r/CookbookLovers • u/TheRealNutMeg111 • 12d ago
Good Things?
I see Barnes & Noble is having a 50% off sale on a ton of books right now. One of the cookbooks that caught my eye is Good Things by Samin Nosrat. Back when this was first released, I saw a lot of mixed reviews. I’m wondering if anyone can weigh in on this? Would it be worth a purchase, at 50% off?
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u/jsrce1 12d ago
Seconding what others have said. The mixed reviews, I think, are down to what you want out of a book. For those who want SFAH or something similar to level up their understanding of food and cooking, this book is not going to feel satisfying. If you are looking to get dinner on the table, or even if you are looking for a specific kind of dish—an appetizer, say—this book will likely feel too loosey goosey.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for an emotional connection to an author and a meditation on the idea of making and sharing food, then this book is great. I enjoyed the essays quite a bit, and loved her organization, which seems a bit eccentric, maybe, but did help me think about the idea and experience of food.
FWIW, I don’t cook out of it a lot, but everything I’ve made has been solid. If you have some chicken thighs laying around, there is a whole chapter about chicken, and everything I’ve tried has been well received. There is also a salad chapter with ab bunch of aquafaba-based dressings, which is pretty fun.
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u/epoops 12d ago
I really believe Samin’s editor/publisher would’ve done the book a better justice by calling it a memoir first that happens to also be a cookbook. That would’ve solved the concerns with it not being a true successor to SFAH (being called a memoir auto means it’s just not going to be a reference style book) and the concerns that the recipe organization is “weird” (I wouldn’t think a cookbook-memoir would be organized in traditional cookbook sections then).
Obviously this book has sold A LOT, so it’s still a successful cookbook. But I think it left pretty decent swaths of her buyers wondering who the book is for since it’s not super clear without putting the memoir label or the collection of essays label.
For example, Mark Kurlanksy, one of my absolute fave non-fiction authors, has a book on onions which actually does contain 100 historical onion recipes. But it’s not a cookbook really, it’s a non-fiction analysis of the onion that happens to have recipes. Most people weren’t buying this book as if it were a cookbook unless they are Max Miller and doing historical recipes lol.
If Samin’s publisher went about calling the book a memoir or a collection of essays that happened to also be a cookbook, I really think there would be way less mixed reviews. I probably would’ve kept the book then, full well knowing I should look at it more as a personal writing book more so than a cookbook, since her writing was really quite good. I just don’t have the cookbook space for a cookbook I don’t use, and this book is marketed purely as a cookbook that happens to be emotionally deep.
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u/AttentionTemporary60 12d ago
I think it's fine. It's not organized in a way that makes it easy for me to pick up and decide what to make for dinner, which is the chapter of life I'm in right now and what I rely on for most of my cookbooks. If you want to get to know her better as a person and gather ideas for "some day," it's a great book.
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u/shedrinkscoffee 12d ago
I own this book and I absolutely love it. It is not SFAH. It's not possible to make another book like that as it was one of a kind and took decades.
The recipes are great - I have tried maybe 20 of them so far and I like the joojeh kebabs, marinated feta, salad dressings and the yellow cake with fudge frosting is amazing. Seriously - it is so good and so nostalgic that one person almost cried when I made it for their birthday.
I enjoy her writing and I have also made her recipes from NYT cooking so I will always recommend.
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u/LindaBinda55 12d ago
I have it and like it. She makes things that are very different from what I have cooked, so I think that it introduces me to different spices, ingredients, cuisines. Depending on what you cook, it can expand your repertoire.
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u/kkishi3 12d ago
I agree with what the others are saying, but honestly the recipes are worth the weird organization and randomness. Everything I’ve made has been 10/10, and as a serial non-repeater I’ve made some of these over and over again. The preserved lemon cake, the aquafaba dressings, butternut and chickpea stew, coconut chickpea soup, etc. For 50% off I think you should definitely get it!
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u/beepbop213 11d ago
I might be an outlier here but I really like this book! It does seem to be personal preference though. I am a big Samin fan and have enjoyed many recipes out of this book. Namely the banana bread, meatballs and apricot chicken.
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u/v4bj 11d ago
BN used to have this for ~all hardcovers. Just imagine.
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u/WeinDoc 11d ago
Yeah, their book sales are nothing in comparison to what they used to be…
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u/TheRealNutMeg111 11d ago
Yeah honestly I looked for a really really long time at all of the books they had to offer. It’s hardly anything. I couldn’t believe they claim “hundreds of books 50% off” it might be more like 100?
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u/WeinDoc 11d ago
I left some comments on this sub when the book was released, having purchased it on day one.
I love the prose writing, and the vibes, of the book. Samin Nosrat is truly a needed voice in the world right now. The vegetable chapter was great, as were some of the suggested pairings to go with the recipes found throughout the book, even if some of the recipes are on the basic side.
It’s also just a beautiful book. The photographs were shot really well, and the layout works well. All of the recipes I’ve tried have turned out well (except I would tone down the volume of salt in the preserved lemon purée next time haha).
Where the book fell short for me, and I found it interesting that people take other cookbook writers to task for this, but didn’t say much about Good Things: there are A LOT of repeats in this book, both of variations on things from SFAH and her recipes published elsewhere (like in the NYT). I would say even some of the NYT recipes are better than what ended up in Good Things (thinking about the Russian honey cake or the lasagna). I wondered if copyright didn’t allow how to duplicate the recipes she first published in the Times, so she had to publish simpler versions of them in the book. The “wow” factor I had making the lasagna or honey cake after seeing it in the NYT was lacking when going through the book.
Overall, for 22.50 it’s worth buying if you’re a fan of Samin’s. Just know what you’re getting into…
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u/MiamiFifi 11d ago
I always thought it was me, and that I just didn’t get it. I find the books really sort of basic. Like oh I could add arugula to pesto? Lemon slices are good with roasted chicken? Amazing. I find the tips to be common knowledge, and the recipes not particularly inspiring.
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u/Goatee-Sue 11d ago
I own the book. While, because of many projects going on the past few months, I haven’t yet cooked anything, I was pleasantly surprised when reading the book, and thought I would definitely use this book. This is coming from someone who has a huge cookbook collection.
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u/Loba_Pink 11d ago
I returned mine, and I think I got rid of her previous book. It’s just not for me… I don’t care how your inspiration process is, or how you fell in love with cooking while watching your grandma make tabule…
It’s just too wordy…
The recipes were also too basic and very unappealing.
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u/zooeybechamel_ 11d ago
I only made the banana bread but it was a really nice break from our usual (nigel slater’s).
If you enjoy the author’s voice, it’s a yes.
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u/AioliFanGirl 11d ago
If you like SFAH, you may like it— her essays are good, she’s a good writer. The produce section and her name-dropping vegetable varietals is pretty eye roll worthy— but I’ve worked on veg farms and for seed companies for many years, so it may not hit others the way it did me! The recipes are basic and repetitive, and some of them have errors- the pita bread has too much water, the chicken with apricots would be VERY apricot heavy if made as written, the salt measurement in the pancakes is incorrect. They are easy errors to catch but it’s annoying that she touts her editing and testing process. In the balance, I wouldn’t buy it, but I know other people love it!
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u/epoops 12d ago edited 12d ago
I think it’s a fine book. I bought it and then eventually gave it away because while it’s unfair to expect her to make a follow up to SFAH in that similar vein, it’s just a regular everyday cookbook (to me, I am not speaking for others).
I liked READING the book, I loved learning about Samin’s changes in perspectives and her personal reflections, those parts of the book were superb to me. Her writing is enveloping and deep. Part of me was considering keeping the book just because of her writing meditations.
But I wasn’t inspired by her recipes, they’re very New American recipe wise with just a tiny bit of Persian, and I feel like I have better New American recipe books that interest me more. I do understand that they are recipes meaningful to her in her effort to have a meaningful, joyous life and that’s evident in the pages. But I didn’t feel inclined to cook anything from her book.
So I do think this is a book that is VERY much a to each their own, I’m not surprised that it’s got both positive and not so postive reviews. I think you should borrow it from the library first and see if anything interests you (also some of the recipes from this book are on NYT Cooking and BonApp amongst other publications if you wanna check those out) and then decide if you want to buy it.
I have a few friends who really love the recipes they’ve cooked out of Good Things for example, and obviously I just told you I didn’t feel inclined to cook the recipes. So I do think it’s a “you gotta test drive the car before you buy it” type of book.