The Art of Aureole (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Palmer isn't fussy; his food looks like something your mother might have made. But the intensity of flavor his dishes deliver-a winning mix of robustness and sophistication-goes far beyond most home kitchens."

Product Description

Charlie Palmer burst onto the culinary scene in the mid-’80s—fresh out of culinary school—and almost immediately earned three stars at the River Café from the New York Times. Growing up on a farm in upstate New York, Palmer was raised on quality produce, dairy, and meats, instilling in him a passion for the best ingredients long before it was fashionable. So with an education in classic European cooking, a commitment to hand-crafted foods, and a designer’s eye for creating art on the plate, he was perfectly primed to shed new light on contemporary American cuisine. At age 28, Palmer opened Aureole and was instantly showered with accolades, establishing its stellar reputation on his talent for blending uptown drama with country inn warmth. Now in its fifteenth year of unflagging popularity, the art of Aureole’s cuisine has never been more brilliant. With more than 75 signature recipes, each photographed in a bold, artful composition inspired by the character of the dish, this collection captures the enduring qualities that have made Aureole a Manhattan classic.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; illustrated edition edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580084761
• ISBN-13: 978-1580084765
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #889,207 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Try to read this book, December 12, 2003

By	"shaskin" (Ann Arbor) - See all my reviews

Long awaited, "The Art of Aureole" has a most beautiful cover of ethereal food. Inside, it has to be the worst designed cookbook I've ever seen. The type is mish-mash of white on a dark grey background and has been set in four different directions on every page. This is for "artistic" effect, no doubt. To make matters worse for the home chef who might be making a dish for the first time, they are impossible to follow. The graphic designers need to go back to school (if they ever went in the first place) and be taught to remember that no matter how slick they can design something, it has to serve a purpose. And the purpose of a cookbook is to make the food look great and the recipes that can be followed. The design of the book serves no purpose except to salve their probably quite large egos.

That said, the recipes look as though they would be perfect for our annual "Insane Chefs" dinner. For this dinner, we choose an annual cookbook as a theme specifically because the recipes are difficult and/or the ingredients are tough to find. We like a challenge. In the past few years, we've used the books from the French Laundry (try finding Morello cherries on-line three years ago!), Terra, Lumiere (this had teeny baby bok choy), and Le Bec Fin, to name a few. The common thread was that all the cookbooks have a high degree of difficulty and take some solid previous kitchen experience, especially to get around the inevitable errors. This book compounds the issue with its goofy layout and text. At least we can follow the others.

Designers, take it as a mantra. You can make the restaurant look as glitzy whacko as you want, that's an environment. You CAN'T make a cookbook look insane. People who actually use it need to follow the recipes inside.

The recipes in the book look stupendous, but I can't recommend it to our group. Maybe the designers will foot the bill to print a small book with plain recipies so they can be followed in the kitchen without standing on your head.

One other thing, and for us this is a biggie...THERE ARE NO DESSERTS. None. Nary a one. I might have given "The Art of Aureole: two stars if there had been some desserts included. But nooooooooooo, they evidently didn't think desserts were worth including. Charlie Palmer should check out what was included in all the books mentioned above, especially what Thomas Keller had included in the French Laundry Cookbook. Stellar.

I'm more disappointed in the quality of this cookbook than I have been in any book in years. It should have been as spectacular to match the quality of the restaurant. Instead, it's a work of vain crud that never should have had trees killed to produce it. It should have come out next year with better forethought to the recipes included (or not) and design. The designer should be lashed with some raw skate. Or at the very least made to take Graphic Design 101.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WORST COOKBOOK EVER, January 23, 2004

By A Customer

This is the worst cookbook I've ever seen. Don't be fooled into thinking it's an inspiring art book, either. Not only would it be useless in the kitchen, it would never end up on my coffee table, either. This is bad art, too.

The photos are totally unappetizing. The design is lame. It's like a display of how horrific you can make food look. It's disgusting. I'm surprised at Charlie Palmer and Ten Speed Press. His other books and his cooking are awesome.

Even if these recipes are fabulous, I'll never know it because the book is not useable -- with stark type going in many different directions on each page -- it's impossible to cook from it.

Design professors! You can use this book as an example of how function should never follow form. Or in this case, how function can actually cease to exist because of irresponsible use of design.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not really a cookbook, February 8, 2005

By	James A. Malerich "Kint Sonnemont" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I will agree with the other reviewers that this is not, by any means, a great cookbook. Really, I've seen this as a 'coffee table cookbook' since the day I first saw it. I think the layout of this book is absolutely gorgeous and it's well worth just flipping through to see the wide array of beautiful food inside. While I doubt I'd ever try the recipies in it, I do think one could glean lots of fun tidbits of information to try in one's own way.