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A Great American Cook: Recipes from the Home Kitchen of One of Our Most Influential Chefs
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Product Description
A Great American Cook presents Waxman’s finest dishes the way he makes them at home. They include the Red Pepper Pancakes with Corn and Caviar that he created when he ran the kitchen of Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse, his famous Grilled Chicken with JW Fries, and a homey Pizza with Bacon, Scallions, Parmesan, and Tomato that’s a family weeknight favorite. His combinations are simple but unexpected, exuberant but down to earth. Many of the dishes juxtapose contrasting flavors and textures, pairing cool beef carpaccio with warm potato salad, soft crab cakes with crunchy slaw, or whole wheat pasta with spicy clams. Other recipes, such as Shrimp BLT, Crispy Chicken and Goat Cheese Burritos, and Gingerbread with Brandied Plums, are free-spirited plays on classics.
Waxman shows how to produce magnificent food from just a few ingredients, roasting eggplants and red peppers for a forcefully flavored soup or tossing asparagus with oranges and hazelnuts for a refreshing first course. He repeatedly demonstrates his philosophy of “less is more” with suppers like flash-seared scallops on caramelized onions and chicken cooked under a brick with a sauce of rosé wine, bacon, and peas. In the best American tradition, his vision is bold but strikingly unpretentious. From a versatile vegetable dish that goes with nearly every main course to handmade pastas with delicate sauces to a foolproof way to cook salmon, Waxman gives you all the techniques and recipes to make you a great American cook in your own right.
His invigorating message throughout: Let your ingredients do the talking. Lighten up! Enjoy yourself!
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #68069 in Books
- Published on: 2007-09-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 304 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780618658527
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Can a great chef's cookbook feel loose, almost laid-back? It can if its author is Jonathan Waxman, a "founding chef" at Alice Water's Chez Panisse and proprietor of Jams and Barbuto in Manhattan. His A Great American Cook--a collection of 100-plus recipes for the likes of Sea Scallop Fettuccine, Pork Shoulder with Mole Sauce, and Curried Catfish with Apple-Corn Fritters--shows a master in top form, blending global cooking traditions to produce uniquely American food, homey yet refined. His dishes are accessible to all cooks willing to cull the necessary (sometimes pricey) ingredients and spend a bit of time in the kitchen.
Following an idiosyncratic take on ingredients and techniques (on bacon: "OK--I love bacon--and yeah, I'm from a Jewish household") the book explores, in addition to the usual course stops, sandwiches like Shrimp BLT and pizzas, as well as desserts, including Angel Food Cake with Toffee Crunch and Flourless Chocolate Espresso Tart. Of top interest are Waxman's grilling how-to's and other technical insights (for example, to dress a salad properly, add the vinegar first). Seafood, and salmon in particular, receives expert attention. Here is one man's soul cooking of a high yet relaxed order that readers will happily embrace. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
Waxman, hailed as one of the founders of New American cuisine, brought California cookery to the East Coast. After stints in Paris and at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., Waxman went on to found several prominent restaurants, including Manhattan's Jams and Sonoma's West Country Grill. In this handsome cookbook, his first, he offers recipes ranging from simple to complex, a tantalizing mix of rustic, ethnic and regional cooking that includes Wild Mushroom and Leek Soup, Pulled Beef and BBQ Sauce Sandwich, and Pork Tenderloin with Portobello Mushroom Sauce. Recipes are relatively short and easy to prepare, and instructions are clear and concise. Some dishes, such as Perfect Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Spinach, are pleasantly familiar, while others, like Pheasant with Oyster Stuffing, are somewhat beyond the standard fare but still appealing. Waxman also includes a chapter on sandwiches and pizza. Bobby Flay, a Waxman disciple, provides a foreword. More than 50 color photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (Sept.)
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Review
Can a great chef's cookbook feel loose, almost laid-back? It can if its author is Jonathan Waxman, a "founding chef" at Alice Water's Chez Panisse and proprietor of Jams and Barbuto in Manhattan. His A Great American Cook--a collection of 100-plus recipes for the likes of Sea Scallop Fettuccine, Pork Shoulder with Mole Sauce, and Curried Catfish with Apple-Corn Fritters--shows a master in top form, blending global cooking traditions to produce uniquely American food, homey yet refined. His dishes are accessible to all cooks willing to cull the necessary (sometimes pricey) ingredients and spend a bit of time in the kitchen.
Following an idiosyncratic take on ingredients and techniques (on bacon: "OK--I love bacon--and yeah, I'm from a Jewish household") the book explores, in addition to the usual course stops, sandwiches like Shrimp BLT and pizzas, as well as desserts, including Angel Food Cake with Toffee Crunch and Flourless Chocolate Espresso Tart. Of top interest are Waxman's grilling how-to's and other technical insights (for example, to dress a salad properly, add the vinegar first). Seafood, and salmon in particular, receives expert attention. Here is one man's soul cooking of a high yet relaxed order that readers will happily embrace.
Waxman, hailed as one of the founders of New American cuisine, brought California cookery to the East Coast. After stints in Paris and at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., Waxman went on to found several prominent restaurants, including Manhattan's Jams and Sonoma's West Country Grill. In this handsome cookbook, his first, he offers recipes ranging from simple to complex, a tantalizing mix of rustic, ethnic and regional cooking that includes Wild Mushroom and Leek Soup, Pulled Beef and BBQ Sauce Sandwich, and Pork Tenderloin with Portobello Mushroom Sauce. Recipes are relatively short and easy to prepare, and instructions are clear and concise. Some dishes, such as Perfect Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Spinach, are pleasantly familiar, while others, like Pheasant with Oyster Stuffing, are somewhat beyond the standard fare but still appealing. Waxman also includes a chapter on sandwiches and pizza. Bobby Flay, a Waxman disciple, provides a foreword. (Publishers Weekly )
Customer Reviews
Great Recipes, but just a bit less than Pepin and Richard
`A Great American Cook' by the `legendary' chef and restaurateur, Jonathan Waxman has been long awaited, at least by me, for about as long as I have been familiar with cookery books and more specifically the background of celebrity chef, Bobby Flay, who provides a blurb on the well-known fact that Waxman was `My number one mentor'. I call Waxman `legendary' because he comes from that pre-Emeril, pre-Food Network, pre-celebrity chef era of a scant 20 years ago, when the only chef one ever heard of was Wolfgang Puck, and the great culinary writer and editor, Ruth Reichl was predicting the end of celebrity chefs. Well, we all make mistakes! He is also `legendary' in that all the other members of this pre-Emeril club have produced at one or more important cookbooks. Wolfgang has numerous pedestrian efforts, and contemporary Jeremiah Tower (another Chez Panisse graduate) has produced at least two, one of which I consider one of the best chef cookbooks going.
Therefore, my expectations for Waxman's book were very, very high, as I would compare him to the best books from Tower, Zuni Café founder, Judy Rodgers, fellow Chez Panisse alum, Paul Bertoli, and especially the recent excellent works by Jacques Pepin (Chez Pepin) and Michel Richard (Happy in the Kitchen). It is most appropriate to compare it to `Chez Pepin' as both are written from the point of view of recipes the cooks make at home. At least that's what both of them say, and Jacques has a much easier time of sticking to that principle, as he has not headed a professional kitchen for many decades. When I opened Richard's and Pepin's books, I could tell this was something special almost immediately, as I can do with virtually all exceptional cookbooks. These excellent books simply don't mince words and get right down to talking about both facts and inspirations we have simply never seen elsewhere. I did not get that impression on reading through Waxman's 12 introductory pages, or even when I started reading the recipes. Virtually all the tips in `Edicts on Selecting Ingredients and Techniques' was old stuff we have all read in virtually every better cookbook written in the last 20 years.
But then, by the time I got to the third chapter, I started to appreciate two things about the recipes. First, although some originated in one of Waxman's commercial kitchens, virtually all of the recipes were relatively simple. Maybe not as simple as Jacques (who seems to be the master of effortless home cooking), but simple AND special, nonetheless. Second, I noticed that there were virtually no fancy ingredients being used, unless you count Waxman's strictures about not using frozen seafood, especially squid, for the recipes. Instead, Waxman draws from a relatively simple palate, where lots of popular ingredients find their way into many different recipes. The obvious ones are sweet peppers, asparagus, tuna, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, and shellfish. If one is a fan of any of these ingredients, then Waxman's book is a must, as he gives you enough to keep you happy for several seasons.
One can also see what it is about Waxman's style which may have had a big influence on Flay. While Waxman's primary influences were the California pantry and French cooking techniques, seen through the eyes of Alice Waters, he is clearly in love with southwestern ingredients and cooking styles. And yet, there is very little real grilling going on here. And, if you were adverse to southwestern cuisine, you would probably find these recipes may even change your mind.
Waxman's recipe writing style is very easy on the eyes and the mind (easy to follow, without being overly pedagogical). As dearly as I love Julia Child's recipes, Waxman's writing is far more fun to read and to execute for the experienced chef. He doesn't leave anything out. You will even find his imagery illuminating, as when he tells you to open a slit in a cooked chicken breast as if you were squeezing open a slit baked potato. Similarly, when he tells you how to prepare the perfect roast chicken, the instructions are far simpler than Jeremiah Tower's similar recipe. Finally, while the layout of the procedures is not overly fussy, it is very nicely organized with simple typesetting to distinguish one part of the recipe from another.
This book is worthy for any experienced cook who is not always pressed for time, and while just a bit light on the insights, it's a worthy book for those especially fond of the best chef's books cited above.
You should own this one....
Well written and easy to read describes this volume. You almost feel entertained while gaining valuable knowledge from a master. Certainly a welcome addition to any cookbook collection, but it should remain not on a library shelf, but in your kitchen. To a self-educated cook such as myself, it is a wealth of knowledge.
Simple, delicious, and light food
The recipes are very simple to prepare, and based on sound classical cooking principles. They are very light and elegant eating, even when incredibly rich dishes. Fantastic ideas for garnishes that elevate the entire meal from homey and delicious to elegant. You could eat dinner like this every night, yet experience a sophisticated palate. Try Venison Stew with Goat Cheese Johnnycakes--I served it at a dinner party and it was remarkably satisfying without leaving anyone full, incredible flavor from roasted serranos, and the best Johnnycake recipe I have tried (I substituted corn masa for the flour and added a little baking soda for more intense corn flavor); Asparagus with Oranges and Hazelnuts drew rave reviews, the Cara Cara oranges are a revelation, use blood oranges if you can't find Cara Cara; Crab and Avocado Sandwich is a spectacular lunch meal--so delicious and decadent in every mouthful, as are Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Caviar sandwiches; the Corn and Saffron soup is so pure and flavorful (use fresh frozen kernels if your cobs aren't fresh, but use the cobs to make the stock!). He has amazing recipes for potato skins and french fries, a recipe for baked eggplant that is simplicity yet utterly meltingly delicious, and makes grilling and butterflying a chicken seem easy as pie. This is a great book for simple, elegant, and satisfying home cooking.
