Gastrobook: Coca-cola - The cookbook

First time I saw the book I didn’t know whether I was excited or sick. You know, it is not usual to use a sweet, bubbly drink for meals. Even if it happens, writing a whole cookbook is definitely unusual; this is why I had to take a look at it.

The book includes 128 pages all together but recipes themselves start on page 70. The book starts with the history of coke: the idea, the glass, the coke itself. Beside the text numerous pictures and advertisements can be found, which guide us through the success of coke.

Recipes can be found in four categories, although not equally. You can find meals that are prepared with coke, such as soups, main courses, desserts and drinks.

The book has a great advantage: you can find a table under each recipe that lists the calories, sugars, fat, saturated fat and salt that can be found in each food.

If you ask me, in some meals coke could work, such as in “french onion soup” or “thick barbecue sauce” might be more delicious with coke too, I wouldn’t think it makes the meals worse. However, I don’t know how 250 ml of coke works in the “Italian minestrone soup”.

I’ve got the same problem with the “mixed bean chili”: I don’t know whether the sweet taste of coke could make it any better.

The cookbook includes quite a lot of meals that contain meat and coke together, not just different types of sauces, but “Coca-cola marinated steak” and “salmon with noodles”.

An interesting point is that the book does not use regular coke only, but light and zero coke as well. I wonder if it really matters what type of coke you use or all three types are advised to not to make the meals monotonic.

I don’t think that coke is the product of the devil himself and I am crazy enough to give a try for some of the recipes found in the book, but it is not the peak of gastronomy to use coke as an ingredient. Or maybe I’m wrong? Let’s try and see!