title: The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
author: Dinah Bucholz

publication date: September 18, 2010
publisher: Adams Media Corporation

Dishing out recipes that all Muggle readers ought to try at least once in their lives, this cookbook deserves a place in every Muggle kitchen.
— George Beahm (Forward, The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook)

A Harry Potter cookbook? Yes please!

I loved reading about all the amazing foods in the Harry Potter series – both real and imagined. Since most of the real foods are based on UK-based dishes, I was just as happy to read about them (pasties, trifles, puddings and pies) as I was to dream about JK Rowling’s fictional foods (Butterbeer, chocolate frogs and rock cakes).

As soon as I saw this cookbook I knew that I had to add it to my collection.

the first nibble:

The cookbook is a hardcover with a beautiful, purple cover. The pages are also ‘antiqued’ and give the entire thing an old ‘magic book’ feel.

I was a little (okay, a lot) disappointed to open up the book and find NO PHOTOS. Not a single one. I had been looking forward to seeing all the beautiful creations I’ve imagined actually come to life, but unfortunately, that wasn’t to be.

There are quite a few recipes included in this book, and although not always Harry Potter inspired, they are generally all UK-based dishes.

There are lots of fun trivia notes and facts throughout the book – some are Harry Potter related, while others discuss historical info about the dishes. All these little tidbits really appealed to the food geek in me.

On my first pass through the book, five recipes that jumped out as ‘must try’:

• Pumpkin Pasties, pg. 39
• Rock Cakes, pg. 53
• Lemon Drops, pg. 163
• Treacle Tart, pg. 178
• Coconut Ice, pg. 222

 
the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): “More Than 150 Magical Recipes”

recipe list? No, but there is an Recipe Index at the back of the book

table of contents: The Table of Contents is a series of fun headings that relate back to the Harry Potter books.

photography:  There’s no photography in the book.

photo to recipe ratio*:  out of 165 total recipes**, 0 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo
* 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? no
– recipe format: numbered steps

Whenever a recipe is directly linked to the Harry Potter books, there is always a fun reference and story in that recipe’s intro. There are lots of interesting facts and fun trivia that will appeal to any Harry Potter fan.

With over 150 recipes, there are lots of great dishes to try, both Harry Potter inspired (ie. rock cakes) and traditional UK recipes (ie. steak & kidney pie).

As a food geek, I also appreciate the fun little food history facts that are dotted throughout the book.

The recipes are clearly laid out and easy to read, however, I was a little annoyed with all the word breaks and hyphens. As a writer, I prefer keeping a word together and moving it to the next line rather than constantly using hyphens and breaking up words that fall at the end of the line. Just a little quirk of mine.

the last bite:

With the beautiful cover and fun ‘antiqued’ pages, this is a great book to look at and have on your shelf. Add in the fun recipes, including so many traditional UK recipes, and it’s not a bad little cookbook to use either.

All the food facts and stories appeals to the food geek in me, and the Harry Potter references makes me happy.

But there are two areas where I feel this book fails:

1. No photos. Considering how much effort the author put into re-creating the Harry Potter world in food, it would have been fantastic to see the actual dishes. The lack of photos pretty much makes any cookbook a disappointment for me.

2. With over 150 recipes, you’d think I’d be happy. But I’m not. Because this cookbook lacks the one recipe that any ‘Harry Potter’ cookbook should absolutely require – Butterbeer. In the forward to this cookbook, George Beahm, says “I raise my foaming mug of butterbeer – the most frequently mentioned beverage in the Harry Potter novels…” . Yet, there is no recipe for Butterbeer in the book! If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, than you’ll know how tragic this omission is.

So, while this is the best Harry Potter cookbook out of all the ones I’ve seen in bookstores, it still isn’t as good as it could be. Die-hard Harry Potter should still consider adding this to their bookshelves…just don’t expect to settle down with a mug of Butterbeer when you read it.

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