Workin' More Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter: [A Cookbook] - Hardcover

Trotter, Charlie; Zernich, Sari

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1580086136 ISBN 13: 9781580086134

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 2004

Synopsis

In this follow-up companion to The Kitchen Sessions, Charlie Trotter celebrates the art of cooking, pulling inspiration from the 1950s jazz canon, with over 80 unique, vegetable-based recipes that are both beautiful and accessible. 

In 1956, Miles Davis's legendary quintet went into the studio for a series of marathon recording sessions. The resulting albums, including Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, are among the most influential in the jazz canon. Just over 30 years later, chef Charlie Trotter began staging his own nightly sessions, bringing the art of improvisation into the kitchen of his Chicago restaurant. Trotter continues to take inspiration from the jazz greats, using his mastery of tastes and textures to fashion brilliant, daring culinary compositions out of an ensemble of the finest ingredients.

Trotter's award-winning PBS cooking show, The Kitchen Sessions, first presented the chef's artistry to home cooks around the country, and now he's back with a new 26-part series. In the companion volume, Trotter presents more than 80 recipes, arranged by ingredient themes that are fundamental to his cooking. Trotter sounds off the bass notes of root vegetables and squash in such dishes as Salsify Wrapped with Serrano Ham and Phyllo with Pears and Roasted Endive, and Zucchini and Duck Confit Gratin with Hazelnut Vinaigrette. He celebrates the summer bounty of corn and tomatoes through Halibut with Red Wine-Corn Sauce and Grits, and Tomato Tarts with White Anchovies and Caper Vinaigrette. For the last course, Trotter puts the spotlight on cheese desserts such as Honey Mascarpone Cannoli with Pine Nuts and then presents a generous selection of chocolate- and fruit-based desserts.

WORKIN' captures one of the world's most innovative chefs at the top of his form. Never have the results been more beautiful to behold and accessible to the avid home cook.


   •  The companion volume to the new PBS cooking show Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter, airing nationally beginning in April 2004.


   •  The first Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter won the James Beard Award in 2000 for Best National T.V. Cooking Show, and the companion volume (60,000 copies sold) was named James Beard book of the year in the Chefs & Restaurants category.


   •  Illustrated with more than 40 full-color food photographs and extensive location photography.

About this title

About the Author

CHARLIE TROTTER is the author of 14 cookbooks and three management books and is an eight-time James Beard Award winner. He is the chef and owner of the legendary Charlie Trotter's, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, as well as Trotter's To Go in Chicago. He recently founded C in Los Cabos, Mexico, and Restaurant Charlie in the Palazzo Hotel at the Venetian Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

Reviews

Building on flavor themes with the precision of an architect or musician, Trotter is back with his second book of "Kitchen Sessions," after the resounding success of his first, which won a James Beard Book Award in 2000. Recipes combine the exotic with the ordinary (Beef and Barley Soup with Roasted Red Kuri Squash) or the exotic with the extraordinary (Salmon Roe-Potato Blini with Tobiko Wasabi Crème Fraiche and Osetra Caviar)—but all of them are quite amazing. Trotter organizes his recipes by the foundation layers that form each dish’s base flavor and main ingredient (onions, potatoes, fennel, corn, etc.). Some dishes, like Halibut with Red Wine-Corn Sauce and Yellow Corn Grits, fit into this structure successfully. Others, like Garlic Confit and Morel Ravioli with Red Wine-Olive Sauce, could easily fit into several sections. But even with the occasional recipe misfit, the book’s organization encourages cooks to think conceptually about food and flavors, a goal that few cookbooks achieve. The recipes are long and complex, often with five or more parts that are assembled on the plate: this is restaurant food, not ordinary home cooking. (Though Trotter gives an occasional substitution suggestion, he never explains exactly how to prepare the alternatives, nor does he make any suggestions on how to streamline dishes for home use.) A few techniques, like poaching salmon and tomatoes in olive oil, will delight advanced home cooks. And Jason Smith’s wine notes, included at the end of each recipe, are spot-on. All in all, Trotter has put together a difficult but alluring cookbook, one which fans of his restaurants (including a New York location scheduled to open in spring 2005) and his television show will relish.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580086136
• ISBN 13: 9781580086134
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224