Cooking without Looking

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Looking at the illustrations in this book makes me queasy. They shake
and stagger all over the pages. Ignore them if you can: you’ll get
quite shaky simply by reading the superlatives in the sidebars that
accompany the recipes. And some of the recipes may leave you a bit
off-centre.

Gabereau is a CBC Radio variety show host who thinks it is logical to
cook on a radio show (ever wonder if they really have any food in the
studio or if they’re blue-skying it?). Apparently there are listeners
who consider “cooking without looking” quite acceptable, as the show
is popular.

The recipes in the collection are sufficiently unusual to generate
chatter on air: to make it on radio a recipe must be at least the
world’s best, have highly unusual origins, or feature bizarre
combinations of ingredients. Having won a contest or been published in a
bestseller helps.

The recipes are grouped into three types: “simple and comforting,”
“fancy and fabulous,” and contest winners. The on-air contests were
for meat loaf, muffins, stew, pasta sauce, condiments, and favorite
family recipes.

There are lots of unusual dishes for the adventurous and uninhibited to
try. Nowhere else will you find recipes for chicken baked in whipped
cream, “unturkey,” and a stew that includes an entire 16-ounce jar
of peanut butter. If you’re a Gabereau fan, this probably sounds good.