Customer Reviews

Raw

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Raw food diet has saved my life. For those of us who really must "stay raw" in order to have happy and healthy bodies "or else," a book like this is a great inspiration. No, I can't find a lot of the ingredients. I never even *heard* of white or red baby carrots before, or yuzu citron juice, or white truffle oil, dragon chile, tamarind juice, and many other ingredients. If I did know what they were or knew where to find them, chances are I could not afford them. But that's okay. This book expands my horizons. I can try to understand the visual and flavors of such ingredients, and if I can't get the actual ingredients, I can substitute with something else. That's one of the great things about raw food preparation -- substitutions are pretty easy and fun to do!

I had to learn how not to take a raw food gourmet book "too seriously" when I first got Juliano's wonderful "Raw: The Uncookbook." One recipe might list 30 ingredients, five of which were too expensive and more that I could not find at all -- but then learned, with inspiration from other "raw foodies," that such recipes can be used as "raw inspiration." By following the basic concepts of a gourmet raw recipe, I can substitute and alter to fit my own tastes and pocketbook and come up with some "way cool" gourmet treats! My main problem is that sometimes they come out so super good that I want to fix them again -- but didn't write down what I did, haha!

For those who enjoy the creative art of raw food cuisine, this book has many wonderful ideas in flavors, textures, colors and more.

I really appreciated Roxanne's introduction too. It's great.

This is one of the raw recipe books that proves you *don't* have to be a puritan or a monk to enjoy raw food cuisine. And I know from experience that you don't have to eat only raw foods to appreciate these recipes too.

I call this my "hoity toity" raw recipe book. It's big, beautiful heavy and replete with lots of hoity toity gourmand photographs. I don't know how many recipes I will ever actually make out of this book, but I consider it a work of art and know I will always enjoy thumbing through it for raw food preparation inspiration at the very least. Oh, and it's so beautiful and big and it would make a great coffee table book too. That's where I'm keeping mine.

I hope that this book will also inspire more and more professional chefs to offer delights like these on their menus!

(P.S. I had serious health problems and 75 lbs. more excess weight before switching to raw diet. Raw rocks!)

The ratings for this book are all over the place. Although I am giving it five stars, I do not disagree with those in the two and three camp. Their remarks are largely true. The important thing to remember is not to buy this one unless you have your eyes wide open. The mechanics of preparing this food is heavily dependant on both machinery and motivation. When Trotter says you need a dehydrator (or live in Phoenix), a HEAVY DUTY juicer, HIGH SPEED blender and an ice cream maker, he means it. For me, it was a dang good excuse to triple my capital budget for the kitchen. Second, the complaints about his ingredient list are valid. Short of 'eye of newt', he is really pushing it. But once you get through the technical side, you can make viable substitutions. And the stuff such as 'celtic' sea salt, and 'Manodori' balsamic is more to make you aware than to be a requirement, same as the wine suggestions. You can use English sea salt (which has the highest nutrient count) or any balsamic at least sixteen yrs. old. The value of this book is that these dishes work very well. My test cases (read: guests) responded very well in every instance. This stuff tastes good and feels good to chomp on. If you are concerned about nutrition and health, it all seems good on all counts. This is food you cannot make any other way without brute force and primitave tools. While the photos are good for coffee table art, the real value is to people like me, who have no sense of presentation and sling hash as a Jackson Pollack (sic, my heritage) imitation. If you are so inclined to spend the time and cash, you will be pleased.

I initially purchased this book only because of Charlie Trotter. Since I consider Charlie one of the greatest chefs alive, and have all of his other cookbooks, I felt there was something going on here. I had read about the "raw" movement, but had not paid much attention to it.

The book, like all of Charlie's other books, is as beautiful as a work of art. The pictures are full page and really display the food like jewels. One glance through and you are already getting hungry.

The recipes, amazingly enough, require a bit of work. You would think that without cooking it would be easier to prepare dishes, but the prep work here can be considerable. Dedicate some time to reading a recipe before trying.

I have already made several different dishes and each has come out wonderfully. The cauliflower soup in particular was a pleasant surprise. All of the work was within the skill set of the experienced home chef.

If you want to make many of the recipes, however, you will need some special ingredients and some equipment. You can find many of the food products at your local "natural" foods store or gourmet market. The one piece of equipment that seems essential to have is a good quality dehydrator.

Enjoy the food and the process.

As other reviews suggest, this cookbook is filled with complex recipes that frequently call for out-of-the-ordinary ingredients and food preparation techniques such as soaking, dehydrating, blending and sieving. Yet the results are worth every bit of the effort.

In exploring living foods, I've found other chefs' approaches to be too raw (salads, salads and more salads) or too intent on emulating cooked foods (nut loaf, seed cheese, sprouted breads). Frequently raw chefs deliver recipes that are variations of these same basic themes. This book transcends all of that.

Even when I'm preparing something that resembles a raw food basic, e.g. a soup made from fruit/vegetable juice, the results when following Charlie and Roxanne's recipes are completely different than expected, complex, layered, with lots of nuance to appreciate. The asparagus soup is a delectable example of this. Another is Roxanne's signature appetizer at her restaurant and opening recipe in this book, the Wakame Sushi Rolls. Many people dabbling or dedicated to living foods will likely have seen raw sushi rolls, in which soaked crushed nuts or ground root vegetable take the place of the rice in the roll. In Roxanne's version, the spice/vinegar/honey addition to ground parsnips is truly unique and lifts the raw sushi roll out of the reliance on nuts.

The most relevant grumble I have with the book: there are several dishes which require the preparation of four to seven distinct recipes. The Wakame Sushi rolls consist of four recipes plus the dicing/slicing of roll veggies. The Tacos Three Ways is the most egregious example I've noticed, with eight recipes in total to deliver the dish as written. Still, there are several dishes that are a straight, single recipe or two. And, of course, each of us is free to make tacos "one way" instead of three or otherwise omit and substitute. The Wakame rolls are plenty tasty even without the Wasabi mayonnaise or chiffonade cut Nori decorating the plate. Also, you will find that some of the component recipes are wonderful on other creations of your own making, e.g. the mushroom sauce and wild mushroom ragout used on something other than the raw-corn polenta.

You don't have to be a living foods enthusiast or zealot to appreciate the flavors, textures and experience that result from these recipes. Charlie Trotter is proof of that. But you will need the equipment that is standard among living foodies if you want to do anything more than dabble in these recipes. In order of priority, you will need a food processor, blender, juicer, dehydrator, and jars/trays for soaking and sprouting.

I've made ten dishes from this book, some several times already, and have been surprised, delighted and even amazed with the results. And my guests have been similarly pleased. Thanks to the nuance and layers of flavors, each preparation has been worth the effort.

This book looks beautiful. It is definitely not for someone trying to cook in a hurry. It is complicated book with many steps requiring days of preparation. But I decided to try...I made a goal to make one dish per week. I had to start shopping for ingredients Wednesday-buying stuff in Asian market, Wild Oats, and regular supermarket to collect all ingredients. It would be easier if I would live next to gourmet shop. Another reason for early preparation was because many dishes require soak nuts for 12 hours. Thursday I choped ingredients, Friday I made sauces,and result? I definitely hate when people compare dishes to "heaven", "die for", but I had some of those heavenly feelings eating this food. I love how creative this food is, how wonderful sauces taste, it is very very hard to believe it is all raw!
But now I need 1,200 dollars worth of equipment...I want to continue living and eating like this. It is wonderful how you are full of energy-no heaviness after eating this food!
I could not find Smoked salt or Celtic salt, but dishes turned out to be wonderful anyway. I thought when using maple syrup about my trip to Vermont-I sort of remember seeing how they evaporated it by boiling, so I don't think it is raw ingredient. But I don't want to be critical, because this book deserves praise. Congratulations to Klein and Trotter- they are top notch-before this book I had no idea who they are, but now I am waiting for Raw 2:-)

Finally! The long wait was worth it. Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein have raised the bar and given us a beautiful, inspiring version of raw "haute cuisine".

I have been "raw" for well over a year and have been consistently dismayed by the lack of exciting and delicious recipes. Even so-called gourmet books (like Julianno's overly celebrated "Raw: the Un-cook book") are little more than a bunch of ingredients clumsily thrown together in a barage of contrasting flavors. In the hands of Trotter & Klein, however, raw cuisine has finally risen above crunch salads and the hard core health approach. These recipes are an exquisite interplay of flavors and textures... fresh, surprising and perfectly balanced. I've been thrilled with each of the creations I've tried so far!

One nice thing about this collaboration is that it presents raw food at its beautiful, sublime best. No heavy handed propoganda, health warnings or "holier than thou" approach. The gorgeous photos and recipes speak for themselves. Klein's introduction sums up the raw approach to life simply and succinctly.

As a professionally trained chef, I am the first to admit this book is not for everyone. It has a great format and layout with stunning photographs on every page. And while most of the recipes seem fairly straight forward to me, there is little here that one could throw together quickly for dinner. Trotter is well-known for his amazing palate and fairly complex approach to food (though he still considers it keeping things simple!). Like most fine food, several of the recipes have numerous stages, steps and sauces; many of the ingredients seem a bit obscure to those who aren't "foodies". None of Trotter's books are for the novice and RAW proves no exception.

If you're new to raw cuisine, this probably isn't the book for you. Be advised that all the recipes are vegan (no animal or dairy products). If you're at the level where you want to spend some serious time in the kitchen to dazzle your senses - or perhaps entertain and present some spectacular raw food to friends! - then look no further. It doesn't get any better than this, folks.

Bon appetit!

If you are an aspiring raw food chef or a serious foodie who really enjoys spending lots of time preparing food; then maybe this book will work for you. For the rest of us, it is interesting reading, creative; BUT the recipes are a long way from practical, simple or basic. Some of the ingredients are not easily attainable (even if you have ever heard of them). And the recipes are often so complicated and have so many ingredients you are overwhelmed before you make it to the market. This is not your everyday raw food resource. This is for the strong willed, patient and devoted. Although I am sure most of the recipes are great, this book essentially became a coffee table book that spurs interesting conversation in my home on the subject of raw food. It has great pictures, a simple yet chic name, and a great chef.

Roxanne Klein's cuisine is an appealing blend of funk and sophistication. Unlike co-author Charlie Trotter, she doesn't hold back when it comes to forthright ethnic flavor profiles (although she doesn't always push her ethnic dishes much beyond their traditional forms). Her composed entrees and salads, which show Trotter's input more clearly, are in some ways even more inspiring. Bright, intense, and often quite rich, Klein's dishes will astonish diners who expect raw food to be simple, austere, or cold. It seems like magic: one constantly asks, how on earth did she make those taco-shells, or those "fried" onions, or that rice-like sushi filling?

This cookbook provides the answers, but may not give readers quite all the information they need to pull off similar culinary miracles at home. The lean prose is sometimes less than communicative: for example, she tells us to allow her cashew cheese to "ripen" for 12 hours, but gives no clue to the smell, texture, or taste that lets us know when ripeness has been achieved. The same is true for her rejuvelac recipe. One is left to cook by the numbers.

More information about the preparation and acquisition of the exotic ingredients she uses would also have been nice. It's hard to imagine that most people know how to open a young coconut, much less how to extract the flesh in such a way that it can be julienned. Recommended substitutions for the specific mushrooms, chiles, fruits and sea-vegetables she uses would also be helpful. On the other hand, most readers of gourmet cookbooks are used to a little creative participation when it comes to realizing a fancy dish, and her plating, portion and flavor concepts leave plenty of room for flexibility.

Finally, a word about equipment: while any ice-cream maker will work, and most dehydrators could be adapted with the use of a silpat or a cake liner, the expensive mixer she recommends really is helpful. Although she claims, rather hesitantly, that you can use your food processor or ordinary blender to puree the raw nuts and vegetables for her sauces and soups, my experience has not born this out--and my blender has shot out sparks.

All in all, this book is likely to appeal most to people who often buy lavish, coffee-table gourmet cookbooks--but is likely to be most useful to people already grounded in raw cookery. Still, if you don't mind experimenting, making mistakes, and learning as you go, there's plenty here to intrigue and inspire.

For those moving to the healthy raw vegan diet but stumped about what to make for dinner besides salad, this book contains many great ideas. I was taken by the variety and inventiveness of many of the recipes where various ingredients are combined in very clever ways in order to get not only the flavour but also the correct texture.

I particularly like the recipes for raw lasagna, sushi and dolmas. These are great for surprising the non-raw with the possibilities of food in its natural state. The book itself can inspire the non-raw with its professional layout and superb photography.

The additional information on how to prepare items such as rejuvelac and cashew 'cheese' are straight forward and easy to follow.

Well worth the money.

Trotter and Klein have produced a beautiful book of really interesting vegan recipes. No milk, no meat, no eggs. What's intriguing is that the dishes seem like they'll be very tasty and the photographs make them look wonderful. I'm glad that someone is out there pushing the edge of cuisine. But, after reading through Raw, I really understood Mark Twain's comment that Richard Wagner's music "is much better than it sounds."

A problem with the cookbook is that the many of the recipes are unapproachable. Either the equipment requirements are beyond what most people have or can afford or the ingredients are so obscure as to be nearly unobtainable. Some of the procedures require several days to execute which is not really a problem per se; however, the process complexity is overdone. Like the Shaker song says "it's a gift to be simple."

The notion that only raw foods are truly good for you is specious at best. Some vitamins and other nutrients are released by heat; cooking kills potentially dangerous bacteria and germs; and cooking makes some foods easier to digest.

Bottom line - a lot of work went into this very creative cookbook. I'll keep it on my coffee table instead of my kitchen shelf.