Customer Reviews

Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook

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

 

 

I have many cookbooks in my collection, and at this point I only buy books I know I'll cook from. I'm a big fan of the show, so I made an exception with this book, thinking I wouldn't really cook from it. I was happy to find that the first recipe I tried, Sambar-Crusted Butterfish with Chorizo and Corn, was easy and delicious. I made it for a dinner party last weekend with black cod and everyone was impressed. The quickfire is all about fast, improvisational cooking, and this recipe from Radhika (Season 5) was a total success!

Huge fan of the show, and was excited to see this book. However, the selection of recipes is not all that exciting. It would have been really nice if we could have had it arranged by all quickfires and have had the top couple of recipes from each. Instead, it's all over the place, not in any particular order (they try to categorize recipes by quickfire theme, i.e. time based, ingredient based, but when you find different recipes from the same quickfire in different categories, it's obvious the categorization doesn't really mean anything difinitive), and many middle-of-the-pack or "least favorites" are actually included in here. Why would I want to bother with something that was panned on the show? All in all, there were very few recipes in here I was actually interested in trying.

If you're a die hard fan of the show, maybe you'll enjoy the biographies of all the contestants and other features that are included. It is pretty rich in these areas. However, I am more interested in the show for creativity and innovativeness, and really don't care about individual chef quotes, behind the scenes info, or multi-page spreads on how to plate.

This quickfire book is a fun gift for Top Chef fans, especially those who are short on time. It's part cookbook, part yearbook and will be appreciated by series-long fans. For dyed-in-the-wool TC fans, the chef profiles, quizzes and "games" peppered throughout the book will be of interest. But for a casual fan, some of the entries (especially the "We ♥ Padma")were a little over-the-top. The cover is impressive with its shock of orange and a stainless steel-look spine.

I am gluten-intolerant so not all of the recipes apply to me, but several are already GF and many can be easily adapted. I am planning on making Lia's Pork Tenderloin with Artichoke Tart with a GF rice pizza crust. I'm also planning on making Hun's Chocolate Pie with Bananas. Looks delicious.

Food photography is appetizing. Each recipe has prep/cook time, the season & show # that it came from and the actual challenge that it fulfilled.

This will make a good holiday gift, especially for those who love the show, or those who want to get into cooking and may find this a fun introduction to cookbooks.

and nerve-racking part of the show..." This cookbook is great for the at home chef! I love the fact that the recipes and techniques are easy to follow. From Jeff's Oat-Fried Chicken and Grits to Leah's Grilled Bread with Bacon and Egg - BREAKFAST AT MY HOUSE IS WAY BETTER! This is a must have for any Top Chef Fan!

The cookbook includes it all:
From Fries to Foie Gras: Ingredient Challange
Utensils Down Hands Up: Time Challange
Outside The Bread Box: Creativity Challange
Show Your Mad Skills: Techique challenge
Face the Firing Squad: Judges' Challenge

"Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook" is a hefty tome of the rapid fire challenges competing chefs have on BRAVO's highly successful show. In the Quickfire challenge, cooks must make a dish within a brief amount of time. Indeed,it's all about timing. One could see these recipes as the upscale, elite (complete with plating tips) equivalent to 30-Minute Meals However,this cooking to impress,and since it's visually dazzling, it's rightly deemed food pr0n.

"The Quickfire Cookbook" is useful with its tips on plating and timing. For any novice cook, it can be a help. On the other hand, the dishes aren't everyday fare. The layout is also confusing. It's not a conventional cookbook. One gets interviews with producers, various competitors, season facts, etc. For some reason it's difficult to make coherent books based on TV shows. Ironically, celebrity cooks like Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over Again , Michael Chiarello Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking and Giada De Laurentiis Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes have books that are user-friendly,despite the fact they've been judges on shows like "Next Food Network Star" and yes--"Top Chef."

"Quickfire Cookbook" is visually appealing and has some practical uses, but it's more of a feast for the eyes than useful in the kitchen.

I ordered two of these as gifts and both were so filthy and thrashed I could never give them to anyone. Amazon has great CS so they sent me two more w/o issue before I'd even sent back the messed up ones. Unfortunately those also were messed up - I was able to keep one of the four I received and decided to give up. The person I gave it to is a big fan of the show and enjoyed it a lot but it's true it is not a very practical cookbook. I think it's more for a conversation starter, the questions inside and photos are fun. Be careful though, they must have a bad batch, hopefully they get them cleaned up and out of their inventory. If you need it fast for a gift you might want to get something else.

This book, much like other Top Chef books is just as detailed and wonderful. There are some recipes that are more reasonable to make, but lots of ingredients in each one which makes it top chef worthy. Not for the person who just wants to get through a recipe. Food lovers should have this book!

If you loved the TOP CHEF cookbook, you'll LOVE this one too! Fantastic photos, great plating ideas, fabulous recipes!! This book was worth every cent I paid for it and more!

As a casual fan of the show, I was less impressed with the trivia sprinkled throughout this book than I was with the recipes. The photography is gorgeous, the glossary and various cooking tips in the margins are helpful, and the recipes are simplified enough for home cooks to try while still retaining the creativity and charm of a Quickfire dish. I've made some of the recipes for parties, and they almost all went over well (the corn nut deviled egg recipe calls for an overpowering amount of lime juice, so home chefs should scale it back a lot, or be prepared to rename the recipe "chipotle-lime deviled eggs," like I did). I wish the editors had cut out some of the uninspired "how to host a Top Chef party" pages in favor of more recipes, but I still think this book has enough valuable content for plenty of dinner parties.

There are a few disappointments

1) there are repeats from the first book

2) there are glaring mistakes for anyone who really watches the show
a) a recipe is credited to marcel as a contestant on season 3 when he was on season 2
b) a recipe for seared tuna by elia only it was from the raw quickfire when noting could be cooked
c) a t-shirt quote from seaon 2 by CJ "oh big time" when he was on season 2
d) list Tre's burger as the winner when CJ's was (CJ's was in the 1st book)
...little things like that...and there are more...will bother anyone who considers themselves to be a hardcore fan

also they include just about EVERY SINGLE tart recipe from the tart quickfire

it would have been nice to include a list of recipes by quickfire but they don't
it would have also been nice to list each quickfire and list what everyone made, even those who did poorly

like the 1st book, they don't always stick to exactly what the chef used either...for instance, in the 1st book the diet pizza that betty/marcel/frank made used homemade dough and sausage in the book they use pita bread and ham with a footnote about the ham....and in the new book with Ilan's deviled eggs he was criticized about using pear nectar by the judge so in the book the pear nectar is missing...

still this is a necessity for a fan and does include lots of behind the scene info! those of us who watch the show religiously will know what's right and what's wrong!