Customer Reviews

Chef Michael Smith's Kitchen

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael is one of my favorite TV chefs and this is a great cookbook. The pictures are wonderful and the tips are very helpful.

Love Michael Smith's cooking. A large selection of recipes for all tastes. Oh, and the meatloaf is to die for!

This book has inspired many supper hours and rescued me from myself after a long day. The book is full of simple tasty recipes using a basic suite of food staples, which I happen to always have on hand. That is why I love this book! Chef Michael always offers lots of tips and techniques on the kitchen to help round out your cooking knowledge. Michael's cooking style and approach to food is very practical yet doesn't skimp on the details. The end results are always full of flavor. It''s good food with healthy ingredients.

I have always been very fond of Chef Michael's recipes, and would like to address my attention to one particular item in this fine book: namely, the Caramel Milk Chocolate Mousse, found on p. 236.

Chef refers to this sinful concoction as "...the holy grail of desserts...." No truer words have ever been spoken.

Having made this item on many occasions, I would like to share several observations.

1) The making of one's own caramel from scratch: This is the part of the recipe that requires the most patience - yet, in the end, is the most rewarding. I have found that a shallow, wide-bottomed sauce pan speeds up the caramelization. The heat is spread more widely and evaporation occurs more readily. This cuts down on preparation time.

2) 250 g of chocolate are required. Consider using 200 g of milk chocolate and 50 g of dark chocolate. The end result has a titch more punch. As with any ingredient, the quality of your chocolate is paramount. I adore the Finnish chocolate (both milk and dark) made by Karl Fazer of Helsinki, certainly among the finest anywhere. Impossible to find at your corner store, I import it in bulk to Winnipeg from Viking Foods and Imports, Toronto.

3) Make certain to retain some extra chocolate and grate it on top of your mousse just prior to serving.

One spoonful and your very being will shine with a heavenly light....

Great cookbook, flavor full recipes. It's one of those books that I don't have to run out to the grocery store to shop for ingredients.

It is a good book for some one trying out something new for cooking.
The book gives you standard recipes, but allow you to play around it and customize by yourself.

This is a great book. Every dish that I have tried has turned out amazing. The recipes are straight forward and easy to follow. I would love to have the nutritional information for the dishes, though.

A number of years ago, Michael's show was on our tv network and suddenly disappeared much to my disappointment. A couple of weeks ago, on The Cooking Channel, there was a foodography on him. I immediately googled and found this cookbook on Amazon Ca. It was ordered immediately and it arrived just as fast. I've made 6 recipes already....for example, last night we had a grilled pork tenderloin with his baby spinach and bacon spicy pickled onion salad (with an addition if a grilled peach cut into cubes) and another night we had the grilled tuna steak with white bean arugula salad and anchovy dressing. The pictures are beautiful, the recipes easy and perfectly detailed in the preparation. I'm looking forward to his next book!!! To anyone who loves to cook, this book is meant for you

Great cookbook! A picture for every recipe and clear instructions that are easy to follow. Have been enjoying this very much!

Chef Michael Smith manages to always provide easy, delicious and aesthetic dishes that stimulate the palate and generate the enthusiasm of your guests. You will love the simplicity of his creations.