Flavor [Hardcover]

This book can be seen on several different layers and the value you find is based on how valuable you find each of the layers in the presentation.

At the most basic level, there are the recipes. For a list price of $35, the number of recipes is pretty thin. There are 105 recipes divided into Appetizers (18), Soups (11), Salads (10), Entrees (35), Side Dishes (11), Desserts (13) and Reserve List (7). The last category needs explanation. All the recipes in the other 6 categories are, I believe, fairly straightforward, with a very reasonable number of ingredients. This is not the same as fast. Many recipes do require long cooking or marinade times and very few require less than an hour of active time, even though few require any fancy techniques or equipment. This is a sure sign that the restaurant recipes have been adapted to home cooking. The Reserve List recipes are all distinguished by being more difficult to prepare, with more steps and more ingredients. These are the types of recipes you will find in a book by Daniel Boulud. The recipes in this book are based on French seafood style of cooking with a heavy infusion of Southeast Asian (Thai cum Vietnam) flavors and methods. Some are simple, but most have that upscale New York restaurant about it. But then, one of the reasons you buy this book is to do Union Pacific recipes at home.

At the next level, you have the overlay of flavor notes on the ingredients. For the real foodie, this aspect of the book really works. For me, it reinforced the epithany I had while watching the 'Jamie's Kitchen' special where Jamie is testing his students for their appreciation of taste. It is so easy to get lost among the trees of equipment, techniques, nutrition, books and recipes and forget that above a bare subsistance level, it's all about flavor, which is the engine which drove the great world cuisines to coax great results out of inexpensive ingredients by seemingly involved methods. It is clear that Rocco is not seeing things hidden from other chefs. He and his collaborators have hit upon a way to bring this to the foreground.

At another level, the book adds very useful information about each recipe, giving the total time, active time, difficulty, number of protions, and recommended wine paring for the dish. The serving size is standard. Nothing new there. The total and active times are uncommon, but they shouldn't be in high end cookbooks. I believe these times are very realistic. The difficulty rating is a great addition. My only reservation is that no recipes outside the reserved list have a rating of more than 3 out of 6. Still, a very good thing.

The top level is the way in which photographs have been used in this book. There is a photograph for the finished product for almost every recipe. Almost all of these photos are very good. There are also many photographs of ingredients. Pretty. Not that useful. There are several techniques which are illuminated by a series of photographs, but NO TEXT. They look like pages from a book seen in Fahrenheit 451. All pictures. No reading. They work, but they would have worked much better with a little text. As in Jamie Oliver's book, there are a lot of photos of Rocco and colleagues fondling ingredients. Except for the one with the young girl covered in chocolate, I could do without them.

As long as you get this book at a discount price, it is definitely worth it for the amateur chef. It will succeed in making cooking more interesting and it will give you some great experiences with exotic ingredients. Rocco's advice on encountering new ingredients is right up there with Alton Brown's advice on thinning out your kitchen equipment. Another added value are the lists of ingredients by taste and by season at the back of the book. The obligatory list of internet ingredient sources is there as well.

I have just a few pet peeves. Rocco does a great service by pointing out which ingredients infuse well in water and which ingredients infuse well in oil, but then spoils the whole insight by relegating it to 'scientific babble'. The other minor annoyance is when he assigns classic names such as pot au feu to a dish which are substantially different from the classic recipe, then neglects to put these named dishes in the index.

A great gift for the foodie on your list.

The only reason I can figure why anyone would want to buy this book is to have Rocco's name on their shelf. Dumb reason!