Book Review: The Slider Effect by Jonathan Melendez
Review by Dawn Thomas

190 Pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Release Date

Food

There are four categories in the book, which focus on meat poultry, seafood and vegetarian options. The author also includes recipes to make bread, buns, sauces and condiments for your homemade sliders. He professed to be a slider connoisseur and orders them if they are on the menu. I am the same way so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it.

The second chapter is dedicated to meats, which includes a cheeseburger slider but so much more. I had to giggle when I saw the photograph of a breakfast slider on an English muffin. I guess I had been making a variety of breakfast sliders for years and never knew it. It just goes to show you that anything can be a slider. I had a hard time trying to decide my favorite recipe in this chapter. While I love pulled pork and cheeseburgers, the chicken-fried steak sliders and the hotdog sliders were amazing. My next favorite was the taco sliders. I love tacos and since I don’t eat them often they feel like a special treat! It is easy to customize them to your own tastes. These were easy to make and so much better than using package seasoning. There is good news for those of you that like Cuban sandwiches. There is a recipe for them in the book too.

Chapter 3 covers an array of poultry recipes. These are go from simple as a turkey club or thanksgiving slider to elaborate as fried chicken and waffle siders or chicken curry sliders. I was intrigued with the recipe for orange chicken sliders and they were so easy. I think my favorite in the chapter was the roast chicken salad sliders. They were so simple but tasted so fancy with the almonds, cranberries and roasted garlic aioli.

The next chapter is everything about seafood and starts with a lobster roll slider. My husband loves lobster and this recipe did not disappoint. My favorites were the grilled fish taco sliders served on waffles and fish and chip sliders. I haven’t had a chance to try the shrimp spring rolls sliders or the shrimp fajita sliders but they are definitely on my to try next list.

The fifth chapter includes all vegetarian sliders. I had to look at the loaded baked potato slider several times. Is the biscuit is a loaded baked potato too? It is just amazing! Oh my goodness, the fried zucchini sliders with ranch dressing are out of this world.

I must say I have been intimidated with the idea of baking bread, which was why I owned a bread machine (that I rarely used). After watching several seasons of the Great British Bake Off, I realized it did not look that hard. In this book, Jonathan gives you the confidence you need ot to not be afraid of baking bread and provides easy to follow recipes.

After reading the chapter on sauces and condiments, I don’t think I will ever eat another one out of a jar. The recipes in this book are so easy to make and the ingredients are readily available in most grocery stores.

The recipes in the book are well written and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes to cook and experiment. It is nice to break out of the daily routine with something new.

I'm a terrible cook, but I'm always trying to get better but it is SO hard to find cookbooks that don't expect me to be a pro in the kitchen when I get them! This was the BEST! So many delicious slider recipes, great pictures, and easy to understand steps. We enjoyed many of the recipes in this book, and come back for more. Highly recommend this for kitchen cooks and grill cooks.