Jamie's America

Clearly, Jamie isn't going to cover the entire sphere of American cookery in one book, but to my knowledge, this is possibly the first mainstream high profile book on the subject, so well done Jamie.

I've had an interest in different American cuisines for quite some time, and as an immigrant country the cuisines are obviously as diverse as the origins of the population which makes American cuisines far more diverse than those of Europe.

The public and media perception of US cuisine is obviously skewed to what it is familiar with, deep pan pizza, mass produced tex mex, and the ubiquitous soggy hamburger and fries. These are the imports of high margin, aggressive multinationals. But there is so much more to American food....

The problem is finding out about it. The cuts of meat, the commercial sauces, the regional differences within the US, etc.

I was delighted to find that Jamie includes a recipe for Beer Can Chicken, something rarely seen this side of the pond, but now the ONLY way I roast chicken (but Jamie gets it slightly wrong, the rub should go under the skin, not on it - is this a transcription error?) - this can turn even the most boring mass produced chicken into something special.

I already cook a number of dishes that Jamie covers, and these are some of my favourites, so I think Jamie's selection of dishes is spot on.

As an introduction to the more exciting and tasty American foods, this is simply an excellent book and highly recommended. All I would say is that it still a bit of a starting point. There are plenty of internet resources for developing recipes, and seeing how other people do the same things, and some commercial products that would be used in the US aren't referred to in Jamie's book, but they CAN be obtained occasionally in the UK.