The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table Hop Like a Pro (Almost) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Just a typical Jewish law student who returned to New York to study playwriting, Roberts forsook torts and all things dramaturgical for tarts and all things culinary. In order to better share his discoveries and enthusiasms, he eventually launched a Web site—amateurgourmet.com—replete with recipes, marketing and cooking tips, restaurant reviews and overall winsomeness. Here, in 10 short essays, and with the same charming voice, he offers simple (perhaps even simplistic) lessons from his own journey out of fast food and microwave captivity to the Promised Land of Foodiedom. From basic tomato sauce to a feast for 10, he guides the way through a series of culinary adventures and exhorts the kitchen novice toward the same discoveries, surprises and challenges. This is not really a cookbook or a memoir so much as a kitchen travelogue or series of essays on culinary attitude adjustment, and Roberts has such lightness of spirit that even proficient gourmands may be tempted to seek again the stance of a rank beginner in order to experience anew a perfectly cooked tomato sauce or dinner for one in Paris. There are recipes, mostly cribbed from other cookbooks, but the book's primary feature is its delight in learning something new. (Aug. 28)
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Review

"The Amateur Gourmet is Adam Roberts' witty, engaging account of how he went from being a frozen-pizza-eating law student to a passionate home-cook and food writer. For anyone seeking to venture beyond toaster meals into the pleasurable world of sauteeing and braising, Roberts is the perfect guide." —Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook

“If you think foodies take themselves too seriously, you'll love tagging along as Adam embarks with his friends on one challenge after another on the road to gourmet-hood. This is a funny, helpful companion for anyone who's ever felt intimidated by the world of fine food.”—Clotilde Dusoulier, author of Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen

"Adam Roberts is a delightful and compelling new voice in the food world. I'm a fan of his blog and am amazed to see how effortlessly and well his exuberant sense of food and cooking and the world translate to actual pages. What great company he is!"—Michael Ruhlman, author of Charcuterie and The Reach of a Chef

“Any one who's ever understood that eating well and living well go hand in hand will relish this tale of one man's personal food awakening. With humor and moxie, Roberts dives headfirst into the captivating world of food—from marketing to cooking to dining—to discover invaluable life lessons about appetite, culture, love and doing dishes. "—Molly Stevens, author of All About Braising

"Adam Roberts shares his step-by-step pursuit of becoming a true 'gourmet' with his inimitable wit and hard-won wisdom. From prepping pasta to dealing with the last dirty dish (and everything edible in between) follow Adam’s cleverly crafted journey from being an awkward amateur to a full-fledged culinary connoisseur." —David Lebovitz, author of The Perfect Scoop and The Great Book of Chocolate

“Adam's book is a knockout—great reading and great fun, packed with good ideas, even for an old time cook like myself. I love his failures and his triumphs. I love his good clear directions and his joy in discovering himself through food.” —Marsha Norman, playwright

“Sweet and smart and generously spirited, The Amateur Gourmet is a funny, honest gustatory coming of age saga. Like a lot of us who write about food, Adam Roberts discovered that the pleasures of the table and the kitchen really can save your soul.” —Ed Levine, founder of seriouseats.com

“Adam Roberts, the self-styled kitchen novice behind the popular blog amateurgourmet.com.... has become a sort of Rachael Ray for young foodie urbanites.”–Boston Globe

“Charming.... A kitchen travelogue.... The book’s primary feature is its delight in learning something new.”—Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553804979
• ISBN-13: 978-0553804973
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #41 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Gourmet
  #95 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > Essays

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amateur Goes Pro, October 11, 2007

By	Mr. William L. Burge IV "stlbites.com" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My first impression after reading Adam D. Roberts' new book The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table Hop Like a Pro (Almost) was not kind. Without getting into the details let us just say that I was unimpressed with its length and my ability to read it while multitasking just four times. At $25 its 216 pages of giant font did not spell value.

Had I liked it, I might point you to the fabulous chapter in which he attempted to get his friend to appreciate the glory of coffee and olives. His clever tactics to trick her into thinking they were, at the very least not-half-bad, would serve many of us well as we poke and prod our friends and relatives to try new things.

Or perhaps I would comment on Roberts' engaging sense of humor. More than any author I can recall his personality leaps from each page. Without actually having met him his openness regarding every facet of his life makes me feel as though I would probably know him better than members of my own family.

But, I did not like the book as I could not help but wonder why we needed it in the first place.

Adam D. Roberts' you see is a blogger. He is (go figure) The Amateur Gourmet. He has a large following of adoring fans in the online food community, and that was my issue with the book. I am one of those fans, and for those of us that read his blog each week, there is nothing dramatically different about this book than one of his longer posts. His personality which makes his web page such a success is obviously there, but do to the formality of a book, he loses a bit of the eccentricity that is the secret to his success.

This one time however, I will admit I was wrong. I have realized in the month since finishing the book that while I personally did not need it, there are millions of Americans who do.

This book is not for people like me that discovered food long ago and are already fans of his blog. It is for the people who do not know who Adam D. Roberts is. It is for the people that grew up in families where nobody cooked and the question was always "where do you want to go" instead of "what do you feel like making?" But more importantly, it is for the channel surfer eating a micro waved dinner who stops just long enough on the Food Network to think to themselves "that looks good. I wonder if I could make that?"

Roberts thinks you can, believing if he can do it, anyone can.

By that standard this book is a huge success as Roberts' takes you through his adventures like making his first tomato sauce, shopping at the farmers market, and learning how to dine with Ruth Reichl.

While it does contain some recipes it is not a cookbook, and while the title might lead one to believe some cooking skills will be taught, mostly it is a memoir encouraging people not to be afraid of the food world because it is exciting, and it is for everyone.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting book arises from a very funny blog, November 2, 2007

By	Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Adam Roberts has written a charming and an educational book, high on charm for long time foodies, high on education for wannabe foodies, and a bit of both for either audience. Robert's journey loses a bit in translation from a blog to a book; the videos add a tremendous amount of life to the blog, and some of his passion seems to be dampened by editorial constraints in the book.

I enjoy his light hearted approach to cooking and enjoying food. He encourages people to try new things, not just new foods, but new cooking techniques as well.

His essay on making tomato sauce was worth the price of the book. He helps his friend Lauren make her first sauce, and riffs on cooking, eating and life as she goes through the process, from buying Spanish onions to chopping them up, and more. Extract:

"Tomato sauce represents everything I like about cooking. First of all, I like the infinite variations on a theme -- if you simmer tomatoes in a pot for thirty minutes you'll have a sauce. You can make that sauce with butter or olive oil or pork fat; you can make it with onions or garlic or shallots; you can make it with fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes; you can use fresh basil and thyme or dried basil and thyme or any combination thereof. In my cookbook collection alone there are at least thirty recipes for tomato sauce.

"Second, making tomato sauce rewards attention to detail. The more you make it, the better you'll get at it. The first time you might, say, add the garlic too soon and it may turn too brown; next time you'll know to add it a little while after the onion. You'll discover that squeezing the tomatoes submerged in their own liquid will prevent you from squirting yourself in the eye. You'll know precisely when the sauce is done and how much salt to add.

"Finally, making tomato sauce is like meditating Italian style: you stand there over the stove, stirring softly and fanning the smells toward your face, and you feel a deep sense of inner peace. That is, until the phone rings.

"'Okay,' says Lauren. 'I have my ingredients. I have water boiling for the pasta. Now tell me: how do I chop an onion?'

"You'll discover as you cook more and more that the tasks you once found difficult you now take for granted. Lauren's inexperience reminds me of where I was just three years ago. Chopping an onion is one of the easiest things to do and should be a cinch to explain over the phone."

Read on, and find out just how "easy" [NOT] it would prove to be.

In June 2007 Mario Batali mounted an attack on food bloggers: "But blogs live by different rules. Many of the anonymous authors who vent on blogs rant their snarky vituperatives from behind the smoky curtain of the web. This allows them a peculiar and nasty vocabulary that seems to be taken as truth by virtue of the fact that it has been printed somewhere. Unfortunately, this also allows untruths, lies and malicious and personally driven dreck to be quoted as fact."

Adam Roberts made a strong counter argument on his blog: "Because of our varying voices, our palpable passions, and--most importantly--our lack of editorial control, we are the distant drums in the distance growing closer and closer, our torches waving, our laptops poised for posting. Mario will disagree, but I think food blogs are the best thing to happen to food journalism in a long time. To quote a friend and mentor: we are the future."

Roberts's reply evinces the passion of his online persona, something that is only hinted at in The Amateur Gourmet. Nonetheless, book or blog, there's much to like here.

Robert C. Ross 2007 2008

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Less like a Cookbook, More like Life Lessons - and an Enjoyable Read Either Way, August 30, 2007

By	Jaclyn Vesci - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Adam D. Roberts writes each chapter of The Amateur Gourmet in the form of a short story which reveals separate lessons in planning, creating, executing, sharing, and savoring a meal. The stories explain how Roberts overcame common anxieties that keep reluctant gourmets out of the kitchen and continuing to make reservations or microwave frozen dinners. While the book contains recipes and gives some instruction on shopping for and creating the suggested dishes, I found that the most important lesson was one of encouragement to take on new challenges that bring excitement into your life.

Roberts made me understand how the culinary experience - at each stage from the selection of ingredients to cleaning your plate - enhances life by encouraging an open mind, knowledge of oneself, a healthy affinity for risk taking, and a passion for your work. I will have to go elsewhere for step-by-step cooking instructions, but this book was a welcome introduction to "good eating and good living."

If you enjoy this book, I would also recommend Keith Ferrazzi's Never Eat Alone, which is about personal and professional networking and not about cooking. However, the chapters also read like short stories, the lessons stay with you, and both books encourage immediate action by exciting the reader with possibilities for the future.