The Short-Cut Cook

The world-famous master chef introduces 250 recipes for easy-to-fix dishes that take only minutes to prepare, including a variety of one-pot meals and multipurpose dishes and menus, with tips on using leftovers

Master chef Pepin ( La Technique ), multiple IACP/Tastemaker Award recipient, has built a considerable reputation on his teaching of classic culinary skills. Forthwith he takes a new approach. Billed as a celebration of "a cuisine that is rewarding without being demanding," this book may shock his fans. Staples here come from cans, bottles, freezer cases and packages; some recipes are eerily reminiscent of back-of-the-box concoctions--borscht made with canned beets; a split pita bread butttered and sprinkled with Parmesan before a run into the toaster oven. Regardless, Pepin achieves his aim: to cook with minimal effort while providing zesty meals. Some recipes call for costly fresh ingredients (lobster, veal chops). More affordable yet still adventurous are black bean hummus with smoked oysters and sour cream, a salad of sardines augmented with ripe tomatoes, and Bartlett pears baked in puff pastry shells. "If something tastes good, it doesn't matter whether it is 'authentic' or prepared 'correctly'--what works, works," Pepin declares. All the same, the audience of working parents who most need fast meals may balk at paying $20 for a cookbook when equally simple-to-fix recipes can indeed be found on the backs of bottles, cans and jars for a song. Author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When Pepin is not creating elaborate recipes like those in his masterful The Art of Cooking ( LJ 10/15/87), he makes simple, but not unsophisticated, dishes like Garlic Salad or Braised Short Ribs in Red Wine. Most of these recipes are quickly prepared or can be made in advance (a few are based on convenience foods--it's somehow disheartening to find that his daughter's favorite cake is frosted with instant pudding and whipped cream); and he includes many imaginative, time-saving tips. With his usual flair, Pepin has come up with dishes undemanding enough to suit the busiest cook, elegant enough for company.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.