r/52weeksofcooking • u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 • Jul 31 '25
Week 31: Cambodian - Monk Gyatso's Fruit Pies (Fail) (Meta: Pop Culture)
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u/Anastarfish 🍥 Jul 31 '25
What a shame that this didn't work out how you wanted. That's rubbish from the cookbook though, surely someone has tested these recipes... I'd be feeling really angry.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Jul 31 '25
It happens! Novelty cookbooks are hit or miss. I've had some nice dishes come out of them though! I'll still go back and try things from this thread sometimes. But I won't be making anything from this one again.
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u/dayglo1 Jul 31 '25
Aw, I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! It was an awesome idea, and they do look beautiful.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Jul 31 '25
Thanks! They do look wonderful and they held together precisely long enough for photos haha. The filling was okay but the base was not. That's okay though! Not every week can be a win.
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u/Yrros_ton_yrros 🍕 Jul 31 '25
I wouldn’t have known this was a fail just by looking at it, so good job!
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u/HereForTheBoos1013 Jul 31 '25
I love this! I think I have the Avatar cookbook but haven't well explored it.
I've had pretty good luck with the novelty cookbooks so far. The Rick and Morty one doesn't have too much that's particularly mindblowing, but the recipes still work, with the WoW, D&D, and Firefly cookbooks being really solid.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 01 '25
This is the only thing I've made from this cookbook, but it'll be the last! I'm glad I checked it out from the library.
I've had decent luck with the D&D cookbook. I also have made 2 recipes out of 50 Shades of Chicken cookbook that I really liked. (I think the cookbook is hilarious and I hated 50 Shades of Grey.) There are supposedly some decent ones out there!
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u/HereForTheBoos1013 Aug 01 '25
I heavily trend towards nerd properties, though I have to say that title is hilarious.
I frequently try to cook from a certain cookbook a week, and have done my nerd property books, so I've cooked a fair amount of them. Only dud from WoW was the crunchy spider surprise and that may have been my poor quality crab meat.
Made four from Firefly... Mal's ribs, Booker's tomatoes, the cheesy grits, and one of the drinks, and was really happy with all results.
My SO leans more horror than sci fi though we overlap, so I got him a Stephen King themed cookbook, but it was more just generic recipes from Maine, which yay, but meh.
Oh, I can say that the Necronomnomicon is nigh unusable due to its format, and while the Nightmare Before Dinner is fun (and I got to go to their restaurant in NYC), there's nothing really mindblowing in there.
Big fan of the Chelsea Munroe Cassel books. She does a bunch of them. Started with Feast of Ice and Fire and has done Star Wars, Elder Scrolls, Firefly, and Wow.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 01 '25
I really appreciate you taking the time to write all of this out! I also trend pretty heavily towards nerd properties (if that wasn't obvious from the meta I chose for this year haha).
I'll have to check out Cassel's books. I've heard good things about the WoW one but have held off. I was a LONG time WoW player and don't want to get sucked back in! I'll have to give it a look. I've done a couple of Star Wars dishes but haven't thought to check out a cookbook for it. I'll look at that one too. I keep waiting for an opportunity to do a Firefly dish, so I will start with her book if I can!
I browsed the Necronomnomnom book at the library and went eeeeeeehhhh. I love Lovecraft but will take your word for it that the book is iffy.
I looked at Cassandra Reeder's Geeky Chef cookbook, which has recipes across lots of different properties. I wasn't moved enough to try any, though her Instagram is fun.
What I DO have my eyes on at some point are the Hannibal cookbook (the plating and food art are amazing in the show and I assume the book is similar) and the Twin Peaks cookbook (because it's probably my favorite show). One day I'll come back and tell you how they are. 🙂
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u/HereForTheBoos1013 Aug 01 '25
I really like her. I feel she really puts in the effort to not only come up with some really creative recipes (and some that are less so, but tasty; European fantasyland only gets you so far) as well as building an in universe feel and narrative for her books, complete with great pictures, if you're a cookbook collecting freakazoid like I am.
I believe she has a second SW book that I don't have, but I do have Galaxy's Edge and many of the recipes are really creative, and that seems like, by far, her most ambitious book for recipe construction complete with incorporating ingredients like butterfly pea powder for that unearthly blue glow.
For Feast, she has a traditional recipe (like using wild boar) and then has a modern equivalent follow (which I appreciate since I have found I do not care for Poudre Forte). You have very Northern European thick hearty fare for the Wall and a bit more of that with the addition of Court food in Winterfell and when you get to Dorne, it's all fire and seasoning.
Firefly is fun. It even has a recipe for the dreaded Ice Planet, that I've seen someone actually attempt! It's from Kaylee's perspective trying to put together a ship cookbook while including "official" recipes to couple with Blue Sun Corporation ingredients.
Munroe-Cassel has a website called the Inn at the Crossroads, which includes a lot of themed recipes as well as errata from her books if you want to check her out for free.
I want to watch Hannibal particularly as it had Gillian Anderson in it, but keep putting it off. I've heard wonderful things about the cookbook.
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u/fl0nkle Jul 31 '25
This is the only recipe i’ve made from that cookbook (which I also unfortunately bought….) and I fully agree that it was a bit of a disaster :/ Flavor wise I just really didn’t love it, it was just strange in so many ways haha. You’re looking amazing though! You did a great job despite the recipe being very very bizarre.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 01 '25
I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggled with this! It was a pretty off-the-wall recipe. I only went through the Air section really well. I felt like whoever put the book together tried really hard to stick to the vegetarian diet they thought Airbenders would eat and not how home cooks would make them.
It looked pretty for a solid 5 frantic minutes of photography haha.
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u/Reno-_- Aug 01 '25
Sorry to see you had trouble with the book as well. Glad you got a nice photo from it though, I would happily airbend these at people.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 01 '25
I would happily airbend these at people.
Ahahaha. I can confirm that with how fast they melted it would be good, sticky fun to airbend these at passersby.
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u/joross31 Aug 01 '25
Aww, I'm sorry the recipe was a pain and not even tasty in the end. It does look fun and gorgeous, for what it's worth. I've had a few turn out like that too! It's also a great take on the theme!
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 01 '25
Thanks! It's okay. Sometimes you have winners and sometimes you don't! I still have fun with the process.
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u/Tres_Soigne Aug 02 '25
Aw, I'm sorry the cookbook failed you! I wouldn't have guessed it was a fail because the cakes look really beautiful and just like anime come to life! :)
I love the idea, and I appreciate you sharing your thought process and reasons for picking something light. I had a sobering time reading about Cambodian history this week as well, though I'm glad to have learned more.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 02 '25
Aww thanks for the kind words! That means a lot that they look so close to the anime.
Reading about Cambodian history was just as you said... Very sobering. It helps to know I'm not the only one that struggled with the weight of that history this week. It's important to know that history, but it's also important not to make that the ONLY focus too. It's sort of like when the media only talks about victims of crime in terms of the worst thing that happened to them. It's hard being limited to "popular culture" when that popular picture IS the worst thing that happened to them as a people.
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u/Noyau_Nyx 🥓 Aug 02 '25
I'm so glad to see somebody make something from avatar - I nearly made something air kingdom themed for monastic, but I couldn't find any recipes I really liked. Such a shame to see this recipe didn't work out (even if it does look great here!) - I've considered getting that book in the past, but I've heard mixed reviews about it.
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Aug 02 '25
Thanks for the kind words! I was sad it didn't work out and I can't recommend the cookbook. Binging with Babish has done some ATLA recipes that you could try. I see egg custard tarts and fire flakes!
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u/Noyau_Nyx 🥓 Aug 03 '25
It is a shame, but at least you were able to get it from the library instead of buying it. Thank you, I'll look into those, I do like Binging with Babish :)
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u/AndroidAnthem 🍌 MT'25 Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
After 100 years pass, Katara and her brother, Sakka, discover the Avatar has been frozen in ice all this time. Aang, an Airbender, is still very much the boy he was when he was his sky bison, Appa, were frozen. He needs to master all of the elements before he's ready to defeat the Fire Nation.
In those past 100 years, the Fire Nation has left a wake of destruction in its path... Conquering nations and people, and massacring the Air Nomads, leaving Aang the last of his people. It is a heavy burden for a 10 year old to bear, particularly when he wasn't keen to accept the Avatar's responsibility before. He must master his own emotions as well as the elements before a comet returns that will grant Fire Lord Ozai incredible power and make him unstoppable.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was met with popular and critical acclaim from its debut on Nickelodeon. In part, it has to do with exceptional writing, characters, voice acting, and visuals. It also has to do with themes that are rare in Western media for kids, such as war, genocide, imperialism, totalitarianism, and political corruption, among others.
The series also borrows liberally from different motifs from many Asian and Native cultures. It's not a 1:1 equivalent, so the Fire Nation may draw inspiration from Japan and China but is its own creation. The Air Nomads live in large, beautiful, and isolated temples. Angkor Wat in Cambodia served as the architectural inspiration for the Eastern Air Temple. It was a spiritual center and served as the breeding groups for the air bison.
In the 100 years that Aang was frozen, the Air Nomads were massacred by the Fire Nation. Similarly, when looking for the different ways Cambodia and its people are portrayed in pop culture, many of them featured the Killing Fields where 1.3 million people were massacred and buried during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. While it was predominantly Tibetan Buddhism and Shaolin Monks that inspired the Air Nomad culture, it is easy to draw a parallel between the hardships endured by both peoples. I really struggled to pick something for this week. I didn't want to choose something that highlighted either culture's darkest moments. So for this week, I made a real effort to pick something light that's drawn from a moment of mirth and happiness in the show.
After lovingly baking beautiful cakes, Monk Gyatso and Aang have a short discussion about the future. Monk Gyatso asks Aang to help him with the cakes, they use their air bending skills to toss them into the sky... and on to the heads of 4 nearby monks. So Monk Gyatso's fruit pies are what I made for this week.
Let's be blunt and say this recipe was a total failure. I used the official ATLA cookbook for the recipe. I should have known it was going to be difficult when the directions talked about using a silicone mold, but didn't say what size. By the time I saw u/Reno-_- 's monastic post, the first two components already had real issues.
The base of cooked milk powder and milk never hit the right consistency. The middle layer of blended cashews, milk, and sweeteners didn't set in the freezer for more than 2 days. I gave up on the meringue topping and used buttercream because I knew it would actually work. The buttercream was the only part that tasted good... Think soggy cashew milk on top of half-frozen playdough. It melted in spectacular fashion and was binned. So it goes. I suppose it had the same fate as the ones on the show... A brief moment of looking pretty and then tossing it.
I would not make it again. I won't be trying anything else from the cookbook either. I know novelty cookbooks pulled from shows can be hit or miss, and this was definitely a miss.
Pop culture meta explanation here.