The Wizard’s Cookbook

September 20, 2021 Book Reviews 5 ★★

The Wizard’s CookbookThe Wizard's Cookbook by Aurelia Beaupommier
Published by Skyhorse Publishing on September 5, 2017
Genres: Cookbooks
Format: Hardcover
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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two-stars

The definitive cookbook for everyone who loves fantasy and lore!

The ultimate gift book for fans of all things magical! Aurelia Beaupommier pays tribute to all sorcerers, fairies, elves, mages, witches, and magicians within this spellbinding cookbook! In The Wizard's Cookbook, you'll find recipes inspired by your favorite magical stories, eras, and lands--from history, myth, and fantasy--including The Legend of Zelda, World of Warcraft, Halloween, Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, Mulesine, Lord of the Rings, Willow, Narnia, and so much more!

Inspired by the most famous wizards in history, from Merlin to Dumbledore to Marry Poppins, The Wizard's Cookbook includes magical dishes that are both quick and easy to prepare for any occasion. Beaupommier provides a beautiful spread of festive themed dishes to enchant your guests. Recipes are accompanied by beautiful full-page color photographs of the delectable food and drinks. In addition to the sustenance necessary to battle your nemesis―whether it be a dragon or an empty stomach―this book also includes recipes to prepare divine desserts and devilish snacks, as well as intoxicating potions and elixirs to quench your thirst.

Whether you're a beginner or an expert wizard, open this spell book, grab your wand, and . . . Abracadabra! You'll create delicious, bewitching recipes from The Wizard's Cookbook that are sure to teleport you and those dining with you to another world.

Somewhat disappointing

I’m always up for cool fantasy-inspired recipes, so when this title popped up at my library, I immediately borrowed it. Unfortunately, it didn’t really live up to my hopes. I paged through the recipes, and while there were a few that appealed to me (like treacle tart), for the most part they were not recipes I was interested in making. In addition, at least one recipe was simply wrong for what it purported to be—any Tolkien fan can tell you that elven lembas bread is not crusted with nuts and raisins. A plain shortbread, perhaps with added protein powder, would have been closer to the mark.

On the plus side, the photographs are appealing, and the notes for each recipe are interesting and whimsical. However, the recipes themselves were not always clearly written. Some also called for impossible or unlikely ingredients, presumably as a way of making them seem really magical; the suggested substitutes are available in our mundane world, but a recipe in which almost every ingredient requires substitution is not a recipe that is easy to read or follow. And the darker colors used for some of the pages made it hard to see the recipe clearly, which would make actually cooking from those pages more difficult.

In the end, I felt the collection as a whole was too broad, trying to hit all the possible fandoms. The lack of clarity was reflected in the recipes, both visually and textually. A more focused approach, with more readable recipes, would have worked better for me.

two-stars

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • COYER Seasons 2021: Summer

5 Responses to “The Wizard’s Cookbook

  1. Katherine

    This definitely sounds like a bit of a miss which is too bad as it could have been really fun if the execution had been a bit better. I don’t mind an occasional substitute but if it’s basically all substitutes then it’s not really the recipe!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Most of the recipes didn’t make use of substitutes, but there were some that were clearly written to look like a fantasy recipe with magical ingredients (or at least ingredients not available in the mundane world.)