America's Best Chefs Cook with Jeremiah Tower

This book reprises the Julia Child PBS series with chef Jeremiah Tower taking the place of Ms. Julia in working with a selection of chefs selected by their having won a James Beard award for best chef, best regional chef, or best restaurant, or more than one of the above. Since the selection can in no way be considered all of the very best chefs in the country, I suspect their availability and willingness to participate had a lot to do with the selection.The book delivers a little more than what I expected in that recipes are arranged by course or main ingredient rather than by chef. This means the book is less a chronicle of the PBS series than it is an aid to the reader in finding useful recipes therein. The chapter titles are:Snacks, First Courses, and SandwichesSalads and SoupsPasta, Breads, and GrainsFish and ShellfishPoultry, Rabbit, and Foie GrasMeatsVegetablesDessertsBasic RecipesThe book begins with a one to two page biography of each chef plus a listing of all awards won by their, cooking, their restaurants, or their books. Charlie Trotter is the hands down winner in this category, as he is probably also the best known name among all the chefs in the book. Tower also provides a one to two page sidebar of thoughts on each chef, primarily what it is like to cook in their kitchens. The TV show and Tower traveled to each chef's restaurant in order to tape each episode.Tower also provides all the recipes for the pantry preparations such as stocks, sauces, and doughs. To my lights, the techniques for doing the stocks is fussy enough to get good results but not so fussy as to discourage you from doing it. The chicken and veal stock procedures correctly instruct you to blanch the bones and to discard the blanching water before cooking the bones in earnest. The fish stock recipe very wisely keeps the cooking to less than 30 minutes. Other authorities have stated that a longer cooking time will turn the stock bitter. Let no one think that Tower does not know his stuff and he is not dumbing it down for the amateur chef.Tower is less the writer than he is the chef. I found a few awkward sentences that were not caught by the publisher's copy editors.My favorite thing about books like this is the insight they give to the way great chefs think about ingredients and techniques. Like great athletes whose eye to hand coordination seems almost superhuman or like great chess players who see possibilities in positions which totally escape mere mortals, great chefs seem to be able to compose recipes from an accidental coming together of ingredients as easily as they breathe. This is the premise behind Tom Colicchio's book `How to Think Like a Chef' and it is the mantra that all chefs repeat when they talk about developing their courses for the evening based on what is available in the market that day. Tower gives a few demonstrations of this skill as he provides about 10 percent of the recipes in the book in addition to his contribution of pantry recipes.The

Master Tower has inspired my cooking passion since I was an apprentice in 1986 and for Christmas I recieved New American Classics. I still use Tower techniques in my own restaurant.This book is the best! Not only do we get the master himself, but some of the best chefs in America in cooking harmony. I personally know Frank Stitt, the South's Finest Chef, and love the diversity of flavors and insite this book offers. A master piece from beginning to end. I now have more Tower techniques.Chef Bob VaninganChef/Owner The Chocolate Cottage RestaurantAuthor Cooking in the Deep-South with Chef Bob