Judy Gelman

I have to admit that I did not watch one single episode of Mad Men. I do, however, love this cookbook inspired by the series. Many of the recipes are familiar to me having grown up in the 1960’s. They evoke an elegance of that time when folks dressed for dinner and families sat down together. This lovely collection has a great variety from cocktails to desserts. In addition, there are wonder vintage photographs from that era and tie ins to the Mad Men series. Whether or not you were a fan of the series, this book would be a great addition to any cookbook collection.
… (plus d'informations)

If you have ever watched Mad Men and are a fan – this is a great book. It has stories as well as recipes. Every time we watched this show I wanted a martini and my husband wanted an Old fashioned.

We still haven’t seen the final episodes of this series, waiting on Netflicks, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying this book.

There are recipes for so many good drinks: Old Fashions, martinis, Manhattans, Mimosas and more.

Food too! Oysters Rockefeller, crown rib roast, turkey tetrazzini, pineapple upside down cake……..you will love just flipping through the pages of this book.

In addition to the many good recipes are stories about the television show and cultural context about the world in the 1960s. It definitely wasn’t a good era to be a woman in the workplace. But as I watched the show I was amazed at how spot on they got the set designs. Everything from the attire to the decorations – lamps, tables, the smoking and drinking in the office, the bar ware…all of it rang true.

I am dating myself because yes, I grew up in the 60s. Well I was a child in the 1960s but I can’t tell you the number of times my husband and I would watch an episode and say, “Hey look, my grandmother had those tumblers or lamp” or whatever. Blast from the past here.

Time to mix up a couple of Manhattans and listen to the Beatles.… (plus d'informations)

I never read a cookbook cover to cover. My rationale with cookbooks is to flip through – pictures? Good. Lots of pictures? Great. A variety of recipes? Very good. Lots of caviar and truffles and other ingredients I couldn't bring myself to buy even if I could afford them? No thanks. And then if I buy the book it will go on a shelf until I need a recipe from it; if I agree to review a book (as I did with this from Netgalley) I will page through it to form an intelligent opinion of the layout and the clarity, maybe make a couple of the dishes listed, and move on.

But I opened The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook, and started reading the forward, and just kept going. It was just that much fun. Each recipe is fronted by a short piece telling why it's in there – like Betty Draper's Around the World dinner, which prompted the inclusion of the gazpacho. There's also a recipe for a roast chicken like the one Pete Campbell threw out the window. It was like watching a recap of the show from its beginning – did I already use "fun"? Well, and I'll probably use it again.

The simple fact that about the first thirty percent of the book is devoted to cocktails is brilliant. I tend to doubt I'll ever be making any of them, but it was just … sorry, can't help it, it was fun wandering through the stories of the authors' search for a martini fit for Roger Sterling and just the right Old Fashioned to suit Don Draper. And thirty percent – that's just about right.

I also enjoy a book – cookbook or otherwise – with a sense of humor. That there is a wonderful sense of fun about this book should be obvious from that massive cocktail section, but it's all through it. That birthday dinner Peggy's boyfriend arranged for her, which she never made it to? There's a recipe for what she might have been served – along with a lovely little synopsis of the restaurant where the boyfriend (et al) waited for her (and waited). And the warning not to wait dinner for Peggy, because she probably won't show.

The authors include very nice little histories of where they obtained each recipe. As often as possible, they went back to the source - the restaurant where the character ate or might have eaten the dish - or drunk the cocktail. It seems they had a wonderful amount of cooperation from the professionals contacted - and why not? It's a perfect marriage, this union of food and Mad Men. (AMC, you really should get in on this.)

This is a good cookbook: there are lots of fine recipes, some of which are – cleverly – given twice, once just as might have been served to the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce folk in the 60's and once as they would be served today. I can see myself cooking from this. But more – this is a good book. The people who put this together, Judy Gelman & Peter Zheutlin, know food, and they know Mad Men, and they love both – and those are (pardon the metaphor) ingredients for an entertaining, enjoyable (fun) book.… (plus d'informations)