The Eat Like a Man Guide to Feeding a Crowd

May 18, 2015
In 2011, Chronicle and the editors of Esquire magazine published “Eat Like a Man: The Only Cookbook a Man Will Ever Need.” Well, men may not need this follow-up volume, timed for Father’s Day, but they just might want it. Maintaining a formula similar to the original, 80 recipes from a distinguished line-up of chefs are offered, interspersed with brief essays from Esquire authors. Tom Junod meditates on the meaning of done-ness; Chris Jones has a tartar sauce epiphany. The “Feeding a Crowd” theme is more a suggestion than a requisite for inclusion, with many dishes portioned to serve 2 to 6 people, and, as readers might guess from the pulled pork that graces the cover, there is a goodly number of sandwiches. Michael Symon serves fried bologna with pickled slaw on white bread, while Maryland chef Bryan Voltaggio serves up crab cakes on buttered buns. Recipes are arranged into five time-of-day chapters, with no regard to indigestion. Doritos nachos and hot-pepper wings are filed under Late Night suggestions, while Late Afternoon is deemed best for wild boar chili or St. Louis pork ribs. Each entry is stamped with a level of difficulty (easy, reasonable, or worth the effort), and most come with full-page color photos, the quality of which varies significantly. A boiled lobster on a black background is stunningly lovely, while a small roast chicken on a plain white plate invites an uncomfortable comparison to the fowl in David Lynch’s Eraserhead.