Alinea by Grant Achatz Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $35.18 You Save: $24.82 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $34.09 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Alinea
Book Review: An amazing book from an amazing chef
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm only a home cook, and only recently have begun to try to cook more gourmet foods of the type that can be found at restaurants like Alinea. I loved when I got to go to Alinea -- the food was not form over function, as molecular gastronomy is stereotyped, but rather a great feast.
I enjoyed the restaurant enough that I would have been happy had most of the recipes proved impossible -- this type of cookbook is often more about inspiration than actual recipes to use at home.
The Alinea cookbook is high quality, and a lot of attention to detail was put into the cookbook. It's large and heavy, and so a little difficult to use at times in the kitchen (I often photocopy a page before making a recipe, because I know I will splash ingredients all over it). To date, I've attempted and succeeded at creating several different recipes (with slight modifications for unobtainable ingredients) -- they worked fantastically, and were surprisingly not very difficult.
Other recipes are too impractical to perform exactly as printed, and the book acknowledges this. For example, you could use regular flavorful mushrooms rather than truffles for the dish Hot Potato, Cold Potato. Alternatively, you can take pieces of some dishes and combine with pieces of other dishes. From what I understand, Achatz didn't necessarily intend people to be trying to make every dish exactly as printed.
If you've been to the Alinea restaurant or love experimenting with new flavors and techniques, you should get this book -- it's a great addition to the relatively short list of molecular gastronomy cookbooks. Obviously, if you're not a fan of molecular gastronomy or of Alinea, you should avoid it.
Book Review: An incredible book, don't write it off as too complex
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't get discouraged at the complexity of some of the recipes in this book. Achatz and his team use a lot of agar agar and gelatin in their methods, both of which can be found at the grocery store. Many of the food additives which sound scary at first can be found quite easily online, and you can oftentimes get free samples which will be more than enough to experiment with.
This book is an amazing testament to the highest standard of American cooking at the moment. Like the French Laundry book, finesse and attention to detail are what sets the Alinea book apart from all the rest. The fact that we now have some access into their kitchen is awesome, so try out some of the recipes, I'm sure you'll be amazed.
Book Review: Astounding and inspirational
Summary: 5 Stars
After eating at Alinea last year I was left with so many questions. I am a chef as well and after attempting to re-create some of the elements from dishes I enjoyed at Alinea I was overjoyed when this book was first announced. It is not likely that most people who purchase this book will ever reproduce a single recipe let alone attempt to execute an entire tasting menu, but the amount of inspiration and ideas which can be found here is amazing. I bought this book more to satisfy my curiosity than for any other reason and Alinea has done so much more than satisfy that curiosity. Many of the ideas are executed so much more simply than I ever imagined.
As for the book itself, The essays which open the book are a must-read, they set the entire tone for how to approach what might otherwise be an extremely overwhelming cookbook. The organization is simple and coherent with the recipes organized into four seasonal tasting menus. There is also at least one gorgeous photo of every completed dish. However, there are so many unique ingredients in the book that a membership [...] is a must if you hope to find sources for these not nearly as exotic as they sound items (most are commercial food additives found in nearly any packaged product in your supermarket).
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in elevating their cooking to a new level. The ideas and techniques presented here will help you to recreate old favorites in an entirely new way.
Book Review: Awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
this is what the culinary world has been waiting on is cutting edge stuff from a cutting edge chef- Awesome!Book Review: BUY THIS BOOK AND U NEVER REGRET IT
Summary: 5 Stars
JUST THE MOST VALUABLE AN AMAZING BOOK IN MY LIFE. JUST TOO CHEAP FOR THE CONTENT, LIKE MORE THAN 1000 RECIPES FOR 100 WORLD CLASS DISHES.. AMAZING. UNBELIEVEABLE