When I picked it up and perused the cover I had presumed that I would be panning Michel Richard’s Happy In The Kitchen. Just seeing that Thomas Keller wrote the introduction made me immediately assume it would be yet another Big book of chi-chi frou-frou glam presentations and labor intensive nonsense that no one sane would ever bother to make. But then I read the book and I actually quite liked it.
While some of the recipes were quite labor intensive and some of the clever presentations a great deal more work than most home cooks would ever go for, there is much to admire about this volume. Richard talks a lot about making things which are not what they appear to be. Two particularly striking recipes call for making dishes that look like fried rice and risotto but which are actually made with potatoes rather than rice. There is also a number of photo illustrated lessons in various techniques that are clear and helpful as well as information about ingredients and cooking methods I was not familiar with but would be willing to try. If you’re an adventuresome cook or enjoy reading advanced cookbooks this one is Highly Recommended.
Having grown up in New Orleans eating jambalayas, gumbos and etouffees since I was old enough to lift a spoon to my mouth, Terr Wuerthner’s In A Cajun Kitchen was like a taste of home to me. If you did not grow up in Louisiana and don’t already know how to make classic Cajun dishes like the ones I mentioned, this book would be an excellent choice for learning the basics and I suspect that even if you do already know how to make these dishes you, like me, will be charmed by Wuerthner’s asides about her life in Cajun country. Highly Recommended.
James Peterson’s Simply Shrimp, simply Isn’t. While I suppose the observation that shrimp sauteed in olive oild with perhaps a bit of garlic are quite delicious and very easy to make Is simply shrimp, I don’t think it’s a recipe one need go out and buy a twenty five dollar cookbook to get. And apart from this one truly simple cooking suggestion I found this book to be full of Lots of very overly stylized and fussed over food, the dreaded (by me anyway) chi-chi frou-frou school of cuisine that just doesn’t do it for me. Not Recommended.
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, cookbooks, Happy In The Kitchen, In A Cajun Kitchen, James Peterson, Michel Richard, Simply Shrimp, Terri Pischoff Wuerthner. Thomas Keller
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April 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Thanks for the recommendations. Shrimpfest is coming soon, so I might check out Simply Shrimp anyways. I cook at home 99% of the time, so I’m always looking for new cookbooks!
April 28th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Hey, I have a book for you to check out. It is called “Gadget Nation” it is written by Steve Greenberg. It is really very interesting.