Secrets of Success Cookbook: Signature Recipes and Insider Tips from San Francisco's Best Restaurants (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Few appetizers are as enticing as Wendy Brucker's Portobello Mushroom Fritters, but then few chefs are as talented as she is either..." (more)
Key Phrases: cambozola sauce, cabbage purses, brochette marinade, San Francisco, Bay Area, Napa Valley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Book of Kells, one of the great illuminated manuscripts, sits in the library of Trinity College in Dublin, a new page daily revealed to the public. You could do much the same with Michael Bauer's The Secrets of Success Cookbook in your kitchen, displaying a new and wonderful signature recipe from a San Francisco restaurant each day for 300 days. Imagine. You would start with Parmesan Budinis with Warm Asparagus and Pea Shoots from Acquerello, learning the secrets of baking a successful custard, and end with an Apple Galette from Zax wherein the secret of success consists of unsalted butter and chilled dough.

As a food and restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Bauer has had ample opportunity to take a note or two about the kinds of dishes that make one restaurant stand out from another, the so-called signature dish. It would be one thing to cajole Bay Area chefs into sharing their recipes and making certain those commercial recipes actually work in a home kitchen. But Bauer takes it one step farther: He ferrets out the successful technique behind each dish. Who in their right mind would go to all the time and trouble to preserve lemons for a dish like Moroccan Game Hens with Preserved Lemons and Olives as served at Kasbah? Well, it turns out that what normally takes a month can take a week if you freeze the lemons and add salt--so why not give it a try?

Bauer introduces each recipe with detailed notes about the chef and restaurant as well as baseline information about the actual dish. Recipe instructions have been pared down to the essentials. A Secrets of Success sidebar accompanies each recipe. The difficulty comes with page after page after page of deliciousness. Where to start? What to try next? Will you start with the Grand Café recipe for Polenta Soufflé with Mushroom Sauce? Or what about Bradley Ogden's Potato Skins with Smoked Salmon and Horseradish Crème Fraiche from the Lark Creek Inn? Baronda's Mixed Green Salad with Grapefruit and Warm Shrimp certainly looks good. So does the Seared Black Pepper Lavender Fillet of Beef from Café la Haye. The list is 300 recipes deep. One a day would take you through the better part of a year. And what a year that would be. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

The San Francisco Chronicle's longtime restaurant critic gives readers the ultimate tour of the Bay Area restaurant scene in this chatty cookbook, which presents more than 300 recipes from top chefs who divulge the "secrets" behind their signature dishes. Peppered with restaurant and chef trivia, each recipe's preface reads like a mini restaurant review. Avid restaurant-goers and foodies will appreciate Bauer's discriminating palate as he deconstructs his favorite dishes for "breakfast, cocktails and everything in between." For example, for Gabriel Fregoso's (Las Camelias) Tequila Marinated Cornish Hens: "The hens get an explosion of flavor from marinating 24 hours in a mixture of water, ginger, onion, garlic and tequila." Geared specifically to home cooks, these succinct, clearly written recipes reflect San Francisco's diverse influences and tastes, from the culturally nuanced Tamarind Guava Barbecue Spareribs, Thai-Style Fried Quail and Seared Black Pepper Lavender Fillet of Beef to refined American diner standards such as Buttermilk Pancakes, Banana Cream Pie and the Best Hamburger (the secret is to use 18% fat chuck and salt it). For those who enjoy cooking and want to better understand the processAwithout investing a lifetime in the kitchenAthis compendium of culinary Cliffs Notes provides a fine alternative. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1ST edition (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811825027
• ISBN-13: 978-0811825023
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,362 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recipes that really work, April 10, 2000

By A Customer

Too many collections of recipes from professional chefs prove disappointing in the home kitchen. In dramatic -- and delicious -- contrast, the five recipes I've tried so far from this book have all been major successes. The coq au vin recipe alone is worth the price of the book. Although I own hundreds of cookbooks, I return to a few favorites most of the time. This terrific new book has earned a place on my "favorites" shelf.

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recipes & Insider Tips from San Francisco's Best Restaurants, August 9, 2000

By	Marlene Sorosky (Danville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I live in the Bay area and tried many of Michael Bauer's recipes in the San Francisco Chronicle before they came out in his cookbook. I couldn't wait for the book to be published so I'd have all the great recipes I'd tried in one place. I highly recommend the book for the following reasons: 1. The recipes are unique and creative. 2. The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients easy to find. (Too often chef's recipes are far beyond a home cook's reach and capability.) 3. The tips for success included in each recipe help one become a better cook because they explain the reasons for the techniques being used. 4. The recipes are well tested and well worth the effort. 5. Michael is a great writer, which makes the book great reading. 6. Whenever I have friends over, I try a new recipe from the book and have never been disappointed.

This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys cooking and wants to serve delicious food. Secrets to Success solves the dilemma of "What am I going to make for dinner?" I have tried over half the recipes in the book and look forward to eating my way through the other half.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little Pie in the Sky for me!, December 29, 2000

By	Reader (WI) - See all my reviews

Not living in a large city, I think I'll have a hard time getting some of the ingredients. Although they simplify recipes for the home cook, a lot of it is unrealistic. I will use this for special occasions, and can translate some of the tips into other recipes, but don't think it will be a good every-day addition. For example, to make fantastic burgers, they suggest salting ribboned chuck steak, then setting up your meat grinder. I don't have one, and don't want one. I'll also never make quail, squab, or liver and onions. It's good reading for more advanced ideas, but I don't think it's really going to be a dog eared, ingredient splashed favorite.