Customer Reviews

Dishing with Style: Secrets to Great Tastes and Beautiful Presentations

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

 

 

Out of all of the new-fangled and (expensive) fancy cookbooks we've been bombarded with over the last few years, FINALLY, Rori Trovato has brought it all home for us in her new book "Dishing With Style."
She's not intimidating readers with what she can do, but rather, with what she knows we can ALL do. From planning an informal get-together, or entertaining the "boss," she's got it all in this book and in a language we can all understand. The pages are filled with beautiful photos of her unique, uncomplicated and non-compromising sense of style.
Forget all of those intimidating "restaurant owners'" cookbooks, with recipes that seem to need an exotic ingredient you've never heard of, or where to get them. This cookbook 's only assumption is that the reader shares the excitement of the simplicity with which great food can be prepared with fun new and different ways of presenting them. I think it gave me faith back in myself of actually being able to make a great meal. It showed me how to present it either "dressed up" or "dressed down" (and it looked like the picture!) Who knew that someone would finally be honest and fun about fabulous food?? I think that this book will become one of the top ten essential cookbooks for any and every kitchen. It's already become a staple in mine. I have already bought 3 for gifts. Pass it on.

As a card-carrying foodie for almost 30 years, I did not find this book to have the "wow" factor I had anticipated. But that being said, I would not hesitate to lend it to my daughter (a pretty good cook just beginning to entertain at home.) I recommend it as a four-star cookbook for two reasons:

First, for those cooks who are progressing from the parsley sprig and lemon slices onto more elaborate presentations, there is a wealth of suggestions to make the transition. Great photos with beautiful color contrasts are enticing and the presentations can be applied to an existing repertoire of recipes. An interesting array of dishes, glassware and bowls add to the visual interest of the food.

Second, the recipes are also interesting and some are very good. I did not find anything that was too difficult, but nothing really too easy, either. Even the more simple recipes have a nice level of flavor-depth.

There is a good range of required skills: From "Shrimp with Basil and Citrus Powder" (easy and quick) to "Vietnamese Sweet Potato-Shrimp Cakes" (complicated and time consuming); "Fennel, Orange and Smoked Salmon with Baby Greens" (easy and quick) to "Steamed Mussels in Pistou Broth with Shoestring French Fries and Aioli" (time consuming), there are choices to be made as to how much time (and money) you want to spend.

The strongest selling point of the book itself, however, is that for many of the recipes, two or three different ways of presentation are offered, allowing the same dish to be served two or three times without being entirely repetitive: A great help to new cooks, adaptability to more formal to more casual presentations and the possibility of offering leftovers in a new mode.

Out of all of the new-fangled and fancy cookbooks we've been bombarded with over the last few years, FINALLY, Rori Trovato has brought it all home for us in her new book "Dishing With Style."
She's not intimidating readers with what she can do, but rather, with what she knows we can ALL do. From planning an informal get-together, or entertaining the "boss," she's got it all in this book and in a language we can all understand. The pages are filled with beautiful photos of her unique and uncomplicated. sense of style.
Forget all of those "restaurant owners'" recipes that seem to need an exotic ingredient you've never heard of, or where to get them. This cookbook 's only assumption is that the reader shares the excitement of the simplicity with which great food can be prepared with fun new and different ways of presenting them. I think it gave me faith back in myself of actually being able to make a great meal.It showed me how to present it either "dressed up" or "dressed down"(and it looked like the picture!) Who knew that someone would finally be honest and fun about fabulous food?? I think that this book will become one of the top ten essential cookbooks for any and every kitchen. It's already become a staple in mine. I have already bought 3 for gifts. Pass it on.

This author is one of the most stylish and honest chefs I've read in a long time. I've bought over 10 cookbooks in the last year, from holiday planning, little noshes to fancy restaurant cookbooks. None of them presents food this way before...the informal and the formal styles of presenting different recipes. Oy, what a concept! I'm vaklempt over this. I sent a copy to my daughter in Manhattan so that when my husband, Ira and I visit, she can cook one of those great recipes for us. (She better do the "dressed up style if she knows whats good for her).
This one definitely "dishes with style" and lots of it. I just can't say enough. Worth every penny.

Thinking to buy something amazing for a culinarian learning, it's barely a "high fashionable cooking magazine" to me.
Doesn't worth its money (I mean, not the original price, but the price it is sold for) at all.

I am in a photography club and an advanced amature photographer. I am encouraged by this book, and really like her style in writing and presentation. I wish I liked to cook. This has helped, but I was hoping to get good info on the technical side to setting up strobes and it does not delve into the subject as much as I wanted.