rice, the Pumpkin Chili, the Sweet Potato Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas, the Roasted Beer and Lime Cauliflower, the Roasted Chickpea and Broccoli Burritos, and the White Bean and Red Lentil Burgers. I liked the chili, enchiladas and burritos, although some of those recipes required tweaking to make them workable. The rest were sadly underwhelming for me.

I noticed that many of the recipes that I tried as well as others in the book used the same flavor profile over and over- lime, chili, cumin, etc etc and I would have liked to see other profiles. Maybe I subconsciously chose to make those but there are many more recipes that feature those such as the Pozole Rojo and Tortilla Soup. Just saying.

Overall, I'd say that this book is okay but not wow. Not too many recipes that I'd go back to making but you might think differently, especially if you have more skills in the kitchen. If you don't mind the language, already are a fan of the Thug Kitchen blog, or like the flavors mentioned above, then give it a look.

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