The Kitchen Sessions With Charlie Trotter (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Matthias Merges (Illustrator), Mitchell F. Rice (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In The Kitchen Sessions, chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter makes his unique way with food available to home cooks in dishes somewhat less esoteric than those in his other cookbooks.

Trotter compares his cooking with jazz improvisation. His Portobello Mushroom Vinaigrette, for example, bursts from the Salsify and Pickled Mushroom Salad like a high, clear note that lingers, then falls back into other flavors in this riff on salad. Like good jazz, his dishes offer original contrasts and harmonies. As with music, they speak to the intellect and the spirit as well as the senses.

This book offers more recipes than the TV version of The Kitchen Sessions. Here, you get six dishes under each topic of the 13-show series, while Trotter demonstrated only two on camera, in episodes dedicated to soups, salads, salmon, pasta, pork, poultry, and more. A simple choice would be Indian Curry-Braised Catfish. It involves a caramelized sauté of onions, ginger, apple, pepper, and Indian spices, all combined with an Apricot Curry sauce. The fish is simmered in this mixture and served over basmati rice.

Cooks with a reasonable degree of skill can follow even the most involved recipes, because the individual steps and ingredients required are familiar. With some patience, it's easy enough to re-create Trotter's Bing Cherry Brown Sundae with Bittersweet Chocolate-Kona Coffee Sauce, baking the cherry-studded brownies and the ultrarich ice cream, simmering the three sauces, and whipping fresh cream with cinnamon, then poaching fresh cherries in one of the sauces. Timewise, it's a project, but oh, the results!

Color photos and pencil sketches help you understand and construct many dishes. A glossary helps you understand culinary terms like chiffonade--herbs or greens cut into fine ribbons. All that's missing is the fun of seeing Trotter come out and perform a handstand, as he sometimes does at his Chicago restaurant. Cook from this book, and your lucky guests will feel that's what you have done for them. --Dana Jacobi

From Publishers Weekly

The popular Chicago restaurateur is back, and if the format here is somewhat smaller and the price lower than that of Charlie Trotter's Seafood and ...Vegetables, his culinary style hasn't changed. A companion to next year's 13-part public TV series, these 79 recipes reflect Trotter's signature flair for combining tastes with irrepressible zeal. While not beyond the grasp of most home cooks, the complexity of many dishes, such as Pinwheel of Scallop with Cumin-Scented Fettuccine and Heirloom Tomato Sauce or Roasted Cornish Game Hen with Potato Pave and Gingered Mustard Sauternes Sauce, can be daunting. International flavors abound, from Catfish Tempura with Lemongrass-Jalapeno-Ponzu Dipping Sauce to the French-accented Lobster en Barigoule. Trotter stresses that ingredients are interchangeable, but when he notes that Duck Breast Salad with Wilted Greens, Warm Goat Cheese and Walnut Vinaigrette works well with beef, he doesn't suggest what cut of beef to use or how to prepare it. Still, with such recipes as Mediterranean-Inspired Beef Tenderloin with Quinoa and Red Wine-Black Olive Vinaigrette (which calls for the meat to be larded with eggplant, poblano chile, red bell pepper and anchovies), Trotter continues to create intriguing meals. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898159970
• ISBN-13: 978-0898159974
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #234,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Inspirational Book by Chef Trotter, November 23, 1999

By	Patricia A. Bainter (Atherton, CA) - See all my reviews

The Kitchen Series with Charlie Trotter is an inspirational book. The photos are glossy, beautiful, textural, and alluring. The recipes are innovative and they work.

I made one of the more elaborate recipes (Chicken Dumplings with a Stir-Fry of Shiitake Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts, and Mung Bean Sprouts in a Ginger-Soy-Hijiki Sauce) for a group of eight. It took a lot of time to prepare, but the reward came when my guests practically fainted from the gorgeous flavors.

Another recipe met with stunning reviews from my guests (Pumpkin Soup with Pheasant Breast and Fried Ginger), although I did serve it as a main course, and not as a soup.

Recipes are broken out into groups: Soup; Salad; Lobster; Scallop; Catfish; Salmon; Tuna; Pasta; Poultry; Pork; Duck; Beef; Dessert; including a Pantry section explaining how to make herb oils and other sauces used throughout the book.

I also purchased the Kitchen Sessions video set and became glued to the TV when I watched them. The videos are exciting and Chef Trotter's enthusiasm will send you off into your own kitchen to try it for yourself.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Revising my review, March 5, 2001

By A Customer

On January 7, 2000, I reviewed this book and wrote that I had trouble with two of the recipes that I tried. I decided to give this book another try, and had great success with the following recipes, since they were more straightforward and didn't require flipping to the back of the book for sub recipes. The grilled swordfish and somen noodle salad was delicious, mussels and linguini in garlic-mussel broth was excellent, roasted pork tenderloin with red cabbage-- yummy, and poached salmon with noodles, fennel and apple outstanding! I'm giving this book a revised rating of four stars and am trotting off to my bookstore to check out some of Charlie Trotter's other cookbooks.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passion for Food, March 12, 2000

By	Pamela Louik (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

The Kitchen Sessions With Charlie Trotter was given to me as a gift. The initial thumb through brought chills down my spine-I can never do this! Instead of reading the recipes(first-as I usually do), I actually read the forward and statements by Trotter. There, I found the lessons! Trotter's perspective on food challenge you to use the book as a blueprint, not a tablet from on high. This was the first cookbook I've read that has a wide angle focus on the joy and fun of food.