Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine
by Marcus Samuelsson
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Book Reviews of Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to like this cookbook, being so pretty and with such flattering reviews here. The chef has an attractive story, and the concept of haute scandinavian fusion is fascinating in itself.But this book unfortunately commits many of the sins common in these glossies; for instance, food styling where the stylist takes liberties with the recipe, making one feel inept trying to match the picture. I'm learning things from it, but mostly in the negative. The recipes are incomplete.
The food itself is immature compared to chefs of greater experience. It takes a while to understand this, but I can almost tell how mature a chef is from their food. Samuelsson's food today reminds me of the young Vongerichten's "Simple Cuisine" compared to the food he makes today. The balances are overblown, with a childish affinity for sweetness. There's all sorts of refinements left to understand. I imagine Samuelsson will mature into a great chef, but what you're getting today is like the impulsive work of art students rather than masterpieces.
And today's impatient society encourages, if not forces, these budding talents to expose themselves like this, giving them a false sense of victory instead of the virtues of enduring legacy won through decades of disciplined refinement.
We have a young chef here in San Francisco who gives me an idea what's going on with Samuelsson (I've never been to Aquavit or Riingo so I have to draw analogies). He's won all these "young chef of the year" awards for his restaurant "Isa". But Isa isn't even the second best restaurant on his little block of the Marina. What's happening is the chef is an attractive person, the spin is crafty, and food writers, we must remind ourselves, are writers first and food experts second.
So hype and show and raw freneticism count for a lot in this glamour-focused business. If you want a picture book that looks intriguing on your coffee table but you never actually cook out of it, this is a good choice. There are much better, if uglier, works available for actually preparing memorable meals.
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
I really wanted to like this cookbook, being so pretty and with such flattering reviews here. The chef has an attractive story, and the concept of haute scandinavian fusion is fascinating in itself.But this book unfortunately commits many of the sins common in these glossies; for instance, food styling where the stylist takes liberties with the recipe, making one feel inept trying to match the picture. I'm learning things from it, but mostly in the negative. The recipes are incomplete.
The food itself is immature compared to chefs of greater experience. It takes a while to understand this, but I can almost tell how mature a chef is from their food. Samuelsson's food today reminds me of the young Vongerichten's "Simple Cuisine" compared to the food he makes today. The balances are overblown, with a childish affinity for sweetness. There's all sorts of refinements left to understand. I imagine Samuelsson will mature into a great chef, but what you're getting today is like the impulsive work of art students rather than masterpieces.
And today's impatient society encourages, if not forces, these budding talents to expose themselves like this, giving them a false sense of victory instead of the virtues of enduring legacy won through decades of disciplined refinement.
We have a young chef here in San Francisco who gives me an idea what's going on with Samuelsson (I've never been to Aquavit or Riingo so I have to draw analogies). He's won all these "young chef of the year" awards for his restaurant "Isa". But Isa isn't even the second best restaurant on his little block of the Marina. What's happening is the chef is an attractive person, the spin is crafty, and food writers, we must remind ourselves, are writers first and food experts second.
So hype and show and raw freneticism count for a lot in this glamour-focused business. If you want a picture book that looks intriguing on your coffee table but you never actually cook out of it, this is a good choice. There are much better, if uglier, works available for actually preparing memorable meals.
Book Review: Finally, bringing Swedish food into the spotlight!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have ever eaten at Aquavit in New York, you know how hard it is to resist buying this gorgeous cookbook. If the meals at the restaurant can be created to be even half as amazing at home, the book is weel worth its cost!Luckily, they have turned out to be extremely successful in my own kitchen. And, might I add, most of them are far easier to make than they appear. I love this book and appreciate the chef's work so much that it blows my mind when I read some of the criticism in the reviews.
First of all, this book is so beautiful that I keep it in a bookshelf in the living room, not the kitchen. The pictures are so lovely but at the same time might intimidate certain readers who fear they won't be able to recreate the image. To this I have to say: "It's ok. You aren't putting the meal into a book to be published and you're not serving it to paying customers... It's allowed to look different, as long as it still tastes good." Samuelsson is a chef. The food is on a different level than that of Ina Garten, Rachel Ray or Nigella Lawson (as much as I like all of them.) Some of these recipes will take a bit more effort, but many you can make with very little effort! The soups, roast chicken, meatballs, salads, and many main courses are not as difficult as they appear.
Another gripe I've read in other reviews is that the recipes are not as much Scandinavian as they are Asian. Whoever said this knows very little about Swediesh food! As a Swede, I found all of the recipes to be based in strong Swedish tradition. But like the title says, it's the NEW Scandinavian cuisine, melded with tastes from all over the world. Ingredients like curry, have been used in Northern Europe for centuries now.
This book has brought a lot of joy to our home. The pictures and tastes make us homesick! His food is authentic and groundbreaking at once and I believe Marcus Samuelsson deserves all the praise he has received.
Book Review: Not as intimidating as I initially thought...
Summary: 4 Stars
Ever since my husband found out he was part Danish, he's really embraced his Scandinavian background (case in point, we went to Denmark for our honeymoon). We're big fans of Chef Samuelsson and have dined at his meat/seafood restaurant in Chicago and made our first visit to Aquavit earlier this year.
I've been hesitant to buy this book only b/c I expected the recipes to be way too complicated for home cooks. We love to cook, but I tend to stay away from overly fussy recipes. I finally bought it a couple months ago b/c Samuelsson was going to be at a food and wine event in Chicago and we wanted to have an autographed book, and I thought this would be the most appropriate one to have him sign.
Well I'm happy to say that after trying a few recipes, this isn't just a pretty coffee table book, but an actual cookbook I can see us using fairly often with recipes that are actually quite easy to execute.
So far we've tried the Swedish Roast Chicken w/ Spiced Apple Rice (loved the spice combination and even used it as inspiration for our Thanksgiving turkey), the Lamb Sausage Wraps w/ Spicy Sauerkraut and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, as well as the brine and Glogg Sauce from the Crispy Duck recipe (he just used the breasts, but we roasted a whole duck following methods from a combination of recipes).
There are definitely a lot more recipes left to try, but so far we haven't been disappointed by these. I also like the additional suggestions and commentary that he includes with each recipe.
Overall I'd say this is a great book if you want to explore a more modern style of Scandinavian cooking...and don't be intimidated by all the glossy pictures of fancy food! I'm not sure if I'd consider this a book for beginning cooks, but it does have a mix of easy-moderate-more advanced recipes that aren't as advanced as you might expect and turn out to be quite tasty.
Book Review: Full of surprises...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not a perfect cookbook, by any means. Out of 19 recipes we tested, 12 gave excellent results and 7 were disappointing. That's not a very respectable ratio. But the good recipes are so startlingly good they make up for a multitude of sins. Some of my favorites are Juniper-Apple Soup (superb balance between fruit and meat flavors, especially when garnished as suggested with duck confit); Coffee-roasted Duck Breasts (a simple preparation resulting in a deceptively complex flavor); Salsify "Tagliatelle" with Smoked Salmon (a delicious and unusual dish faintly reminiscent of spaghetti al carbonara); Salmon Bundles with Orange-Fennel Broth (again a sophisticated balance of sweet-tart fruit flavors with the bass notes of seared salmon); Squab Toasts (irresistible treats in fig season); and many more. Less successful, to my palate, were the Pickled Herring Sushi-Style (harsh combination of strong flavors); Curried Cauliflower, Potato, and Sprout Salad (muddied, indistinguishable flavors); Salsify Cappuccino (no standout flavor I could discern at all); Pear and Fingerling Potato Ragout (too sweet); and Glögg-Poached Pears (not exciting enough to warrant all the work). Overall, it seems to me that this chef has a marvelous instinct when it comes to fish and meat, and creates many new flavor combinations that really work. He is less reliable with vegetable dishes and desserts, both of which tend to be excessively sweet. We cook out of this book frequently, however: if you have the patience to sift the wheat from the chaff, this book will reward you with plenty of delicious and inspirational meals.