Harold Dieterle's Kitchen Notebook: Hundreds of Recipes, Tips, and Techniques for Cooking Like a Chef at Home

by Harold Dieterle, Andrew Friedman

From the chef-owner of New York City's popular restaurants Perilla, Kin Shop, and The Marrow, and Season 1 champion of the hit TV show Top Chef, a beautiful cookbook with a fresh concept.



Many chefs keep notebooks in their kitchens, filled with recipe ideas, new ways to use an ingredient, and records of what did or did not work. But how often do ordinary food lovers get to peek inside? Now Harold Dieterle-- chef-owner of New York City's popular restaurants Perilla, Kin Shop, and The Marrow, and Season 1 champion of the hit TV show Top Chef -- pulls back the curtain to give every home cooks a look inside his kitchen. Incorporating his eclectic mix of New American, Italian, Thai, and German influences, this cookbook offers restaurant-caliber dishes that can be easily prepared at home. While each dish comprises several elements, one standout ingredient or component will be identified in each (starred here) and accompanied by Harold's notebook entry sharing why that ingredient is so special and offering a number of additional ways to use it.

Dishes Fresh Ricotta Cheese* with Acorn Squash Tempura, Truffle Honey, and Toasted Bread; Wild Chive* Tagliatelli with Shrimp, Cuttlefish, Shallots, and Sea Urchin Sauce; Roasted Whole Chicken with Spaetzle*, Chestnuts, and Persimmons; Grilled Venison Sirloin with Potato-Leek Gratin, Swiss Chard, and Huckleberry* Sauce; Warm Flourless Chocolate and Peanut Butter Souffle Cake with Coffee Creme Anglaise*; and many more!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was trying to wait until I had time to review this one and another similar book for my blog but time is slipping so I will put my notes here.

I am starting to use goodreads as a way to catalog ideas for recipes. Harold D.'s book was a decent Asian influenced cookbook there are so many others out there like it. Books need more flair and interesting things to make them stand out. Of course, for him, it is Top Chef.

I did come up with an idea for a potluck dish while reading it that included cat tails and udon noodles. It was only the notion of Japan that made me do the dish. Citrus cracklings was an idea that I took away and will use.
Other notes:
Liver and Pineapple? (mousse with pineapple)
Saffron simple syrup
Jerk simple syrup
Different fats for popcorn (duck, smoked, Oils like avocado, pepper

[Kayla Tornello · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully arranged book. I like that the recipes are interspersed with "notebook" pages that offer several different ways to use a particular ingredient. The recipes seem tempting, but I haven't managed to cook any of them yet because none of them rely solely on common pantry ingredients.

In fact, there are several recipes that I'm not sure I can source all the ingredients locally. While the recipes look impressive, they also come off as rather pretentious. While this book would be great for an aspiring cook with lots of time and equipment on their hands, I don't think I will get too much use out of it as a mother of two young children. I will update my review once I manage to try out some of the recipes.

I received this book as a Goodreads First-Read. Yay!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are a chef, or a serious cook with high aspirations, this would be a great book for you. That's not me.

This is a beautiful book. A bit pretentious, but well laid out. I like the notebook pages, with tips on how to prepare different items.

I only gave it 3 stars, as I found just a couple of recipes that I would actually try, and one of those is a drink. A lot, if not most, of the recipes call for ingredients that an average home cook would have to do a significant search for. However, it is exactly what it advertises itself to be-for cooking like a chef at home.

I read my library's copy, so if I have a future need for this, I'll know where to find it.