My Man Pots and Pans

REVIEW: Recipes Every Man Should Know

by Drew Lazor

"Women think men who cook are sexy, and it involves fire, sharp instruments and meat."

We're informed of this early on in Recipes Every Man Should Know (Quirk Books, Nov. 10, $9.95), a handy-dandy cooking guide — a little black book, literally — marketed as a culinary building block, essential reference for the kitchen-impaired XY-er in your life. If The Joy of Cooking is the bible for the ambitious at-home chef, then consider this the holy text for the man who eats Tombstone pizzas more often than he changes his bedsheets.

Though that introductory promise reads boorishly, the book itself doesn't go the predictable 12-year-old "balls are funny!" dude-humor route. (Ha-ha, balls!) Co-written by San Diego food blogger Susan Russo and Philly-based author Brett Cohen, Recipes is the feed-me-Seymour companion to Cohen's 2009 Stuff Every Man Should Know, a similarly slim volume that schools developmentally challenged gents in the fine arts of tying neckties and asking the boss for a raise. Instructions, often accompanied by fun little illustrations, are broken down in a spare and clear-cut manner, never spanning more than two pages.

There are some very helpful gems tucked into this pocket-size book, including sections on breakfast (dog-ear the eggy "Hangover Cure"), cocktails, cooking steaks and burgers (both on grills and in pans) and properly carving a turkey (helpful for the impending holiday). Straightforward crowd-pleasing recipes include beef-and-beer chili and bacon-wrapped meatloaf. Almost a quarter of one chapter is devoted to bacon recipes.

Then there's the silly filler, much of which does not involve actual cooking. A "Real Beer Float" ("Pour beer in a glass. Add ice cream. Drink.") does not need its own page. A cook who would like to be taken seriously should never follow the book's "bacon brownie" instructional, which suggests adding half a dozen strips of bacon to store-bought brownie mix. Now back to pizza. "At some point," Recipes reads, "a man has to make his own pizza." That's very true, so much so that I'm willing to forgive the fact that the "recipe" calls for pre-fab pizza dough ("If frozen, thaw completely before using") and jarred marinara. Women definitely think men who cook are sexy — and come on, what's sexier than flour-caked forearms? Make your own dough.

(drew.lazor@citypaper.net)