[.ca] Charlie Trotters Ckbook (ISBN 0898156289)

The demented creation of a madman:
Do you enjoy assembling 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzles blindfolded? Or have you ever built a fully-detailed model of the cathedral at Chartres with toothpicks? Then, my obsessive-compulsive friend, you have found your cookbook. Are you a food pervert? (You can be honest. It's just the two of us here.) Do your most sordid and lascivious fantasies revolve around duck breasts rather than human ones? Then bring this book home, lock the doors, and go nuts. (Just stay out of my neighborhood.) Are you a normal human being looking for some tasty recipes to prepare? Run away! Quickly!

Were these tested?:
If the recipes don't work, it's the book and not you.

Visually Compelling Gourmet Cookbook:
When was the last time you ate at a divine restaurant? When was the last time you ordered something that you couldn't pronounce? Have you ever savored that perfect bottle of French Merlot? If you have a taste for the exquisite, an eye for artistic flair in cooking, and a passion for the culinary arts, this book is your nirvana. Each recipe is thoughtfully organized into sections: Serving Size, List of Ingredients, Method, Assembly, and Wine Notes. There is also a full-color picture of each completed dish to accompany the recipe. The book is organized by ingredient. Tomatoes, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Salmon, Scallops, Tuna, Rabbit, Squab, Lamb, Varietal Meats, Grains, and Desserts. Examples of the recipes are: Truffled Exotic Mushrooms and Root Vegetable Tart with Red Wine Butter Sauce, Timbale of Salmon Tartare with Osetra Caviar, Avocado, and Lemon Oil, and Peach and Creme Brulee Napoleon with Green Tea Creme Anglaise and Peach Juice. This book is a beautiful example of gourmet cooking at it's height of finesse. This book is not for the beginner or the faint of heart. The tools and ingredients required in this book are extensive, and not always readily attainable. If you are an aspiring gourmet chef, or merely an officiando of the fruit of their labors, you will thorougly enjoy this book.

Nothing worthy is easy.:
This book is clearly not for the amateur cook. But, honestly, did anyone think it would be? I have lived in Chicago 10 years and have been to Charlie's several times. The recipes in the book are good representations of what to expect at the restaurant. So, if you can master several of them, your friends can say they have eaten at Trotter's. My advice (having cooked most of the recipes in the book) is to begin a day earlier than normal, and make all the stocks, reductions, juices etc. You will be shocked how much simpler the recipes become.

Don't try this at home...:
Have you ever traveled cross-country to Chicago just to dine at Charlie Trotter's? I have, and it was one of the best meals of my life. This book and the others in the series are great at giving you a feel of what the real thing is like. The pictures are outstanding and the combinations just wow you. But if you think for a moment that any cookbook would allow you to duplicate what Charlie does, you are mistaken. Some cookbooks are for those who want to follow a recipe and duplicate it. This is not one of those. This is for people who want to understand the Chef's unique cuisine and appreciate it for the art that it is.