Kitchen Table: Brennan's of Houston

This book won a gold medal in the cookbook category at the 2007 Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York City with good reason. The photographs are beautiful and the special "education" sections about various ingredients and processes are extremely informational- they don't bind you to the recipes in the book (which are outstanding!) and allow you to learn about cooking and food in a fun way. I highly recommend this book for home chefs and food lovers alike. Chef Randy and Kathryne Castellanos did an outstanding job in producing this book- it is a must have for any kitchen! Brennan's of Houston had a catastrophic fire on September 13th of this year during Hurricane Ike. The restaurant was destroyed and two people ( a father and his four-year-old daughter were severely burned). The photographs in the book which show the restaurant are obsolete. This book will become highly collectible due to the fact that restaurant no longer exists (it was built in the early 1900's) . I am soooo glad I have this great cookbook!

First off if you love Brennan's you are going to love this cookbook. With that being said if you are looking for the recipe for their pralines, or the banana's foster, you need to look at one of their other cookbooks because this book isn't filled with the traditional recipes that we all know and love Brennan's for. This book was lovingly created, and has many unique recipes. Recipes contained in this book are those that you would expect to find in a finer dining establishment. Satsuma orange jelly, warm spinach salad, Heirloom tomato salad, are just a few of the recipes in this book. The book contains a good selection from all courses of dinner; meats, baked goods, vegetables, and additional items to make a meal complete. There are photos of each and every recipe, the photos make you want to go into the kitchen and start cooking immediately. While many of these recipes are very good, I had personally expected this to have more items I would see on the menu. One of the appeals of Brennan's is its classic standards that you come to enjoy. This book contains none of these recipe, but it does contain other good recipes that an adventuresome cook would enjoy making.

My wife and I purchased this book at a local book signing in Houston a few months ago. We have since prepared meals with about 10-12 recipes from this book. They have all been superb. Randy's recipe for chateaubriad is absolutely incredible. The recipe for Lyonaise potatoes is wonderful. The crawfish piquant recipe is outstanding. Overall it is a very attractive cookbook and the photography is superb. I do recommend this fine book.