Customer Reviews

A Return to Cooking

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the second cook-book that Michael Ruhlman has taken part in if I'm not mistaken (the first being "The French Laundry",) and yet another smashing success!

Eric Ripert is one of New York's finest chef's, and in this, his second cook-book, he shows us exactly why he and Le Bernadin have been given the honor of "Best Chef" and "Best Restaurant" by several different sources! Ripert shows us his inner thoughts, his soul if you will, in many of the recipes that you will find here within this tome. Dishes such as: "Figs Wrapped in Bacon", "Seared Tuna with Escabeche of Pear Tomatoes" and "Mussels with Spicy Italian Sausage" show us how simple and yet exactly how refined Eric Riperts cooking and tastes can be!

Beyond the recipes, this 320 page book includes intermitant stories of Eric Ripert and fiver other friends and their experiences living together in four different locations during four different seasons! At the same time, readers will find commentary from the authors as they watch Ripert cook, or preparing his ingredients; Riperts own wistful thinking of Food and the Food Culture; many BEAUTIFUL photographs, equally beautiful paintings by Valentino Cortazar, and culinary advice from all involved in the making of this wonderfully crafted tome!

The most important aspect that I have to say about this book before I finish is that virtually ALL of these recipes are scaled to portions adequate for the home cook; and that they are often easy enough for nearly any novice or home cook to re-create for themselves, and yet refined and inspired enough that a professional would want to use them at their own restaurant!

Bon Appetit!

For a foodie, this is a five star book!!
I have eaten at Le Bernadin several times (during the joyous excesses of the late 90s), and was fortunate to have also dined twice in the cozy 'private room' that gives diners a view of the kitchen. I have Ripert's other book, the Bernadin fish book,and when I have managed to have almost everything needed on hand, (except the 5-hour stocks, etc), I was able to make a few outstanding dishes. "Return to Cooking", however, is less complex and less fussy in some, but not all, of its recipes. I have made several recipes from "Return" with great success, the easiest and best being Cod with Chorizo, Soy sauce and Sherry Vinegar.
This book is not for the beginner cook, or even for the timid intermediate cook. In my opinion, this is a cook book for someone who had tasted fine restaurant food and who has the desire, skills and budget to attempt to replicate their best dining experiences. My warning: if you need explanations about technique or don't have access to the freshest ingredients, you probably cannot bring these marvelous recipes to life.

This combination cookbook, art book, and memoir is the story of a major celebrity chef's retreat from restaurant cooking to spend four weeks of culinary invention with a supporting cast of one culinary journalist (Michael Ruhlman), one painter (Valintino Cortazar), two photographers (Shimon and Tamar Rothstein), and a sous chef / recipe scribe Andrea Glick, all in a rather pricy package.

For the $50 list, one gets about 156 recipes, 15 of which are for condiments and ingredient preparations such as a vinaigrette and confit of lemon. Included in the price is the text by Ripert and Ruhlman which can be read in less than 4 hours, very good photographs of some, but not all of the dishes and photos of Rippert staring at and fondling ingredients, and about 100 paintings by Cortazar.

The most valuable aspect of this book is what it reveals about how Rippert reached his level of excellence in the culinary arts, and how he works to maintain that level. Rippert appears to follow the same path as Bobby Flay, Emril Lagasse, Tony Bourdain, and, if you can believe it, Alton Brown, where these people were mediocre at school and other vocations until they discovered cooking, which, along with some very important mentors, they came alive with the passion needed for excellence in the culinary arts. Rippert's primary mentor was the great French chef Joel Robuchon, who demanded a level of excellence and discipline which only a handful of chefs can accomplish. The insights of this sort you simply don't get on the Food Network. Wolfgang Puck will give you his secret for a poached beef, but not for the way he thinks when he creates and tests recipes.

The recipes are much more a part of this narrative of revelation than they are a worthy source of material for the food hobbyist, much less for the everyday cook. The recipes are not organized by ingredient, taste, or course. Some are simple, but many are very involved and use uncommon ingredients such as the always elusive Kaffir lime leaves and expensive ingredients such as foie gras and truffles. Each recipe give an estimated prep time and cooking time. This is an excellent reature and probably should be included in every worthy recipe book, but I suspect the prep times are a bit ambitious for the average home cook, even for an enthusiastic hobbyist who is not under any time pressure. Twenty-five (25) minutes is not a lot of time to perform some type of preparation on eleven (11) different ingredients unless you are Eric Rippert. One symptom of the impracticality of this cuisine is that an important ingredient for several dishes is lemon confit, which requires THREE MONTHS to prepare. And, it is not an ingredient you will commonly find even at the local megamart. True to Rippert's history and the cuisine of his restaurant, Le Bernardin, the majority of the more interesting recipes are for seafood and I think he includes several important techniques for dealing with them. You will want to prepare more than a few of these recipes, but I think the bottom line is that the recipes are much more valuable as a part of the narrative than they are a part of a cookbook.

The photographs are very good; however, they are basically eye candy, except for the few glimpses of the attractive Ms. Glick, The paintings are pleasant. Somewhat more interesting eye candy than the photographs. The text in Mr. Ruhlman's voice is primarily background scenery, about as useful as the non-food photographs. Ruhlman has serious credentials in culinary writing, so I suspect he made a serious contribution to the words Eric Rippert's voice. The text in Mr. Rippert's voice is the main game. The only real dissonance I found in his discourse was when he shows his disinterest in pastry, claiming it was `too scientific' requiring far too many measurements. The great irony of this statement is that Eric Rippert's methods represent the scientific method at it's best, constantly tasting and adjusting based on his experiences with intermediate steps.

The overall package is attractive, with one glaring sour note. The font of the text is FAR TOO SMALL. This is a major annoyance, something which would have never gotten out the door at Knopf or Harper Collins. The book has much value for serious foodies with very good eyesight. The recipes are very good and well worth the investment, if you can get the book at a discount.

What a great book!! While I'm not the quickest in the kitchen, the suggested prep and cook times were dead on (for me anyway). And the results......STUNNING! The cucumber and lamb salad is not only quick and easy...it is freakin' delicious. It was a hit at my last dinner party.

The other great thing about this book is that it contains no impossible to find ingredients. Being in Las Vegas, gourmet food stores don't exist. I can find the ingredients easily. An important issue for me aat least.

Lastly, the book is a piece of art. Great photos! Great illustrations! Great writing. This isn't just a book of recipes but also insights and hints from Eric. This guy is awesome and I hope he someday makes another book similar to this one. OUTSTANDING in every way.

The Veal chops with Morels and Herb Butter Sauce, the only recipe I have made out of this book so far, is one of the great achievements of human civilization.

I have enjoyed Eric Ripert's chef's tasting menu at his Le Bernadin, an intimidatingly formal restaurant where Woody Allen sat at the next table celebrating the victory in his lawsuit. Apart from the croque monsieur, the recipe to which is included at the opening of this attractive book, the veal recipe was the equal of anything on his menu, even with my feeble hands at the stove.

And for a far more digestible price.

May I recommend this book to those who dare to enjoy life to its fullest.

A Return To Cooking is the best cookbook I have ever got in my life. Eric Ripert The Chef, Michael Ruhlman The Writer, Shimon and Tammar Rothstein The Photographers, Valentino Cortazar The Painter, and Andrea Glick The Personal Assistant - all and one as an A Team - had successfully fulfilled their complicated mission and created a new masterpiece of delight and pleasures. In order to share my pleasure with my family - I immediately bought extra copies of that wonderfull book to my daughters in law to let them enjoy the spectacular pictures and the highly creative recipes and story in the book. My recomendation: buy it for yourself and buy it as a remarkable gift to your beloved ones and friends.

This may be Ripert's return to the kitchen (ie., this is arguably not "restaurant" food), but it's still demanding of money, time, and skill (probably in that order). I say money and time first because he uses top-notch and/or esoteric ingredients, which will require some investment and shopping (eg: live pibales: I never heard of them anywhere else before or since. Even the book says they are very difficult to find: Ripert special orders them from a supplier for $65 a pound. No substitution is mentioned, and the description of them is too limited to make a guess at an acceptable sub. Perhaps there simply is none...). But that's to be expected from any top-tier chef's book, so it's certainly no reason to knock this down.

I'll leave it as established that the recipes are delicious and mouth-watering, etc., and intend to focus this review on who might consider this cookbook and whether or not I'd recommend it.

Admittedly, I spent more time gazing longingly at this book than cooking from it. But, when I have cooked from it, I have always learned something about technique or ingredients, and for that, I rate this book 5 starts. The expense and general highly-demanding nature are irrelevant to rating, as I see it, because you can tell what you're getting into when you consider any book with this many artists and this size of pages involved.

Like any chef's book, you have to be willing to take what you can use: if you can't commit yourself to preparing all the elaborate components of a dish, try making the sauce, or using the cooking method. I've learned a lot of new sauces here, and I look to this almost every time I have a piece of fish in the fridge.

To me, the most interesting part of his grand project is how he brings his background to bear on the different cuisines and traditions of the location (my favorite chapter is in Puerto Rice). The flavor combinations alone are eye-opening, and satisfyingly so.

The artwork, photography, and other writings are, well, there, and how much you like them is up to your own taste. In that respect, you can approximate the book by its cover. I really like the paintings, and how they look like woodcuts, but sometimes the personalities can teeter on the precious or smug side (Though who can blame them: take a year off to paint/cook/eat and travel? I'd feel pretty special too.). I actually do not think I would want to have been part of this particular entourage.

I would most strongly recommend this to anyone who wanted to expand his/her repertoire of fish and seafood recipes: you will find ideas here that are not duplicated elsewhere, and seafood is why Ripert is famous.

If fish/seafood are not strong points of interest, but you are generally a good, well-budgeted and well-supplied cook, you'll probably enjoy this, but I wouldn't say it's an essential addition to your working library.

If you don't cook fish or seafood, I would buy something else.

Also, if you don't live near good, extensively stocked grocery stores (especially fish markets and butcher's who can supply you with things like veal cheeks), I don't think this would have much value as a usable cookbook. Unlike game or foie gras, fish doesn't seem like a strong mail-order candidate. Once you deduct recipes requiring specialty items, you're left with things ike "Figs Wrapped in Bacon" (and not in some ingenious Thomas Keller way; it's quite straightforward).

Obviously, if you're a novice cook, or looking for fast/simple/cheap recipes, you're probably not even viewing this item. In case you are, I recommend you immediately look elsewhere and avoid this book entirely.

Nonetheless, even if you're eating through a feeding tube, or never intend to cook a single thing in your life, but you really like looking at pictures of food, or reading about how people feel about food, you'll probably love this. As an attractive coffee table/daydream cookbook, it's one of the best.

Amazing result of a lifetime famous chef desiring to "cooK." So he and some friends decide to get inspiration by visiting four places in four seasons.

Rest is here ... all-star cookbook!

Magnificent is this result... from specatacular accompanying photos and wordsmithing of one my fav foodwriters (Ruhlaman).

Large format.. large taste.. large creativity, e.g. Smoked Salmon Croque-Monscieur; Flash-Marinated Fluke with Lemon Confit; Mango, Passion Fruit, and Tarragon Salad;Chicken Pot-au-Feu with Ginger Cilanto Vermicelli;Portabello and Eggplant Tart; Salmon, Crab and Scallop Chowder; Grilled Magrets with Arugula and Cranberry.

Here is not only food to reserve for finest of occassions to labor of love offering; but inspiration to follow conceptually or tangent off of to own creative menu generation.

Both will occupy this reviewer for years to come from this exceptional volume.

This is a deliciously decadent dive into the guts of cooking. Eric Ripert and Michael Ruhlman have delivered a true masterpiece for anyone with an obsession with good food, and quality cooking.

The recipes are sensational...the pictures are glorious. I got this book as a Christmas gift and must page through it several times a day looking for inspiration and wise words from this phenomenal chef.

If you are a foodie, you will love this book.

While some of the recipes in this book would be fine as "everyday" food, most of them are not. Most home cooks aren't going to have ingredients like truffles or osetra caviar on hand, nor would they be able to afford them. They also probably wouldn't have the time or patience to make homemade lemon confit or pique (the Puerto Rican spicy liquid seasoning).

As a big fan of Eric Ripert, I may be a little biased. I'm completely enamored of his clean style of cooking. Most of his dishes make their impact with subtle flavors, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients.

In this book he still uses a harmonious blend of local, seasonal ingredients, but he creates recipes with big, bold flavors that really come together to deliver a dramatic flavor impact. The boldness of these dishes is not your standard Eric Ripert fare. This book is all about him finding his passion for cooking real food again.

If you've owned any of Chef Ripert's other books, you will notice the differences between this one and the others. The others were all based on dishes served at his NYC restaurant, Le Bernardin. This book is a very interesting tour around various locations, with Chef Ripert making up dishes on the fly for his friends out of mostly local, seasonal ingredients. It's a big departure from his other books, but in a good way.

Yes, most of the recipes aren't practical for home cooking. But there are some that could definitely be duplicated at home. Not all of them use high-end, expensive ingredients or difficult techniques. After all, this book was written while Chef Ripert was on vacation with friends.

The photos in the book are striking. I don't particularly like the artwork that is featured prominently throughout the book, but that just because it doesn't happen to appeal to my taste. I know some people love the paintings. Personally, I much prefer the photographs of the dishes! The photos of the ingredients used are nice, too.

As much as I love this book, I just can't bring myself to deduct any points from the star total because of the paintings which feature so prominently. I would have preferred the book without them, but they certainly don't take much, if anything away from this phenomenal book.

The book is also extremely interesting to just read and enjoy. The stories and anecdotes about Chef Ripert, his trip, his friends, and the food and ingredients are absolutely delightful to read.

I wouldn't advise buying this book if you want to get recipes for everyday dinners, because it's not likely to fulfil that role for you. But if you're a professional chef or a foodie, you will probably adore this book as much as I do. If you're a fan of Chef Ripert, you will almost surely want to grab this book!