The Art of Aureole [Hardcover]

What a shame for Charlie Palmer!

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.

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.