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A companion to the PBS series of the same name, Julia Child's classic
Cooking with Master Chefs introduces readers to sixteen of America's top chefs, then presents their signature dishes to make at home. With the relaxed precision cooks expect of Child's recipes, and aided by more than 80 color photos, the dishes are as accessible as they are delicious. Child's fans, as well as those of chefs including Emeril Lagasse (Emeril's, New Orleans), André Soltner (formerly of Lutèce, New York), Alice Waters (Chez Panisse, Berkeley) and Michel Richard (Citrus, Los Angeles), among others, will be delighted.
The recipes, arranged in mini-menus of three to five dishes each, run the gamut of (mostly) American-inspired specialties. The aforementioned Lagasse provides an authentic Louisiana Crab Broil and savory Shrimp Étoufée; Mary Sue Milligan and Susan Feninger (Border Grill, Santa Monica), present a spicy vegetarian feast; and Charles Palmer (Auriole, New York), reveals his methods for making perfectly seared Venison and Tender Butternut Squash Timbales. The Italian table is represented by Lidia Bastianich (Felidia, New York), who shares her Pasta Ears with Brocolli di Rape and Sausages. And for dessert, chef Richard produces an extraordinary Chocolate Dome and pulse-quickening Hot Chocolate Truffles. Other chefs provide equally mouth-watering dishes.
Useful notes on techniques and ingredients are given throughout and in an appendix. As lively as it is instructive, Cooking with Master Chefs should provide a gratifying encounter with a remarkable culinary crew, conducted by an esteemed interpreter of the world's table. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
This handsomely designed book, a companion to the new PBS television series, brings acclaimed chefs out of the restaurant and into their own home kitchens with characteristic dishes and singular stylishness. And as Child ( The Way to Cook ) observes, though readers may not be equipped to mimic these achievements exactly, we can indeed "gather ideas" from the recipes and apply them as we're able, with the aid and inspiration of 80 photographs. The lineup is brilliant, including Jacques Pepin, Alice Waters, Patrick Clark, Andre Soltner and 12 others; and it covers as much geographic as gastronomic ground, from Hawaii (one recipe by chef Amy Ferguson-Ota incorporates "ti" leaves, which grow wild there) to New Orleans. Reading soon enough becomes a form of voyeurism, possibly even better than dining, particularly when one turns to a Provencal tapenade, courtesy of Chez Panisse's proprietor, or to Michel Richard's "Chocolate Dome" with raspberry sauce. And of course, coming from Child, the book is well and warmly written. About a pasta dish by Lida Bastianich, incorporating broccoli de rape , she comments, "This lovely dish shows what can happen to tough old greens if you treat them right." Author tour. Illustrated.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.