title: The Messy Baker
author: Charmian Christie
publication date: August 18, 2014
publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Never trust a person with a clean kitchen. Baking is a messy art. … If her kitchen is messy, it means she’s baking. It means she’s creating. That she’s alive.
— Charmian Christie (The Messy Baker)
The title of Charmian Christie’s first cookbook, The Messy Baker, describes me in the kitchen exactly. Except that you could also call me The Messy Cook, The Messy Griller, The Messy Snack Creator…. I’m just messy in the kitchen period. But I digress. In any case, let’s just say this book title appeals to me.
It’s that same sense of whimsy that makes this book fun to read and cook from. After following Charmian on Twitter, becoming a regular reader of her hilarious blog, The Messy Baker, and grilling against her in this year’s #OGBChallenge, I was eager to get my hands on her book!
Spinach and Dill Pockets
the first nibble:
The book starts off with a very personal story from Charmian on the biggest influence in her cooking career – her mother. Since I’m one of those people that settle in and read cookbooks for fun, I love books that start off with a story. I know it doesn’t improve my cooking skills, but it makes me feel more connected with the author and the recipes to come.
Amongst the great things included at the start of the book are useful things like ‘The Rules’ (I need to follow these…honestly, it’s like Charmian knows me a little too well!), ‘Essential Ingredients’ and kitchen gadgets grouped into ‘Can’t-Do-Without’, ‘Nice-To-Have’ and ‘I’m-a-Baker-and-I’ve-Earned-It’ (who am I kidding? I want ALL the gadgets).
On my first pass through the book, five recipes that jumped out as ‘must try’:
- Cherry and Lemon Macaroon Meringues, pg. 68
- Piglet Muffins with Caramelized Bacon, pg. 81
- Deep Dark Cherry and Chipotle Brownies, pg. 91
- Raspberry Butter Tarts, pg. 138
- Burnt Caramel and Sea Salt Sticky Buns, pg. 165
Peppery Pear and Smoked Gouda Dutch Baby
the nitty-gritty:
number of recipes (as stated by book): “more than 75 delicious recipes”
recipe list? Yes, at the start of each chapter, there’s a list of recipes contained in that chapter
table of contents:
I love the Table of Contents in The Messy Baker. Ok, so it’s not the most intuitive if you’re searching for a particular recipe and does group things in a new and unique way. But since I love browsing cookbooks anyway…I think this is perfectly fun!
photography: Almost every recipe in the book is accompanied by a beautiful colour photograph of the resulting dish. I love that a lot of the photos reflect the ‘messy’ kitchen. Some smudgy, drippy photos – it just make the food all that more appealing.
The comforting, no-fuss photographs make me feel as if every recipe in this book is something I could easily make in my own kitchen (which, to be fair, is pretty messy most of the time).
photo to recipe ratio*: out of 80 total recipes**, 43 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 1.9)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted
recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? yes
– recipe format: numbered steps
All the recipes are well laid out and easy to follow, with ingredients listed on one side. Lots of tips and notes are included to help the home-cook along.
Each recipe comes with a short little story that is peppered with Charmian’s trademark sense of humour and a cute turn of phrasing changes the usual ‘prep time’ or a ‘cook time’ to ‘Commitment Level’.
Although I originally expected a dessert book, The Messy Baker is full of all kinds of recipes – sweet, savory, dessert, breakfast and everything in between. What the recipes do have in common is that they aren’t fussy.
Profiteroles
the last bite:
Even if I had never personally known Charmian, I would have fallen in love with her book. It has everything that would make me want to head into the kitchen and bake up a storm – fun, unfussy recipes, ingredients which I mostly already have in my pantry, gorgeous food photography and fun little stories.
Another useful inclusion at the end of the book is ‘Common Measurements and Equivalents’ and a handy ‘Emergency Substitutions’ guide (I love this). All the tips and guides make this a great book to have in the kitchen.
The variety of recipes means that there’s something for every mood and occasion, and Charmian has a way of making even the most complicated recipe seem easy. One of of my favourite thoughts from the book comes from ‘The Messy Manifesto’ and it’s something I’ve lived by without knowing it – “Never trust a person with a clean kitchen.”
Charmian was gracious enough to spend some time answering some questions for my Author Q&A series. You can read my interview with her here.
cooking the book
Smoked Paprika Corn Fritters
what worked: The flavours really meshed together. The corn was sweet, the spices were subtle and it was super easy and quick to make.
what didn’t work: I pan-fried these fritters and they came out a lot softer than I was hoping for. They weren’t crispy like I expected fritters to be.
did your dish look like the one pictured in the cookbook? There was no picture of the fritters in the book, so I didn’t have anything to compare my fritters to.
ease/expense of ingredients: I had all the ingredients on hand, which was one reason I decided to make these fritters.
would you make this again?: Yes, definitely. The next time I’m going to try using the batter in the waffle iron, which should help them crisp up.
Click here to purchase The Messy Baker from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon
Disclosure: I received a copy of The Messy Baker from the publisher for review purposes. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing this post and the post was not reviewed by the publisher prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.
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