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Americana Explored: Man vs History and The Great American Recipe

29 Jan

Man vs. History
Man vs History was a show that originally debuted on the History channel that aired in 2021. Master storyteller and historian Bil Lepp looks at a variety of American historical legends from Houdini’s ability to get out of a straight jacket by supposedly dislocating his shoulder to Ben Franklin supposedly inventing the first swim fins. The episodes all have loose themes such as being centered on iconic stunts or folk tale legends. Lepp interviews experts and even recreates some of the events himself to determine how true the legends are. You can stream all eight episodes using only 4 of your monthly 60 Kanopy tickets. It is rated PG so may not be appropriate for some younger children, but older kids and teens may enjoy watching it along with their parents. I especially enjoyed hearing about some stories based locally such as the Hamilton/Burr duel that took place in nearby Weehawken.

The Great American Recipe
The Great American Recipe returned to PBS for season 3 last year. You can have 5 days to binge the 8 episodes for 5 of your Kanopy monthly tickets. This season Alejandra Ramos returns as host but Tiffany Derry is now joined by Francis Lam, host of public radio’s “The Splendid Table,” and Timothy Hollingsworth, an award winning chef, as judges. The show highlights the regional and ethnic diversity of the American culinary scene with this season’s contestants including those who have Italian, Mexican, Chinese and West African heritage. One contestant from Alaska discusses foraging for ingredients during one of the challenges. This is definitely a program for those who prefer their reality shows low stakes and friendly such as The Great British Baking Show. No one is voted off, though there are constructive critiques of some recipes that were less successful. The show ends with a top 3 and one winner declared, but unlike previous seasons there is no mention of a cookbook; never fear though if you want to create any of the dishes you can find the recipes online. The previous two seasons are also available to borrow from Kanopy and the show has been renewed for a fourth season on PBS.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Get Cooking this Fall!: Start Here and Home Style Cookery

23 Oct

Start Here
By Sohla El-Waylly
Our library has pulled a great selection of Fall cookbooks to put on display, and this book Start Here starts with teaching the basics through extraordinary recipes and flavors. The chef Sohla El-Waylly displays how to perfectly make any style of egg, how to carmelize, brown-butter anything, working with dough, and much more. Although she can run through the basics, her recipes have much more depth to them then the simple 1-2-3. For a wonderful Fall recipe, I picked her Walnut Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that are just filled with warmth and brown-buttery goodness. Did you know leaving the cookie dough in the fridge overnight or even 24-hours before baking helps to hone in on that strong chocolate and butter flavor? Her voice, in the book and on her YouTube cooking videos, is so professional, yet she has done so much cooking that she is used to failing, and wants the readers to learn from it and also expect that not everything comes out perfect the first time. She goes on to say that this book was made just for that; all the hours put into school just to still mess up -it happens, but this is why she put a book together with all the basics covered, so we don’t have to fail as much. You’ve probably seen her on New York Times Cooking YouTube channel where she does cooking 101, and a mystery menu with her partner Ham El-Waylly. She even has a segment with The History Channel YouTube where she makes ancient recipes; for more historic recipe suggestions check out our review of Tasting History.

Home Style Cookery
by Matty Matheson
When talking about Fall recipes, we have to include some soups and broths -it’s the best time to consume them! In one of his many cookbooks, Home Style Cookery another YouTuber Matty Matheson goes over how to make just about every broth for the base of any perfect soup.  This book covers almost everything from breads to any style of vegetable imaginable, dips and desserts, and grilled and fried yumminess. As a vegetarian I’m always looking for a delicious veggie stock, and his mushroom stock is just what I was looking for. He uses the word “beefy” to describe the umami flavor taken from the use of cremini mushrooms. A secret he uses for this recipe is to roast the onion before adding it to the stock, which really brought a silky richness to the stock. I ended up using it for my start-of-Fall veggie soup, and it was gone in an instant! These recipes are super easy to follow and require low-effort to get it all done. He’s another one of my favorite YouTube chefs, and always makes me laugh with his videos. I also enjoy his personality, because his family is where my family originated -Newfoundland, Canada -so I love his Canadian references. You can also read a previous review of Matty Matheson: A Cookbook, his first recipe book/memoir.

October is National Cookbook month; you can also read lots of other cookbook and foodie focused book reviews written by our staff.

Written by:
Samantha Meyers
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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