Michael Symon's 5 in 5 - or 1 in 5?

I want to preface this review by stating that I really, really like Michael Symon.  I like his recipes on The Chew, I love his silly personality.  In fact, I just like him.  And, I gladly would have gone out and bought his cookbook on my own, if I hadn't received a complimentary copy from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  That said I'm glad I saved those pennies.

When my package arrived with my shiny new cookbook, I sat right down to devour it.  I had my little notebook open next to me, to jot down ingredients for the grocery run I would make after.  The book had lots of pretty photography, which is sort of a must for me, but I didn't care for the general layout.  The recipes were divided by season, not by food or meal type.  Who's to say I can't make a soup in the spring, or a salad in the winter?  I prefer something that's easier to navigate - put the meat recipes with the meat recipes, and the desserts with the desserts.  But, maybe that's just personal preference.

Anyway, I went through the pages, and found one – ONE - recipe that I wanted to make.  Then I thought, maybe I'm just being too picky.  Admittedly, my palate would place me somewhere alongside a Kindergarten class.  So, I went back through the pages again, and came up with four or five possibilities.  Let me be clear here - possibilities were all they were.  Most of the flagged recipes were ones that I was *willing* to try, with a few changes thrown in.  There wasn’t a single recipe I was eagerly rubbing my grubby little hands together over.

My first official taste of this book came from his recipe for spicy beef tacos.  I figured that was a safe bet...a given.  We like spicy.  We like beef.  We like tacos.  What I found out through the creative process, however, is that it's much easier to buy the little packet sold in the stores for around a buck, mix it with ground beef and add a dash of cayenne.  Or, better yet, buy the packet that says 'spicy.'  The results of this were just...eh.  And, that's being kind.  We found this to be dry and, shockingly, somewhat bland.  I’ll take that little packet any day.  

After that debacle, I found it hard to justify making anything else from this book, and put it in that dusty corner on my bookshelves, where cookbooks go to die.  Remembering my promise for an honest review, I salvaged its lonely pages, and found even fewer recipes that were interesting.  My husband and I aren't adventurous eaters.  We like simple - meat, potatoes, pasta.  I don't like fruit mixed in with my salads.  Nor do I like to add ham - to everything.  That was a problem with this book.  Yuck.  So, finally, I relented and chose one more recipe to try.  This time, I'm happy to say, we had a winner.

One lazy weeknight, I made ‘Spaghetti with Quick Sausage Ragu.’  Not only was this good, but it’s a definite keeper.  It was quick, easy, and YUMMY.  (And, I love the fact that I can trick my hubby into enjoying TURKEY sausage, and he has no clue.)  If there’s a problem with the recipe, though, it’s that it’s not original in the least.  It’s a basic ragu recipe that anyone with half a cooking brain could probably come up with off the cuff.  (I’m not one of those lucky people, by the way.  But, I still think it’s an important point to make.)

I must admit that it was here that I accepted defeat.  Life is too short to make recipes that don’t even sound or look appealing.  This sucker will be mailed off to a friend with a more adventurous palate than mine, in the hopes that she may find more dishes to salvage.  I guess I’ll be sticking with Betty Crocker a little longer.