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zellreads's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting! Great to see the workings of a restaurant kitchen.
bahoulie's review against another edition
4.0
This book has quite a few recipes I can't wait to try. There are some useless items as well - Ovaltine on ice, anyone - overall a really interesting cookbook.
zellm's review against another edition
4.0
Really interesting! Great to see the workings of a restaurant kitchen.
spiderfelt's review against another edition
3.0
The last bit of an author interview piqued my attention a couple of months ago, so I put this book on reserve at the library. Clearly, the author needs no introduction for those in the know, but I'm not one of those people. I would have appreciated a little background, and some insight into her status as legendary restranteur (which I can only imagine from the tone of exasperation and hauteur her scribbled notes).
The premise appears to be a publication of the cookbook used by her sous chefs, covered in food splotches, and grease spots, annotated with adjustments, scanned in as they are. The concept may have been charming when she first conceived it, but I would rather add my own grease to a book than look at your crusty bits embedded forever in two dimensions on my page.
The chapter I found most instructive was 'Garbage', raw ingredients (passed their use-by date) reconstituted into something new or the cuttings most of us would toss straight into the compost (cauliflower hearts, limp/dead celery).
Suffice it to say the recipes are far too restaurant-y to make an appearance on my dinner table, though I'm sure I would jump to order them if I could elbow my way into her premises (steering clear of the zucchini tops and leftover brunch fruit salad dregs).
The premise appears to be a publication of the cookbook used by her sous chefs, covered in food splotches, and grease spots, annotated with adjustments, scanned in as they are. The concept may have been charming when she first conceived it, but I would rather add my own grease to a book than look at your crusty bits embedded forever in two dimensions on my page.
The chapter I found most instructive was 'Garbage', raw ingredients (passed their use-by date) reconstituted into something new or the cuttings most of us would toss straight into the compost (cauliflower hearts, limp/dead celery).
Suffice it to say the recipes are far too restaurant-y to make an appearance on my dinner table, though I'm sure I would jump to order them if I could elbow my way into her premises (steering clear of the zucchini tops and leftover brunch fruit salad dregs).
thecatwood's review against another edition
5.0
This cookbook isn't here to hold your hand. The recipes are dinner party recipes- beautifully plated dishes meant to be admired. It's lovely and a little intimidating, and flows with Hamilton's memoir. It's a book I plan to own and learn from.
Sections offer recipes from Hamilton's restaurant of the same name and stories from her memoir - lunch and dinner menus, the guileless recipes of her Italian mother-in-law, even a chapter at the end entitled "Garbage," for frugally maximizing every scrap. It's hard to appreciate Prune without reading Bones Blood and Butter, and recalling the chapters on her thrifty, bordering on obsessive, mother, or her fond memories of eating egg sandwiches on a stoop with NYC prostitutes. Hamilton combines restaurant quality recipes with the "youth hostel breakfast," drink recipes, and a section for making stocks and condiments, all the while leaving you scribbled instructions, warnings, and threats in the margins.
Sections offer recipes from Hamilton's restaurant of the same name and stories from her memoir - lunch and dinner menus, the guileless recipes of her Italian mother-in-law, even a chapter at the end entitled "Garbage," for frugally maximizing every scrap. It's hard to appreciate Prune without reading Bones Blood and Butter, and recalling the chapters on her thrifty, bordering on obsessive, mother, or her fond memories of eating egg sandwiches on a stoop with NYC prostitutes. Hamilton combines restaurant quality recipes with the "youth hostel breakfast," drink recipes, and a section for making stocks and condiments, all the while leaving you scribbled instructions, warnings, and threats in the margins.
briface's review against another edition
5.0
I will probably not make a single recipe out of this cookbook. I still loved it. As a restaurant cookbook most of the recipes require cooking skills greater than my own, expensive ingredients, and mass produced quantities ect. I love the voice of the writing of the recipes, the slightly snarky owner pleading with her employees to do things her way. In those asides are the real cooking tips. I also love the garbage section. Inspirational if not a book I would cook out of directly often. Also plenty of fantastic photos which is a must in my opinion for a great cookbook.
leafilippi's review against another edition
4.0
This is an enjoyable cookbook to thumb, despite knowing that I won't prepare most of these dishes, not least because of the style of presentation of recipes which gives you a sense of the role that they play in the kitchen of Hamilton's restaurant and includes notes seemingly aimed at preventing her least competent prep cook from wasting the merchandise. The pantry section on condiments and other produces routinely made ahead is the section I am most likely to use. This book also includes desserts from a wide spectrum, from those that sound simple and delicious to with too many tedious steps for me ever to consider even trying them. I also really liked the section on what to do with by products and scraps to keep them from going to waste. It turns out that zucchini stumps can be put to tasty use, which I look forward to doing next summer when they are back in season.
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