Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

TV chef Tyler Florence brings a direct, regular-guy charm to cooking that is equally straightforward, simple and good. In Tyler’s Ultimate, he offers 100-plus recipes for just this kind of food—-"ultimate" versions of dishes like onion soup, crab cakes and spaghetti carbonara, as well as more innovative fare like Chicken Paillard with Fresh Fig Salad and Blue Cheese, Grilled Leg of Lamb with Lemon Chickpea Puree and Greens, and Coconut Shrimp with Basmati Rice, Apricots, and Lime. His desserts, all tempting, include the likes of Chocolate Banana Bread, and Almond Semifreddo with Spiced Honey Dried Fruit. Many of the dishes in this concise collection reflect a thoughtful winnowing of ingredients and technique to produce food that is not only delicious, but can be prepared on a regular basis. Some of Florence’s inventions—-like Watermelon Gazpacho with Chile and Feta Cheese, which is entirely accomplished in a blender-—are ingenious. Photo-illustrated throughout, "Ultimate" is for cooks who want their kitchen work to be as easy as possible, but who also require good cooking—-dishes that capture fully their flavor potential. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Were this book not to share a name with Florence's Food Network show, its existence would be a puzzle. As it is, it's hard to make heads or tails of this jumble of decent but not spectacular recipes that share only one thing in common: a forced "guy talk" manner. Chapters are arranged by type of dish, with titles like "Surf" for fish, and each opens with a throw-away introduction of a couple of paragraphs: "noodles are a great way to put a smile on somebody's face." Recipes are equally casual: once you've started the sauce for Coconut Shrimp with Basmati Rice and Apricots, you're told to "jump to the rice," and in the headnote to Angry Lobster with Tomato-Chile Butter and Arugula, Florence reminisces about working "at a mafia joint in Tribeca" patronized by men "from Jersey with pinky rings... and girls decked out in big hair and gold." Despite this sometimes off-key tone, instructions are clear, and each recipe helpfully comes with an estimated cooking time, most of them quick. Still, one can't help wishing that despite offering truly helpful advice (such as the tip not to shake the pan when making Oven Fries for crispier results), Florence would, in his own parlance, tune down the 'tude, dude. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400052386
• ISBN-13: 978-1400052387
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,764 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My New Favorite Chef and Cookbook, February 27, 2007

By	L. Cornish "Gourmet Aficionado" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw Tyler Florence make this amazing Mac and Cheese on his namesake show and was excited to see that he had a cookbook filled with the recipes from his show. I have made several recipes from this cookbook and they have all come out wonderfully. The Ultimate Grilled Shrimp recipe was so easy and what's even better is that my husband thinks I'm this master cook. The shrimp stayed moist and succulent. I love broccoli and Tyler's roasted broccoli recipe is amazing. There are only 4 ingredients, but this simple vegetable comes out with very complex flavors. There's no sugar added, but roasting the broccoli over high heat brought out this amazing sweetness. I can't wait to try the other recipes. I usually don't write reviews, but thought foodies shouldn't miss this cookbook.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Cookbook from Tyler Florence, October 2, 2006

By	Cooking Show Fan "Tyler Fan" (Sunny California) - See all my reviews

This new cookbook is chock full of wonderful comfort foods. Each recipe is accompanied by a gorgeous photo. Tyler's new television show of the same name is a great cooking show with Tyler alone in the kitchen doing what he does best. He takes an ordinary dish and makes it a little something extra special with his own Tyler twist and that goes for all the recipes in the new cookbook. It is billed as being a companion to the TV show. I have made many of Tyler's recipes over the past few years and they always come out a little cut above any one else's recipe in my opinion. If you liked Tyler's first 2 cookbooks then you will love this one.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different & Delicious!, March 24, 2007

By	Kara Roche - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love cookbooks that will teach me new recipes and new tricks, and this book does both. I let my 5 year old pick out a recipe for dinner the other night (I figured if he picks it, he'll eat it), and he chose a coconut rice and chicken dish similar to paella but not with Spanish flavors. It looked OK to me, not something I've ever seen before. It was a perfect one pot meal that the whole family devoured! It was simple and very tasty, but the best part about it, it was DIFFERENT! There are so many cookbooks out there with wonderful recipes (I have bookshelves filled with many of them), but so many of them just have variations of the same meals. Tyler really mixes things up with his new book, and I am thrilled with the results!