Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home

The first of Charlie Trotter's books I reviewed was his newest title `Raw'. As it was a potentially misleading title for the readers of one of the most distinguished chef / authors in the country, I gave it a rather cautionary review to be sure no one reading about the book would get false expectations. Since that book did succeed in showing Trotter's brilliance with food, I was anxious to follow up with a review of a much different sort of title from this renowned culinarian. I was not disappointed with what I found in `Charlie Trotter cooks at home'.This book is one of the very best exemplars of the subgenre of cookbooks by celebrity chefs aimed at the home cook. It equals or surpasses titles like those from Tyler Florence, Sara Moulton, Ming Tsai, Tom Colicchio, and Food Network in several ways.First, the book is arranged in a very practical manner, by course and, for entrees, by type of protein. This excellent choice of chapters is enhanced by a complete listing of `recipes at a glance' at the beginning of the book plus a listing of recipes by main ingredient at the end of the book. Excellent features for a cook at home resource.Second, the range of foods used in the dishes is quite familiar to the typical American home cook. There are very few unusual ingredients or unusual flavors. The entrees are divided into a generous number of seafood dishes; fewer but varied poultry (without any exotic game recipes) and a good selection of meat recipes with all being beef, pork, lamb, or veal. There are no exotic game meats here. Entrees finish up with a good selection of pastas and risottos. Similarly, the desserts are neatly divided into sections on soups, sorbets, and granites; tarts, pies, and pastries; and cakes, custards, and puddings.Third, the range of techniques is diverse enough to succeed in broadening the horizons of even an experienced home cook. This is the only place in this type of book where I have seen the author use tomato water, an ingredient which, when I saw it in Paul Bertolli's book made great sense to me and made me wonder why I have not heard more of it. The book includes several examples of low temperature poaching, even for filet of beef. I have not seen this anywhere else except in Jamie Oliver's latest book.Fourth, the first chapter on stock preparation gives very professional recipes. I recommend people following them not try to take any short cuts. This chef knows what he is talking about.Fifth, the entrée recipes often include instructions for preparing a complimentary side vegetable, with instructions for plating the protein and it's side.All the recipes appear to be positively delightful. All techniques are well done, quite good enough for the home cook. The pie and tart pastry techniques, for example, are sound, with all the right cautions about working the dough cold and quick. Unlike a volume like the recent `The Way We Cook', the book has the advantage of speaking with a single voice rather than showing traces of

So far, this is the best 5-star cookbook that I have found for the home chef. There are plenty of great books that cover the basics of equipment and technique, but let's assume you have all that pretty well wired. At the next level, there are notable chef's cookbooks or famous restaurant collections. These feature spectacular recipes, but often rely on impossible-to-find ingredients or commercial-level equipment, making preparation frustratingly difficult. Though these books are often highly educational and usually wonderful and inspiring to look at (my favorites being Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook and Charlie Trotter's restaurant series), they may only contain a handful of recipes that the home chef can pull off reliably."Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home" is different. Here one finds superlative recipes and top-restaurant-quality sensibilities, constrained only by the limits of commonly available ingredients and intermediate to advanced level home chef skills. Last weekend I made the Yellow Squash Soup, the Fennel and Haricot Verts Salad, the Grilled Vegetable `Lasagna' and the Apricot Soup with Vanilla Ice Cream and Almond Shortbread Cookie. I chose the recipes based on the ingredients in my weekly produce box: Yellow Squash, Baby Green Beans, the first cured Garlic and Onions of the season, Yellow Potatoes, and Apricots. (I am a member of a CSA--Community Sponsored Agriculture--I get a box of organic locally grown produce delivered to my home each week from a nearby farm in California called Terra Firma Farm.) The results were simply stunning. Each dish was simple to prepare, yet complex enough in concept to really show off my cooking and the incredible quality of the produce: the hallmarks of fine restaurant cooking.Chef Trotter includes `insights' at the end of each recipe which highlight specific ingredients, techniques, substitutions or other helpful tips which add another dimension of value to this wonderful book. Add to that the sample menus, complete with suggested wine pairings, and the home chef really finds here a resource to help him or her achieve true restaurant quality.The only complaint I have is that there are no pictures of the finished dishes at all. Though Chef Trotter gives fairly detailed plating instructions, it is up to your imagination how the finished dish will be presented to your guests. Also, be prepared for a lot of dirty pots and pans! A number of the ingredients are a recipe within a recipe. With careful planning and some prep work ahead of time, you can pull off a four-course dinner like the one I did, as everything comes together from your mise-en-place just like in a restaurant kitchen. Your guests will appreciate this book as much as you will!I have made many of the recipes in this book, using seasonal fresh ingredients as my guide, and each and every one has been a delight. Charlie Trotter has a way of `brightening' the colors and flavors of foods, and even if you make minor modifications (like using

When you think of Charlie Trotter's, you think of multi-course tasting menu using hundreds of ingredients from all over the world to build multiple layers of tastes and flavors. In this book, he focuses on recipes that he would cook at home and hopefully you will too. While many recipes offer a high degree of complexity, the motivated home cook is capable of preparing these meals. There are two things which I loved about the book. First, he motivated me to make my own stocks (beef and chicken). Why make the effort to prepare a sauce and spoil it with the flavorless, fat-laden broth that comes out of a can? He provides recipes for very good stocks. (I personally recommend freezing stock in Glad freezer ware or making ice cubes of stock and putting it in a freezer bag.) Second, he introduced several interesting cooking techniques such poaching fish in oil and low-temperature slow roasting of salmon. These are interesting techniques to be used to preserve the flavor and texture of the food.The book also helpfully provides 3 to 4 course menus for your next dinner party with helpful wine pairings. With this book in your kitchen, you can't fail to impress your family and friends at your next dinner party.

Trotter's cookbooks are wonderful to read, but on the insane side for the average home gourmet to attempt, what with all those exotic ingredients and multiple techniques. Most of us save those for that out of the ordinary culinary adventure. Here, however, is one that presents gourmet dishes one won't find just anywhere, but with toned down hard to find ingredients and streamlined steps. I made his Chocholate Praline Bread Pudding as one of four Christmas desserts and the guests just kept marveling over how good it was. Spurred on to others, same experience: not overwhelming prep, wonderful, unique results! Let's have more like this, Charlie, besides all your other fine cooking literary output! Gracie!

I was so proud of the meal that I made from this book! My friends said that they felt like they were dining at Charlie Trotter's restaurant! I'm a cookbook junkie, so that also makes me a tough critic. I have 50 or so books that I own, but never cook out of because the recipes are too complex. But Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home was so much fun to cook out of. He really made the recipes easy for the home cook. The photos in this book are very interesting as well. They are not the ordinary food shots of a recipe that you see in every other book. They make you look at food differently, which helps open up your culinary mind as well. This is a great addition to my cookbook collection!