Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With his ubiquitous Food Network cooking programs, Good Morning America appearances, five bestselling cookbooks, six celebrated restaurants, and starring role in an NBC sitcom, celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse may be the ultimate "food ambassador." "Nothing makes me happier than getting people involved with food, excited about food, and cooking food," he says in the introduction to Prime Time Emeril: More TV Dinners from America's Favorite Chef. We may wonder if Emeril's over-the-top antics actually inspire his legions of viewers to spend more quality time in the kitchen, but there's no argument that he gets people excited about food. The mere addition of garlic, heavy cream, butter, or the slightest drop of truffle oil to one of Emeril's decadent dishes and his studio audience explodes with a fevered enthusiasm akin to a frenzied mob of face-painted hockey fans up in the nosebleed seats during the playoffs. As an Amazon.com customer from Boutte, Louisiana, writes, when it comes to Emeril "...there are two competing factions. Those who love and worship Emeril and those who refuse to." But, as Emeril might say, we "won't go there."

Prime Time Emeril is packed with menu ideas highlighting Emeril's well-known Louisiana-by-way-of-Fall River-Massachusetts cuisine. Recipe introductions feature witty Emerilisms (his "roux theory": a nice, dark brown roux requires about 25 to 30 minutes cooking time, or the amount of time it takes to knock back two beers) and chapter titles like "Pork Fat," "Y'All Southern?" and "Macho Meats," among others, set the tone. Comfort food is on the menu, including Chicken, Bacon, and White Bean Soup Portuguese-Style and Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage and Fennel ("love in a bowl"), along with more elegant fare such as Apricot-Glazed Cornish Game Hens with Sausage-Rice Pilaf Stuffing and Chilled Roasted Beet and Fennel Soup with Apple-Mint Crema and Toasted Pistachios. Any Super Bowl party would welcome his Turkey Chili; Baked Crabmeat, Artichoke, and Spinach Dip; or Kicked-Up Chicken Drummettes with Blue Cheese Sauce. And just imagine the killer next-day sandwiches Emeril's Spiced Baked Ham with Sweet Potatoes would provide.

Emeril may want his readers "to be at ease with making homemade pâtés or consommés, pickling, and home smoking," and maybe Prime Time Emeril will inspire them to be more adventurous in the kitchen, but odds are they'd be more than happy just watching him on TV, sprinkling his signature Essence on everything in sight and shouting "Bam!" --Brad Thomas Parsons

From Booklist

Chef Emeril Lagasse's celebrity has soared so high that fans can soon enjoy his effervescent personality in a new situation comedy series as well as on his familiar cooking shows. Whether his acting skills surpass his cooking talent remains to be seen; meanwhile, he's brought out another compilation of recipes from his cooking shows. Prime Time Emeril moves beyond his customary Cajun recipes with dishes reflecting his Portuguese-Italian upbringing in Fall River, Massachusetts. Emeril can't resist "kicking them up a notch" with hefty additions of his New Orleans-inspired spice mixtures. He also pays homage to the best of contemporary American cooking with his sensationally good and easily prepared Truffled Corn and Wild Mushroom Fettuccine. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (September 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060185368
• ISBN-13: 978-0060185367
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #179,673 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Emeril is Emeril, October 14, 2001

By	V. Moog (Cape Coral, Fl USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a good compilation of the recipes from his TV show. Most of these you can download from the Food TV web site for free. This book just puts it all together, which is why I bought it. The recipes exemplify Emeril cooking pure and simple. As long as you follow the guidelines for "fresh" herbs, the recipes come out very good. Some can be time consuming and some are fairly easy. I labored through the Duck and Sausage Etouffee and am glad I did. I learned the different flavors of the rue. The flavors can't be beat - but it takes time. I think this is a good addition to anyone's cookbook library. I also have his New New Orleans cook book and Louisiana Real and Rustic. I have favorites in all of them. If you enjoy getting on that cutting edge of "gourmet cooking," I think you will enjoy this book.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Made for Prime Time, June 10, 2002

By	E. Gonzales "themightyed" (Stockton, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book follows the recipes from the earlier episodes of his Emeril Live series on the Food Network. So if you've been looking for the recipes from the TV show, this is the one for you. Definitely a good cross section of recipes, not just focusing on New Orleans cuisine.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keeps with Emeril's usual great format., February 8, 2002

By	Mary K. Johnson (Apollo, PA United States) - See all my reviews

After watching several of Emeril's shows, I decided to purchase the book. I am really glad that I did. Yes, you could probably print many of the recipes from the internet, but I have found it really interesting, as well as many more recipes, that I haven't seen on his shows. There are probably a few more than necessary nonscence photo's, and it should have more photo's of the different recipes that are in the book, but I love it just the same...The recipes are basically easy to follow.