Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking In New York City [Hardcover]

Daniel Boulud (Author), Peter Kaminsky (Author), Martin H.M. Schreiber (Photographer), Herve Amiard (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2002

An inspiring look behind the scenes at one of the great restaurants of New York City, and indeed of the world: Daniel. We follow Daniel Boulud, one of the most renowned chefs of our time, through an average day: his breakfast meeting with his staff, discussions with suppliers delivering fresh fish and meat, and a visit to the neighborhood farmer's market, where he picks out the best seasonal vegetables offered that day. This lavishly illustrated volume is both a cookbook (with 100 recipes) and a celebration of a chef and his restaurant. The book provides an intimate, backstage tour of the restaurant and illustrates how Daniel Boulud prepares his impeccable menus, selects the wines, and chooses the flowers - whether it's a romantic dinner for two or a party for 50. This practical yet inspiring book will transport you into the mind of a superb chef and bon vivant. Packed full of easy but impressive recipes, menus, amusing photos and anecdotes from the restaurant's life, this book will appeal to both serious cooks and to those "gourmands" who would prefer to have 3-star chefs cook for them in glamourous surroundings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Boulud is the acclaimed 4-star chef-owner of three New York City Restaurants: Daniel, Cafe Boulud and DB. He is also the author of Cooking With Daniel Boulud and Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud Cookbook. Laurence Vetu-Galud is an artistic director and photographer who has worked for a variety of magazines in the U.S. and Europe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Assouline Publishing (October 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2843233704
• ISBN-13: 978-2843233708
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #386,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars as fun as it is inviting, December 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking In New York City (Hardcover)

I admit I enjoyed a voyeuristic pleasure from the behind the scenes peek the book offers of daily life at Boulud's restaurant.
The chef seems so fun and fast moving and like he's actually daring you to read on and try a recipe. In the very least, I know I'll try to recreate one of the yummy sounding staff meal dishes. As for the beautifully illustrated eight course tasting menu I guess I'll just read longingly - or - go ahead and make reservations.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't try these at home kids, just enjoy the glorious ride., April 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking In New York City (Hardcover)

At first glance many of the recipes in this book appear surprisingly complex,in fact the kinds of dishes only professional chefs would prepare in a world class restaurant kitchen. As you flip the pages, you realize this is the whole point. This lively book is, in fact, meant to be a glimpse into the kitchens and wine cellars and dining rooms of Daniel Boulud's three NYC restaurants. The photo journalistic approach has gives you the impression you are watching a documentary about life behind the scenes in these wonderful fairy tale like places where every hors d'oeuvre, soup, terrine, entree, dessert, petits fours, etc, etc is the result of complex preparation, incredible attention to detail and the font of creativity and spirit that are conjured up beind the scenes by master chef, Daniel Boulud.

If you're looking for great recipes by Daniel Boulud that you can actually and easily cook at home, try "Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook" or his more recent "Daniel's Dish". It's clear from these that the chef has as great a talent for the simple as for the sublime. The former will be a joy to try for your next dinner party the latter are better left to Boulud and his brigade of 40 or more cooks. Vive la difference !

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Expensive, for too small a portion, November 1, 2003

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking In New York City (Hardcover)

This book may look like a work of culinary photojournalism, being a chronicle of a day in the life of Chef Boulud at his three Manhattan restaurants. While the book has some of the ingredients which would comprise such a work, it is actually a book of recipes from his three restaurants hung on a rather thin framework of the day in the life of a major restaurant kitchen.
The framework text can be read in less than an hour and contains several errors in punctuation and word usage which a copy editor should have corrected. The design of the text presentation is equally poor. There are shifts in font to signify changes in topic or voice. Some pages of text look like something out of Alice in Wonderland or Monty Python with staggered letters and words and poor choices of text / background color contrasts. Very difficult to read, what little of it there is.
As in some other recipe books I've seen, a minority of the photographs display the food and it's preparation while the majority of the photographs show restaurant workers and celebrity friends of Chef Daniel hamming it up for the camera.
This leaves the recipes. In 234 pages, there are a scant 80 recipes, all of which are presented as being from one of Boulud's restaurants, and, most are indeed recipes one would not likely make at home. There is a high incidence of unusual and expensive ingredients such as pig's head, and some downright bizarre, such as piballes worms. Many of the recipes are also very long in the preparation. Unlike every other cookbook I have reviewed up until now, I did not bother to actually make any of the recipes therein, as it was apparent that except for a few, mostly breads and desserts, these were not the kind of dishes the average person would make, even for entertaining. (This is not typical of restaurant cookbooks, as I find no difficulty making many of the recipes in Mario Batali's Babbo cookbook.) A good case in point is the db hamburger made with truffles, foie gras, and comfit, oh my.
Most recipes include a wine recommendation giving a specific vineyard and year, about which I can have no opinion except that it does nothing to enhance the value of the book for me. A type of wine such as `chardonnay' or `merlot' would have been quite good enough. I will give a small nod to their wine recommendation of `beer' for some of the dishes.
The book includes a list of sources, a requirement for these recipes with many unusual ingredients.
In all, I think the only value to purchasing this book is if one wishes to dine at one or more of Daniel Boulud's restaurants often and wish to know what goes into his stuff or, if one wishes to create a restaurant menu very similar to Boulud's fare. One may find some value to looking through this book at a library if one wants to research variations on a particular recipe.
In sum, recipes may be good, but there are too few and the presentation is poor. Other restaurant / celebrity chef books do much better.