American Cooking

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	Alinea Grant Achatz with Nick Kokonas : Mark McClusky : Michael Nagrant : Michael Ruhlman : Jeffrey Steingarten design by Crucial Detail and Naissance photography by Lara Kastner Published by 10 Speed Press, H/B $65 If you buy one book this year (or this lifetime), Alinea should be the choice. Grant Achatz and his business partner Nick Kokonas and their team set a standard at Alinea that must be hard for others to match. Achatz is certainly obsessed with all aspects of food and wine, but their team takes that to the limit with art, purpose made accoutrements and interior design. An exquisite looking ultra–modern restaurant, superbly pared back, angular and elegant this is fine dining and restaurant architecture at its best. Alinea, the book, is so modestly priced for the quality of the publication, and whilst it is superb it is not the design that is the most appealing. One hundred recipes written with the minutest detail and the most incredible generosity Achatz and his team open their recipes to other chefs and the general public to use as their own. True the food of Alinea might be beyond many home–cooks, but we know a number of obsessed home cooks who not only have the required equipment, but take great delight in executing dishes professionals might struggle with. One of the difficulties with elements of molecular gastronomy has been that flavour has been sacrificed for appearance and curiosity but after having read Alinea with a fairly succinct knowledge of flavour profiles and cooking techniques it seems that taste overrides everything in their cooking. Mark McClusky p15 “Simply put, the great cooking at Alinea isn’t about the technology used to create it, no matter how formidable that technology is. It’s how these ingredients, techniques and equipment are used to intensify flavour. “The overriding aim at Alinea is purity of flavour” says Grant, “we like explosive tastes. We don’t dilute flavours period.” ” There are many things throughout the book that reinforce this belief. There is less sous–vide in the cooking at Alinea and it has to be appreciated that because of this they maintain better flavour profiles. Whilst we use sous–vide in many ways, we have come to believe that excessive sous–vide is often to the detriment of flavour and food temperature. In this book there are hundreds of things to appreciate, but the listing of the post–modern pantry, service ware and ingredients is an act of the most enormous openness and of course challenge to the reader and executor of their recipes. When everything is so painstakingly explained what excuse is left for not achieving a similar standard, there is simply no one left to blame. Some of the combinations are vaguely 80s but since the rest of the world didn’t live through the 80s in Australia when some chefs first took on ingredients from Asia and used them in peculiar ways, a glance at current menus from the best restaurants of America and France exhibit a degree of flavour profile experimentation hitherto unseen on those menus. The idea of using eucalyptus oil (we have seen it on many menus) sounds repulsive but of course until we’ve tried it for ourselves we reserve judgement as we doubt that Alinea would serve a dish that didn’t work. We certainly hope to see a version of their Truffle Explosion p20 on a menu somewhere in the coming month of the Italian truffle season in Australia. This wonderful book is not just for the food obsessed, it is for the art obsessed, the passionate and the imaginative, but most of all it is a celebration of the next generation of chefs and restaurateurs with a determination to be the best at their craft. It also poses the question what next for this brilliant, so young chef and his team? Unbelievable generosity, absolutely brilliant, the most inspiring original food I have ever seen. AO
	Oysters a Culinary Celebration Joan Reardon Published by The Lyons Press, New York and distributed in Australia by Peribo Books Deluxe Paperback $29.95 Oysters, a culinary celebration, is one of those truly rare cookbooks that will satisfy all parts of your culinary soul. Terrific anecdotal and historical introductory text, 185 recipes for oysters, 185 drink recommendations described with all the flourish of a devoted wine writer, culinary and social quotes from MK Fisher to Lewis Carrol and back in, out and around again. The recipes sound wonderful, some are interesting, some surprising, some classical, and yes, one needs to mention there are but 8 small pictures, each a tight oyster shot that will allow you to identify the species. Oyster and spinach bisque, soups page 67, ’There is something almost playful about the combination of ingredients in this bisque. The result is a bright smiling luncheon treat or a whimsical transition from a cocktail hour to en entrée of roast lamb surrounded by parsleyed new potatoes and glazed carrots. Add jonquils to the centre piece for a perfect early spring dinner. An serve with a fresh Alsace Sylvaner that has the aroma of springtime and some minerality in its bouquet.’ Or take the introduction that is just the titillation for the greedy slippery feast of the rest of her book. Introduction page 1, ’Fascinating reading, also, are the lengths and depths of Homo faber plumbed in order to preserve and transport this indolent mollusk. Because the Romans discovered the Breton oyster at a fairly early date, they set up ice houses between Brittany and Rome to replenish the snow in the oyster carts travelling over land.’ It goes on further into fascinating text of the type that driven and excessive cooks adore. Every section has another feast of words. There is only one minor thing wrong with this book, and that is the damned American measures with their dreaded weird size cups. Still if one considers that much of the cooking required some common sense, and the degree of difficulty will be pulling the cork from the suggested wine, and the expense of the book paying off your credit card if you choose to religiously follow Reardon’s very good recommendations. For anyone who has eaten in Paris at the height of the oyster season will know that the flinty flavour, soft subliminal floral aromas and delicious long satiny finish of the perfect French white burgundy is the best match on earth for the slippery freshly shucked oyster.
	Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen Paul Prudhomme Published by Harper Collins, H/B $49.95 My copy of this book is tattered, splattered, torn and especially treasured because it is signed by Chef Paul himself. This remains the definitive book about Cajun cooking and if you want to make gumbo and with all the okra around at the moment the time to make gumbo is right now. One of the great aspects of this book is that it fully explains the black roux one of the most essential parts of a gumbo. The roux can be made in advance and as there is a hair’s breath between black and burnt it might be good to have a practice. Turn off your phone — yes you can do it, because once you start the black roux there’s no stopping. Generous like the man himself, every recipe in this book has been kitchen tested.
	Joy of Cooking Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker Published by SIMON & SCHUSTER, H/B $49.95 The American equivalent to the French Larousse Gastronomique, you will find this book on almost every chef’s shelf. It is a remarkable resource and reference for everyday cooking with a particularly good sweet section that does fill a void since the bible Mastering the Art of French Patisserie is no longer available. This invaluable book has one of the most user–friendly indexes of any reference cookbook. There are no pictures, but succinct and easy to understand line drawings. Every good cook should own this book. Made dozens of recipes pver the years and never had a failure. We like that!
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