Books >> Cooking, Food & Wine

The book delivers a little more than what I expected in that recipes are arranged by course or main ingredient rather than by chef. This means the book is less a chronicle of the PBS series than it is an aid to the reader in finding useful recipes therein. The chapter titles are:

Snacks, First Courses, and Sandwiches
Salads and Soups
Pasta, Breads, and Grains
Fish and Shellfish
Poultry, Rabbit, and Foie Gras
Meats
Vegetables
Desserts
Basic Recipes

The book begins with a one to two page biography of each chef plus a listing of all awards won by their, cooking, their restaurants, or their books. Charlie Trotter is the hands down winner in this category, as he is probably also the best known name among all the chefs in the book. Tower also provides a one to two page sidebar of thoughts on each chef, primarily what it is like to cook in their kitchens. The TV show and Tower traveled to each chef's restaurant in order to tape each episode.

Tower also provides all the recipes for the pantry preparations such as stocks, sauces, and doughs. To my lights, the techniques for doing the stocks is fussy enough to get good results but not so fussy as to discourage you from doing it. The chicken and veal stock procedures correctly instruct you to blanch the bones and to discard the blanching water before cooking the bones in earnest. The fish stock recipe very wisely keeps the cooking to less than 30 minutes. Other authorities have stated that a longer cooking time will turn the stock bitter. Let no one think that Tower does not know his stuff and he is not dumbing it down for the amateur chef.

Tower is less the writer than he is the chef. I found a few awkward sentences that were not caught by the publisher's copy editors.

My favorite thing about books like this is the insight they give to the way great chefs think about ingredients and techniques. Like great athletes whose eye to hand coordination seems almost superhuman or like great chess players who see possibilities in positions which totally escape mere mortals, great chefs seem to be able to compose recipes from an accidental coming together of ingredients as easily as they breathe. This is the premise behind Tom Colicchio's book `How to Think Like a Chef' and it is the mantra that all chefs repeat when they talk about developing their courses for the evening based on what is available in the market that day. Tower gives a few demonstrations of this skill as he provides about 10 percent of the recipes in the book in addition to his contribution of pantry recipes.

The guest chefs largely supply recipes, which are staples at their respective restaurants. I was surprised at some of the omissions. For example, there was neither a bread recipe or sandwich recipe from Nancy Silverton, who has done a whole book on sandwiches. Of the recipes, which do appear, none are ordinary or especially easy. And, since almost all dishes were from the classic American, French, or Italian canon, there were few hard to find ingredients, although some did show up. People living a day's drive from the Pacific coast may have a hard time getting Dungeness crabs. Some dishes such as Alain Ducasse's BLT, Michael Romano's chicken Saltimbocca, and Gail Gand's Hungarian Crepes were tricked up versions of simple classics. Some dishes were `restaurant only' recipes such as Ken Oringer's Roast Suckling Pig.

There are several reasons for acquiring this book:
1. All recipes promise to be delicious, although many are pricy and involve a fair amount of skill.
2. There are a large number of lamb recipes. A major plus if that is your favorite meat.
3. It gives excellent techniques for pantry preparations.

One drawback is that if you already own a fair collection of cookbooks, you will get substantial overlap of basic recipes such as the aforementioned saltimbocca and crepes. A small annoyance is Tower's less than perfect wordsmithing and lapses in the Index. The chicken saltimbocca was missing from the Index.

This book delivers on the quality of recipes what it promises.

Those familiar with the original edition will find lots of new recipes, including a really unique and helpful section on whole grain baking for bread machines. To make room for the new bread recipes, some of the original material has been dropped, but this is still a great book with hundreds of great recipes.

Cheney doesn't make a big deal about it, but this is a vegetarian cookbook that vegans will find especially appealing. Her scone recipes put commercially available scones to shame, despite her use of healthy alternatives to dairy products. The subtitle -- A Down to Earth Cookbook -- aptly describes her successful effort to present bread as a foundation for complete meals. You'll find recipes for pizzas, calzones, wraps, spreads, fillings and a variety of other vegetarian foods you won't find anywhere else.

Cheney's personal and engaging writing "voice" really brings this book to life. Experienced bakers and beginners will find it to be an equally appealing addition to their collections

This is a fun book to read. It's a non-scholarly round-up of many, many academic articles that have appeared on the subject of dining along with a summary of some of most significant historical works on food, dining, entertainment and medicine.

If you are interested in food, the evolution of table manners and the developmental history of your family breakfast room, then this is a jolly good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and only wished I could jump in a time machine and appear at one of the amazing Italian Renaissance jamborees! Highly recommended.