false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170427871m/53617.jpg 53617 2 When <I>Gourmet</I> magazine opened shop in 1941, it addressed a small epicurean audience. In those days, fine dining was French, seafood specialties always seemed to include cream and sherry, and game made the meal--or so the magazine preached. The bill of fare has changed since then, and fine dining now includes dishes from the world's four corners, commanded by a broad, food-aware audience. Over the years, <I>Gourmet</I> has chronicled all this, changing to reflect a wider, more democratized food scene that has also, paradoxically, raised the bar on what's expected of the average, too-busy cook. <I>The Gourmet Cookbook</I> is the most comprehensive of the magazine's recipe anthologies--a mega-tome offering more than 1,000 formulas drawn from <I>Gourmet</I> since its birth. <p> The statistics are indeed impressive: more than 100 hors d'oeuvre recipes; an equal number of vegetable dishes; 200 desserts--21 chapters in all, touching all courses and including stops at breakfast and brunch specialties; breads and crackers; plus sauces, salsas, and preserves. Included are recipes from <I>Gourmet</I> contributors like James Beard and Jean-Georges Vongericten, and hundreds of sidebars like "Salad Greens Primer" and "Blind Baking," all useful and informative. There are classic dishes like onion soup gratiné, gefilte fish, corn fritters, and peanut butter cookies; "new classics" such as fried calamari and spaghetti alla carbonara; and the "modern," including oatmeal brûlée with macerated berries and grilled lobster with orange chipotle vinaigrette--"every recipe you'd ever want," says the text, something of an understatement. <p> Cooks should know, however, that this is not a basic cookbook, despite its Noah's ark of formulas. Rather, it's a <I>Gourmet</I> cookbook, which means that, notwithstanding some rudimentary recipes, the focus is on the stylishly up-to-date (which is not to deny the excellence of the formulas), resulting, often, in refinements. Thus its recipe for mac and cheese calls for dijon mustard and panko; its beef stroganoff requires cremini mushrooms; its grilled chicken calls for brining; and so on. Recipes can also run to over 450 words, and require unusual ingredients. (A list of sources is provided.) Of all its chapters, those for sweets are the most immediately attractive.<p> For all the praise, though, there's one major goof. The recipe titles are printed in a light butter-yellow color, making them almost illegible. For many readers, this will be a deal-breaker; others will find it merely annoying. Should you own the book? For dedicated cooks and foodies the answer will be, How can I not? <I>--Arthur Boehm</I> 756597 2004 The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes (now with DVD) total:361|5:141|4:149|3:63|2:7|1:1| 361 1505 468 61 5 4 false false Tue Apr 29 07:43:53 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 07:44:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Mar 11 06:57:28 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 06:15:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 13:31:15 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 14:03:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 15 12:21:29 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 12:33:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Sun Nov 09 19:51:46 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 09 19:52:25 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Sep 08 10:58:19 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 11:00:44 -0700 2009 How to Cook Everything is sort of my go-to book for basics, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is my go-to for veggies, but this book is my go-to for awesomeness.more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jul 14 11:24:26 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 11:30:25 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 24 08:15:17 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 08:16:32 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Mar 07 19:36:16 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 19:38:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 18 12:59:44 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 13:00:47 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Aug 23 22:25:42 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 14:32:08 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Dec 18 14:31:34 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 14:32:46 -0800 2008 It is my new staple, along with JOC and Cooks Illustrated. ]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 21 08:48:04 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 08:48:32 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Aug 03 12:00:16 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 12:01:01 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Aug 19 11:48:52 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 11:55:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Aug 08 09:13:09 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 09:16:18 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Nov 14 08:05:45 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 14 08:06:09 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Mar 13 11:07:42 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 11:08:22 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat May 12 13:11:00 -0700 2007 Sat May 12 13:14:45 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 18 11:11:10 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 18 12:41:54 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=53617