Customer Reviews

The Gourmet Prescription: High Flavor Recipes for Lower Carbohydrate Diets

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a very nice book. I bought this book (The Gourmet Prescription) along with another book by F. McCullough. This book by D. Chud, "The Gourmet Prescription" presenting very unique approaches (especially home smoking) to improving flavor in low-carb, low fat dishes. The recipes are unique and probably not found elsewhere. However, I probably would use this book for "special occasions", not everyday use. Many of the recipes are longer, require more ingredients, and/or require that the you have prepared special condiments and sauces (the book tells you how to prepare these condiments, usually using the smoker). Now doubt the recipes are high in flavor, and very unique (i.e. you aren't going to find techniques like these in other books). The downside is that the recipes are time-consuming (considering you have to prepare the condiments ahead of time). The pictures are beautiful --its definitely gourmet(many ingredients might be hard to find for those not living in urban centers). I also don't know if kids would like this kind of food if they aren't used it eating "gourmet restaurent" type food. I found the McCullough book to be more practical and down-to-earth. Another book I like very much for low carb people is "The Complete Meat Cookbook" by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly which tells you everything you want to know about selecting and purchasing the best in beef, pork,lamb and veal for easy to prepare dishes, both classic expensive cuts (how to get the best out of an expensive cuts) as well as how to make tender dishes out of the cheaper cuts. Since the Aidells book isn't particularly oriented to low-carb, some of the side dishes are high carb. All three boooks have a place on my bookshelf, since there are occasions when I'll want to prepare a special meal using the high flavor techniques described in this book, "The Gourmet Prescription".

I'm on Atkins; my girlfriend's on the Zone. Too many diets for one couple? It was until she gave me Deborah Chud's beautiful book. It works with both diets, as well as the ones our friends and relatives are on (Schwarzbein, Protein Power, Sugar Busters!, Carbohydrate Addicts, and all the rest). It's also great for people who aren't on ANY diet (like my Dad), who might like to cut back on carbs for weight loss and cardiovascular health. Before receiving this book, I faced a steady stream of low carb meals lacking flavor and imagination-- with no one to blame but myself. My girlfriend rescued me with The Gourmet Prescription. Now we're eating Grilled Shrimp with Spicy Cashew Sauce, Roast Chicken with Rosemary-Garlic Paste, Porcini-Laced Veal Roast, Spicy Greens with Roasted Tomatoes and Peppers, Roasted Garlic Asparagus, and Hot Sesame Green Beans. Is anyone on your Xmas list on a low carb diet? GIVE THEM THIS BOOK! It's a gift of flavor and health.

Although it's a beautiful book filled with inspiring and delicious recipes, I must now buy a stove top smoker to prepare most of the recipes presented. I was disappointed that the majority of recipes required a particular piece of kitchen equipment - it's like buying a bread machine recipe book without owning a bread machine. Although smoked food can be tasty, I fear I would tire of the smoky flavor. I will try the recipes that don't involve smoking, but I don't see buying a smoker just to try the rest.

Dr. Deborah Chud's "The Gourment Prescription" is terrific. I started the Zone Diet in late June 2000 after heart surgery; quickly I found that while I was eating healthy, my diet was becoming boring. I knew that this would make it difficult to stick with the diet for the long-term. By accident I stumbled upon this book and was delighted to find the high-flavor recipes that would allow me to stay in the zone and stay satisfied with eating both healthy and tastefully.

Dr. Chud has a knack for creating innovative dishes by weaving together the right spices, cooking methods, and preparations that are generally easy to prepare. The recipes are clearly written, easy to follow, and replete with scrumptious pictures that make you want to prepare the foods and more importantly feast on them! While the cookbook has plenty of variety, there is an emphasis on Asian and Hispanic dishes. I hope that in the next edition Dr Chud will consider innovating with selected Italian dishes.

If you buy this book, and have not cooked these foods before, you will need to place some trust in the cookbook and have some patience in stocking your pantry with spices; some of which I have never cooked with but am not having difficulty finding in local markets (for the most part). The vegetable and protein dishes are equally extraordinary in taste. I have learned to trust Dr Chud's judgment whole-heartedly. I found it hard to believe, but today I prepared charred tomato ketchup. This recipe required more cooking preparation than most of the recipes I've tried so far - however, the results were nothing short of spectacular. It's hard to believe that I had been consuming grilled hamburgers over the past few months without this terrific new complimentary flavor. While I am using this cookbook as a bible for staying in the zone, let me be clear that I would not hesitate for a moment, in preparing the elegant meals from this cookbook for guests who are not on the zone diet.

I am happy to say that I have shed over 30 pounds using the Zone, Dr. Chud's cookbook, and exercise in a 2.5 month period. Thank you Drs. Sears and Chud!

Rarely do you come across a cookbook like this! Dr.Chud's "prescription" is "Eat as though your life depends on it." Based on growing evidence that insulin plays a major role in fat storage, metabolism and appetite, Dr. Chud supports an "insulin-modulating" way of eating. For her book "The Gourmet Prescription" she has created a number of recipes that reflect her philosophy. She invites you into her kitchen and leads you step by step into creating wonderful, flavorful dishes! The photographs are mouthwatering in their appeal and the variety of foods presented impressive. You feel like you are actually in the kitchen with the author as she shares her thoughts on nutrition and how to maximize flavor using simple techniques and tools. Her heart and soul jump through the pages! As a result of using this book I have discovered new vegetables, cooking techniques etc. The smoked shrimp "fajitas" are a new family favorite. The chicken kebabs with spicy lime sauce are declicious especially when pared with the black bean salad with avocado! Everything I prepared was wonderful and there are so many other recipes that I look forward to trying! I did wish that a glycemic index for foods and a resource guide for some of the lesser known ingredients was included. Dr. Chud does include a nutritional analysis for each dish. She uses a stovetop smoker in some of her dishes. I substituted a wok and it worked great. This is a cookbook that delivers what it promises!

First - I love this book. The recipies and advice are definitely very good. I've prepared many of the dishes in here, and have always been pleased.

I just wanted to point out one thing about this book though... I recommended it to a friend who wasn't nearly as happy as I was because they dislike smoked foods. The majority of recipies in this book call for some sort of smoked ingredient. In fact, you'll need to get a stovetop smoker to really utilize this cookbook. I personally think that the smoked foods are great, and a stovetop smoker is quite inexpensive (and one of the best additions to my kitchen in a long time) - but I do realize they are not for everyone.

So - if you like the smoked food flavor, and you cook low-carb - this is a great book. If you're not a fan of that smoky taste, keep on looking.

Dr. Chud's lower-carb cookbook "The Gourmet Prescription" is excellent. I found this book in a catalog and ordered it immediately. My husband is currently on the Adkins Diet and I was interested in expanding the amount of low-carb recipes that I have so he won't lose interest. Dr. Chud's book came to the rescue. It is divided into the Preface, which is worth reading, a section on Proteins, and a section on Carbohydrates. There are recipes for fish, poultry, pork, veal, beef, lamb and ostrich as well as salads and vegetables, beans and lentils, and fruits and fruit desserts. Try the Roasted Salmon with Herbs, the Grilled Chicken Breasts with Sun-Dried Tomato Ketchup, and Fresh Bean Salad with Parsley Buttermilk Dressing to name a few. Dr. Chud offers many recipes using roasting and stove-top smoking. Each recipe offers a nutritional analysis of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fat, cholesterol, sodium, and fiber. And the photographs are wonderful! If you are on a lower-carbohydrate eating plan or thinking about starting one, buy this book. You will feel wonderful. Hopefully, Dr. Chud will come out soon with a sequel!

This is hands down my favorite cookbook of all time. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I don't follow a strict low-carb diet, but I do try to limit how much bread/pasta/rice I eat, and this book is something I refer to again and again. Even if I wasn't watching my carbs, the recipes are tasty and interesting and I wouldn't hesitate to serve them at dinner parties to folks who were not watching their diets (in fact, I have done so with raves from my guests). My beef with most low-carb cookbooks is that the recipes are often loaded with fat and dairy products (cottage cheese makes me want to hurl), but not this one. It's not entirely free of dairy products, but they are used appropriately (e.g. buttermilk in ranch dressing) without going overboard. While certainly not fat-phobic, the recipes do use trimmed lean cuts of meat (beef or pork tenderloin, chicken breast, turkey, etc...) and encourage the use of lower-fat condiments when appropriate.

The pictures will make you drool--they are gorgeous. The recipes here range in difficulty from quick and easy to sophisticaed gourmet cuisine of the caliber that you would find in the finest restaurants--but they are all innovative--no run-of-the-mill food here. Personally, I think there's a good balance of easy and difficult recipes here. It's fairly easy to cook some of these ahead; for example: the recipe for plum sauce freezes well, so it's easy to make up a batch, portion it out and freeze it, so when dinner comes all you have to do it pop a pork tenderloin in the oven and defrost the sauce while you assemble one or two of the carbohydrate side dishes. The author gives storage recommendations for such recipes (length of time the sauce/dressing will keep if refrigerated or frozen), which is handy (most cookbooks I own don't give such information).

The book is divided into protein and carbohydrate sections, making it easy to create balanced meals. My favorite protein dishes are the Moroccan Chicken Thighs, roast chicken with rosemary-garlic rub, Pork Tenderloin with Plum sauce, chicken skewers with almond dipping sauce (like Malaysian satay but even tastier) and turkey patties with apples and smoked leeks, although every other one I've made has been excellent as well. The carbohydrate dishes include lots of interesting salads (the black bean salad w/ avocado is fantastic), vegetable sautes and roasted vegetables (I made the roasted asparagus with garlic oil the other night and it was amazing!). Desserts are fruit-based and hit the spot when you want something sweet after a good meal without blowing your healthy eating plan (figs with "virtual" marscapone cheese... YUM!).

Some of the recipes call for smoked vegetables, but not having a stovetop smoker I use roasted vegetables instead with great results. With the focus being on gourmet cuisine there are also a few recipes that call for ingredients that might seem exotic, however any moderately experienced cook can make substitutions with no problem, and your run-of-the-mill grocery store/supermarket will have enough to make probably 80-90% of the recipes as-is. (although I do admit, it's difficult to find ostrich, but I've substituted sirloin or beef tenderloin and the recipes come out great). The Internet can also be a good resource for hard-to-find spices or condiments as well.

I am an avid cook, and what I like most about this book is that it inspires me to be creative in cooking lower carbohydrate cuisine even when I'm not using it directly. I've modified some of the recipes and created several of my own after studying the techniques and flavor combinations presented here. It's made me a better cook. My only problem with the book is that the recipes are so good it's difficult to stick with a sensible portion size :-)

I hope Dr. Chud comes out with another book!!!

The other night I put together a LC Blue Cheese Dressing adapted from this book (added garlic and a bit of lean bacon) -- I never really had considered before the possibility of BC Dressing without the "mix"! That's the sort of ingenuity that makes this book worth the purchase price. Imagine: A sophisticated LC Tomato ketchup from roasted or smoked tomatoes, a sweet-and-salty chinese brined duck that doesn't send your sugar levels through the roof, elegant, simple desserts that don't rely on compensatory (mock-whatever) techniques or artificial sweeteners.

That's the other thing I like about _Gourmet Prescription_: Chud doesn't devote her energies to creating high-carb versimilitude at the expense of good taste. No low-carb pizza or spaghetti squash mac 'n cheese...much as I love Fran McCullough's "potato" salad made with cauliflower, I notice that a lot of LC cookbook efforts at satisfying now-forbidden cravings achieve less than stellar results. Better to learn to make the most of foods you *already* love.

So why did I leave off a few stars? Here's where I think the book fell a little short:

1) Family friendliness. Even in her own introduction, Dr. Chud admits that her son was eating separate meals from the family while her "test kitchen" was in operation. Paraphrasing: "It's good, Mom, but I just don't like that food." I'd expect a Mom to have more interest in feeding the entire family...hoping that this concept is not antithetical to the term "gourmet".

2) Economy. The meat section of this cookbook is heavy on things like shrimp, ostrich, beef tenderloin and filet mignon - not exactly my staples as an everyday home chef. I realize, again, that these are gourmet items, and chicken gets dull, but I'd like to see more (or some) of what Chud could do to enhance everyday cuts of beef, pork, etc. There are too few kitchen talents out there with LC cookbooks, for her not to extend her range in the interest of gourmands on a budget. When you consider that one of the real challenges for families trying to go "LC" is that carbs function as low-cost food extenders (i.e.: protein is expensive), you are talking about families who are going to rely on these "everyday cuts" even more heavily than high-carb households of similar means. (And many of us who have thyroid disease or concern about recent studies connecting soy to health issues, need "ordinary" protein sources all the more.)

3) This may be a nit...but the book pitches strongly at the start, in reviewing kitchen supplies, for the purchase of a particular brand of smoker -- while merely mentioning as an aside that stovetop smoking may also be achieved in a wok. Having Barbara Tropp's _Modern Art of Chinese Cooking_ already on my shelves, I've found the nerve to start experimenting with Chud's smoker recipes, which mysteriously refer to "cooking according to your smoker's directions". It's always a bit annoying when a cookbook leaves you in the lurch unless you have a very specialized piece of equipment, be it a pressure cooker or vegetable mandoline or what have you.

Still in all, this book has expanded my LC horizons, and I would have bought it just for the fruit and vegetable recipes. I hope to see another cookbook from Dr. Chud!

I own a hundred gourmet cookbooks. I am pretty close to a pro level cook. And I wanted to investigate low-carb diets, but not give up my highfalutin habit. So this book was very promising, but of course I was very skeptical. (I had been cooking through "Jean-Georges" just before I started this diet, not that that made me fat, it didn't, but it raised the bar a bit on what I expect from a plate.)

Anyway let's cut to the chase. These are some of the best recipes I've ever made, because she uses the smoker (which I ran out and bought) and she also knows how to do all sorts of other great things.

I really couldn't care less whether these recipes are healthy or not. I'm staying on my diet for a few weeks and going back to gourmet cooking when I reach my goal weight. However I will continue cooking through this book for a long time. Lots of stuff to learn. And my meals will be popular with the ladies as well.