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The Cooking Club Cookbook

You've done a book club; why not try a cooking club? That was the idea of six young women who worked at entry-level jobs in publishing. The plan was to meet once a month for a dinner to which every one brought one dish. The idea was so successful that after five years, two marriages, and 14 job changes, they decided to write a book to tell the rest of us how much fun it is to share meals with friends.

Think of it as a magazine series: how six attractive New York women bonded while learning to cook. Then you can enjoy their humor, read their e-mails, notice what they're wearing, and not worry too much about what they did in the kitchen. This isn't a book for skilled cooks. At times ¡ª when they fail to mention the size of a baking pan or use two pounds of beef in chili that serves 4 to 6 ¡ª I'm not sure it's for beginners either.

The good humor and confident irreverence are irresistible. Not at all intimidated by culinary traditions, the club members dilute sangria with lemon zinger tea and create a new dip by mixing baba ghanoush and tzatziki. They don't claim to offer original recipes. Every month they would choose a theme and then get recipes from families, cookbooks, and the Internet, putting them together in menus of widely varying difficulty.

For an Asian meal one person might make her own dim sum, while another might just toss a salad. One of the simplest dinners took place when everyone was having an especially harried weekend, and they met on Sunday night to feast on canned-artichoke-and-mayo dip, blender tomato soup, chicken baked in apricot jam and mustard, and apple pie made in a supermarket crust. Because New York kitchens are so small, most of the actual cooking was done at home, and the group got together only to eat and dish. Even if it was more a dining club than a cooking club, it was obviously a lot of fun. And any book that encourages people to get back in the kitchen and cook is worth having around.

Six Friends Show You How to Bake, Broil, and Bond

The Cooking club Cookbook is the story of how six friends learned to cook, the meals they created, and the fun they had along the way. Filled with tales of broken broccoli Christmas trees and seduce-me steaks, this book is at once an easy-to-follow guide to starting a cooking club, a collection of menu suggestions, and an inspiration for anyone who¡¯s ever wanted to feel really at home in the kitchen.

Having created hundreds of dishes, the members of the Cooking Club now offer tips for re-creating their culinary triumphs and avoiding their embarrassing mishaps. Chapters include ¡°Stealing Home: We Raid Mom¡¯s Recipes in Search of Cozy Cooking,¡± ¡°Chow Bella: Like True Renaissance Women, We Master Six Regional Dishes,¡± and ¡°Low-Fat Tuesday: The Lighter Side of Creole Cuisine.¡± The recipes range from the easy (Mini-Me Mac and Cheese) to the exotic (Cellophane Noodle Salad with Shrimp) to the downright elegant (Mussels in White Wine and Saffron Sauce). The Cooking Club Cookbook is an invaluable resource for a new generation of cooks, told in the voice of a best friend.

Recipe for a Cooking Club

Ingredients

• Six or so members, to taste
• One day a month, for meeting
• Tinfoil, for carting dishes between kitchens
• Sense of humor, plus extra for garnish
• The Cooking Club Cookbook¡ªstrongly recommended

1. Choose your members. A go-get-¡¯em attitude is our only prerequisite, although you get extra points for having a dishwasher.

2. Plan a theme, such as Spanish, sexy foods, or Mardi Gras. Discuss menus in advance so you don¡¯t end up with six desserts. (On second thought, that¡¯s not such a bad idea . . . )

3. Cook at home and then bring your dish to the host¡¯s house. You should be able to experiment with all foods, just no force-feeding. (Don¡¯t think we haven¡¯t tried.)

4. Eat. Drink. Compliment everyone¡¯s dish. Have fun. It¡¯s what will get you and the gang back into the kitchen month after month.

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