Customer Reviews

Yum!: Tasty Recipes from Culinary Greats

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An impressive collection of kitchen cook friendly, gourmet quality, nutritious and delicious recipes suitable for all dining occasions, "Yum!: Tasty Recipes From Culinary Greats" offers more than 100 dishes contributed by sixty of the best professional chefs in the culinary world who donated their recipes to food author Dara Bunjon and gourmet chef Jeffery Spear as a contribution to the American Kidney Foundation -- who receives the proceeds from the sales of this outstanding cookbook. Beautifully illustrated with color photography showing off not only the finished dishes but the chefs who created them (along with their brief biographies), "Yum!" truly lives up to its title with such offerings as: 'Nora Poullon's Carpaccio with Arugula, Shaved Parmesan & Mustard-Caper Sauce'; Caprial and John Pence's 'Pan-Fried Oysters with Ginger Creme Fraiche and Peppers'; Nick Malgieri's 'Gruyere and Bacton Tart'; Charlie Trotter's 'Cold-Poached Salmon with Hearts of Palm and Tamarind'; and Jennifer Bushman's 'Grilled Salmon Fillets with Lime Ginger Butter', just to name a few! If you only have room enough on your kitchen cookbook shelf for one more, make it "Yum!".

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (10/07)


First of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of "YUM!" by Microplane®, a company that sells zesters, graters, and slicers, go to the National Kidney foundation.

The beginning of the recipe book explains the various graters that are available and the purpose of each one. It also includes a "special ingredients" list to assist the users with ingredients that they may not be familiar with. Looking at the list I learned that Benimousu is purple sweet potato vinegar and that there is such a thing as Pomegranate Molasses. Thinking it was the same as Grenadine, I found out that this is actually a brown, concentrated substance that is tart, rather than sweet and syrupy. There are also conversion tables to help those using the metric system.

There are recipes from over 60 renowned chefs varying from appetizers to soups and salads, to main courses, and, of course, desserts. There is even a section for vegetarians. Furthermore, the book has wonderfully-appetizing photos of the final product, and photos and biographies of the chefs.

I tried several of the recipes, and will certainly be using the recipes in "YUM!" for dinner parties. The "Roasted Balsamic Glazed Chicken" is wonderful! I've never brined a whole chicken before and was amazed how moist the end result was. Be careful with this one and make a tin foil tent early in the roasting otherwise the chicken has a tendency to burn. I served this with "Crunchy Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts." The dressing was light, yet very flavorful. The "Olive Oil Cake" was very rich and had a fruity flavor. A note said it would be if using extra virgin olive oil. I felt the cake was a little too sweet and would attempt to cut back on the sugar next time I make it.

"YUM!" is a must-have recipe book for all culinary lovers and collectors. It's not often we get a concise book with so many easy recipes from the greats. And, I have to stress the fact the recipes are "easy" and all the ingredients are available locally.

Book Received at No Charge