Product Description

From the elegant hors d'oeuvres to the sparkling Champagne, cocktail parties are loved by everyone. But fun as they are to attend, the thought of hosting one can be a little daunting—until now. With Bite Size, legendary chef François Payard shows home cooks how to prepare simple, sensational appetizers that will leave guests impressed and hosts with energy to spare.

François knows how to throw a good party. In addition to his renowned New York restaurant, Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro, he runs the upscale catering company Tastings. Several times a week, he prepares sophisticated canapés and light bites for hundreds of people. In Bite Size, he presents a collection of his favorite recipes made easy for everyday cooks.

Along with chapters on meat, fish, vegetable, and cheese hors d'oeuvres, François includes a wealth of helpful hosting tips, hints, and serving suggestions—try serving soup in shot glasses, for example. The innovative recipes use simple, easy-to-find ingredients for spectacular results such as Prosciutto-Wrapped Gnocchis, Sweet Corn Madeleines with Caviar and Crème Fraîche, and Crab and Mango Salad in Apple Cups. Each recipe is accompanied by a lush, full-color photograph of the finished dish.

Whip up a few of these easy Bite Size treats and pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly—it's time to enjoy the party!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28019 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-01
• Released on: 2006-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060887223
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Budding caterers may want to pick up a copy of haute French chef Payard's latest book, for they're the only entertainers who will really be able to use it. With recipes that are stunning but labor-intensive (who wants to be standing over the stove browning tuna wrapped in phyllo while guests are in the living room sipping champagne?), this collection may be best left to those who want to serve but not socialize. Not all of these hors d'oeuvres must be made immediately before serving, however. Ratatouille in Parmesan Cups, for instance, could probably be prepared ahead of time and reheated, and Chilled Tomato Soup with Guacamole is definitely do ahead-able. White Anchovy and Tomato Crostini is a simple, elegant example of southern French cuisine. And as Payard, who has worked in some of the world's greatest kitchens (including Le Bernardin and Daniel in New York) says, Cherry Tomatoes Filled with Goat Cheese are "easy"—that is, once you've scooped out the inside of 20 little tomatoes. Kumamoto Oysters with Yuzu Sorbet and Caviar, Kataifi-Wrapped Scallops with Orange-Mustard Sauce, and Lamb and Tomato Chutney on Cumin Wafers, on the other hand, are probably out of the question for most cocktail party hosts. Photos. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"...shows home cooks how to throw professional-grade parties." (Kirkus Reviews )

About the Author

Francois Payard is a third-generation pastry chef who has worked in some of the world’s greatest kitchens, including La Tour d’Argent in Paris and Le Bernadin and Daniel in New York. In 1997 he opened his own patisserie and bistro to tremendous acclaim.

Francois is the recipient of numerous culinary honors and awards.

Customer Reviews

Superb Miniatures, easy to make. Buy it now!
`Bite Size' by the renowned pastry chef / restauranteur, Francois Payard is a simply delightful book with enough good ideas for a book twice its size and price.

I'm comparing it specifically of Christopher Styler's oversized and under conceived `Working the Plate', a demonstration of about two dozen plating techniques listing at $40, with poor photography and informative but not instructive biographies of `plating technique' notables. While Styler's opus has several good ideas we don't find in other books, it still does not meet expectations.

Payard's book exceeds normal expectations and almost surpasses my standard for books from nationally known culinary artists. While it has a boatload of nifty ideas for appetizers and cocktail parties and nibbles in general, all it's ideas are easily doable by an amateur with a well-equipped kitchen and a modicum of baking skills. In this regard, the book is much more practical than Rick Tramonto's `Amuse Bouche' while offering far more elegant fare than the usual antipasto / hors d'ourves book such as Penelope Casas' `Tapas', Joan Goldstein's `antipasti', or Carol Field's `Italy in Small Bites'. While these are superior books, and are the books of choice if you are interested in following an ethnic theme, Payard's book is the reference of choice if you want to simply impress big time!

It seems as if everything about the book is well conceived. The introductory chapters on `Equipment' and `Speciality Ingredients' are unpretentious, but offer some important little insights into cooking small. My two most interesting finds are the importance of using fine-mesh sieves in preparing small dishes and the fact that mini-muffin pans are the utensil of choice for making miniature tart shells or `tassie' shells. The most interesting ingredients are the ficelle, which is a shrunken baguette and `truffle juice', sold in small cans. I really like the fact that `The Basics' recipes are put in the front of the book rather than in the back. It is so easy to overlook these utility recipes if they are in the back and you are not inclined to snoop around into all the darker corners of a book before starting to cook. While many of these recipes are pretty standard, there are some surprises, such as the `black bread mini burger rolls' made without rye or buckwheat flour!

The four main recipe chapters combine the height of simplicity with the novelty of making cheese a star performer. These chapters are:

Vegetables, 18 recipes, almost all of which represent some new approach to an old standby. While many of the dishes have familiar names or components such as guacamole, Panna cotta, frittata, Caesar salad, mushroom tarts, Madeleines, polenta, risotto, and gnocchi, each and every dish with these components speak of a new take on the old ideas. The vegetable frittata, for example, looks much more like a strata than a frittata, especially since it's baked in a loaf pan. The value to this is that squares cut from the depanned cake are visually much more interesting than the usual eggy wedges cut from a frittata.

Cheese, 10 recipes of familiar dishes all done with a fresh approach. The Greek salad, for example, is served up on a skewer. And, the Parmesan cups (molded Parmesan frico) are filled with a Lilliputian Ratatouille. I confess the cheese sticks and gougeres (cheese puffs) are simply good versions of old standards.

Fish and Shellfish, 24 recipes with plenty of tartares and ceviches (European answer to sushi). It is not surprising that there are more of these recipes than in any of the other groupings, as fishy dishes are the most popular starters. What is more than usually novel in this chapter is the number of `delivery systems' made from fruits and vegetables, such as dried apple slices and radish cups. This chapter also seems to have the most fun with cone-shaped preparations. I'm also tickled by the recipe encrusting scallops with hazelnut and pear puree. Whee! For a little surprise, we also get a salmon version of `Croques Monsieur' with gruyere (contrasted the classic toasted ham and cheese sandwich). While almost all these dishes are relatively easy to make, they will still tend to the expensive, especially if you get high quality, fresh ingredients.

I generally don't find a strong urge to need good color photographs of finished dishes (step by step procedure picture series are a different matter), but for this subject, they add a big advantage to the instruction on how to prepare the dish. As the tip about the fine mesh strainer should warn us, making things small is no easy task. Material has to be diced with greater precision and cooking times are more fussy. So, every main recipe in this book is accompanied by a superior full color snapshot done at close range. And, since you only really need to see one small finished piece, the fuzzy background detracts nothing from the value of the pic.

Best of all, this little gem lists for less than $20. The only drawback of the modest price is that someone may mistake it for a bargain title. While the price is right, the contents are more than just right. They are, like Payard's earlier book, `Simply Sensational...'. It is a perfect companion to Cindy Pawlcyn's book 'Big Small Plates', but if you can have only one, pick Payard.

One of the best
Chef Payard's Bite Size is an amazing cookbook. I owned his previous one, Simply Sensational Desserts and this one was just as good. There is a lot of variety, beautiful pictures and easy step-by-step to follow. I don't understand why some people just give it a bad rating because it's not appealing to them or the ingredients are hard to come by. If you don't like the book return it. And if you want to make pigs in a blanket then buy another book. Your guests will be amazed next time you host a party. Also very helpful is the part telling you how to organize your time when planing a party.

Ab Fab
Francois Payard has put together a dynamo book for appetizers. The recipes are fantastic and the pictures do not disapoint!!!