Jamie's Kitchen
by Jamie Oliver
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Book Reviews of Jamie's Kitchen
Book Review: Diverges from the formula
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was released last year in the UK and I got it as a present for Christmas. So I've had several months to digest this one!Fans of the telivision series "Jamies Kitchen" be warned, this is purely a cook book and not a guide to the series. For those who don't know, the TV series was a documentary on Jamie Oliver starting a restaurant with 15 youngsters who he trains to be chefs. While it was very entertaining, it was in no way a cookery program. Having said that, some of the recipes from the documentary do feature in the book - the pan fried Salman with vegetables being one example.
Fans of Jamie's previous books be warned also. This book marks a departure from the formula that has made Jamie Oliver a household name here. Jamie has gone up market! Gone are the "Toad in the hole" sytle recipes, and in are more recipes you would expect to see in a restaurant. Coupled with far more sumptuous photos, this may become an excellent coffee table piece for the less adventurous cook or a great source of inspiration for those with more daring!
Nice one Geezer!
Book Review: Excellent author, excellent book
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first of many Jamie Oliver books that my husband and I own and it's the one that started our obsession with his recipes. We regularly make the recipe for Lebanese chicken and have served it many times for guests who rave about it. The Chinese chicken parcels and Asian eggplant are also fantastic. Oliver uses a number of ingredients regularly that may be odd additions to some folks. He is big on lemon, mint and other fresh herbs, for example. But trust him, the combination of ingredients always work out well.
As other people have mentioned, his choice of measurement units (i.e. a knob of butter (British term?) or handful - my hands are small, my husband's big) are sometimes confusing. I have also noticed that when a recipe says it serves 4 it often feeds 6-8. Overall, however this is a great book.
Book Review: Beautiful pictures but beware of some recipes
Summary: 3 Stars
I received this book as a Christmas gift and was excited about getting it home and trying out the recipes. Some of the recipes turned out fabulous but some didn't as the measurements were just plain wrong. I even tried a couple of the recipes twice and even bought new kitchen scales only to have it fail every time. I think people think Jamie's lack of precise measurements are part of his charm and even liberating but unfortunately cooking doesn't always allow this much room for error. So Jamie, while you have the priveledge of being careless with your measurements and able to try recipes until you master them the rest of us poor saps that bought your book have to keep ruining dinner. I guess you can figure out that you should not reach for this book if you want to try something new for those dinner guests coming over.Book Review: Vibrant Cookbook
Summary: 4 Stars
Jamie's Kitchen is a big, beautiful, vibrant cookbook with some very interesting recipes. I have not yet seen any of his other cookbooks, but I found the approach this one took rather refreshing. Unless absolutely necessary, measurements in this one are more general (i.e. handful of breadcrumbs), which gives the chef a little more freedom. He also adds a couple of suggestions at the end of each recipe where the chef can tweak it a bit and get something a bit different. He includes some step by step instructions for things, such as making pasta. The recipes in this book are, for the most part, an undertaking, simply not something you are going to whip together for your family of four after a long day at work or with the kids. The recipes here are more weekend entertaining--but they are lovely and imaginative.Book Review: Entertaining and simply fabulous food
Summary: 5 Stars
Jamie Oliver is quite rightly famous for liking his food unpretentious, fresh and delicious. he is quite quirky and funny as well, and this good humour shines through his recipes.There are all sorts of delicious things in here, including a fabulous basic bread recipe that can be manipulated into all sorts of good things, but the beauty of the recipes are that they can all be whipped up in fairly short periods of time if friends and family drop in. There are the usual quick and easies, as well as a number of far more spectacular dishes.
If you have a reasonaly well stocked pantry and this cook book, who knows what miracles can happen in the kitchen. This is not just a book for people who love cooking, it is also for people who like the eating as well!