Product Description

Superstar chef Laurent Tourondel is redefining bistro food in America with his growing empire of BLT ("Bistro Laurent Tourondel") restaurants. Now, with this exciting cookbook, Tourondel shows you how to prepare his simple yet spectacular food at home. From new takes on French and American classics to dazzling dishes featuring Asian, Mediterranean, and Latin American flavors, his nearly 150 recipes are sophisticated enough to impress any guest, yet accessible enough to prepare in your own kitchen. Illustrated with more than 150 striking photographs, Bistro Laurent Tourondel gives you everything you need to take casual cooking and entertaining to a new level.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78161 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Amazon.com Review
At his BLT restaurants, chef Laurent Tourondel offers a tempting reinvention of bistro fare. His Bistro Laurent Tourondel presents over 150 recipes from his repertoire--"easier" fare like Adobo Marinated Hanger Steak and Braised Swordfish with Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers; and more "chefy" productions, including Camembert Beignets with Smoked Duck Salad, and Sea Salt-Crusted Pink Snapper with Ice Wine Nage. Sweets, such as Peanut Butter-Chocolate Parfait, Passion Fruit Crêpes Soufflé, and Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler are also on hand, as are sections on ingredients and techniques.

Tourondel's recipes cover the usual menu stops but also include interesting formulas for breads and sandwiches, like one made with spicy soft-shell crabs. Though planned for home cooks, and not difficult to execute in themselves, the recipes often require multiple preparations and, therefore, an ingredient array. Readers may also find the recipe headnotes generic or insufficiently forthcoming on technical and other matters (though there are occasional asides called Chef's Tips). These things said, the book, which includes color photos and wine suggestions, offers an interesting and savory collection that many cooks will want to try. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
With seven outposts and counting in his BLT line, it was only a matter of time before Tourondel (Go Fish: Fresh Ideas for American Seafood) wrote a cookbook to codify his credo of American-style French bistro cooking. Many of the dishes come from Tourondel's restaurant menus, but he makes them accessible to the home cook with unintimidating preparations that showcase the quality and flavors of choice ingredients. The opening chapter discusses choosing and preparing different fish and cuts of meat, while brief introductions to each recipe contribute to the pleasantly informal feeling. The cuisine is well-traveled, including Asian salads, a quintessentially American creamy corn soup, Roman-style gnocchi and a hearty, spicy Chicken-Chorizo Basquaise. BLT patrons will be eager to try menu favorites like Giant Cheese Popovers, Marinated Kobe Skirt Steak and Peanut Butter–Chocolate Parfait. Tourondel includes comments on easily substituted ingredients and wine or beer pairings. Both novices and experienced cooks will welcome this comprehensive education in Tourondel's signature style. 52 color plates (not seen by PW) and 30 b&w photos. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
French chef Tourondel, who has made a name exploring—and exploiting—American comfort foods in New York City (and beyond), is intent on expanding his unique brand of U.S. bistros, in print and in bricks and mortar. This second addition to his culinary oeuvre (after Go Fish) advances his ambition further with nearly 150 recipes.Yet home cooks beware. Few are of the quick-fix variety. A grilled tuna sandwich in Tourondel's lexicon pairs ahi-quality fish with homemade tapenade and mayonnaise, among other ingredients. Humble pumpkin pie achieves grandeur with a hazelnut crunch topping. In addition to up-close, well-styled photographs, each recipe features headnotes, wine suggestions, and chef tips (for instance, use well-padded oven mitts when frying corn fritters). Beginnings and endings round out the reader's culinary education: a short glossary is paired with how to buy/store protein in chapter 1, while a dozen techniques, from how to clean soft-shell crabs to making roasted garlic butter, precede a list of mail-order sources. Peruse recipes with care, well in advance, to make sure they're amateur-friendly. Jacobs, Barbara

Customer Reviews

Excellent professional layout and treatment
Sinple step-by-step, awesome, reliable recipies, but not for rookies. Very good wire suggestions as well.

Unique twists on classics and new favorites
I would make every last recipe in this book. Usually I debate on whether the finished product will be worth the effort and decide against attempting some recipes of other books. However, BLT has page after page of mouthwatering photos that encourage you to taste everything. I've tried around five recipes so far and not been disappointed. For spices, visit www.thespicehouse.com. For kaffir lime leaves (which are amazing and should not be omitted) try one of the two Amazon vendors or (depending on your part of the country) even check with a local well-stocked plant nursery to see if they have the tree and would let you pluck a few leaves.

Great book
Some great recipes, some simple, some sophisticated. Most recipes I've tried accentuate the umami sense.