Fast Food My Way
by Jacques Pepin
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Book Reviews of Fast Food My Way
Book Review: Fast Food Jacques' Way is My Way
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: The man is a treasure...
Summary: 5 Stars
As an almost registered "foodie", cookbooks were the gift of choice from my friends for my birthday last month. This book was a surprise, because I am not overly fond of the majority of 30-minute-meal-type cookbooks. I mean, if I read one more recipe for chicken breasts in 8-10 minutes, I think I will scream, right? But...I love this book. The pictures are accurate and inspiring, the recipes are interesting and clearly written. The ingredients are readily available. The suggested menu ideas are helpful. So, another excellent Pepin cookbook, what's the big deal?
The deal is the food IS fast. That wonderful ability that Pepin has to combine ingredients with both great style and flavors is here available in a time frame workable for most cooks. Sure, some things take a bit more time. So, leave those for those really luxury cooking days, when you have a whole hour...and a half!
No need to recite the recipes, you know they will sound fabulous. But there is a section in the front of the book: "More Ideas for Quick Dishes" that has some just down right great suggestions. The Lavash Pizza elicited rave reviews from my non-foodie 15-year-old who is making his life a diet of hamburgers and fries this year...He ate Four of them and has asked for them again, repeatedly. Not bad. The "Instant Beef Tenderloin Stew" is a seriously great meal. I could go on. I won't. You get the idea.
Thanks, again, Jacques.
Book Review: Vegetarians rejoice!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a vegetarian, I'm always looking for inspired, easy and delicious vegetarian food. Although, this is not a vegetarian cookbook, Jacques Pepin has created many easy vegetarian recipes in this book and many others that can simply be modified by omitting or substituting the meaty ingredient.
I like to check cookbooks out of the library to give them a test run and this one made the cut - I bought it. I love cooking, but I find there are few cookbooks that I routinely cook from - these recipes are so quick and elegant, this book has become a favorite.
Some of my favorite recipes: in the "More quick ideas for quick dishes section" he has several suggestions on easy desserts - graham cracker topped with ricotta, honey, dried fruit and, if you like, a few drops of Grand Marnier (p 17); Instant vegetable soup (p 46); Silky tomato soup with spinach coulis (p 49); Zucchini and tomato salad (p 70); Summertime pasta (yum!) (p 110); Soupy rice with peas (p 106); Apple skillet cake (p 179).
If you're only going to try one recipe, try: Parsley and pumpkin seed salad (p 72) - full of shredded carrots (I leave out the sardine and add some ume vinegar - delicious!). Jacques Pepin gives us a splendid way to eat this "superfood", parsley. Parsley leaf contains 22% protein and is high in calcium and essential fatty acids.
Book Review: Not as practical as I hoped.
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I'm a fan of Jacques Pepin, this book is not nearly as practical as I hoped it would be. For a "fast food" book, it has a lot of long ingredient lists that are intimidating for someone trying to cook on a busy weeknight or not spend a long time at the grocery store. I also found many instances of expensive ingredients, that I would use occassionally, but not for practical everyday use: for example, Gruyere cheese. We love gruyere cheese, but $10 for cheese is not something we want to splurge on very often. I was also disappointed that there are only 5 chicken entrees here. We use chicken more than any other meat because of it's low cost, so we would really hope to see more chicken entrees in a "practical" cookbook for "everyday" cooking. Meanwhile there are 15 fish/shellfish recipes - a splurge for us because of the expense. BUT, having said all that, there are still some good recipes here that do not require expensive ingredients or have intimidating ingredient lists for everyday, busy-person cooking. I also like the fact that Pepin makes menu suggestions, because not having to create the menu is one less step! The desserts deserve a special honorable mention - quick, uncomplicated, and delectable. This could have been better in my opinion, but I think it still merits a place in any serious cook's library.Book Review: Mannered photography
Summary: 4 Stars
Jacques Pépin is a supremely imaginative artist-chef. His new book is full of practical ideas for the moderately experienced home cook. The preparations may not be time consuming, but you need to know your way around in the kitchen. I especially liked "More Ideas for Quick Dishes" in the opening section.
Some of my favourite plates include, smoked trout with horseradish cream, bow-tie pasta with fried eggs, skillet endives, poached tilapia, chicken breasts with garlic and parsley, rhubarb and berry crumble. I wish he had suggested wines to serve with each sample menu, as he does on the public television series.
A major objection, however! The photography by Ben Fink is downright abhorrent. Mr. Fink always uses an extremely shallow dept-of-field, lending the pictures a narrow slice of focused image leaving the rest in a blur -- mannered photography, that's what I'd call it. (Imagine using a fisheye lens for all the photos in a book.) Additionally, the four-color separation is of poor quality, resulting in washed out prints (e.g. page 112). And finally, I wish they would do away with food stylists altogether, who perch a virginal parsley or a lonely crouton on the dish to make the picture "come alive."