Customer Reviews

Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One hundred star chefs provide recipes spread over a couple of pages each. This sounds like an awful idea; especially coupled with the binding and layout that tries to be exclusive, but feels a bit cheap. Howver, the book is actually quite interesting. The chefs are picked by superstar chefs so they are mostly up-and-coming people. When you start looking at the actual dishes presented, they look fresh and really cutting edge. I've had a few of these dishes in other restaurants so this is live diffusion of ideas!

Who should buy this book? Maybe other chefs, who want to copy of get inspiration. Maybe the travelling gourmet who want to know more about rising star chefs and where to eat. I give the book four stars only because a book like this isn't really essential to own and in a couple of years it will be dated. I guess it will serve very well as a time capsule of what was trendy in 2008.

Unlike the previous reviews I really feel that the 100 selected chefs in this book really represent the future "Adrias" "Ramseys" and "Ducasses" of the international food scene for the foreseeable future, many I'm sure, you will hear more and more about. The book is well laid out and a lot of recipes look and sound as if they could actually work, although some are hopelessly restaurant only (unless you have 15K to plop down on an ultrasonic infusion machine:) The choices of the chef panel is really eclectic and diverse, although the inclusion of some of the more lesser known Asian chefs on both the panel and the chosen chefs would only really be relevant and interesting to traditional Asian diners, I would personally liked it if they included more modernized Asian chefs like Yoshihiro Narisawa. It would have lent more relevance to the obviously modern slant most of the chosen represent in their cuisine. Not to slight in anyway traditional Asian cuisine which will always have a place. The same could be said about the more traditional choices by chefs like Alice Waters and Fergus Henderson. Just my opinion. Very inspirational for working chefs and a great feature of the immense talent that is coming out from all corners of the globe. The book is also a great deal considering it's content length and reasonable price. Though I find the Maypole like inclusion of bookmarks a little annoying. Two or three would have sufficed.

If you're not a working chef I don't know this book is particularly helpful. I turn to this book when I have a question in mind, it's the moment in recipe written where you ask, "yeah but how can I do that?" This is when this book comes into my everyday life. What makes this book the one I turn to first is that you are instantly exposed to the paradigms and techniques of so many chefs. It's not the world of one mind, this ups my chances for finding that nugget of knowledge I need. This book never sits on my shelf for long. Phaidon always puts out wonderful publications of heirloom quality, this one is no exception.

COCO: 10 WORLD-LEADING MASTERS CHOOSE 100 CONTEMPORARY CHEFS examines modern culinary movers and shakers from all corners of the globe, from a cafe in Taipei and a sandwich shop in Portland Oregon to a mobile ice cream van in London. The 100 chefs chosen for this book have created inventive cuisines with new techniques as well as creating traditional dishes with fresh, local produce, and packs in recipes, menus, and chef reflections in a pick especially recommended for culinary collections.

This is a very unique cookbook. Showcasing 100 "up-and-coming" chefs, selected by 10 leading world chefs, each is a brief snippet of what the chef does and why they were chosen. Each includes just a couple recipes and a smattering of photographs. The range of cuisine is impressive and perhaps is the understated greatness about this book. There is everything from the cutting edge modernist cuisine to traditional, rustic classic cookery.

In one sense, this isn't really a cookbook. Sure, there are recipes, but like another reviewer said, this is in many ways a time capsule of the gastronomic world in 2008. Yet it is still inspiring for cooks and chefs, giving fresh ideas of what is good and what makes sense. No chef will glean something from every one of the 100 chefs in this book. Some do incredible scientific cooking, while others do traditional sushi, while others make liver mousses or sausages.

Given the relatively low price of this book, it's still a great buy, especially for young cooks. If you know a young cook who's just a few years into the field, get them this book. Not many will actually cook out of this, but it is still inspiring and creates an appreciation for the various styles of cooking that exist today.

I love the photography and I enjoyed reading about some of the masters of cooking. The artfulness of the food presentation is lovely. Though I am not usually daunted by novel ingredients, the recipes were predominantly, pretty esoteric for me, plus there is no metric conversion. Others may find this exciting and inspiring. I found it not enough for the money spent.