Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62756 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781554700905
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

This is an eye opener for all home cooks.
As a home cook, things were simple and fulfilling.

I opted to purchase this book to see what makes a 3 star Michelin service. I was pleasantly surprised that Gordon Ramsay had the same (relatively) approach. Simple, fantastic food. This book opened my eyes to making simple dishes into what he has made fantastic food.

I do have this warning: THIS IS NOT FOR THE NOVICE COOK.

However, for the conditioned chef/cook, this has really openened my eyes, nose, and tongue for the intricacies that make a Michelin 3 star chef. Be prepared to prep chicken, veal, fish, stock the night before, however you will not only understand why sous chefs report at 7am the day of service, but you will benefit from the taste that all of that effort takes.

AGAIN NOT FOR THE NEW COOK.

There are only a few instances where a genious will let us glance into his notebook, and this is it. So for you cook's who want to expand your repetoire, GET THIS BOOK! Even if you don't like the recipes, you'll undoubtedly get ideas to make your home cooking miles from what it is now.

5 Stars on Amazon, a definite 3 stars for Michelin.

Happy Cooking.
FJV

Three-Star Cooking: It's the Most Dangerous Thing I Know
In what might be the best cookbook of the year, Gordon Ramsay's Three Star Chef may be less a cookbook, and more simply a coffee table book for the foodie. These recipes are not for the inexperienced home cook. They are complex and detailed, requiring a firm knowledge of not only kitchen basics, but also an intermediate skill base and presentation experience. The many oversized full page illustrations turn are what makes this book feel more like a high-end art book, whose subject is food, and not a cookbook ready to be propped up on the counter, to be splashed with sauces as you whip up a dinner for the family. Ramsay's quote on the back cover is "People say that three-star cooking is safe, but it isn't. Its the most dangerous thing I know." This book reflects that, with dishes that require that can very easily go wrong, and yet have been on the menu at his restaurants for many years and are the basis for the multitude of Michelin stars he has earned. And, none of this should serve as a warning for you not to purchase the book, for yourself or for someone else. For yourself, its a challenge, making you work at being a better cook, even if for only one three star recipe. For someone else, its a complement, telling them that you think they can rise to the challenge. Either way, its a book that will be shown off, poured over, and discussed with other food obsessed chefs, amateur or otherwise.

Half cookbook, half shrine
Where to begin?

This book is truly a coffeetable book; at over 13 inches in height, it won't fit on any of my book shelves (and I own Peterson's "Cooking", which does.)

Literally the first half of the book (128 out of 256 pages) consists of photographs of food, photographs of Gordon Ramsay, photographs of Gordon Ramsay touching food and quotes by and about Gordon Ramsay. Well, the book *is* named "Three Star Chef", not "Three Star Food".

The second half of the book consists of 50 recipes: 16 appetizers, 17 entrees and 17 desserts, followed by a section called "Basics" which describes the procedures for making assorted stocks, sauces, purees, etc.

Another reviewer of this book asserted that it is not for the novice cook. This is something of an understatement. Let me give you a sense of what is involved in the production of what I consider one of the most approachable of the entrees, the roasted filet of beef with a truffle and root vegetable infusion:

This dish is composed from five elements: braised shank of beef, a clarified stock (made from the beef shank), vegetable garnish, beef filet, and a truffle and root vegetable infusion. The braising of the beef shank takes several hours, after which the meat is shredded and flattened into very thin wafers which are refrigerated overnight. The stock from the braise is then reduced and clarified. The vegetable garnish is simply blanched. The beef filet is pan-seared then oven-roasted. The truffle and root vegetable infusion is created by simmering the vegetables in the clarified stock and straining. The braised beef wafer (warmed to room temperature), the vegetable garnish, the beef filet and the infusion are then plated and served.

None of the ingredients in the dish are particularly hard to find if you live in or near a decent-sized city (or are willing to mail-order truffles.) None of the techniques described would strain the abilities of the experienced home cook. The directions provided are clear and unambiguous (there are exceptions in other recipes: tomato petals are what, precisely?) The recipes have been sized for a small group (4-6 servings in this example.) I think the dish described here is still a bit daunting unless you happen to have a sous chef or two hanging around.

This motif, the assembly of several complex elements into a highly refined dish, permeates every recipe in the book, making the appetizers and the desserts even more daunting than the entrees for the solo cook. The idea of such a cook attempting to make an appetizer, an entree and a dessert from this book for the same meal strains the imagination. If you are capable of accomplishing that, even spread over a couple of days, then I salute you.

The four-star rating resulted from the deduction of two stars for all of the fluff at the front of the book and the return of a star for the "Basics" section.

If you're looking for a cookbook of simple recipes, this is not the book for you. If you're interested in finding out how one of the world's best chefs designs a dish, it might be.