Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens [Paperback]

Jennifer Schaertl (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2010

If you think gourmet meals in crappy little kitchens is an oxymoron, think again!

In her debut cookbook, Jennifer Schaertl tackles the myths about gourmet cooking (you don't need expensive cutlery and a gazillion ingredients!) and shows you how to make delectable meals despite the lack of counter space. Everything from appetizers and salads to soups and one-pot wonders to side dishes and entrees, and of course, dessert is included along with Jennifer's tried-and-true advice for working with limited space, appliances, cookware, and ingredients all on a limited budget.

More than 130 Crappy Little Kitchen (CLK) recipes await you inside, plus:

• Why a CLK can actually be an asset, not a liability
• The must-haves for every CLK pantry
• Crappy Kitchen Saboteurs: Pointless items that eat up small spaces
• How to enhance the functionality of your CLK space—emphasizing  the surprising attributes of working in a small kitchen, plus space-saving ideas that help expand space and utility, allowing for the creation of the most complex dishes
• How to double or triple the function of utensils to eliminate clutter and superfluous tools (toss your ungainly meat mallet and use your sauté pan as an effective meat tenderizer)
• Swap It Skills: Replacing hard-to-find, gourmet ingredients with everyday items without sacrificing taste
• How to cohabitate in Crappy Little Kitchens—Jennifer  tells readers how to share the tight space and avoid Crappy Little Casualties with chef-proven techniques she learned working in busy and cramped restaurant kitchens.
• Ways to create beautiful plating presentations with secretly guarded tricks of the trade
• Chefology: culinary terms and 'did you know this crap' facts to awe guests and increase one's culinary knowledge in fun and inspiring ways

Whether you have an apartment-size galley kitchen, dorm room, or oversized, but completely outdated kitchen, Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens takes the stuffy out of gourmet and shows you how to love the kitchen you are in.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Those accustomed (or resigned) to cooking in tight quarters will appreciate chef Schaertl's guide to getting the best meal out of a less-than-ideal space. Paring kitchen equipment down to its bare essentials, Schaertl shows readers how she manages to prepare mouthwatering dishes like Tahitian-Style Corn and Crab Soup, roasted poblano cole slaw, Rum-Infused Caramelized Pork Chops and Goat Cheese Souffles in her 300-square-foot Brooklyn apartment. Though her space is cramped, her style isn't; readers will be salivating over her Bread Pudding with Bourbon Crème Anglaise, Bloody Mary Relish, Moroccan Lamb Chops and smoky chicken soup, all presented with a game sense of humor. But while the equipment list is usually short, the steps and ingredients for dishes like gumbo, Seafood Risotto, and Mushroom Tamales aren't; many will require some advance planning. Rounded out with all manner of kitchen tips and ingenious shortcuts (cut a corner out of a plastic freezer bag to pipe out sweet potato gnocchi), as well as a list of space-hogging items you don't need ("CLK Saboteurs"), this is a terrific compilation of doable dishes that should resonate with cooks, whether they've got space issues or just want to streamline their process.

About the Author

Jennifer Schaertl studied culinary arts at El Centro in Dallas, where she received a technical education about cooking, food style, and preparation, as well as Old World knowledge about recipes and techniques. Jennifer's first job inside a professional Crappy Little Kitchen (CLK) was actually that of a dishwasher, where she eventually worked her way up to sous chef. Since that humble beginning Jennifer has worked as a chef in four Dallas 4-star restaurants, all the while creating and documenting her own recipes both for her restaurant menus and her family gatherings. A native of Texas, Jennifer Schaertl now lives in Dallas working as an Executive Chef at the North Central Surgical Center. She has already completed the pilot episode of the television series Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens. To view this episode and join her monthly mailing list "The Crappy Little Newsletter," visit www.crappylittlekitchens.com. From here you can also see her latest press, and get recipes, and CLK tips.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: HCI (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757313655
• ISBN-13: 978-0757313653
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.7 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book! March 18, 2010

By Churchill

Format:Paperback

I guess you could say I have a small and crappy kitchen by the standards of most cooking shows. This you could say for pretty much all Americans. I found this book to be very helpful! The recipes are not overly complicated and the author gives you tons of tips on how to save time and space. But here is the best part: the meals you learn to make are actually extremely GOOD! You can tell this lady is a talented chef. The book shows you how to make very complex dishes in a simple manner. If you've been wanting to get into cooking but don't seem to have the time or the space this book is for you. It's already helped me a ton.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars GREAT TITLE, BUT.... June 18, 2010

By ireadabookaday VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Great title, but the rest of the book does not quite live up to it.

The first thing anyone notices in a cookbook is the photos and design. The overall design is cheap looking, the color photos were some of the most unappetizing I've ever seen in a cookbook, and the green background does not make them any more attractive. The layout is cute, with a lot of little boxes and sidebars- it is a matter of personal preference whether you like this, or prefer a more clean and utilitarian layout.

The opening section, on what is useful and what is just a waste of space in a small kitchen, is fine, but nothing groundbreaking. Same for the list of useful ingredients. This information won't be a revelation to anyone who is beyond beginner level cooking.

Then, the recipes. The ones I've tried were fine, but nothing really special, and reading through the rest I don't feel inspired to try making more of them . Recipes presented as " gourmet" should be more interesting and special than these. They're fine, just not my idea of "gourmet".

So, this could be a nice gift item for someone just out on their own who knows nothing about cooking, but there is nothing here that really makes it stand out from other beginner cookbooks, and it is too basic for a more experienced cook. The small kitchen aspect is really not a major part of the book once past the information section and into the recipes.

Overall, an okay book. Not exciting or inspiring.

A last note: I'd like to have seen photos of the author's crappy little kitchens.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens April 28, 2010

By Story Circle Book Reviews

Format:Paperback

Jennifer Schaertl defines gourmet food as "food perfectly prepared from the finest ingredients and artfully presented with love and care." The premise of her cookbook is that this can be accomplished in "crappy little kitchens." Very small kitchens without a lot of the equipment normally associated with gourmet cooking merit this distinction. A helpful section of the book is a description of the equipment need to equip a CLK (crappy little kitchen). Even more interesting is a list of what you don't need!

As an avid collector of cookbooks, I was intrigued by the idea of a chef who has worked in four four-star restaurants in Dallas taking this unique approach to writing a cookbook. Schaertl's experiences certainly qualify her to undertake this task. She began her professional career working inside a CLK as a dishwasher. She moved up to sous chef, but the kitchen wasn't much bigger than a closet.

Her father provided early inspiration to her when he baked a pineapple upside-down cake in a Dutch oven over a fire. Knowing what could be created in the great outdoors gave her the confidence to cook whatever she wanted in her succession of CLKs, including serving lobsters to friends in a tiny apartment in a Brooklyn brownstone. In fact, she lives in an apartment today with a kitchen floor that slopes, an ancient stove, and with terrible storage and no dishwasher.

For Schaertl, the emphasis is on the food and good preparation and through the recipes in the book she shows the cook with a CLK that putting a gourmet meal on the table is very achievable. Those cooks whose kitchens may not fit the CLK category will appreciate the variety and simplicity of the recipes included in the book.

Writing clear instructions for creating a dish is not a simple task. I've tried a lot of recipes where I was puzzled by exactly what the writer intended. The recipes in this book are presented in easy-to-follow numbered steps. I can attest to this, as I found the Superlative Stuffed Chicken Breast to be easy to make and delicious to eat. Providing the internal temperature for when the chicken is done contributed to the clear instructions.

Schaertl's creativity is demonstrated in the names she gives the recipes and in the helpful information given at the beginning of each recipe. Throughout the cookbook, she also provides additional information pertinent to a specific recipe about how to swap out ingredients, or cooking techniques. Presentation of the dish is stressed and photographs of some of the dishes throughout the book help with this aspect.

Whether you are a seasoned cook or just a beginner, you will find this cookbook to be a welcome addition to your kitchen, crappy or not!

by Penny Appleby
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women