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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28622 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-31
• Released on: 2009-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780609610510
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Book Description
Slow-roasted meats, marinated vegetables, surprising flavor combinations, this is not your mother’s sandwich.

With acclaimed restaurants located across the United States, and a high-profile job as head judge of the hit show Top Chef, Tom Colicchio is one of the best-known chefs and personalities in the culinary world today. His popular chain of ’wichcraft sandwich shops is known for crafting sandwiches with high-quality fresh ingredients prepared to Colicchio’s exacting standards. And since the first ’wichcraft opened in 2003, diners can’t seem to get enough.

In ’wichcraft, Colicchio shares the shops’ secrets with step-by-step recipes for all their best-loved offerings. You’ll learn how to create new classics like Roasted Turkey with Avocado, Bacon, Onion Marmalade, and Mayonnaise, and Sicilian Tuna with Fennel, Black Olives, and Lemon; and elevate basic cold cuts through imaginative combinations like Smoked Ham with Avocado and Butter, and Salami with Marinated Cauliflower and Bitter Greens. Routine staples are refashioned into unforgettable meals, like Onion Frittata with Roasted Tomato and Cheddar, and Slow-Roasted Pork with Red Cabbage, Jalapeños, and Mustard. ’wichcraft is stuffed with sandwiches like these, and many more, that will add something special to both your lunchbox and your life.

With 100 full-color photographs, recipes for pantry items including dressings and condiments, and a host of sandwich cookies and ice cream treats to round out your meals, this is the book to get a little ’wichcraft magic going in your own kitchen.

From 'wichcraft: Roasted Turkey with Avocado, Bacon, Balsamic Onion Marmalade, and Mayonnaise

This recipe is one of our biggest sellers but, interestingly, each customer cites a different reason the sandwich is special. One says that she could eat the onion marmalade with a spoon for breakfast daily. Others can’t say enough about the bacon. Tom applauds Sisha’s decision to cut the turkey thicker, thus showcasing its moistness. This is an ensemble piece, with no clear headliner. While we use ciabatta, this sandwich would work as well on country bread, too.

Ingredients

• 6 fresh sage leaves

• 1 (3- to 4-pound) boneless turkey breast

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 12 slices bacon

• 4 ciabatta rolls

• 1/2 cup Balsamic Onion Marmalade

• 1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and sliced

• 4 tablespoons Mayonnaise

Note: Don’t cook the bacon over too high heat or the fat will burn. When you’re done, save the fat you’ve rendered and store it in the freezer. The next time you’re roasting some vegetables, toss some bacon fat in with them! (Makes 4 sandwiches)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Slide the sage leaves under the skin of the turkey breast and place the turkey on a sheet pan. Rub the skin with the butter and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast the turkey for 1 to 1½ hours, until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F. Baste the meat with its juices throughout. (Keep in mind that the meat will continue to cook even after it’s removed from the oven, so be careful not to cook it too long.) Allow the meat to rest before slicing, or cool completely.

In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until golden brown and crisp on both sides. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Slice the ciabatta rolls in half. Place the turkey slices on the bottom halves and top with the marmalade. Place the bottom and top halves of the rolls in the 350°F oven and remove once the marmalade is heated through and the bread is toasted. Top the marmalade with the bacon, followed by the avocado. Evenly spread the mayonnaise on the top halves of the rolls. Close the sandwiches, cut into halves, and serve.

From 'wichcraft: Chocolate Cream’wich

Two surprises set this cookie apart: The first is that the filling is made with a chocolate ganache as opposed to just a frosting. The cream and the chocolate melt together perfectly, yielding a satisfyingly smooth texture to the filling itself. In contrast to the creaminess is the second surprise: the cocoa nibs, little pieces of roasted cacao beans. These bits add a crunchy texture that is wholly and delightfully unexpected.

Ingredients

For the cookie:

• For the cookie

• 1/3 cup cocoa nibs

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (64% cocoa), melted in a double boiler

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

For the filling:

• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (64% cocoa), finely chopped

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

(Makes 1 dozen sandwich cookies)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

To make the cookies: Grind the cocoa nibs in a coffee grinder or food processor until a fine powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, ground cocoa nibs, and the sugars on medium speed until well mixed. Add the melted chocolate and the vanilla. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the bowl. Mix into a smooth dough and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a large surface covered with a layer of parchment paper. Top with another layer of parchment and gently roll the dough into a ¼-inch-thick sheet. To prevent the cookies from sticking as you cut them, carefully remove the top layer of parchment and sprinkle some flour over the sheet of dough. Replace the parchment, flip the dough, and release the parchment on the other side. Cut the dough into 2½-inch round cookies and space ½ inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Gather any leftover scraps of dough and roll and cut as described above. Repeat until you have no dough left. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, turning the pan 90 degrees halfway through baking, until you can smell the toasted chocolate. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely. Once cool, the cookies should be crisp.

To make the filling: Place the chocolate, butter, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil and pour one-third of the cream over the chopped chocolate to melt the chocolate. Add the rest of the cream and stir until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

Place half of the cookies with the top side (the most attractive) down. Using a piping bag or a spoon, evenly distribute the filling among those cookies, and close into sandwiches with the remaining cookies. Gently press down. Serve immediately or store the cookies in a cool place.

From Publishers Weekly
When Colicchio, restaurateur and head judge of the TV show Top Chef, turned his attention to sandwiches, chances were slim that the result would look much like the pathetic specimens found in most brown bags. Instead, at wichcraft, the sandwich shop he created with Ortuzar, they built on a common realization of home cooks and chefs: the best sandwiches are made with food that was, or could be, part of a good meal—not just disparate elements that probably spent too long in plastic packaging. Hence, a breakfast sandwich of skirt steak with fried eggs and oyster mushrooms; a hearty meatloaf sandwich with cheddar, bacon and tomato relish; and recipes for condiments like balsamic onion marmalade. Classic sandwiches like roast beef or peanut butter and jelly are transformed by the use of freshly roasted meat and homemade jelly, but the book also features some of wichcrafts more unusual creations, such as the ravioli-inspired roasted pumpkin with mozzarella and hazelnut brown butter sandwich, as well as unexpectedly luscious dessert sandwiches. Those looking for the easiest, cheapest fare will not find much of it here, but anyone willing to put in the time and effort to find the best ingredients and prepare them well will be rewarded. Color photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Colicchio, a well-known chef and mega-well-known head judge of TVs Top Chef, offers an entire cookbook featuring the sandwiches served at his New York restaurant, ’wichcraft, which was founded a few doors down from his flagship restaurant, Craft. The inspiration behind opening a high-end sandwich shop, Colicchio claims, was that he ran some numbers and figured that roughly 58 percent of the meals he’s eaten in his life have been sandwiches. He takes the Thanksgiving-leftovers sandwich as a model, reasoning that its success is due to the fact that “everything in it was originally crafted for a great meal.” It’s an undeniably intriguing tenet, and this book’s table of contents alone will have grab-and-go eaters and sophisticated gastronomes alike salivating. The recipes themselves are mostly just assembly guidelines with the most relevant information imparted in the titles, mostly helpful for imaginative ingredient pairings. Home chefs will be best served by digesting Colicchio’s advice on how to effectively shop for quality ingredients and breads, balance flavor elements, and keep a well-stocked pantry. --Ian Chipman

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Customer Reviews

Serious Sandwiches
It is important to understand the type of book you're purchasing when you choose this one. I work full time and usually bring a lunch. Bored of ham and cheese sandwiches, I picked this up in hopes that I would find some inspiration for better lunches. I did not. The book offers recipes that, while delicious sounding, are too complicated to make the night or morning before work. Many of the recipes include slow roasted meat (sandwiches with leg of lamb, pulled pork, braised short ribs), over the top ingredients (for my purposes anyway) like sushi grade tuna, or involved condiments like homemade lemon confit. Plus, the biggest portion of the book is dedicated to warm sandwiches, which don't work for work. I love to cook and do not shy away from involved techniques or recipes, it's just this doesn't suit my purposes when I need something quick.

If you entertain a lot, and want casual but impressive meals that can be semi-prepared in advance, you will find this more useful. The book offers a few breakfast recipes, a collection of cold sandwiches (ie, salami with marinated cauliflower; smashed chickpeas; mortadella with grilled raddicchio and pistachio vinaigrette), and a large chapter on warm sandwiches (ie, gruyere with caramelized onions; mozzarella and provolone with olives and roasted tomato). There are also a few dessert sandwich recipes, as well as a section with condiment recipes, which mostly include variations on mayo and vinaigrette.

The book is beautifully presented, with great pictures of each sandwich, and a smartly formatted table of contents that displays a thumbnail size picture of each sandwich. There are pages in between recipes that detail sandwich architecture (like I said...takes the sandwich seriously!) bread types, oil types, and advance prepping. Overall, it is a high quality book, but for the money, make sure it's recipes you'll actually use.

Worth the effort for a Sandwich?
I don't know about you, but when I want to cook something deliciously decadent, expensive, and time-consuming...I don't want to make a sandwich. I'm happy to spend hours on hearty stews, proteins, pastas, pastries...but I'm not really interested in putting all that hard work into a sandwich.

I was hoping "Wichcraft" would be similar to Bobby Flay's latest book on burgers, fries, and shakes: semi-professional comfort food for the home cook. However, "Wichcraft" is semi-professional comfort food for a gourmet chef. I don't have the money to buy ingredients such as white truffles (NOT truffle oil...which is expensive enough, but actual truffles), nor do I want to spend the time to slow roast meats and poach pears to stack them on a sandwich.

I wish I could recommend this book because the pictures are vibrant and the layout is beautiful. But, honestly, it is one of those high-brow, fussy cookbooks that will sit on your bookshelf for years. You might make two or three recipes but, realistically, the work involved in each recipe will probably turn you off...especially since we're only making...sandwiches.

If you want to make gourmet-like sandwiches with many steps and many ingredients, then this is the cookbook for you. If you, like me, enjoy sophisticated (yet easy) recipes from the likes of Ina Garten or Bobby Flay, check this book out before buying...it's definitely in a different realm of cooking.

All in all, I found this book to be pretentious and too-fussy for any kind of mass market appeal. Unless you consider yourself gourmet, I definitely recommend flipping through this book in a store before ordering or buying...

Gorgeous and ingenious
The sandwich is a creature born of convenience, and a certain amount of negligence, a Just-slap-it-on-a-slice-of-bread-and-I'm-outta-here mentality. So when someone comes along and raises the lowly sandwich to a work of art, it's worth a look. Tom Colicchio and Sisha Ortúzar have done just that with "'wichcraft" a beautiful book that takes sandwiches to a higher level.

The book is broken down by the sort of sandwich you might want to create: Breakfast, cold sandwiches which are particularly well-suited for lunches, and hot sandwiches which are heartier. There is also a section on sweet sandwiches which range from sandwich cookies to towers built of cake slices, ice cream and fruit. While there are some familiar sandwiches such as BLTs, most are either new takes on other dishes such as Salad Lyonnaise or very new concoctions such as the beer-braised beef short ribs with pickled vegetables, sharp cheddar and horseradish. There are also sections on sandwich information: The history of the sandwich, good sandwich architecture and so forth. There is even a section on the sandwich as a meal, and how less is more when it comes to piling the food on the plate. Excellent advice.

If I have a problem with this book, it's a minor one, but still worth discussing. Many of the sandwiches require a number of special ingredients. Now granted you can make many of these yourself; the recipes are included. But it almost pre-supposes that you're cooking for more than one or two people. And leftovers are often good for a week, which means you'll either be eating the same sandwich all week, or throwing a lot of relishes and garnishes out. I don't think this will keep many people from creating the sandwiches in the book, but it might mean they'll make them less often, or substitute other ingredients.

On the whole, though, I think that if you're a sandwich lover as I am, this book will set you to imagining all the amazing sandwiches you might whip up. It might provoke you to entertain more!