Book Review: Fried Chicken by Rebecca Lang
A great reference on a comfort food that transcends culture, this book delves into iterations of fried chicken from all over the world. Lang writes with authority and does an admirable job of presenting not only a book of recipes but an excellent reference on frying.
Recipes:
The recipes in the book are well laid out with clear instructions. Her consistent inclusion of recommended bird weight and preferred butchery show an attention to detail that few authors exhibit. It would have been nice had she extended this detail to the inclusion of metric measurements as well as the volumetrics that she uses. It's a simple thing to include yet American authors seem too stubborn to do it. Any cook who values accuracy will tell you it's a better way to cook.
That criticism aside, the recipes produce consistently delicious results and, though some feel repetitive, there are a lot of interesting variations on this limited theme. The cookbook would have benefited from some recommended sides\condiments as a way to make it feel less "one-note."
Layout:
The division of the cookbook into different frying styles in an interesting decision that works better than I expected. This layout does make it a little difficult to flip to a recipe instead of having to constantly refer to the index.
Photos:
The photos are beautiful though the feeling that the reader has seen them before starts to hit pretty early. This is mostly due to the limited perspective of the book.
Overall:
****
This is an informative and well laid out book of recipes for everybody's favorite comfort food. The limited perspective on just one food item makes me wonder if it's worthy of the shelf space but the recipes are delicious and well done.
Available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Fried-Chicken-Recipes-Crunchy-Comfort-Food/dp/1607747243/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
