Simple to Spectacular: How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication
Author: Jean Georges Vongerichten
What happens when a four-star chef and a culinary minimalist decide to join forces to create something different? They invent a new style that adapts to every occasion and every level of cooking expertise. Simple to Spectacular introduces a unique concept developed by one of the world's top chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and the New York Times's hugely popular column "The Minimalist." Ever since their award-winning collaboration on Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, the acclaimed duo has been cooking up a repertoire of new dishes that can be prepared in any of five progressively sophisticated ways.
Simple to Spectacular features a total of 250 recipes in 50 groups. Each group begins with a simple, elegant recipe--a few ingredients combined for maximum effect--followed by fully detailed, increasingly elaborate variations. For example, a recipe for Grilled Shrimp with Thyme and Lemon leads to Grilled Shrimp and Zucchini on Rosemary Skewers, Grilled Shrimp with Apple Ketchup, Thai-style Grilled Shrimp on Lemongrass Skewers, and Grilled Shrimp Balls with Cucumber and Yogurt.
Every aspect of the meal is covered, from superb soups and salads to unforgettable side dishes, entrees, and desserts. In Simple to Spectacular, everything--from the basics to innovations by a four-star chef--is tailored for a quick Tuesday night dinner or an elegant weekend party. And in the now-classic Vongerichten-Bittman style, all of the recipes can be made in the kitchen of any home cook. With 80 full-color photographs giving a mouthwatering view of the Simple-to-Spectaculartransformations, readers and cooks will eagerly explore the possibilities.Jean-Georges Vongerichten (right) won the 1998 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant. His Manhattan restaurants include Vong, Jo Jo, The Mercer Kitchen, and Jean Georges, which earned a rare four-star rating from the New York Times.
In Simple to Spectacular, two titans of the food world have created a truly groundbreaking cookbook. Here are 250 superb recipes arranged in a uniquely useful way: a basic recipe and four increasingly sophisticated variations, with each group (there are 50 groups in all) based on a given technique. This ingenious organization enables cooks of all levels of expertise to understand how a recipe is created and to re-create the brilliantly simple recipes and dazzling variations from one of our best food writers and home cooks teamed with one of America's greatest chefs.
Publishers Weekly
Following their James Beard Award- winning collaboration, Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, Vongerichten and New York Times food columnist Bittman (The Minimalist) team up again, this time ingeniously leading home cooks from simple to spectacular dishes. "A mastery of basic recipes and an idea of how to vary them leads to almost limitless options," writes Bittman. They emphasize time-saving techniques and offer an intriguing range of flavor possibilities. An excellent section on seasonings and sauces introduces innovative flavor-enhancers such as Citrus Salt, Mint-Licorice Spice Mix and Lobster Oil Mayonnaise. The authors expertly marry an updated French culinary sensibility with Asian-inspired influences, gradually transforming one basic recipe into four increasingly sophisticated dishes by adding luxury ingredients (e.g., truffles, caviar) or unusual seasonings (like harissa or pistachio oil), or by incorporating more advanced techniques (such as making beurre noisette). Among the mouthwatering permutations on French-bistro basics, One-Hour Chicken Stock morphs into Rich Chicken Soup with Chestnuts and Mushrooms; Best Scrambled Eggs is elevated to Oeufs au Caviar; and Tuna Tartare takes a fancy turn as Tuna Spring Roll with Soybean Coulis. Clean, pared-down prose, helpful "Keys to Success" sidebars and clear recipe instructions ably guide both novice and seasoned cooks. With a masterful understanding of today's global pantry, the authors have produced a modern classic. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Based on the premise that "almost all recipes proceed from the basics," this is a book about learning to cook. Its ten chapters cover soups; salads; eggs, crepes, and savory tarts; pasta, noodles, and rice; vegetables; fish and shellfish; poultry; meat; seasonings and sauces; and desserts. Each begins with the fundamentals for working with that category and then proceeds linearly to build a basic recipe into mouth-watering complexities by introducing new techniques and ingredients--often Thai influenced. In less expert hands, this could have been a formula for fussiness and frustration, but the steps are so clearly explained (with rarely more than five per recipe) and the progressions so logical that even novices should feel confident. Vongerichten, a four-star chef, and respected food journalist Bittman have collaborated before, notably on the highly acclaimed Jean-Georges. This outstanding new work should be no less well received. Highly recommended.--Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Fine Cooking - Susie Middleton
What sounds like a gimmick is really an ingenious learning tool.
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Christmas Cookies: A Collection of Incredibly Edible Cookies, Plus Nifty Packaging and Cookie Swap How-to's!
Author: Gooseberry Patch
Scrumptious, homemade treats...Christmas is all about cookies! In Christmas Cookies Cookbook you'll find the ultimate collection of sweet recipes, including quick-to-fix favorites like carmelitas, sugar spritz cookies and super-simple snickerdoodles. You'll also find plenty of recipes for cut-out and drop cookies they'll love. The holidays aren't complete without melt-in-your-mouth candies like chocolate-coconut bon-bons and creamy butter mints, plus yummy mixes too! Annual cookie swap coming up? There are oodles of clever ideas for wrapping all your goodies to share inside.
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