Men with the Pot Cookbook

by Kris Szymanski and Slawek Kalkraut

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Men with the Pot Cookbook is a tutorial guide with recipes developed and curated by the MenWithThePot, Kris Szymanski and Slawek Kalkraut. Due out 17th May 2022 from Quarto on their Harvard Common Press imprint, it's 208 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a comprehensive and surprisingly varied field guide to cooking outdoors, both for camping and RV styles of al fresco dining. The book has a casual friendly vibe and the writing is easy to understand, lightly humorous in places, and is solidly competent in terms of food safety and aesthetic appeal. My experiences of cooking while camping have mostly amounted to jabbing hot dogs and marshmallows onto pointy sticks when I was a kid and waving them around in an open fire. This is quite a step up from that.

The introduction includes a how-to guide to using the book and some (very short) basic tutorials on flavorings, spices, and some intriguing bushcraft tips on using found resources to build cooking stands and tools. The following chapters contain the recipes grouped thematically: world cuisine (Italian, Eastern European, Asian, fusion (African/Asian/Western European - really creative mashup)), meats, poultry, baking (!), seafood, hand-held meals (burgers, sandwiches, tacos, quesadillas).

Recipes include an introduction and background, bullet lists of ingredients with measurements in both imperial/American and standard/metric (yay!), followed by concise step-by-step instructions. The photography throughout is very high quality, clear, and in color. Tutorial photos are taken without hands or obstructions in the way and are easy to understand. One slightly odd aspect with the photography. Action shots with the authors are all posed so their faces are turned away or hidden. They say in their introduction that their purpose with the videos (they're *HUGE* on TikTok and other social media) was to concentrate on the food and not themselves and I suppose that carries over into the book aesthetic as well.

The recipes are varied and tasty. What lifted this book out of the ordinary to me were the highlighted text bars scattered throughout with short "Forest Hacks" and also the amazingly creative small tutorials for using natural found materials to make varied utensils and tools such as a pasta noodle drying rack and gnocchi board. Really cool stuff.

According to their own press, they're two Polish guys living in Northern Ireland and spending more time cooking outdoors than they spend indoors, but the food and tips here are anything but ordinary. This would make a great selection for public or school library acquisition, scouting/camping groups, or a super welcome gift for RV/camping friends.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.