Created to promote fun, adventurous cooking--and removal of the inevitable stains that result--Messy Gourmet has garnered accolades from the venerable (Encyclopedia Britannica) to the irreverent (Yahoo! Top 50 Web site).
"Messy Goumet reflects a fresh quirky attitude to cooking that is the antithesis of Martha Stewart." says Sharon Kroo, creator of the site. "There is no right or wrong way to cook, only a fun way! The best food results though cooking accidents. The messier you are, the more fun you have cooking, the better it tastes."
Now readers can experience the thrills, chills and spills of Messy Gourmet without logging on to the Internet. After all, who keeps their computer in the kitchen?
Ms. Kroo enlisted cooking enthusiast Abigail Strubel, a Messy Gourmet contributor, to edit the various recipes into a coherent whole. "We didn't want to use the traditional cookbook divisions--appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts…." says Strubel. "But obviously the book couldn't just be a list of fun recipes written up in that inimitable, irreverent Messy Gourmet style. So we decided to organize the book along the lines of 'gourmet personality.'"
- Bloody Gourmet loves to cook with tomatoes, beets, raspberries --anything red and juicy...
- Sexy Gourmet uses cooking to seduce; these recipes make those who partake of them the cook's adoring slaves...
- Smelly Gourmet adores onions, garlic and fish -- the smellier, the better...
- Smokin' Gourmet deploys hot peppers, horseradish and ginger to maximum effect...
- Tacky Gormay cooks with Spam, mayo, chopped meat and other down-home ingredients...
- Tipsy Gourmet splashes in plenty of wine, tequila, cognac, rum, and other tasty imbibables...
- Trendy Gourmet cooks with the latest culinary gadgets and "le plus nouveau des nouveaux ingrédients" (the newest of the new ingredients)...
- And don't forget Pot Luck -- recipes and tips just too good to leave out.
Whether you've got a dinner party to cater or just want an entertaining read, you're bound to find a lot to love--The Messy Gourmet Cookbook is a smorgasbord in book form!
Review copies of The Messy Gourmet Cookbook are available upon request.
More information can be found at http://www.messygourmet.com/cookbook.html
Praise for Messy Gourmet:
"Food Fight! From the genteel civility of tea, to cooking that creates a bit more mayhem.... Includes a page on stain removal for after you've covered your kitchen and yourself in food." BBC World
"Cooking is an art, but if your concoction owes more to Jackson Pollock than to Rembrandt, despair not.... Forget about annoyances such as measuring cups and spoons. The Messy Gourmet deals only in pinches, dashes, bits, bites and mounds, as in 'a mound of yogurt.'" Third Age
"Long live the kitchen pig! Why do most kitchens after a four-course meal look like a bomb went off in a supermarket? Is it mere coincidence? No, says messygourmet.com.... Cooking as an indoor extreme sport." Stern
"A comforting recipe for cooking success: 'The messier you are, the more fun you have cooking (and) the more fun you have cooking, the better it tastes.' Fortunately includes a guide to removing 'yucky stains.'" USA Today
"Messy Gourmet's main ingredient is fun. Besides recommending cooking tools that have been rated and tested by the site's food engineers, it also offers such handy tips as how to get stains out of Tupperware or how to get rid of odors on your hands (by washing them with toothpaste ). Messy Gourmet shows you ways to have fun, make a mess, and clean up." Fast Company
"Messy Gourmet encourages people to cast off their fears of the kitchen, experiment, make mistakes and learn to enjoy cooking. Recipes ... that non-cooks can cope with, especially if things go wrong." Dallas Morning News
"The Messy Gourmet will tickle your funny bone and provide you with tips, tricks and recipes." Billings Gazette
"Messy Gourmet... is seriously fun. 'Flu Season Soup' calls for a big chicken, a big onion and a big head of garlic, and the directions are entertaining if not exacting" St. Petersburg Times
"For advice on nuking lemons, turn to Messy Gourmet. This site also features tips on cleanup ('Think of bread as the edible wheat sponge'), photos of kitchen disasters ('What caused this Mystery Mess?') and instructions for using your washing machine as a salad spinner. " St. Louis Riverfront Times Online
"With recipes this good, there's no need to worry about cleaning up." CNET.com
"Puts the fun back into cooking with experimental (and accidental) recipes, gadget reviews, and helpful hints." Yahoo!'s Picks of the Year (1999)
"An informative food site that doesn't take itself too seriously. Its motto is, 'If it isn't fun, it's work' (which is a great attitude about cooking)." Emazing.com
"True to its name, this site mops up with pointers on how to clean the worst sort of food stains." Philadelphia Inquirer
"Funky cooking with attitude." Virgin.net
"Simple but elegant recipes." Florida-Times Union
"A lighthearted site with useful cooking tips." Universal Press Syndicate
"Recipes and stain removal advice for those times when you spill the Worcestershire sauce on your shirt instead of in the Boeuf Bourguignone." Worldnetdaily.com
"You don't have to be a neat freak to cook a good dinner. In fact, sometimes the messiest cooks make the best chefs." Phreaky Phriday Phun Links (webwaste.com)
Some prestigeous web awards:
Yahoo Pick of the week and top 50 site of 1999.
Project Cool Site of the Day
USA Today Hot site
Cool Site of the Day
Britannica Site of the Day