Customer Reviews

New American Table

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The recipes from this book are amazing! So Often i buy a cookbook for its gorgeous photography or the personality behind it, only to get it home and realize it's full of recipes I could have-- and would have--come up with myself. You know the type: that incredible photograph that turns out to be a recipe for linguine with mushrooms. Like you needed a book for that.

This book doesn't do any of that "window dressing" recipe writing. It's brimming with combinations I never would have thought of (but that seem so right) and ingredients I can't wait to try. Thankfully, these aren't all expensive, exotic ingredients-- more the scary looking tube of pepper paste from the bodega down the street that you never knew what to do with. Well, Samuelsson tells you to slather it over some shortribs that you'll marinate in soy sauce and beer. You know what? They were the best shortribs I've ever had, and I made them myself.

I cook a lot, and I expect a great deal from my cookbooks. New AMerican Table makes a pretty sexy coffee table book that your friends will pore over when they visit, but it's also a totally inspiring kitchen companion and gripping bed time reading. Pear Pumpkin Salad with Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette? Homemade beef jerky? Miso Rubbed lamb? TELL ME MORE!

I made a double batch of the pretzels for a party and I had to hide one for myself, they were going so fast-- and people are still talking about them. These are dishes you'll remember for a long time. What a fantastic book.

I very much enjoy Chef Samuelsson's restaurants, his appearances on television and to a point, this cookbook. The book has many varied "tastes" and combinations to try, which in itself is exciting. But I have a problem because it seems as though no one really proofed it when it comes to quantities of ingredients. When I first get any cookbook, I always try to prepare the recipes as written to see how the chef/writer wants to have the flavors come across. So far I have tried 5 and in each one there have been some steps/quantities that seem to be incorrect. For the ones that I've tried, all have been for a Serving of Four. Now we are not big quantity eaters, but halving the recipes would not have been enough for dinner. Admittedly, I've served some as a main course which could explain this discrepancy.

The Grilled Lobster-noodle Salad was very very good, although the text was incorrect for the amount of olive oil to be used. The dish being fairly "strong" in flavors could just as successfully been served with giant shrimp, saving the cost of fresh lobster.

The mushroom risotto was good but was almost overwhelmed by the addition of the wine & port at the end of the cooking cycle. Usually wine is put in first.

The Caramelized Scallop Salad was again good but 4 sliced "bay scallops" per person ? I don't think you would be able to find them in the salad.

The Head-on Shrimp with Bacon Orzo will be, when served again, very good, bringing a new taste (chermoula) to our table. Now I love cooking with salt but give me a break. The salt called for on the shrimp was way too much but nothing compared to what was indicated for the ground pine nut powder that was to be sprinkled on top of the orzo. Thank goodness there was still some left in the pot without the pine nuts, because it was inedible with them. The bacon orzo was way too fatty, with the reduction of either the amount of bacon or butter or olive oil required.

The Sesame Fried Tilapia was somewhat ho-hum.

I still would recommend this book but I will have to be more careful as I go along because of the problems I have mentioned.

Marcus Samuelsson's New American Table is, like Marcus's cooking, a work of art. And like Marcus himself, his recipes are completely accessible and authentic.

New American Table is more than a cook book. It is an inspiration about how to follow your passion. In Marcus's case giving and cooking...in that order. His passion for cooking and his appreciation for America, its people is - well, almost tasted in every word. Seldom does a great chef share the humble details of his path, and what led him to become a world class, James Beard Award winner. In this book, Marcus's story is written eloquently and from the heart.

Although, truly a cookbook, New American Table is also autobiographical - a story of passion for loving what you do.. Eloquent and sometimes pithy stories are woven into the hundreds of recipes which add a special connection to the cooking experience. Stunning graphics, photography and shared experiences coast to coast make New American Table more than a cook book, it is an apprecaiton of the people and history of this great nation, fused together by culinary delights and the diverse ethnic cuisines found in America.

I am a foodie. I also collect good cook books and have had the privilege of meeting some of the greatest chef's at the annual Aspen Food and Wine Classic. Marcus Samuelsson's book is on the top of the stack of my favorite cook books for 2 reasons - Marcus is more than a chef, he is an amazing human being, and 2) I can actually cook with his recipes!

Born in Ethiopia, raised in Sweden and now a U.S. citizen and co-owner of New York's Aquavit, James Beard-winner Samuelsson takes a true melting pot approach to food in this eye-popping, mouth-watering tour of his adopted country.

The attractive coffee-table design includes pictures of landscapes and people working, eating, and relaxing as well as luscious shots of ingredients and finished dishes. But the real showstopper is the food. A true multi-cultural, Samuelsson combines international and regional influences to produce complex flavors. It's not fusion so much as tweaking with flair.

A Caramelized Fruit Salad, for instance, with a hint of chili or Shrimp Falafel with fish sauce, soy and sesame oil. Or Cabbage Rolls with (homemade) Plum Sauce. Or Trout Pierogi (Homemade dough). His Beer-Braised Short Ribs include ginger, mirin and ketjap manis. His venison stew uses cream and Indian spices. His New Orleans Head-On Shrimp includes a dash of North African chermoula. His Traditional Chili carries a whiff of molé with its use of Mexican chocolate.

A condiments and sauces chapter starts things off with homemade BBQ sauce, Steak Sauce, Green Salsa, Basic Vinaigrette or hot, sweet sambal oelek and Argentinean Chimichurri.

Samuelsson then covers all the courses along with chapters for Everyday, Weekend, and Holiday. Lists of ingredients can be long, but most of the recipes are straightforward, without a lot of separate steps.

Even the "weekday" dishes, however, should not be tackled cold after a long day at work. Like all restaurant chefs, Samuelsson assumes a certain amount of organization and planning, and a well-stocked pantry.

Not an everyday cookbook, this invigorating collection is for cooks who like to spice things up.

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I bought it for the Apple Cake recipe, which you have to try... my kids loved it when I served "cake" for breakfast! Besides great recipes, it's filled with amazing photos of food and places you can almost smell just looking at them. The only downside with this book is that you might get so distracted reading the book and enjoying the photographs that you'll have to order take out!

Imagine trying to describe American cuisine to a friend over a cocktail. It's a fool's errand since American cuisine is as diverse as a New York borough. Nonetheless, this is what Marcus Samuelsson successfully does in New American Table.

Samuelsson has firmly planted himself in the cadre of great American chefs, albeit from a circuitous route via Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, and France. His life travels mean he developed a strong network of chef-friends, resulting in a repertoire of international foods. Despite that, this is definitely a book about American cuisine.

With the onslaught of the Food Network, blogs, and internationally inspired cookbooks, there are few foods that haven't found their way into the American cuisine. And just as chicken tikka has become a Brit classic, so too have dishes like pizza and tacos become classics on American tables.

Samuelsson is chef and co-owner of Aquavit. The youngest chef ever to receive two three-star ratings from the New York Times, he is the author of The Soul of a New Cuisine and Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine.

New American Table is very well executed, with enjoyable backstory, vibrant photos, and accurate and usable recipes. But those features aren't what excite me about this book. The more I read Samuelsson, the more I realized that his progression of traditional dishes from across the globe offers a greatest hits of so many cookbooks on my shelves - but without the obscure ingredients only found in late night Moroccan souks. You can make these dishes and feel the belly dancer's tassles swirling around your table right in your own home.

Samuelsson`s uninhibited use of spices also allowed me to look at my over-reliance on salt. He makes no claims to a low-sodium diet, but with his emphasis on the great spices of the world, you can give your mouth a break from salt and enjoy the myriad of flavors available at your local market.

At just over 350 pages with over 300 recipes, New American Table includes recipes such as Hot shrimp noodles with poached eggs, Caramelized scallop salad, Caraway pretzels, Fried yellowtail poke, and My cod udon. As I tested recipes I focused in on the "My" recipes which also include My chile condiment, My veggie soup, and My mother's spaghetti with peas. I assumed that if they were good enough for him, they would be good enough for me, and I wasn't disappointed.

Samuelsson's book is perfect for the aspiring foodie with its vast array of cuisines. Although you'll find nothing ground-breaking or especially innovative, adventurous cooks will enjoy the challenge of cooking across the globe and, ultimately, a modern definition of American Cuisine will appear right on their own dinner table.

I must admit that I'm a bit of a follower of celebrity chefs, so whenever I see a glossy new cookbook from one of them, I have to have it. And instead of just letting it decorate my coffee table, I try to cook from it. Marcus Samuelsson's beautiful cookbook New American Table is exactly the kind of book you would put on your coffee table - large, heavy, and full of gorgeous pictures.

The problem I encountered was when I tried to make the recipes. I made the caramelized scallop salad, but only a small number of bay scallops were called for, and they got lost in the roughage. Lime wedges were also recommended as a sort of decoration, but the salad dressing really needed that tartness. The salad was just so-so.

I also made the mushroom risotto, which is an unusual version with red wine and port in the ingredient list instead of the typical white wine. I absolutely love anything with mushrooms in it, but this risotto just didn't do anything for me.

Probably my biggest disappointment, however, was in the beer-braised short ribs. With such unusual ingredients as ketjap manis and Sriracha hot sauce, you would expect some amazing flavors, but it all just tastes muddy. Also, the sauce for the ribs never really thickens, but remains more of a jus, which just makes a flooded mess on a bed of mashed potatoes or rice.

I really wanted to like this cookbook because I appreciate Samuelsson's background and his obvious love for this country, but the food was only so-so, and I'm not tempted to make any of the recipes again. However, the photography is beautiful enough that I'll keep it around when I need something to drool over.

The introduction of new spices adds new flavors to my recipes. I have the experience of flavors from around the world.

Marcus Samuelsson's "New American Table" is a so-so follow-up to his successful and innovative The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa Samuelsson dispelled the myths that African cooking mainly consists of porridges, bush meat and bugs,creating a delightful and useful cookbook. His African cookbook is a delicious combination of user-friendly recipes and insightful stories. It's educational and exotic. Samuelsson is an expert cook,and it's no wonder he's been a guest judge on "Next Food Network Star."

On the other hand,"New American Table" is very much like other nouvelle American cuisine from Thomas Keller,Michael Chiarello,Cindy Pawclyn--it doesn't offer anything particularly interesting. It's a step above Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book: Her Biggest Ever Collection of All-New 30-Minute Meals Plus Kosher Meals, Meals for One, Veggie Dinners, Holiday Favorites, and Much More!,he doesn't have an infamous Kwanzaa cake like Cocktail Time (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade) However, it's very much like the cooking one sees on "Top Chef" or "Next Iron Chef." It's a sophisticated take on burgers,ketchup,etc. It's almost too pretty. Samuelsson's love of his new home in New York City and the United States is evident. It's a tribute to his new homeland--after his adoptive country of Sweden and his birthplace in Ethiopia. Samuelsson loves the diversity of American cuisine, from Southern barbecues to California sushi. But there is nothing particularly exotic. It's typical fusion cuisine.

"New American Table" has good recipes--it's not a terrible book. It's good for beginners,and it is user-friendly. However,its predecessor,"Soul of a New Cuisine",is far superior. "Soul of a New Cuisine" DEFINITELY has soul!

Had great service, arrive within four days. Book appeared to be new and not used. I paid under $25. including shipping. Usually sells for $45 + tax and shipping. Seller encluded a gift. Carole Bird