The Most Ridiculous Cookbook Ever (with apologies to Peter Callahan)

Okay, perhaps I am not one of the people that Mr. Callahan was trying to reach with his new book, "bite by bite" (small caps as in the title). I was simply trying to find a new cookbook with suggestions for party food. Ever since the economy tanked, it seems that people are getting together for parties "pot luck" style, so I really have to come up with something other than devilled eggs to take to gatherings. I grabbed this book at the library after reading its subtitle: "100 stylish little plates you can make for any party."

Well, the modifier "stylish" should have tipped me off. Oh, and the fact that shortly into the intro, Mr. Callahan states that all the "It" gals in the Hamptons request these catered dishes. Whatever. The bottom line is that this book is not a cookbook. It is a book that tells you how to spend extreme lengths of time fussing over cutesy little, miniature versions of "comfort" food so your hoity-toity guests can gush and say, "how clever." Seriously. He asks you to make Fudgsicles for dessert, molded into teeny-tiny pans with teeny-tiny sticks, assembled just so. Or miniature mac n' cheese, scooped into teeny-tiny shells. Or teeny-tiny hot dogs, stuffed into teeny-tiny buns (that you have to make yourself!) and squirted with the perfect zigzag of mustard.

And instead of serving cocktails out of a pitcher, which makes a bunch of sense if you have a crowd of 30 or more, you're supposed to somehow procure 30 shot glasses and pour a swig of the cocktail into each. Forget about buying a keg! Beer (but only a mouthful) must be paired with a precious tiny hamburger in Hobbit-sized glass steins you bought in mass quantities for the occasion.

Oy-vey! There are good reasons to take this Martha Stewart approach to entertaining. OCD, anyone? Perhaps it's therapy. Focus on this silly task and see the fruits of your labor, or, instead of providing really yummy food out of a casserole dish, your insecurities tell you it's better to package each sampling as if it were going before the judges at "The Food Network." I will give Callahan credit for being honest--these are, indeed, just "bites"--they are just simply one mouthful.  None of this food requires a plate, which I guess is good if you have waitstaff offering trays to the guests at your MOMA fundraiser. But for the rest of us, this seems a bit nutty. In my book, a decent-sized, sloppy-looking shoo-fly pie wedge is always better than a tiny tart of the same ilk. Check the book out though if you appreciate the thought that goes into reinventing the wheel so that rich people with more money than they can spend will clamor to your "new" product. I'm sorry, but in the throes of an economic recession, a cookbook like this seems really ill-timed.

Here's the link to this book. Would make a great gag gift for those who can barely reheat a can of soup.
http://www.randomhouse.com/book/203200/bite-by-bite-by-peter-callahan-and-raquel-pelzel