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A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes
Forget about getting back to the land, David Tanis just wants you to get back to the kitchen
For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant where he has worked alongside Alice Waters since the 1980s in creating a revolution in sustainable American cuisine. The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of wellused pots and pans.
This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It’s not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals—for both the cook and the guest—are invariably the simplest.
Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus, from spring’s Supper of the Lamb (Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette; Shoulder of Spring Lamb with Flageolet Beans and Olive Relish; Rum Baba with Cardamom) to winter’s North African Comfort Food (Carrot and Coriander Salad; Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas). Best of all, Tanis is an engaging guide with a genuine gift for words, whose soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.
For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant where he has worked alongside Alice Waters since the 1980s in creating a revolution in sustainable American cuisine. The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of wellused pots and pans.
This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It’s not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals—for both the cook and the guest—are invariably the simplest.
Home cooks can easily re-create any of his 24 seasonal, market-driven menus, from spring’s Supper of the Lamb (Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette; Shoulder of Spring Lamb with Flageolet Beans and Olive Relish; Rum Baba with Cardamom) to winter’s North African Comfort Food (Carrot and Coriander Salad; Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas). Best of all, Tanis is an engaging guide with a genuine gift for words, whose soulful approach to food will make any kitchen, big or small, a warm and compelling place to spend time.
294 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2008
43 people are currently reading
1603 people want to read
About the author
David Tanis
8 books16 followersDavid Tanis has worked as a professional chef for over three decades, and is the author of several acclaimed cookbooks, including A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, which was chosen as one of the 50 best cookbooks ever by the Guardian/Observer (U.K.).
He spent many years as chef with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California; he ran the kitchen of the highly praised Café Escalera in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and he operated a successful private supper club in his 17th century walk-up in Paris.
Passionate about simple, seasonal home cooking—real food—he finds inspiration in the fresh offerings at farmers’ markets as well as in dusty gardens and muddy fields. He is also inspired by his travel and exploration of many regional cuisines of Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
He has written for a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian/Observer (U.K.), Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking and Saveur.
He lives in Manhattan and writes the weekly City Kitchen column for the Food section of New York Times.
His latest cookbook is One Good Dish, Artisan 2013
He spent many years as chef with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California; he ran the kitchen of the highly praised Café Escalera in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and he operated a successful private supper club in his 17th century walk-up in Paris.
Passionate about simple, seasonal home cooking—real food—he finds inspiration in the fresh offerings at farmers’ markets as well as in dusty gardens and muddy fields. He is also inspired by his travel and exploration of many regional cuisines of Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
He has written for a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian/Observer (U.K.), Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking and Saveur.
He lives in Manhattan and writes the weekly City Kitchen column for the Food section of New York Times.
His latest cookbook is One Good Dish, Artisan 2013
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
December 3, 2018
the book is so unique!!
January 23, 2010
The first time I saw this cookbook I dismissed it as coffee table cookery only - pretty pictures, unattainable froufrou recipes. A week later, a friend professed a love of cookbooks with an emphasis on food photography and I thought I'd check it out for future gift options. The book is structured around seasonal menus that each serve 8-10 so it makes for a nice reference for entertaining too.
I was blown away by the quality of food writing - every anecdote, description and explanation made me want to get in the kitchen and start cooking or run to the nearest market for fresh ingredients. I literally read it cover to cover.
The recipes are kind of froufrou yes. By the end of the book, I was rolling my eyes at his pleas to talk to my olive merchant (what, you don't have one of those?!), or telling me that buying the way more expensive piece of fish was worth it. It might be, but I don't want someone else getting involved in my grocery budget! My first eyeballing of whole foods in search of some of the ingredients has left me empty handed. I can't find non-frozen rabbit for instance. Or squid ink. Or lamb shanks cut in 3 cross wise.
But it was worth it for inspirational value alone and I'll keep looking for ingredients to test the recipes.
I was blown away by the quality of food writing - every anecdote, description and explanation made me want to get in the kitchen and start cooking or run to the nearest market for fresh ingredients. I literally read it cover to cover.
The recipes are kind of froufrou yes. By the end of the book, I was rolling my eyes at his pleas to talk to my olive merchant (what, you don't have one of those?!), or telling me that buying the way more expensive piece of fish was worth it. It might be, but I don't want someone else getting involved in my grocery budget! My first eyeballing of whole foods in search of some of the ingredients has left me empty handed. I can't find non-frozen rabbit for instance. Or squid ink. Or lamb shanks cut in 3 cross wise.
But it was worth it for inspirational value alone and I'll keep looking for ingredients to test the recipes.
December 27, 2019
This is a beautiful cookbook, with amazing food photography. I totally agree with what another reviewer said when they called it "aspirational". The anecdotes are brief and inviting and convince you that it is imperative that you go out to a farmers market and purchase the freshest produce, meat, and seafood.
However, therein lies the problem for me. After trying a few recipes, I got some serious fomo about the quality of the ingredients that I had access to/was willing to purchase. I stuck to the winter recipes, which were good! But, not as transcendent as I felt like they should have been for the effort/cost. I would want to revisit this in the spring/summer and see if I still feel the same way.
Overall, the recipes in this book are very much about preserving and enhancing the best of the ingredients you purchase. If you're looking for recipes where the result is far greater than the sum of it's parts, maybe look elsewhere. Also, this is not a good book for cooking beginners. Maybe more for intermediate+.
However, therein lies the problem for me. After trying a few recipes, I got some serious fomo about the quality of the ingredients that I had access to/was willing to purchase. I stuck to the winter recipes, which were good! But, not as transcendent as I felt like they should have been for the effort/cost. I would want to revisit this in the spring/summer and see if I still feel the same way.
Overall, the recipes in this book are very much about preserving and enhancing the best of the ingredients you purchase. If you're looking for recipes where the result is far greater than the sum of it's parts, maybe look elsewhere. Also, this is not a good book for cooking beginners. Maybe more for intermediate+.
September 4, 2021
Pictures are great, but the recipes are a bit out of my range. Pigs ears? Not what I am going to fix. And, the ones I would do are closer to the title…platter of figs. I was hoping for more simplistic wine fare and recipes that would be fun to share with friends. This is more like going to a high end restaurant with funny sounding names in a foreign language. Example, under the section for tapas, there is Octopus Salad with Pickle onions and Pimenton. (Yeah, they spelled it like that). The next is Potato and Salt Cod Tortilla and then Black Paella with Squid and Shrimp. I would give it less, but it is well written, well organized, and has lovely pictures.
January 19, 2009
The very first page of this award winning cookbook from Chef David Tannis (of Alice Water's famed Chez Panisse restaurant) tells you alot about his approach to this book. He explains why he chose the title, and goes on to talk about why to serve a platter of figs you need to know about what season they are ripe, how to judge the ripeness, and then what to do with the fruit - and all of these lead you to whether you serve them as an appetizer, as part of the main dish, or as dessert.
A Platter of Figs continues along these themes, emphasizing the importance and pleasures of cooking at home for family of friends, and presenting relatively easy recipes in a menu format that is divided into seasons. In other words, the way he suggests we should all think about food and cooking. The dishes are simple enough for a family supper and intriguing enough for a dinner party, and the food photography throughout the cookbook is mouth-watering.
In between all that goodness Chef Tannis offers insights, food memories, techniques, and food lore in small snippets that add to the charm of the book.
A Platter of Figs continues along these themes, emphasizing the importance and pleasures of cooking at home for family of friends, and presenting relatively easy recipes in a menu format that is divided into seasons. In other words, the way he suggests we should all think about food and cooking. The dishes are simple enough for a family supper and intriguing enough for a dinner party, and the food photography throughout the cookbook is mouth-watering.
In between all that goodness Chef Tannis offers insights, food memories, techniques, and food lore in small snippets that add to the charm of the book.
December 30, 2010
The author´s writing about food is charming and inspirational - this is something much rarer than what you would think it would be! The photography is beautiful in a minimalist honest-food way. The menus for the most part seem like things I would like to eat.
why just 3 stars then? well, there is potential for 4 stars, I think the one true test of a cookbook is after you cook from it and I have not done it yet. Maybe the one true test of a cookbook is if you still cook from it 20 years after you have it, but that seems an unfair standard! So I will reanalyze my rating (numbers, ratings, pfh) of this with time, but I was slightly disappointed with its scope: maybe some 100 recipes, of which some are very simple and well loved basics already (must read carefully for changes in technique but still membrillo, or marmelada as its basic name is, or goiabada with cheese counts as a recipe? baked apples?) and others things I just am not interested in cooking (pork´s ear, things with epazote which I will never find, osso bucco). So in all a bit flimsy. Lovely just the same, but I need to consider if it´s worth the cms it will fill on my reduced cookbook shelfspace.
why just 3 stars then? well, there is potential for 4 stars, I think the one true test of a cookbook is after you cook from it and I have not done it yet. Maybe the one true test of a cookbook is if you still cook from it 20 years after you have it, but that seems an unfair standard! So I will reanalyze my rating (numbers, ratings, pfh) of this with time, but I was slightly disappointed with its scope: maybe some 100 recipes, of which some are very simple and well loved basics already (must read carefully for changes in technique but still membrillo, or marmelada as its basic name is, or goiabada with cheese counts as a recipe? baked apples?) and others things I just am not interested in cooking (pork´s ear, things with epazote which I will never find, osso bucco). So in all a bit flimsy. Lovely just the same, but I need to consider if it´s worth the cms it will fill on my reduced cookbook shelfspace.
April 3, 2009
This isn't the most vegetarian-friendly cookbook ever, but it is beautiful and well-designed. I like the random sides and related dishes that are tossed in along with the main themes, and I like the fairly simple approach to cooking that focuses on the fresh ingredients. It's a good book to jumpstart a new philosophy to cooking if you tend to be complicated with recipes or overdo it with sauces.
July 8, 2013
The only thing that would have made me like this book more was if I had wanted to cook more recipes in it. Tanis and I simply don't share the same palette and that's no end of the world. In the mean time, the writing is enjoyable. The pictures lovely. The recipes clear and sensible. I love that the book is arranged in menus by season. Tanis is a bit of a romantic but once I figured that out, I could accept and even be entertained by it. Overall a very solid read.
June 13, 2009
Lovely but elitist in the worst way. As much as it positions itself as being about local food and simple eating, there is a preciousness that is very off-putting.
I have yet to try a recipe but I'm making the turnip pickles tomorrow.
I have yet to try a recipe but I'm making the turnip pickles tomorrow.
October 17, 2022
There is a delight to setting food away in preparation for a gathering. If you can do it casually, I imagine you have a cultivated life. This book is inspiration for me.
The essence of Tanis' philosophy, here's a blurb from his forward:
"As it happens, it's Bob's birthday, which provides an excuse for a party. Instead of going to a restaurant, we'd rather cook together. Always. Of all the places we are staying, Alice's apartment has the best kitchen and biggest dining table, so we'll have dinner there. We rendezvous at the old, old market by the Rialto Bridge. As we stand upon a history of wet stone, the party has already begun."
There's no greater joy for me than sitting at a table, with people you care about, who delight in this adventure.
The essence of Tanis' philosophy, here's a blurb from his forward:
"As it happens, it's Bob's birthday, which provides an excuse for a party. Instead of going to a restaurant, we'd rather cook together. Always. Of all the places we are staying, Alice's apartment has the best kitchen and biggest dining table, so we'll have dinner there. We rendezvous at the old, old market by the Rialto Bridge. As we stand upon a history of wet stone, the party has already begun."
There's no greater joy for me than sitting at a table, with people you care about, who delight in this adventure.
July 4, 2025
I normally rent cookbooks from the library to evaluate them. I realized by the end of the introduction that I’d want to buy this one to hold on to. The menu set up for the book is refreshing, since he’s evaluated what can be done together and what is pleasant to eat together, taking a lot of the mental strain out of planning a dinner party. I also appreciate the flexibility emphasized in the recipes, and the way he encourages the reader/cook to trust themselves and their taste.
November 14, 2017
I got this from the library and read it before bed for a few nights, taking pics in Evernote of recipes to try. It’s international, it’s well written, it has a good mixture of simple and slightly complicated (or at least time-consuming) recipes, and the photos are amazing. I don’t need to own it, but it’s just lovely.
August 9, 2017
A gorgeous cookbook with some lovely simple recipes, and some that didn't sound too feasible for a home cook that just wants to get the food on the table. Loved the photography and the setup, and the carrot and coriander salad will be made again!
September 19, 2018
3.5
Lovely philosophy and photography. Not so many actually useful recipes for most of us.
Lovely philosophy and photography. Not so many actually useful recipes for most of us.
January 12, 2020
i want david's life. an apartment in Paris so he can cook from fresh produce from the farmer's markets.
November 6, 2020
Lovely pictures! Didn’t make anything. Gave it away to fancier people.
February 26, 2017
The first time I saw this cookbook I dismissed it as coffee table cookery only - pretty pictures, unattainable froufrou recipes. A week later, a friend professed a love of cookbooks with an emphasis on food photography and I thought I'd check it out for future gift options. The book is structured around seasonal menus that each serve 8-10 so it makes for a nice reference for entertaining too.
March 18, 2016
while the book is well planned and formatted, I find it a bit pretentious. The author complains of having grown up in a home with no sense of taste, culinary or otherwise, yet he had a housekeeper. I can only handle so much "I'm real" self-validation before becoming nauseated.
The author also brags about his world travels, and reports on his adventures as if they define the dishes of the cultures he visits. Of Morocco, he states the people drink mint tea and cafe au lait at the same time. He might as well have written that the barbarians of Morocco have underdeveloped palates and look at how brave I am to break bread with them.
The photography is superb, and a good number of recipes are worth trying. The writing should have been edited more thoroughly, however, to take the elitist edge off.
The author also brags about his world travels, and reports on his adventures as if they define the dishes of the cultures he visits. Of Morocco, he states the people drink mint tea and cafe au lait at the same time. He might as well have written that the barbarians of Morocco have underdeveloped palates and look at how brave I am to break bread with them.
The photography is superb, and a good number of recipes are worth trying. The writing should have been edited more thoroughly, however, to take the elitist edge off.
June 13, 2011
This is not a cookbook for your-meal-in-thirty-minutes. This is like a book format of that lovely-and-yet-slightly-unrealistic-fine-cooking-magazine. Most people do not have the time and inclination to spend part of their day - everyday - at the farmer's market to buy the freshest produce and products. As much as we'd like for that to happen, this is just not a reality in most people's lives and those who say otherwise are either naive or simply arrogant.
That being said, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous cookbook. It gives an aspiring cook to look at food from another angle, gives you ideas for your own meals, and gives the fig a pop of life (figs being rather short-lived) that will make you reconsider it as a food item and even, dare I say it, look forward to its coming every year. And that's just one part.
That being said, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous cookbook. It gives an aspiring cook to look at food from another angle, gives you ideas for your own meals, and gives the fig a pop of life (figs being rather short-lived) that will make you reconsider it as a food item and even, dare I say it, look forward to its coming every year. And that's just one part.
July 17, 2012
One of my favorite cookbooks. Tanis combines a lush narrative style with delicious recipes. Half the time I pick the book up just to read through his culinary adventures.
I found the recipes fairly easy to follow. A few had ingredients that are hard to come by in the rural South, but could be made with a little ingenuity and adaptation. All the recipes lend themselves to a style of evolutionary cooking (for those of us who can't help but fiddle with a recipe this is a very good thing).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good food or books based on food for entertainment reading.
I found the recipes fairly easy to follow. A few had ingredients that are hard to come by in the rural South, but could be made with a little ingenuity and adaptation. All the recipes lend themselves to a style of evolutionary cooking (for those of us who can't help but fiddle with a recipe this is a very good thing).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good food or books based on food for entertainment reading.
December 28, 2012
Usually I wait until I have cooked from a cookbook before I rate it. With Tanis, I don't need to. I know it will be great. He is a master of creating lovely and interesting menus. By interesting I do not mean outré which is too often the goal of modern chefs, but interesting in the subtlety complexities he creates. I love his style, I love his writing, I love his commitment to quality, purity and food as am expression of community. Granted some of the ingredients, but not many, maybe hard to find in Hendersonville, NC.
March 23, 2009
I find myself in agreement with Tanis on the nature of food, and the joy of preparing simple, but wonderful meals and sharing them with family and friends. So, I enjoyed reading through this book. I don't think I will make a single recipe, however, given that each menu and most of the individual dishes contain meat. Seasoned vegetarian cooks may still find enjoyment in the world view/ or find ways to adapt the menus to their taste.
March 9, 2009
I know it's a cookbook, but I'm giving this one out as gifts, I enjoyed it so much. It's organized by season, and within each season, has different meal ideas. David Tanis, a chef at Chez Panisse, emphasizes simple, non-fussy food served family-style, and I was extremely skeptical that any recipes with so few ingredients could taste good, but everything I've made has been incredible. The wine might have contributed to this, though. :)
March 29, 2009
Ok, this isn't really literature but I loved this book. It has wonderfully scrumptous recipes with three course meals already planned for you. David's philosophy is that meals should be simple and the flavors of the ingredients should be combined to enhance the experience of eating. I loved his short personal stories before each meal. None of the recipes disappoint. Note if you are into elaborate marinades this book is not for you. :)
August 26, 2009
This book is pure, unadulterated food porn. The pictures are extraordinary, the recipes are amazing on the surface. I've only given it three stars because the recipes and methodologies are all but inaccessible to the majority of home cooks. As an inspirational book, the book is outstanding. As a practical book; it is completely impractical for anyone living outside of food Meccas like NYC. But it is gorgeous and well written and a joy to flip through and read.
August 31, 2009
Beautiful, simple, seasonal. This is a well-written cookbook that is divided into seasons, and then provides several full menus for 8 people. So far I have made several of the individual recipes, mostly for the sides and desserts. All of them were delicious and uncomplicated. The Italian Plum Cake is cooling downstairs at the moment and was a snap to make. I look forward to making my way through the book. I might even be tempted to try the Pig Ear salad.
October 15, 2010
I hate to say it, but I found this cookbook to be really boring. The meals that result from these recipes would be delicious, I’m sure, especially if you have access to the finest ingredients, but I need something more imaginative and extraordinary to get excited about a cookbook—and about cooking something new. (I kept thinking of David Chang’s recent, controversial comment about how restaurants in SF are just serving figs on a plate.)
February 25, 2012
This book made me long for the time that C and I will have a large kitchen with a beautiful dining table to entertain our friends and family and feed them all well.
Instead of recipes Tanis presents seasonal menus. A brilliant idea if you regularly throw dinner parties but not so much when contemplating dinner for 2. I did find points of inspiration throughout and the photos are beautifully rendered.
Someday I hope to need a cookbook like this, but for now it is not relevant to my life.
Instead of recipes Tanis presents seasonal menus. A brilliant idea if you regularly throw dinner parties but not so much when contemplating dinner for 2. I did find points of inspiration throughout and the photos are beautifully rendered.
Someday I hope to need a cookbook like this, but for now it is not relevant to my life.
November 4, 2012
This is more then a 'cookbook'.. Yes, all the recipes I've made from this book are incredible, I really enjoy the range of recipes, from difficult (squid ink paella) to 'suggestions' (pears and parmesan, yum). The almond biscotti is one of my favorites. This is a cookbook you'll want to read all the way through, David Tanis is a very entertaining writer. His stories(and taste for the finer things in life) are outlandish in the best way possible.
April 25, 2016
David Tanis comforted me with words when I was feeling very uncomfortable, due to some broken ribs. Unable to go to work at my little bakery, I sat down with my heating pad and this book. I immediately wanted to go to market and buy ducks and coriander and fresh figs. He made the world of exquisite food feel far more attainable. I highly recommend this book, and will begin reading "heart of the artichoke" this afternoon.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews