Bay State Reader's Advisory

Our library cookbook club met virtually last week to talk about the e-cookbook Every Day Is Saturday by Sarah Copeland. For many of us, it was our first experience of reading a digital cookbook “cover to cover,” so some of our discussion involved how much we all preferred print cookbooks!

In the case of this one, borrowed from the library’s Hoopla Digital collection and read on an iPad, the index included page numbers, but they weren’t hyperlinked and you couldn’t put in page numbers to go to the page once you knew the page, so that was frustrating, since a cookbook’s index is probably the most used section.

Reading it on a computer worked better than on a tablet, one of the cookbook club members said. However, the overall reading experience would probably be better with a purchased e-book – including a fully functional index, table of contents, and page numbers.

Now, on to discussion of the cookbook itself! Sarah Copeland is also the author of two earlier, critically acclaimed cookbooks: Feast and The Newlywed Cookbook. Her recipes center around whole foods, especially grains and fresh vegetables. Unlike Feast, Every Day Is Saturday isn’t a vegetarian cookbook, but it’s definitely vegetarian-friendly.

Every Day Is Saturday made the New York Times’ list of 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2019. Check out this book trailer from Chronicle Books to get an idea of the theme and tone of the cookbook.

The author’s fabulous, Instagrammable lifestyle may spark annoyance in home cooks who are coming up with meals in less gorgeous surroundings, but others will love the lavish photography and artfully arranged food spreads.

At first – because of all the lifestyle photos, including photogenic family and friends – Every Day Is Saturday reminded me of The Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines, which was the best-selling cookbook of 2018 but didn’t make the cut for most best-of lists. (See this Washington Post article for possible reasons why, apart from critical jealousy.)

I found myself expecting to be irked by Sarah Copeland – jealous of her upstate New York weekend home and busy life in the city with an exciting, creative career, etc. – but she won me over with her down-to-earth tone (yes, I am a trained chef and nutritionist, but cooking for family and friends makes me happy, I’m not just showing off); her unexacting manner about her recipes (encouraging modifications to make them to taste or to suit a special diet); and her tips for creating a stash of ready-to-go ingredients using whatever amount of time you have on hand, ranging from ten minutes to a whole afternoon. Her ideas for working smarter, not harder, include several that I already do (such as toasting nuts or seeds to have on hand and hardboiling eggs in advance) but also some I want to start to do (e.g. “Wash, peel, and cut carrots, celery, and peppers. Store, wrapped in damp paper towels, in zipped bags for snacks and food prep.”)

I can’t review Every Day Is Saturday exactly as I usually would, because I don’t know how the print cookbook looks and feels, whether it opens up and lies flat easily, etc., but the design and layout are beautiful, I’m sure. Take a look on Google Books to see how this cookbook looks in print.

The recipes in the cookbook are presented well, and for the most part they aren’t available online, although they can be found in many food and lifestyle publications. In our cookbook club meeting, I had a quibble about ingredients listed as “one small” or “two large” without giving an estimate of how many cups or tablespoons you should end up with after chopping or crushing said ingredients. But thinking it over, I was just stuck in my cooking-like-a-baker mindset, wanting exactitude in the recipe where it wasn’t required.

Having this unusual amount of time at home, and since – with our virtual meeting – we weren’t going to get to taste all the recipes everyone else was trying, I made several recipes from Every Day Is Saturday and all were successful. Other members of the cookbook club were happy with the recipes they tried, also, and found it easy to pick ones that they could make with ingredients that were readily available or already on hand.

I made the Corn and Potato Chowder with Basil-Poblano-Garlic Relish with the suggested options of leaving out the fresh corn if you didn’t have any, and adding less half and half if you prefer your chowder more “brothy” than “creamy”.

I also made the following and appreciated the loose lists of ingredients:

• Tahini Green Goddess Dressing
• Green Goddess Salad
• The Juiciest Whole Bird (and Broth)

The Juiciest Whole Bird (and Broth) was a recipe for poaching a 4-pound chicken so you would have broth and chicken ready to cook with during the week. It worked! (Except the bird did slip back into the pot when I was lifting it out and splashed a little of the boiling hot broth on me. A poached chicken isn’t photogenic, so no photos.)

I also made grain bowls a few times this week, inspired by Every Day Is Saturday. I know they’re probably not trendy anymore, but I’ve always liked the idea of them. Aren’t they beautiful?

Happy Weekend Cooking!