Craft of Cooking: Notes and Recipes from a Restaurant Kitchen

Tom Colicchio, chef/co-owner of New York’s acclaimed Gramercy Tavern, offers inspriation to cooks of any skill level with 140 simple recipes and technical tips.

Realizing that his own culinary style had grown increasingly unembellished, and gambling that New York diners were experiencing that same kind of culinary fatigue (brought on by too much “fancy food”), Colicchio set out to prove that the finest food didn’t have to be the most complicated. So in March 2001 he opened a new restaurant, Craft, that offered diners simple, soulful dishes centered around single ingredients that went on to shake up many people’s ideas of what “restaurant food” should be like.

Craft of Cooking leads you through Colicchio’s thought process in choosing raw materials—like what to look for in fresh fish, or how to choose the perfect mushroom—to show that good food is available to anyone with access to a good supermarket, farm stand, or gourmet grocery. The book also features “Day-in-the-Life-of-Craft” portraits, which offer a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse at areas of the restaurant beyond the dining room. These segments allow you to peer into the fast-paced prep kitchen, to witness the high drama of reservations, and to get a taste of the humor and empathy necessary to serve New York’s colorful visitors and foodies.

Using Tom’s straightforward and friendly voice, Craft of Cooking offers recipes suited to any purpose—from a quick family meal to a festive dinner party for twelve.

TOM COLICCHIO was named Best New Chef by Food & Wine before opening the acclaimed Gramercy Tavern in 1994. He received the 2000 James Beard Award for Best Chef in New York City and for Best General Cookbook in 2001 for his first book, Think Like a Chef. His groundbreaking restaurant, Craft, was awarded three stars by the New York Times and named the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant in America in 2002. The Craft restaurant family has grown to include Craftbar, Craftsteak, and ’wichcraft sandwich shops in New York City, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Colicchio is also the head judge of the hit Bravo reality show Top Chef and an avid lover of sandwiches. He lives in New York City.