Only If You're Desperate

I hid this cookbook when we had guests staying at our place while we traveled to our wedding destination (it would just open up too many questions that weren't worth the time asking). Then I forgot about it. For a very long time it slipped my mind completely. That would probably be because I have never watched one full minute of the show Desperate Housewives, and I honestly have no interest in changing that fact. So when The Desperate Housewives Cookbook showed up in my mailbox, I was in no real hurry to break it open. I'm no fan of creating an industry around a celebrity or a television show, so books like this wouldn't be something I'd seek out myself. Though Six Feet Under is my favorite t.v. show of all time, I wouldn't be buying shirts or baseball caps with the show's name on them (and I'm pretty sure they don't have a cookbook, nor does one from a funeral home sound very appetizing).

Once I told other people who did watch the show that I had the book, they asked me about it. From my cursory glance at the pages, I noticed that the names of recipes sounded pretty ho-hum (Tomato Bisque. Coffee Frappe. Basic Crepes.) so there was obviously no hook for fans that might salivate over desperately-housewivey names. I thought for sure the recipes would have mildly salacious names, or even just attempt puns, or in-jokes from the show. What we have here, though, is a character-driven cookbook. Perhaps if you relate most to one of these characters, you will want to read "her" section of recipes.

The book is hardbound, does contain over 125 recipes, and has very good food porn (photographs, I mean). For die-hard fans there're photos from the show, but since I'm not even a sometime fan, I can't really comment on them. Or I could, but they would be rather abstract, I think.

I should also mention that fans will probably also enjoy the little quips, fake emails, and statements from the characters scattered throughout the book. Unfortunately again, they mean little to me. And I am not one of those kill-your-television types (I used to be, but I gave in some time ago). While I'm sure the recipes contained in the book are probably good, maybe great, it's hard to imagine putting this book on our recipe book shelf in the kitchen, where there is already little room to be had (take out Moosewood, Food & Wine and Jacques Pepin? Nope). My husband, who does most of the cooking (if not all of the cooking these days), would probably not pick this one off the shelf. But then again, there is a recipe for Buttermilk-Soaked Fried Chicken...