Customer Reviews

Jean-Louis: Cooking with the Seasons

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

 

 

As the previous reviwer stated, and as I agree, no...the food is not plated in the restaurant that way. However, in reading the book from cover to cover that was not the intention. The intention was to showcase Palladins food and showcase it as art. As such, the book is very large, like any other coffee table "art" book. In this book, however, you can see the beauty of fresh food, you can see each tournee, and you can see that with each dish Palladin is indeed a master of the craft I have given my life too. If you are a chef or cook buy this book...if not...charlie trotter will be more to your liking

Although the visuals in this book do not reflect the plated food at Jean Louis' restaurants, the themes are very representative of his style and imagination. I rarely feel that the food in cookbooks represents what you truly experience in the dining room,....however,.... Jean Louis clearly states his preferences, thoughts and presents food as it should be presented, integrated pure in flavor and beautiful.

Even if you never attempt any of the recipes in this book, it will stimulate your taste buds and excite your imagination. This is perhaps the most visually stunning book on food I've ever seen. The over-sized coffee-table style book is half visual tour-de-force and half recipes. Dishes such as "Steamed Maine Lobster with Mango Ginger Sauce, Sea Beans, and Mango Petals" are way beyond any culinary capabilities I might master, but they certainly are inspirational and I'd LOVE to try it.

This is without question the most visually stunning "cookbook" I have ever seen. I put cookbook in quotes because I think the objective was to show food as art, and not to give people ideas as to what to throw on the stove tonight.

The contemporary, high-tech photography gives a masterful interpretation of Jean-Louis' creative brilliance. Just as Jean-Louis prefesses that great cooking enhances and does not interfere with great ingredients, the photography beautifully allows his creations to be the stars. Rather than using traditional settings, it uses light and shape to make the dishes jump off the page. Jean-Louis may be the most important chef ever to come to these shores (according to other chefs), and thankfully he teamed up with a photographer who could match his prowess.

From a practical standpoint, while replicating the recipes might be prohibitive technically, creatively and financially, the presentations will give anyone ideas for wowing dinner guests just in terms of layout and colour.

Some cookbooks are useful, some are even masterful - but this one is truly inspired.

Lucky me, this book's release party fell on my 30th birthday at Lloyd's Books in Georgetown, which was owned by a friend. Jean Louis (and photographer Fred Maroon) were there, with Jean Louis turning out a good number of the dishes seen here in the book. Even though I'd eaten at his restaurants, this was a remarkable birthday for me with friends and Jean Louis in the middle of it all.

I've treasured this gorgeous book all these years and glad to see it's still out there. I've never made a single dish (though I've gotten plenty ideas) from the book, it is a stunning piece of work and Palladin's unfussy, "regular guy" spirit comes through.

The perfect coffee table book for cuisine junkies!

One of the greatest chefs of our time. If you look at the quality of the pictures and the food and then consider that it was done in 1989, it's absolutely amazing. In addition, the recipes aren't classics, they can still stand on their own to this day. There aren't many new cook books that come close to this one.

I did a report on Jean-Louis Palladin for a class, and learned a lot about how he influenced French cuisine in America. He used local ingredients and prepared them with impeccable French sensibilities, which was extremely innovative at the time.

This book shows his craft, without neglecting his message. Yeah, I found the photos to be almost distressingly intimidating, but it really is an art book.

I got the book for my report, and donated it to the hospitality management program at a local college. Since this guy was a chef's chef, I know it will be much appreciated there.

I am a professional cook and I use this book for recipes. They are not hard and are worth tying, but please don't follow everything, add your character to it. I bought the book for under $15 and recommend to wait it out and do the same. It is an old book and very large and the pictures are amazing and if you paid more then it may have been worth it for you. Being a cook and on always on a budget I would love to see the price come down so I could buy it as a gift for my fellow savages in the kitchen.

As much as I loved the food at Napa and the Watergate. This book is not a book for the serious cook/chef. When the recipe for stock includes V-8 juice, one knows the recipes have been completely overhauled for the "cooking for dummies" dummy. Also, not significant to the quality of the book, the photos, although artistic are not realistic. Never had I ordered a plate a one of Jean-Louis Palladin's restaurants and received such overly manicured food. I believe the photos were designed to appeal to those who appreciate the style of the 1980's. Save your money and purchase one of Ducasses' books.

Fantastic Pictures,excellent presentation on this acrylic plates, but to much touching and playing with the food (hope he is waring surgeon cloves in his kitchen, when he arranges the dishes for the customers), it is even sometimes nicely written, Jean-Louis keeps mentioning "when I still was in France, I saw this I made this". Why didn't he stay there! French Chefs only can cook with the most expensive ingredience, like caviar, truffle, Goose liver, they even using the best wines to cook. Others drink the wine. And for this they get a star or two. The Recipes in this book are definetely not for the day to day cooking. But for professional chefs who know, how to make the same dish as good, but cook it cheaper