Cookbook review: Mosh Potatoes

Mosh Potatoes: Recipes, Anecdotes, and Mayhem from the Heavyweights of Heavy Metal is entertaining. I'm not sure how useful it is as an actual cookbook, but it's definitely entertaining.

It features recipes from the heavy metal community--the bassists, guitarists, drummers, singers, etc., of bands from Iron Maiden to KISS to Alice Cooper to the unfortunately named Alabama Thunderpussy. I use the word "recipes" loosely, because while some of these guys actually cook, there's a lot of "Cheese on Toast"-type recipes. As you might expect, there are some very questionable ingredients--Miller Lite, Coke, Jagermeister, Top Ramen, and canned mushrooms all make an appearance. As you might also expect, a lot of the recipes feature some variety of grilled and/or hamburger meat, some variety of hot sauce, and some clever name ("666 Sauce," "Satanic Burrito," "Metal Meat Logs," the really unfortunately named "Hot Rod Penis Loaf").

Fortunately, some of these guys can actually cook, and not just on the grill. There's "Reindeer Sausage and Pasta," "Fresh Tuna Nicoise Salad," "Cayenne Bourbon Salmon," even "Fair Trade Vegan Avocado Fudge." Some metalheads are vegan, apparently. Some of them might even drink good beer and not Miller Lite, although you wouldn't know it from their recipes.
So it's not a cookbook I'd own. But if you're into metal, or making Jagermeister Grilled Lamb, it might be more useful for you. Either way, it's worth checking out at the local library for its entertainment value. Put on an old Judas Priest album, flip through this book, and think about how glad you are that your high school metal days are long behind you.