Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way

Rating:
Summary: Your speed may vary
Review: Fast Food My Way
Jacques Pepin

I love Jacques Pepin. I respect Jacques Pepin. I've learned even more cooking technique from him than from Julia Childs. But... Fast Food My Way misses a point about fast cooking - you need to be able to assemble the meal from things that you have on hand, or can quickly pick up on the way home.

For example, the Chicken Bouillabaisse recipe has 25 ingredients. And to be honest, I probably have most of them on hand except for the fennel seeds, herbs de Provence, kielbasa, and Pernod. But 25 ingredients for a quick meal? Really! There's also a fascination with lovely and exceptional ingredients, which, when I'm taking the time to cook a fabulous meal, I might go get. But on a weeknight, am I really going to prepare Salmon tartare on califlower salad? Which has a hardboiled egg garnish? Obviously I should learn to keep hard boiled eggs on hand at all times in case I have to garnish something.

If I view this as another one of Pepin's fine cookbooks, it's a lovely book - interesting recipes, clear instructions, excellent illustrations. But it is isn't about fast cooking.

Rating:
Summary: Fast, yes, but also incredibly delicious
Review: I began buying cookbooks in the 60's, with Julia Child's first book -- how's that for sheer dumb luck? My kitchen library now consists of hundreds of them, but this is my first review -- that's how impressed I am. I'll skip right to the point now: What have I made that I would recommend (My pet peeve is a review that consists mainly of generalities without the specifics).
The supreme of chicken with balsamic vinegar is ridiculous in its simplicity, yet packs a gustatory wallop! The corn/pea side dish is perfect with it. Just for fun I made the entire "Instantly Delicious" menu -- not as quickly as Jacques does it, but still do-able in a short time, and everything was excellent, although I felt it necessary to "spike" the soup with additional herbs -- a little too bland for my taste. The recipe for broiled lamb chops and spinach is perfection. The chicken bouillabaisse is a great cold-weather dish (although having spent the summer in Aix, it's a far cry from its namesake -- oh well, let's just think apples to oranges -- they're both good.) The chicken breasts with garlic and parsley are worth doing, but I prefer the balsamic version. The halibut on fresh polenta with pepper oil (part of the "Instantly Delicious" menu) was quite good -- found the fresh polenta an eye-opener. And that silly little cubed potatoes with garlic and sage recipe was nothing short of dumbfounding. I'm making the poached tilapia with herbed cream sauce tonight, and if it isn't delectable I'll be shocked! I've recently purchased "Bouchon", both Union Square books, two Portale's, two of Vongerichten's, four of Michael Chirarello's -- all excellent, but this is the book that I'm having the most fun with!

Rating:
Summary: Variety is amazing....
Review: I loved the dishes I can make, I a new cook book buyer, I have stumbled upon this book and decided to try it. The dishes and variety are amazing and I have tried a few with great success.

My friend recommended this book highly and she recommended a great new beverage that replaced my morning cup of joe. Caffeine made me too jittery so I switched to a soy-based coffee that taste simply amazing. When I use my percolator it comes out with a rich, full bodied taste. Search under "S oyfee" on google to find it. Great pleasure in reading this book. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Great Food in less time
Review: In the past, cookbooks I have tried with the promise of quick food relied way too much on canned ingredients. I wanted something that would focus more fresh foods. Although Pepin does use the occasional canned item, most of the recipes don't use them exclusively.
The chickpea recipe was super, and I am very intrigued with the idea of pressure cooking a veal roast! I like that he includes also fast desserts and starters. I plan to pair them with a more complicated main course when entertaining. Everything looks delicious, and I plan to explore this cookbook in depth. I would highly recommend this book if you'd like to explore a great chef's "personal" cooking.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Food Fun!
Review: My mom got my brother and I this book for Christmas, and I must say that now I am a true believer of the "Fast Food" method. I have tried about 5 dishes from this book, and I am intrigued by cooking the many other recipes listed. What is really nice about this cookbook is the suggested menu pairings in the beginning of the book. For someone who does not know much about cooking, I appreciated this because too often, I get cookbooks that list the recipes but when it comes to planning a full meal, I do not know what should go with what. The menus in the book served as an inspiration for planning my own menus. Another nice quality is that Mr. Pepin has very clear instructions for his recipes, many of which contain supplemental materials covering useful topics such as how to warm up dinner plates quickly and the most humane way of killing a lobster (if you must.) There are also many time saving ideas if you are home late from work but want something satisfying. He also explains how to speed up the process of cooking things that take long (like using both microwave and conventional ovens for baked potatoes or using a pressure cooker for meats that would take a long time to cook.) Although I agree that some of these dishes may require a little more work for a two-income family (like the lobster salad with tarragon), I have found quite a few favorites that are on their way to becoming my staple recipes during the week (Chicken with Parsley and Garlic, Peasant Soup, Tomato and Mozzarella Fans, Cubed Potatoes with Garlic and Sage, Pears in Honeyed Wine.) I also can't wait to cook the Oven-Baked Salmon with Sun Dried Tomato and Salsa Mayonaise! What a fun book! Thank you, Mom!

Rating:
Summary: Fast Food Jacques' Way is My Way
Review: This man is legend as creative and passionate chef. If you want a good read about a truly respected chef, read his memoir "The Apprentice." It's loaded with fascinating insights into the development of this famous chef. One of the insights of my read of that book was that he slowly has evolved from a classic French chef into an American-French chef.

This shows some of that dynamic: what Pepin says is his normal way of cooking at home. He concurs that his lifestyle is much like ours: hectic and warpspeed. When he and family returns to home, want some exciting food to prepare, not microwave or carryout, but rich, exciting food to prepare and enjoy fast.

One can easily see this resultant recipe collection hits that target dead on! It is truly combo of classic French with American twists and ingreds, using easily obtainable and produceable without exotic techniques, equipment and time.

Feast on such as: Egg and tomato gratin; Shrimpand scallop pillows on boston lettuce (potsticker variation); Supreme of chicken with balsamic vinegar and shallot sauce; Chocolate-raspberry gratin; Pear brown betty.

This wonderful recipe array is presented with great style accented by exceptional photo of Ben Fink. Your zeal for attempting these is heightened by these brilliant, enticing shots.

Add a menu suggester of over twenty along with more ideas for quick dishes, glossary and aid sidebars throughout, make this a most desirable addition to one's cookbook library.

Rating:
Summary: Master Class in Easy Home Cooking. Highly Recommended
Review: When I approached Jacques Pepin's new book `Fast Food My Way', I was prepared on at least two counts to find fault with the book. But Jacques always comes through with a book I love to read and love to cook. My first prejudice against the book was that `Fast Cooking' is one of the top two or three hot buttons for cookbooks these days, next to low carb cookbooks and entertaining cookbooks. I predict a `Fast Cooking Low Carb Barbecue for Entertaining' book to appear within the next year. And, like so many other authors, it may seem like Jacques is just jumping on the latest bandwagon. The second prejudice I had about the book is the fact that Jacques did an earlier book on quick cooking, `The Short-Cut Cook' published in 1990. I had similar prejudices about that book, but it came through with flying colors, especially since it has been and still is one of my favorite cookbooks.

In a nutshell, this book can become your next go to cookbook because almost all of these recipes are genuinely easy for a modestly experienced cook and they are not only developed by a great master chef, they are the recipes that chef genuinely cooks at home on a regular basis. One also should have no concern that this is a rehash of his earlier book. It is not. There are a lot of similarities in the principles behind the selection of recipes, but that is only to the good. Jacques mixes a selection of the classics like cole slaw and Salad Caprese with unusual recipes such as Parsley and Pumpkin salad and Asian eggplant salad. In the older book, we got Salade Nicoise and hot Potato Salad mixed with potato and smoked bluefish and tangy rice stick salad.

On average, the recipes in the new book are more original and easier to prepare than the recipes in the first volume. In both books, Jacques' recipes follow two trends common to most good fast cooking recipes, similar to what you see Rachael Ray do every day. First, the recipes do require a modest amount of skill and a fairly well equipped kitchen with stuff like a food mill, a mandoline or Japanese slicer, a stick blender, and a food processor. Second, most dishes use foods that cook quickly such as seafood, chicken breast, filets of beef or other lean steak cuts, and veal. All of these things are more expensive than the slower cooking roasts and braising meats.

Jacques is exceptionally fond of smoked, marinated, and fresh fish recipes from the far North and from the Far East. He is very fond of Asian and Latin tastes such as cilantro and tropical fruits. But, all of this is overlaid on a solid grounding of French and Italian techniques such as the braise, the gratin, casseroles, pasta, tomatoes, potatoes, and fresh mushrooms.

The book starts with several pages of menu selections that were the basis of the PBS series shows on which the book is based. This is followed by a goldmine of ideas modestly labeled `More ideas for quick dishes'. This is not a list of general suggestions, it is a collection of 25 mini-recipes, all of which can be done very quickly with very modest skills, and the right ingredients. The remainder of the book follows very traditional lines with chapters on:

Appetizers and first courses (16), covering truly easy recipes with a heavy concentration on fish, beans, cheeses, and ham. The recipes also highlight the fact that Jacques generally likes his food spicy. Be careful with his instructions with the chiles if you have heat impaired eaters.

Soups (7), including some which I would never have believed could be made in such a short time. Here is where your food mill, stick blender, and knife skills will be put to the test. Includes an easy but not too fast recipe for chicken stock.

Eggs (4), with recipes to make this fast food staple much more interesting.

Salads (11), the darling of fast meals. Good salads do take some time, and these are no exception. Includes a good cole slaw and recipe for herbed breadcrumbs.

Vegetables (16), with ragouts, gratins, purees, relishes, sautés, and chutneys. Mostly side dishes from the French and Italian canon.

Rice, potatoes, and pasta (7), the low carb danger zone. Again, a collection of variations on French and Italian standards plus couscous and `Wonton cannelloni'.

Fish and shellfish (15), with lots of stuffing, grilling, glazing, and saucing. While fish cooks very quickly, it always seems like the sauces supplied to spice up the bland flesh always seems to chew up a lot of time. Jacques is unconventional enough to even mix in cheese with his fish. Don't tell Mario!.

Poultry (6), where Jacques does not use up a lot of space on game birds. All but one recipe is for chicken, including an unconventional chicken bouillabaisse.

Meat (10), the high rent district with tenderloins, veal, and lamb chops. It also includes some fast cooking with pork and sausages.

Desserts (30), where Jacques reminds us he is no slouch in the pastry kitchen. Baking and working with chocolate always take longer than similar savory recipes, if only because you have to be more careful in measuring and in your mixing technique, but Jacques keeps things fairly simple by relying heavily on fruit desserts and sweet toppings as in crumbles and streusels. Naturally, there is at least one crepe recipe.

Jacques Pepin is the kind of authority whose recipes can be taken as gospel, so that if they do not come out as expected, the fault is probably with the technique or the ingredients.

I strongly recommend this book as a first source for your everyday cooking. All recipes are easy, few ingredients are uncommon, and all dishes look exceptionally tasty. And, list price is quite reasonable for a very celebrated chef's work.


Rating:
Summary: This book dishes up what it promises
Review: Wow! I can't say enough about this cookbook. Fast food Jacques' way everyday! I picked up the book about two months ago and I've tried about ten of the recipies. They're all just amazing. Extraordinary results with common ingredients. Common-sense wholesome food. My favorites are: sauteed belgian endives (my friends from North Dakota who never knew what an endive was are now endive fans), the navy bean soup with lamb (in another rendition of this we disposed of the end of our christmas ham and it was awsome-canned diced tomatoes and worchestershire sauce make this soup a show stopper), crab cakes with mayonaise-wasabi dipping sauce (wow my friends fell off their chairs when I pulled this baby out of the oven), the instant vegetable soup (unbelievable, a zuchini, an onion, a carrot, a couple of mushrooms, and that last third of the bag salad--and bang! a cheap man's way to heaven!) the slow baked fish (wow daddy! use any fish-we tried petrale sole and it was awesome!!!) Hats off to Jacques! If the true mark of genius is simple elegance, then Jacques is the Einstein of the kitchen. Who needs restaurants--we eat better at home. Salut, Jacques Pepin!