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Cooking Like a Master Chef: 100 Recipes to Make the Everyday Extraordinary
In the first cookbook from Graham Elliot, cohost of the popular Fox series MasterChef and MasterChef Junior, 100 deliciously creative recipes show home cooks the basics of cooking and combining flavors—and then urge them to break the rules and put their own spin on great meals.
Graham Elliot wants everyone to cook. To push up their sleeves and get some good food on the table. It’s Graham’s simple philosophy that, while there is no right or wrong when it comes to creativity in the kitchen, you will benefit from knowing some time-honored methods that enable you to serve tasty meals to your family day after day, week after week. So, to teach you his methods and infuse some fun into the process, he’s written Cooking Like a Master Chef, an easygoing, accessible guide for the home cook to create delicious, beautiful food for every occasion.
Grouped by season (without being a strictly seasonal cooking book), Graham’s 100 recipes are illustrated with gorgeous, full-color photographs and accompanied by simple, straightforward instructions—with great twists for every palate. That’s because being a top-notch chef or a talented home cook means being a free thinker, spontaneous, like a jazz musician. Cooks need to change the music every so often—once they’re comfortable with the basics—to stay on their toes and infuse their routine with new excitement and energy. Here you’ll find recipes for pork chops with root beer BBQ sauce, halibut BLTs, buffalo chicken with Roquefort cream, corn bisque with red pepper jam and lime crema, smoked salmon with a dill schmear and bagel chips, truffled popcorn, and much more. Kids will love whipped yams with roasted turkey, potato gnocchi with brown butter, PBJ beignets, and classic banana splits.
It’s no wonder so many people love Graham and his energetic creativity in the kitchen. With Cooking Like a Master Chef, now you can learn to be a skilled, resourceful, and endlessly inventive cook who makes food everyone, adults and kids alike, will absolutely relish.
Graham Elliot wants everyone to cook. To push up their sleeves and get some good food on the table. It’s Graham’s simple philosophy that, while there is no right or wrong when it comes to creativity in the kitchen, you will benefit from knowing some time-honored methods that enable you to serve tasty meals to your family day after day, week after week. So, to teach you his methods and infuse some fun into the process, he’s written Cooking Like a Master Chef, an easygoing, accessible guide for the home cook to create delicious, beautiful food for every occasion.
Grouped by season (without being a strictly seasonal cooking book), Graham’s 100 recipes are illustrated with gorgeous, full-color photographs and accompanied by simple, straightforward instructions—with great twists for every palate. That’s because being a top-notch chef or a talented home cook means being a free thinker, spontaneous, like a jazz musician. Cooks need to change the music every so often—once they’re comfortable with the basics—to stay on their toes and infuse their routine with new excitement and energy. Here you’ll find recipes for pork chops with root beer BBQ sauce, halibut BLTs, buffalo chicken with Roquefort cream, corn bisque with red pepper jam and lime crema, smoked salmon with a dill schmear and bagel chips, truffled popcorn, and much more. Kids will love whipped yams with roasted turkey, potato gnocchi with brown butter, PBJ beignets, and classic banana splits.
It’s no wonder so many people love Graham and his energetic creativity in the kitchen. With Cooking Like a Master Chef, now you can learn to be a skilled, resourceful, and endlessly inventive cook who makes food everyone, adults and kids alike, will absolutely relish.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2015
27 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 9, 2020
before i saw a copy of this book, i thought this would be one of the worst of the pretentious celebrity chef book fads with over the top recipes...
i knew about a dozen of his ridiculous recipes, and then i saw the book on sale, and decided to see if i could like 'three recipes' out of the book to decide if I should buy it....
His Caesar Salad as a Twinkie is his claim to fame, and it's a strange marvel, that people do seem to like...
He might be crazy, but he comes across a lot nicer in his book, and I think i could say that it's the most normal of the 'pretentious celebrity' cookbooks around
---
truly odd is his version of Buffalo Chicken Wings
it is made of chicken thighs, boneless and poached like a beef rouladen and then pan-fried to be crisp
then a blue cheese fondant sauce of blue cheese and sour cream with dijon mustard and tabasco lemon juice and worcestershire sauce
as well as a sauce for the chicken made of caramelized onions and garlic with Frank's Hot Sauce, Sriracha sauce vinegar and water which is simmered for 10 minutes, and then pureed in a blender with butter, and a touch of salt and lemon added to the sauce.
For the dish you have a center of Celery Coleslaw made of Sour Cream and 2 thinly sliced stalks of celery and julienned celery root and a bit of minced shallot , with a touch of vinegar, whole grain mustard, mayonnaise, honey, celery seed, tabasco, lemon juice and salt
So you have this blob of coleslaw in the center, and you have three slices of the chicken thigh rouladen around it with the buffalo sauce [the caramelized onions and Franks Hot Sauce and Srichara thing]
then you drizzle a garnish of the blue cheese/mustard/sour cream thing on top of it...
and some celery leaf to it
but oh no you add cooking with foam, so you have beer foam, which makes this even more queasy with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon with sugar and lemon juice, xanthan gun and lecithin
So it's a fanstastically weird mixture of hot wings, without the bones, but you got sour cream and blue cheese pushed into it, with the celery stick coleslaw... when if you're someone with my preference, you'd actually just like the crispy hot chicken wings without the blue cheese or sour cream or celery - but not it's all blended together into a near caesar salad for you!
---
Caesar Salad for Four
Lettuce
- 2 small heads romaine lettuce or romaine hearts
Brioche Twinkie
- 1/2 unsliced brioche loaf [or loaf of white bread]
- 8 tablespoons/1 stick butter
Twinkie Filling [gag]
- 3 oz mascarpone cheese 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons]
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 2 table half and half milk
- 1/2 table minced shallots
- 1 table minutes garlic
- salt
Anchoiade Dressing
- 2 table sour cream [low-fat for some odd reason]
- 2 table fresh lemon juice
- 1 table chopped shallot
- 1 tea dijon mustard
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 bunch italian flat-leaf parsley coarsely chopped
- 3 oz parmesan [3/4 cup grated]
- 1 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 tea anchovy oil [from the can] or one tea of extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan Fluff
- 4 oz parmesan cheese
Garnish
- 12 Spanish white anchovy fillets
- fresh ground black pepper
[this one i have trouble trying to figure out the taste from the recipe, it's so bizarro world]
---
NOW
you know what you're getting into...
with this quirky strange little book!
---
The Neat Recipes
Appetizers and Snacks
Avocado Hummus
Grilled Cheese Sliders with Pancetta and Tomato Marmalade
Peppercorn-Crusted Ahi Tuna with Parmesan Crisps
Short Rib Tacos with Pickled Onions and Guacamole
Chorizo Meatballs with Spicy Tomato Sauce [piquillo peppers and harissa paste]
Soups and Salads
Baked Potato Bisquewith Wisconsin Cheddar and Candied Bacon
Graham's Signature Caesar Salad [it's three twinkies with a cheesy leaf on top!]
Roasted Potato Salad
Pasta/Grains
Cheddar Cheese Risotto
Chinese Forbidden Fried Rice [ham/carrot/peas/ginger/green onion/chili sauce]
Potato Gnocchi with Shaved Pecorino and Brown Butter
Fish
Grilled Swordfish with Charred Pineapple and Mojo Verde
Roasted Black Cod with Melted Leeks and Champagne Sauce [1 cup Champ 1 table vinegar]
Great Lakes Whitefish with Buttermilk Ranch Tartar Sauce and Fried Pickles
Lobster Schnitzel with Shaved Asparagus and Citrus Vinaigrette
Lollapalooza Lobster Corn Dogs
Meat/Down on the Farm
Grilled Chicken with Watermelon-Olive Salsa
Wild Turkey with Cranberry Compote and Glazed Chestnuts
Grilled Skirt Steak with Black Beans and Chimichurri
Short Rib Stroganoff with Spaetzle, Wild Mushrooms and Peppered Sour Cream
Mom's Brisket Pot Roast
Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Latkes and Cinnamon-Spiced Apples
Yoghurt Marinated Leg of Lamb with Crushed Olive Oil Potatoes and Grainy Mustard
Vegetables/A Walk Through The Garden
Haricots Verts Casserole with Crispy Shallots and Wild Mushrooms
Grilled Asparagus with Smoked Berarnaise
Whipped Maple Yams
Sweet Treats
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Bananas Foster Creme Brulee
Summer Peach Cake
Lemon-Blueberry Bars
Lemon Ricotta Fritters
Spiced Krispies Treats [butter/marshmallow/cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice/cardamon/ginger]
[i could pick out 32 reasons for not hating this book]
---
I liked the fascination of his Caesar Salad from Hell and it was complex enough and strange enough to be appealing, maybe possibly appalling... but in hearing it was the most popular dish in his restaurant i thought 'interesting...'
I said okay three good recipes, i'll accept the loss of my time, sanity and wallet!
i knew about a dozen of his ridiculous recipes, and then i saw the book on sale, and decided to see if i could like 'three recipes' out of the book to decide if I should buy it....
His Caesar Salad as a Twinkie is his claim to fame, and it's a strange marvel, that people do seem to like...
He might be crazy, but he comes across a lot nicer in his book, and I think i could say that it's the most normal of the 'pretentious celebrity' cookbooks around
---
truly odd is his version of Buffalo Chicken Wings
it is made of chicken thighs, boneless and poached like a beef rouladen and then pan-fried to be crisp
then a blue cheese fondant sauce of blue cheese and sour cream with dijon mustard and tabasco lemon juice and worcestershire sauce
as well as a sauce for the chicken made of caramelized onions and garlic with Frank's Hot Sauce, Sriracha sauce vinegar and water which is simmered for 10 minutes, and then pureed in a blender with butter, and a touch of salt and lemon added to the sauce.
For the dish you have a center of Celery Coleslaw made of Sour Cream and 2 thinly sliced stalks of celery and julienned celery root and a bit of minced shallot , with a touch of vinegar, whole grain mustard, mayonnaise, honey, celery seed, tabasco, lemon juice and salt
So you have this blob of coleslaw in the center, and you have three slices of the chicken thigh rouladen around it with the buffalo sauce [the caramelized onions and Franks Hot Sauce and Srichara thing]
then you drizzle a garnish of the blue cheese/mustard/sour cream thing on top of it...
and some celery leaf to it
but oh no you add cooking with foam, so you have beer foam, which makes this even more queasy with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon with sugar and lemon juice, xanthan gun and lecithin
So it's a fanstastically weird mixture of hot wings, without the bones, but you got sour cream and blue cheese pushed into it, with the celery stick coleslaw... when if you're someone with my preference, you'd actually just like the crispy hot chicken wings without the blue cheese or sour cream or celery - but not it's all blended together into a near caesar salad for you!
---
Caesar Salad for Four
Lettuce
- 2 small heads romaine lettuce or romaine hearts
Brioche Twinkie
- 1/2 unsliced brioche loaf [or loaf of white bread]
- 8 tablespoons/1 stick butter
Twinkie Filling [gag]
- 3 oz mascarpone cheese 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons]
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 2 table half and half milk
- 1/2 table minced shallots
- 1 table minutes garlic
- salt
Anchoiade Dressing
- 2 table sour cream [low-fat for some odd reason]
- 2 table fresh lemon juice
- 1 table chopped shallot
- 1 tea dijon mustard
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 bunch italian flat-leaf parsley coarsely chopped
- 3 oz parmesan [3/4 cup grated]
- 1 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 tea anchovy oil [from the can] or one tea of extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan Fluff
- 4 oz parmesan cheese
Garnish
- 12 Spanish white anchovy fillets
- fresh ground black pepper
[this one i have trouble trying to figure out the taste from the recipe, it's so bizarro world]
---
NOW
you know what you're getting into...
with this quirky strange little book!
---
The Neat Recipes
Appetizers and Snacks
Avocado Hummus
Grilled Cheese Sliders with Pancetta and Tomato Marmalade
Peppercorn-Crusted Ahi Tuna with Parmesan Crisps
Short Rib Tacos with Pickled Onions and Guacamole
Chorizo Meatballs with Spicy Tomato Sauce [piquillo peppers and harissa paste]
Soups and Salads
Baked Potato Bisquewith Wisconsin Cheddar and Candied Bacon
Graham's Signature Caesar Salad [it's three twinkies with a cheesy leaf on top!]
Roasted Potato Salad
Pasta/Grains
Cheddar Cheese Risotto
Chinese Forbidden Fried Rice [ham/carrot/peas/ginger/green onion/chili sauce]
Potato Gnocchi with Shaved Pecorino and Brown Butter
Fish
Grilled Swordfish with Charred Pineapple and Mojo Verde
Roasted Black Cod with Melted Leeks and Champagne Sauce [1 cup Champ 1 table vinegar]
Great Lakes Whitefish with Buttermilk Ranch Tartar Sauce and Fried Pickles
Lobster Schnitzel with Shaved Asparagus and Citrus Vinaigrette
Lollapalooza Lobster Corn Dogs
Meat/Down on the Farm
Grilled Chicken with Watermelon-Olive Salsa
Wild Turkey with Cranberry Compote and Glazed Chestnuts
Grilled Skirt Steak with Black Beans and Chimichurri
Short Rib Stroganoff with Spaetzle, Wild Mushrooms and Peppered Sour Cream
Mom's Brisket Pot Roast
Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Latkes and Cinnamon-Spiced Apples
Yoghurt Marinated Leg of Lamb with Crushed Olive Oil Potatoes and Grainy Mustard
Vegetables/A Walk Through The Garden
Haricots Verts Casserole with Crispy Shallots and Wild Mushrooms
Grilled Asparagus with Smoked Berarnaise
Whipped Maple Yams
Sweet Treats
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Bananas Foster Creme Brulee
Summer Peach Cake
Lemon-Blueberry Bars
Lemon Ricotta Fritters
Spiced Krispies Treats [butter/marshmallow/cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice/cardamon/ginger]
[i could pick out 32 reasons for not hating this book]
---
I liked the fascination of his Caesar Salad from Hell and it was complex enough and strange enough to be appealing, maybe possibly appalling... but in hearing it was the most popular dish in his restaurant i thought 'interesting...'
I said okay three good recipes, i'll accept the loss of my time, sanity and wallet!
October 5, 2016
Really more like 1.5 stars. I spent an evening perusing this book (from the library). I did not care for it. I've never seen the show nor am I familiar with the author.
He does talk about how he changed his diet and lost 150 pounds which I applaud. But even his more healthful eating contains way too much meat, cream, butter for my taste. The quantities used in the recipes would be way beyond my budget as well. Also many of the recipes called for too many ingredients. The only recipe that caught my eye to make was a fennel pesto because I happen to have a lot in the garden.
Overall it seemed very pretentious food to me. Half a star for a few useful sidebar hints.
He does talk about how he changed his diet and lost 150 pounds which I applaud. But even his more healthful eating contains way too much meat, cream, butter for my taste. The quantities used in the recipes would be way beyond my budget as well. Also many of the recipes called for too many ingredients. The only recipe that caught my eye to make was a fennel pesto because I happen to have a lot in the garden.
Overall it seemed very pretentious food to me. Half a star for a few useful sidebar hints.
October 3, 2018
We love Elliot, and enjoy how this book was written. My only issue is many of the ingredients have to be purchased from a specialty store or even online. These are mostly ingredients I’ve never even heard of. Maybe he has the stamina and time to make these gourmet meals, but I don’t.
I did make the Brussels Sprouts Hash with a couple of ingredients substituted. I was missing onions so I used a couple of shallots. I couldn’t find any uncut bacon, so I bought sliced bacon. The one with the least sodium. The other thing I did was forget the rosemary. Even with all that, it turned out delicious
I did make the Brussels Sprouts Hash with a couple of ingredients substituted. I was missing onions so I used a couple of shallots. I couldn’t find any uncut bacon, so I bought sliced bacon. The one with the least sodium. The other thing I did was forget the rosemary. Even with all that, it turned out delicious
April 5, 2019
Pictures of recipes? Yes.
Commentary on recipes? Yes.
Nutrition facts? No.
Recipe Style? Not sure.
Any keepers? No.
I don't watch Master Chef, so I had no expectations going in to this. Apparently this style of cooking requires more steps and components than I'm willing to deal with. I primarily checked this out to prevent it from being weeded. I see now why it doesn't circulate much.
Commentary on recipes? Yes.
Nutrition facts? No.
Recipe Style? Not sure.
Any keepers? No.
I don't watch Master Chef, so I had no expectations going in to this. Apparently this style of cooking requires more steps and components than I'm willing to deal with. I primarily checked this out to prevent it from being weeded. I see now why it doesn't circulate much.
November 29, 2022
Interesting book. A lot of things I would not make, but I was able to get a good recipe for fried pickles :)
October 27, 2015
I watch Master Chef and Graham Elliot is one of the judges. He seems like a nice guy ... that's why this book caught my eye.
The book starts with an intro about Graham.
There is a good variety of recipes ... the sections are:
* Bites and snacks - including Curried Corn Nuts, Watermelon-Jalapeno Ice Pops, and Chorizo Meatballs with Spicy Tomato Sauce
* Hot soups and cool salads - including Baked Potato Bisque with Wisconsin Cheddar and Candied Bacon, Roasted Potato Salad and Chilled Summer Cantaloupe Soup
* Grains and pasta and other good things - including Quinoa with Apples and Cashews, Coconut Rice, Fettuccine with Clams and Fennel Pesto
* Catch o' the day - including Roasted Black Cod with Melted Leeks and Champagne Sauce, Maple-Bourbon-Glazed Scallops with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard and Lollapalooza Lobster Corn Dogs
* Down on the farm - including Kung Pao Drumsticks with Ginger Honey and Toasted Peanuts, Sesame Chicken Thighs with Bok Choy and Plums and The GrahamBurger
* A walk through the garden - including Ginger-Glazed Carrots, Maple Whipped Yams and Fingerling Potato Confit
* Sweet treats - including Green Apple Rosemary Sorbet, Bourbon Brownies and Spiced Krispie Treats
Most of the recipes have an introduction or a story. There are many colourful pictures of what the dishes are supposed to look like. Plus there are pictures of Graham and his family which makes the book more personal.
I can't wait to make some of the recipes (or have Gord make some ... he already has some marked). When we do, we'll be sure to post them!
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2015/10...
The book starts with an intro about Graham.
There is a good variety of recipes ... the sections are:
* Bites and snacks - including Curried Corn Nuts, Watermelon-Jalapeno Ice Pops, and Chorizo Meatballs with Spicy Tomato Sauce
* Hot soups and cool salads - including Baked Potato Bisque with Wisconsin Cheddar and Candied Bacon, Roasted Potato Salad and Chilled Summer Cantaloupe Soup
* Grains and pasta and other good things - including Quinoa with Apples and Cashews, Coconut Rice, Fettuccine with Clams and Fennel Pesto
* Catch o' the day - including Roasted Black Cod with Melted Leeks and Champagne Sauce, Maple-Bourbon-Glazed Scallops with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard and Lollapalooza Lobster Corn Dogs
* Down on the farm - including Kung Pao Drumsticks with Ginger Honey and Toasted Peanuts, Sesame Chicken Thighs with Bok Choy and Plums and The GrahamBurger
* A walk through the garden - including Ginger-Glazed Carrots, Maple Whipped Yams and Fingerling Potato Confit
* Sweet treats - including Green Apple Rosemary Sorbet, Bourbon Brownies and Spiced Krispie Treats
Most of the recipes have an introduction or a story. There are many colourful pictures of what the dishes are supposed to look like. Plus there are pictures of Graham and his family which makes the book more personal.
I can't wait to make some of the recipes (or have Gord make some ... he already has some marked). When we do, we'll be sure to post them!
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2015/10...
January 14, 2016
Graham Elliot's new cookbook is a winner!
I have a tough time with cookbooks. I LOVE looking at the pictures. I love dreaming about the recipes. But the cookbooks that are a hit with me are the ones where I'm marking the pages and saying "I'm going to make THAT tomorrow!" This cookbook had seven of those for me! It's not quite a record, but close. Graham seemed to achieve that balance for my style of cooking that has a unique flavor twist with easy-to-get-done recipes. So what's for dinner tonight? I'm thinking grilled Portobello mushroom satay! Yum!
I have a tough time with cookbooks. I LOVE looking at the pictures. I love dreaming about the recipes. But the cookbooks that are a hit with me are the ones where I'm marking the pages and saying "I'm going to make THAT tomorrow!" This cookbook had seven of those for me! It's not quite a record, but close. Graham seemed to achieve that balance for my style of cooking that has a unique flavor twist with easy-to-get-done recipes. So what's for dinner tonight? I'm thinking grilled Portobello mushroom satay! Yum!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews