Product Description

After nearly two decades of practicing his art, Charlie Trotter has established himself as one of the true visionaries of modern American cuisine. In the past two years alone, Trotter has received the Outstanding Chef and Outstanding Restaurant awards from the James Beard Foundation, and his Chicago restaurant was named best in the world by the Wine Spectator. His first cookbook, published in 1994, broke new ground with its stunning food photography, exquisitely wrought recipes, and deluxe format. With nine books and an award-winning PBS cooking show to his credit, Trotter hasn’t looked back. CHARLIE TROTTER’S MEAT & GAME finds the chef in top form and, like the wines from his restaurant’s renowned cellar, perfectly paired with the feast at hand. Exotic meats like pheasant, duck, wild boar, and venison take their place alongside ever-versatile lamb, pork, and chicken; and such robust fare proves to be the ultimate platform for Trotter’s synthesis of French technique, Asian minimalism, and improvisational verve. Start off with a classic refigured—French Onion Soup with Shredded Pork, Goat Cheese Brie, and Sourdough Croutons—and then segue to a study in color, texture, and aroma with the Smoked Squab with Israeli Couscous–Stuffed Tinker Bell Peppers and Chocolate Vinaigrette. Introduce pleasant hits of spice with a Cumin-Corriander-Scented Lamb Tenderloin, tempered by the cool, tangy finish of a Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce; and for those for whom one way, even two, is never enough, the Foie Gras Five Ways awaits. Whether you put this book to work in the kitchen or admire it with your feet up, just don’t take your eyes off Trotter—you may miss where American cuisine will be tomorrow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230397 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 239 pages

Amazon.com
Charlie Trotter's eponymous Chicago restaurant is one of America's finest. Awarded Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 1999, Trotter has also published a number of cookbooks celebrating his unique cuisine. Charlie Trotter's Meat & Game, a welcome addition to his professional cooking series, follows the approach of the previous books: glamorously oversized and beautifully illustrated with color photos, it presents recipes--100 plus, in this case--that showcase Trotter's remarkable cooking. Most readers will want the book for armchair fantasizing rather than cooking from; the recipes almost uniformly require hard-to-find or costly ingredients (sometimes both) and painstaking preparations. But Meat & Game presents Trotter at his most imaginative; anyone interested in refined and magnificently conceived American cooking will treasure the book.

In chapters devoted to game in all its manifestations--from antelope, boar, and grouse, to hare, partridge, and quail (and including also lamb, pig, rabbit, and duck, among others)--Trotter offers his glorious specialties. These include Sweet-and-Sour Braised Lettuce Soup with Foie Gras and Radishes; Steamed Pheasant Breast with Hen of the Woods Mushrooms, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, and Alba White Truffles; and Roasted Scottish Hare Loin with Green Garlic, Braised Tiny White Leeks, and Caper-Cornichon Egg White Vinaigrette. Trotter offers suggestions for substitutions (Venison with Mole and Cashew Vinaigrette can be made with beef, chicken, pork, or, interestingly, lobster) which, improved practicality aside, offer an expended sense of dish-creation Trotter-style. With wine notes, a section on "basic" preparations such as Shellfish Oil and Dried Pickle Chips, and a glossary, the book revels in a great chef's food dreams, which all can, in imagination at least, share. --Arthur Boehm

About the Author
CHARLIE TROTTER started cooking professionally in 1982, after graduating with a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin. After a four-year period spent working in kitchens all over the globe, Trotter opened his eponymous restaurant in Chicago in 1987. Now one of the world’s premier dining destinations, Charlie Trotter’s was recently named one of the most influential restaurants of the twentieth century by Bon Appétit. Chef Trotter has authored ten books, and his cooking show, Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter, is in its second season on PBS.

Customer Reviews

Amazing
If you live in Chicago and love to cook... this is an amazing book. A lot of the ingredients may seem hard to find but it seems that Treasure Island has all of the items.....

Even if you don't follow the exact recipes you will be inspired....

Give this to your hunter
He/she won't be able to pull off the recipes by him/herself, but you can put them onto some small task .... say, making a plum sauce to dribble over the final product ... to keep them out of your hair while you do the heavy work. In fact, think of these recipes as team projects ... that's probably the only way to get everything to the table at serving temperatures. Your hunter will beam with pleasure. You will be a god/dess in his/her eyes.

Don't try this at home!
Have you ever traveled cross-country to Chicago just to dine at Charlie Trotter's? I have, and it was one of the best meals of my life. This book and the others in the series are great at giving you a feel of what the real thing is like. The pictures are outstanding and the combinations just wow you. But if you think for a moment that any cookbook would allow you to duplicate what Charlie does, you are mistaken. Some cookbooks are for those who want to follow a recipe and duplicate it. This is not one of those. This is for people who want to understand the Chef's unique cuisine and appreciate it for the art that it is.