The French Laundry Cookbook
by Thomas Keller
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Book Reviews of The French Laundry Cookbook
Book Review: The next level
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a management consultant who aspires to be a restaurateur. I have the best sources of ingredients (produce, meat and fish) that you can acquire in New York, and I have strong relationships with all of my suppliers. I commonly cook for selected super-foodie audiences of 5 to 15 in my home, and test original creations in a feedback-intensive environment. The only requirement for joining a dinner party at my house is that guests must give honest, detailed feedback on the dishes they have consumed. Thomas Keller's book was an absolute revelation.
For the serious cook, who devotes significant intellectual energy to food -- Keller's "bible" will give you lots to think about, and a solid methodology for refining your approach to food.
For the generic "put food on the table crowd" there are better works out there. However, if you are serious about food, read this book from start to finish and you will be amazed at how your techniques and understandings evolve.
Book Review: Good translation to the home kitchen
Summary: 5 Stars
So many of the serious restaurant cookbooks are poorly translated to the home kitchen, with the recipes making enough for 12 people and requiring a superabundance of equipment. I recall a Charlie Trotter (whose restaurant and books I do love, but the recipes are NOT easy for the home kitchen) recipe which required two ovens at different temperatures and either three or four burners (depending on your dexterity) at once for a small dish. This book gives us a cross-section of French Laundry recipes, including many of their famous dishes, which are accessible to the home kitchen. In fact, the sizes of the dishes are rather small, good for 2 people in most cases. Some of the recipes are difficult or require specialized ingredients or tools, but most can be successfully crafted by the weekend cook.
I'd call the cookbook inspiring even, regardless of the cliched nature of that call out. It strives to bring the best out of any cook willing to give this a try.
Book Review: A Cookbook you can learn from
Summary: 5 Stars
After eating at The French Laundry last year(and being blown away!)I was first in line to buy this book and have yet to be disapointed. Thomas Keller doesn't just sell you a few recepies, he give you a peice of himself, "Chef Keller",the chef who has created one of the most talked about restaurants in the country. His idea of what a dinning experience should be,his tips and sugestions on how to prepare food the way he does,how he feels you should be creative with food, to make it your own, not to be intimadated by it. Isn't that what we are all looking for when buying this book? the masters way of doing it? and that is exactly what you get. Along with a beautiful book to look through, it is a book to learn from, the meals I've created with this book have amazed me,every one better than the one before. Maybe he gave away too much information.Book Review: ...
Summary: 5 Stars
And you can't put it down, if you're a Foodie like me. The photography is gorgeous, for starters. I have severly damaged my copy by licking the stunningly detailed photographs. Thomas Keller's food is truly artwork, and the editor is to be commended for their excellent taste in putting this book together.The text is a nice blend of the practical (including techniques as basic as vegetable prep) and utterly fanciful (garnish and sauce techniques that are uncommon outside $150/person restaurants). The five recipes that I have tried have all been exceptional, and assume only a moderate level of kitchen experience and a good working knowledge of basic technique. These are *very complex* recipes. I usually do one of the items with the rest of the meal coming from other, less fussy, sources. This is Tweezer Food taken to a genuinely tasty end, unlike some presentations that just look "good enough to eat".
Book Review: a real trend setter
Summary: 5 Stars
when this book first came out everyone i knew just had to get it. once gotten, everyone had to discuss it, with everyone they knew, for weeks at a time. now it still looks great and has become a modern classic, sort of like mastering the art of french cooking was for chefs and cooks a generation ago. if you were to go to virtually any kitchen or house of a serious professional chef or cook, you would be assured to see a copy of this book. the only issue i have with this book is that the recipes may not have been tested enough, but other than that this is a beautiful, well written book which became the vanguard of the new movement in cookbook publishing: gastropornography. lush closeups and full page pictures abound and the book is imbued with a sense of thomas keller's culinary philosophy. if you don't have it, you should get two and give one to the one you love (i did...).