Meal and a Spiel Cookbook Review

Meal and a Spiel: How to be a Badass in the Kitchen

Italian Cuisine has always been one of the most popular cuisines around the world. Not only you find Italian restaurants in almost every major city in the world but also Italian cookbooks in any book store. In this week’s cookbook review, we decided to bring you one of those books, the Meal and a Spiel Cookbook.

Named after her popular LA-based business Meal and a Spiel, Elana Horwich uses her signature Jewish sense of humor to take the fear out of learning to cook. With experiences from teaching high school to performing standup comedy, Horwich, who lived for years in Italy, shares her unabashed memoir and practical wisdom to teach intuitive cooking.

Raised in a home with parents who defrosted Lean Cuisine for dinner, Horwich missed a nourishing element to life. Like any rational person, she moved to Italy as a young adult and taught herself to cook. Having encountered her own stumbling blocks along the way, she creates a to-the-point approach to cooking that has already proven successful to thousands.

‍

‍

Delicious Italian Recipes

In Meal and Spiel Cookbook, Horwich gathered a collection of 110 Italian recipes with California-inspired elements. Cauliflower Mac-N-Cheese, Burrata Crostini with No-Noodle-Lasagna or Flourless Chocolate Blender Cakes, are just some of the recipes that you really need to try.

For those who have dietary limitations this book as plenty of different options. Throughout this book, you will be able to choose among traditional, paleo, gluten-free, plant-based and dairy-free recipes. We can almost guarantee you that there is a least one recipe for everyone in this book.

With an entertaining reading, great photographs, and easy and healthy recipes, this book will transform your cooking game. Instead of encourage dependence on following specific recipes in order to make a meal, this book is a guide to becoming an intuitive cook.

‍

‍

A Different Approach

One of the reasons why we like this cookbook so much is because is different from other cookbooks we reviewed.

Meal and a Spiel is not a cookbook with brilliant and complicated cooking techniques. You won’t be asked to sous vide anything or to use the thermometer to precisely measure the temperature of your oil. For Horwich, you don’t need any burdensome techniques to become a badass in the kitchen. And this is the reason that makes this book so different.

In this book, you have not only a list of fabulous recipes, but also important tips and tricks that will empower you to enjoy cooking. According to Horwich, the objective of this book is to make you a better and confident cook. She wants you to experience the kitchen as a playroom and cooking as a game. Where the goal is not to win, but rather to have fun.

‍

‍

Final Thoughts

Meal and a Spiel is a cookbook with much more than a few recipes. Whether reading the book for the inspiring and humorous stories the culinary history of Italian Jews, or simply to make delicious healthy recipes that underwent a rigorous testing process by a hundred untrained home cooks, it will serve you as an inspiration, and a ready companion for your kitchen adventures.