Customer Reviews

Cooking with Curtis: Easy, Everyday and Adventurous Recipes for the Home Cook

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Stone has caught this reviewer's attention and admiration via his TLC program. I find him to be an adept chef with great attitude, right mate?

This work seeks to provide for home chefs three recipes for each seasonal ingredient on three levels of difficulty (time, technique, ingredients) from easy to everyday to adventurous. Example here is crab: easy is simple cracked crab seasoned on crusty bread with home-made mayonnaise; everyday is fresh orecchiette with crab and chili; adventurous is Crab, Carrot, and Celeriac Salad with Avocado Cream and Gazpacho.

His choice of seasonal ingredient focus is broad, surprising at times, yet readily available to home chefs. It ranges from scallops to raspberry to rhubarb to champaigne to crab to asparagus to vanilla. There are wide range of menu choices from appetizer to sides to desserts. This is truly a nice selection.

The recipes are mixture of some known (tomato, mozzarella, arugala salad) to very creative (tartare of hand-dives sea scallops with tomato essence and oscietra caviar). Each has good instructions and advice plus sumptuous color photos. The plating is superb! Only unmet desire here is for Curtis to provide wine advice for each dish, which he does on the show and he knows his wines as well. Would have been great to here some of his choices!

Flavors are fresh, refreshing and highlight quality of seasonal ingredients combined with great technique and topnotch plating.

This is truly one to buy, use, give and enjoy. Hope that this is just beginning for this chef, who has become one of my favorite gourmet mates!

I originally bought this book because of all of Curtis' great recipes from his show, Take Home Chef. However, this book was based around "certain" ingredients that I certaintly don't ever use. I feel as most European chefs enjoy (and rightfully so!) their hometown traditional dishes, its not as easy of a transition for an American cook. I am not a fan of rabbit legs, or pig trotters... and that right there is 10 pages. Don't get me wrong some of the other recipes look fabulous. However, if you are an eccentric epicure you would love this book!

I LOVE THE SHOW TAKE HOME CHEF AND WATCH IT FAITHFULLY. IT WOULD ALSO BE GREAT IF THEY MADE A COOKBOOK FROM THE SHOW WITH ALL OF THE RECIPES. CURTIS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE IS BRILLIANT AND CAN COOK ANY MEAL FROM ANY COUNTRY. I BELIEVE THAT IS A GIFT! THERE ARE MANY CHEFS TODAY BUT, NOT ALL CAN DO THAT AND MOST ARE OVER RATED. I HOPE IN THE FUTURE HE GETS THE RECOGNITION HE DESERVES. THIS COOKBOOK WAS GREAT AND CURTIS EXPLAINS ALOT OF THINGS THAT WE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT FOOD AND COMPONENTS TO MAKE UP A MEAL WHERE THEY COME FROM ETC.... IT IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE WRAPPED UP IN ONE. IT HAS RECEIPES FROM EASY TO HARD WITH SOME GREAT PICTURES. CURTIS BEST OF LUCK TO YOU IN THE PRESENT & FUTURE! HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!

A.C.FIDUCIA

I bought this book hoping that its recipes would be like the ones Curtis prepares on Take Home Chef TV series. But a quick glance at the book told me that wasn't the case. Unusual ingredients and a few difficult or time-consuming preparations. As I looked over the recipes more closely, there wasn't a single one I thought I'd actually make. I love the quick but elegant recipes from the show, but this seems more like restaurant recipes. I'm with the other reviewer who said they'd rather donwload the easier recipes from the show's website. Think I'll be taking this one to the used bookstore soon.

I wanted this cookbook because I absolutely love to watch The Take Home Chef on TLC. However Cooking with Curtis is filled with easy recipies as well as more lavish and difficult recipies. The dishes are scrumptious but many recipies include hard to find or expensive ingredients. I prefer to print his easier recipies off of the TLC website.

This is a super cookbook - I enjoy watching Curtis's show on TV and this is a nice companion piece to have. Many of his "show" recipes are in this book and also many surprises. A must have for cook book collectors and fans of Curtis.

I am a huge Curtis Stone fan as a result of The Take Home Chef; I hadn't heard of him before that. His personality, patience and love of cooking comes through loudly and clearly. I love the intro he precedes each recipe with; I always love an insight into the inspiration behind a recipe, or the favorite ways to serve it, all really adds to the experience.

I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but love the organization by season and then ingredient with the variations by "degree of complexity". The only thing that could be better would be to have Curtis standing there in the kitchen with me to infuse his amazing techniques -- he makes everything look so easy and do-able!

If you love cookbooks, you will love this one. Great photos, great writing. Enjoy!

I have had great luck with all of the Curtis Stone recipes I've tried! He makes it so easy! Even a beginner can look like a pro!

Well worth the money, hopes he does another one soon.

I bought this as a gift for my sister who lives out of state. She absolutley loved the book and the recipes. An added bonus for me is that she plans to use these wonderful recipes the next time I visit!