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Summary: Exquisite French-American Offerings
Review: This superb chef provides intense food that the home gourmet that has been cooking for sometime can easily handle with ingredients that are not as bizarre and hard to find as most cookbooks from star chefs.Unique is the organization of recipes, here into four groupings of Traditional French, Seasonal Specialties, Other Cuisines and Vegetarian. Offerings in each include main entrees, sides and desserts as well as first courses, soups, etc. A marvelous dish from French category is Sea Bass en Croute or the Cornish Hens a la Diable. Unusual combo exemplefies Boulud's coupling of tastes, Sweet Swiss Chard Tourte. Don't tell your guests what this is until they eat. Swiss Chard done right is magnificent. A tangy sweetness to it that here is married with honey, orange and pine nuts. This is superb! How about Cod with Blood Orange Sauce and Creamy Grits from Seasonal section? Who would have thought to put blood organes with cod? Citrus goes so well with seafood as this, but with grits? This guy is truly French-American chef. I find his abilities and recipes to be inspirational for amateur gourmet. Techniques are not too formidiable and much is offered in the way of purchase and prep techniques. The small, details are what is worth the book. The user will see that this guy is on to each ingredient and wants to display its savor at max. This is breakthrough cuisine, with simple, straightforward technique, but full throttle flavor and expert combining of luxurious components. You'll have fun with this one!
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Summary: I got a standing ovation because of this book!
Review: Three of my seven courses at my latest dinner party were from this book and all three were astounding! The Pancetta-wrapped Tuna with Ramp Puree was perfect in bite-sized pieces for hors d'oeuvres. The Braised Short Ribs were so meltingly tender that no knives were necessary. And the Celery Duo that accompanied them was so simple to make and the surprise hit of the evening. For dessert, the Chocolate Mousse Trio was the best I've ever had. After the first bite, everyone just stood and clapped and toasted to me! This book is loaded with great photos and the directions are very clear for the home cook. It is now one of my top three cookbooks ever.
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Summary: A Delicious Read on how to Create Superb Dishes, Easily!
Review: What a delicious read! Those of us lucky enough to have dined at Daniel Boulud's "Café Boulud" (and "Restaurant Daniel") in New York City, know there are no better restaurants in the world. What is surprizing is that Daniel and co-writer Dorie Greenspan provide over 300 pages of scrumptious recipes we amateurs can make in our own kitchens. In the words of Martha Stewart (who writes the Foreword), "This very full and very wonderful and personal compilation (of Daniel's recipes) enables us to easily create dishes that are very like his own. I am off to my kitchen now to make..."
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