Product Description

America's leading authorities on ten influential cuisines offer a master class on authentic flavors and techniques from around the world
Today's professional chefs have the world to use as their pantry and draw freely on a global palette of flavors. Now Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page bring together some of the foremost culinary authorities to reveal how to use different flavors and techniques to create a new level of culinary artistry. Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Paula Wolfert, and many others share the foundations of ten influential cuisines:
* Japanese
* Italian
* Spanish
* French
* Chinese
* Indian
* Mexican
* Thai
* Vietnamese
* Moroccan
Packed with information, ideas, and photographs that will inspire every cook, The New American Chef shares a mouthwatering array of nearly 200 authentic recipes, including Honey Spare Ribs from Michael Tong of Shun Lee Palace, Gazpacho Andaluz from Jos? Andr?s of Jaleo, and Steamed Sea Bass with Lily Buds from Charles Phan of The Slanted Door.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160668 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-22
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.13" h x 7.76" w x 9.54" l, 2.75 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Dornenburg and Page (Chef's Night Out; Becoming a Chef) collaborate successfully once more, bringing together the international inspirations that today's chefs draw from. As unusual, often imported ingredients become more readily available, the authors believe that "there is an exciting opportunity for experimentation and exercising creativity. On the other hand, experimentation-particularly in the hands of an inexperienced chef-can be disastrous." Dornenburg and Page address this problem by bringing together 10 fundamental international cuisines in one handy volume. Drawing on the knowledge of the leading exponents of each fare, and liberally sprinkling in quotations, they distill these styles, ingredients and techniques into a philosophy that can guide the chef or the inspired home cook to produce authentic results. Whether focusing on Japanese or Moroccan cuisines, the authors call for advice upon the likes of such notables as Paula Wolfert, Rick Bayless and Daniel Boulud, who provide not only their expertise but also their recipes. Each section is divided into the fundamentals, including a culinary map, flavor palette, ingredients and techniques as well as a suggested reading list from cookbook shop notable Nach Waxman, before finishing with several timeless recipes that provide a basic repertoire. Most recipes require a certain level of knowledge and competence, but some, such as the clean-tasting Gazpacho Andaluz and vibrant Chicken Tangine with Prunes, are within reach of any cook. The finished work is deceptively thorough, but it works better as a guide to the values, tastes and methods that form each cuisine than as a recipe book.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
The best books are written with a crystal-clear purpose in mind, and Beard Award-winning writers Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (BECOMING A CHEF, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT) have really honed in on a crucial subject for THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF.
Their analysis of the current culinary situation hits the nail on the head. "Whereas a young professional cook may have had the opportunity in years past to develop a solid grounding in classic technique (most frequently French) before branching off into multiethnic experimentation, today the same cook has to work from day one with an extraordinarily wide variety of ingredients and techniques," they write. "The widespread availability of international ingredients has outpaced our ability to assimilate them into our daily cooking. This represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for the New American chef."
Few full service restaurant operators or, especially, restaurant critics would argue against Dornenburg's and Page's thesis.
This book is designed to fill the ever-widening information gap. And while it seems like an impossibly large topic to cover, this clever duo devised a format that distills the essentials of 10 influential cuisines (Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese) into digestible lessons for the reader.
Each chapter begins with a lengthy profile of a particular country's cuisine, with key fundamentals spelled out via interviews with respected chefs and cookbook authors. Then come recipes (one hundred in all for the book) that enable the reader to tackle the lessons just learned. Dozens of celebrity chefs dot the roster of contributors.
"We've narrowed down the gist of what you need to know about each cuisine in order to retain its spirit in your cooking," Dornenburg and Page say. "In thirty pages per cuisine, we can make you feel like you have just taken an immersion course in that cuisine and our experts will enable you to better reproduce its food and its spirit in your kitchen."
What a godsend. This book will be of value to just about anyone who works in the back of the house or write a menu cooked there. (Restaurant Hospitality, December 2003)

"The New American Chef...explores flavors and techniques in the words of the chefs themselves" —Gael Greene (New York, December 22, 2003)

From the Inside Flap
"With American enthusiasm, these new ‘lions in the kitchen’ are elevating cooking to a level never attained before in this country."
– JACQUES PEPIN

Bursting with insights and recipes from an unprecedented collection of America’s leading culinary authorities, The New American Chef is the first book to share the secrets of cooking with the vast array of global ingredients and techniques at the fingertips of today’s chefs and cooks.

The "incisive, hip writing team" (Publishers Weekly) of Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, winners of the James Beard Award for Best Writing on Food for Becoming a Chef, has brought together dozens of top chefs and cookbook authors–including Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Julie Sahni, Nina Simonds, Paula Wolfert, and many others–to reveal the essence of ten popular and influential cuisines:

• Chinese
• French
• Indian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Mexican
• Moroccan
• Spanish
• Thai
• Vietnamese

Each inspirational chapter reveals a fundamental lesson that one of these cuisines has to offer, whether it’s procuring the best ingredients (Italy), balancing strong flavors and aromatics (Thailand), or using spices (India) and chiles (Mexico) with skill and artistry. Best of all, there are more than 100 recipes to practice and savor–including Gazpacho Andaluz from Jose Andres of Jaleo, Rock Candy—Ginger Short Ribs from Michael Tong of Shun Lee Palace, and Vanilla Flan from Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill. Throughout, Michael Donnelly’s exquisite photographs transform the book into a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

A groundbreaking book comprising a virtual around-the-world cooking school, The New American Chef will make anyone a better cook–no matter what’s on the menu.