Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advance reader copy of Antoni: Let’s Do Dinner. This cookbook releases on September 14th!
I requested this book on NetGalley for two reasons. Firstly, for the chance to review a cookbook for the first time. And most importantly I wanted to support Antoni, whom I love. I was late to the Queer Eye phenomenon but during the pandemic, it provided so much comfort. It is such a heartwarming show and I love Antoni’s presence on it. I am also biased because I love supporting a fellow Canadian.
“Antoni Porowski shares 80 of his favorite weeknight recipes to help fans make it from Monday to Friday in one piece. Antoni’s personal philosophy is to keep his cooking simple and healthy during the week so he can indulge on the weekends—but while the recipes in this book are wholesome, they don’t skimp on comfort or flavor. Fans of Antoni’s deliciously straightforward dishes will not be disappointed with his fresh take on weeknight meals.”
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Aesthetics: This book knocks this section out of the park. It is a beautiful cookbook. The food styling is just so so great. Every picture looks super duper delicious. I really love the over aesthetic of the cookbook too. The colours, the typefaces are such a good choice. The book had a very soothing colour palette and font selections that really fit the vibe of laidback weeknight dinners. I do think you have to be a fan of Antoni though because there are a lot of pictures of him in it, naturally.
- Story: Similar to the pictures of him, you do really need to be invested in Antoni’s story to enjoy the stories in this cookbook. In all the sections where he talks about his life or where a recipe came from, his voice is incredibly present. These parts really read like Antoni wrote them. I loved the personal touches throughout the book such as when he named a pasta dish after his friend. Or how he included recipes that referenced both his family’s Polish roots and his upbringing in Quebec. I even showed my Montreal-raised boyfriend Antoni’s Montreal-style baked beans recipe and he gave it a Quebecois stamp of approval.
- Recipes: I do have to admit here I did not make a single recipe in the cookbook. This book was marketed as straightforward weeknight meals. I found any time I looked in it for a recipe there were integral ingredients I just did not have. I did appreciate that Antoni included his pantry staples at the beginning of the cookbook. That is not something I always see included and it could be super handy. Another thing that held me back from making the recipes is that even once I had read the methods over and over again I was still confused. Especially some sections pictures of the harder steps in a method would have helped. The team could have definitely added these in while retaining the aesthetics of the colours and the food-styling.
Antoni: Let’s Do Dinner receives three out of five stars.
Thank you again to NetGalley for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
