Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run

Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run
by Alton Brown

Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run
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Book Summary Information

Author: Alton Brown
Photographer: Jean-Claude Dhien
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 1584796812
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang

Book Reviews of Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run

Book Review: Delish!
Summary: 5 Stars

Okay, I have to admit something. I've got a ridiculous crush on Alton Brown and his show "Good Eats" on the Food Network. That being said, there's clearly no way I can be completely unbiased when it comes to reviewing his book, but I'm not the kind of person to sit down and read a cookbook as though it were a novel regardless of how much I love the author.

Feasting on Asphalt is a compilation of AB's backroad journey up the Mississippi River (hence the subtitle, "The River Run"). I haven't watched the show, but the book is a pretty great reflection on the silliness and conversational style that Alton Brown usually employs in his "Good Eats" show, so I'm guessing the show is similar. The book itself reads like a scrapbook/travel diary, punctuated by funny little moments with the people he meets and the delish food they make that he samples. The recipes are either from the people themselves, or they're adaptations according to what Alton Brown thought the original dish had, and they're pretty much all good, greasy, crispy, fried Southern food (not a diet book, clearly).

One thing I've kind of had a problem with in his books and sometimes in his show is the implausibility of actually MAKING some of the dishes. But that's kind of something you see in any cookbook right? (What normal person who doesn't cook for a living is going have all these things on hand... like an actual vanilla bean?) So I forgive him.

Anyway, most cookbooks don't really give you a history or background on the food you eat, much less the ingredients you use to make it. Feasting on Asphalt has history, good food, and wit. What else can you ask for?

Summary of Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run

He?s on the road again. This time, Alton Brown and his motorcycle-mounted crew are off on a thousand-mile, south-to-north journey that follows America?s first “superhighway?—the Mississippi. Starting at the great river?s delta on the Gulf of Mexico and ending up near its headwaters in Minnesota, Alton and buddies travel the heartland?s byways to scout out the very best of roadside food—and to get to know the people who spend their lives preparing and serving it.

A companion to the six-part Food Network series airing in fall 2007, Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run is a travel diary, photo journal, and, of course, cookbook. Alton?s itinerary includes big-city eateries and small-town chat ?n? chews, as well as markets, inns, ice cream parlors, museums, barbecue joints—and even an alligator farm.

Louisiana-style Grilled Alligator Tail (served simply, with lemon and butter) is one of the book?s forty original road-food recipes. Others include Pecan-Coconut Pie from an Arkansan roadside restaurant; BBQ Pork Ribs in Mississippi that Brown eats over pancakes; Vegetable Borscht from St. Paul?s Russian Tea House; and Fried Catfish from a riverside burg in Illinois. When it comes to America?s foodways and folkways, there?s no better tour guide than Alton Brown.

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