Floyd Cardoz was an Indian American chef who ran multiple restaurants in New York and Mumbai. In 2011, he won Bravo's "Top Chef Masters." He was nominated for multiple James Beard Awards.
I've been on an Indian kick lately, so this is my third Indian-influenced cookbook in two-three weeks. However, I did not like this one as well as the other two I had reviewed, although I did bookmark a fair number of recipes. This chef is from Portuguese-influenced Goa, India and it shows in the recipes. He is the chef from the NYC restaurant Tabla, so a lot of the recipes in here, he uses in his restaurant. This might be another, "would rather go there and taste the recipes than try to cook them myself" kind of thing. To be fair, he is quite thorough and includes a glossary of terms in the back, as well as a section of basics such as stock and my favorite, how to crack and peel a coconut. It's worth a read, especially if you have been to the restaurant or are interested in Goan cuisine.
There are some cool recipes:good start for a adventurous cook. Besides Goa is always on bucket list to visit someday. This book has been influenced by chef Cardoz's Goan upbringing.
I always loved seeing Floyd on cooking shows, especially the way he used spices. I'm sure the food in this is delicious, but it's seriously lacking in pictures, and it's a little too cheffy for me.
The title is deceptive recipes require numerous ingredients! Be prepared. I was pleasantly surprised however, to find that it had a couple recipes that called for venison. Certainly gave me new ideas for preparing it. They were tasty too. But like I said pretty involved.
Chef Cardoz cooks the way I wish I did. His use of spice and layering of flavors is exciting; I love reading about potato stew and onion soup made new (to me) by adding heat and spice. I look forward to cooking some of these dishes and learning new flavor combinations.