Charlie Trotter's Seafood (ISBN 0898158982)

Amazon.com Review:
Charlie Trotter's in Chicago is rated as one of the finest restaurants in the world. Eating there is a leisurely and memorable experience because Chef Trotter is endlessly creative and meticulously precise in his cooking. He uses the best ingredients and says one should do as little as possible to embellish them. Does he practice what he preaches? In your dreams! The simplest of the 75 recipes in Charlie Trotter's Seafood are for dishes like Olive-Oil Roasted Swordfish with Oven-Roasted Tomato and Black Olives, and the Slow-Roasted Salmon with Red Wine Risotto, Wild Thyme and Tiny White Asparagus. His more typical, and even more breathtaking, creations are often based on Hawaiian fish, like Steamed Gindai and Mussels with Lemongrass Broth. On the plate these dishes are all as artistically arranged as they sound. This is food pornography at its peak. Every dish, as exotic and complex as a lesson from the Kama Sutra, is shown in gloriously intimate, obscenely alluring, vinaigrette-dotted detail by photographer Tim Turner. Ambitious cooks will appreciate Trotter's recommended piscatorial substitutions. Finding other ingredients, like bleeding heart radishes and shallot blossoms, is up to you. Not to mention making time to produce the infused oils and deeply flavored stocks often called for. The recipes are grouped, unexpectedly, by the wines best for accompanying them. Trotter starts with champagne and proceeds through 16 other kinds of wine, from white Viognier to red Syrah and Barbera. If complex, original cooking fascinates you, here is the chance to navigate an ocean of new seafood ideas and culinary combinations. --Dana Jacobi

Use this for ideas ... only!:
I can say that I am a reasonably competent home chef with an above-average knowledge of technique and most necessary equipment to get the job done. Having said that, I was impressed with the photos of nearly every featured recipe in this book and find the recipes to be admirably aggressive in their taste and texture contrasts. The recipes, however, are nearly all flawed in some significant manner in that following them verbatim will result in poor results. Even when this is not the case, I find these recipes to be "out of whack" from a taste perspective by any gastronome's standards and in need of serious tweaking. If you have good kitchen skills and seek to be inspired by the ideas in this book, then I would suggest it (USED!!) ... otherwise, there are much better cookbooks that will yield far superior results. I purchased the Charlie Trotter's Seafood and Dessert cookbooks and came to the same conclusion.

Art Book, Cook Book.:
All of Trotter's books are fabulous, but this particular book belongs right on the coffee table for everyone to admire as often as they'd like. It is as much an art book, as it is a cook book, and inspires the reader through its text as well as photos. It is also excellent because it is divided into sections by the wines that he has chosen to accompany each seafood dish. This is a great way to view food, and it is loveley that he creates dishes to accompany all sorts of wines, both red and white. A must have book for all food and wine enthusiasts.

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.

Good picture and idea book:
This is a beautiful book. The pictures are stunning and the dishes are inspiring. That said, most of the recipes are terribly complicated for the home cook. Many of the fish are hard to get and regional; most of the preparations often require things that only a restaurant kitchen can feasibly do (i.e. tomato water). Still, some of the dishes are approachable by the home cook and the if you are inventive, many could inspire you to come up with your own creations. An added bonus (or potentially a distraction depending on you point of view) is that the dishes are grouped by the wines that would be accompany them - a novel approach.

Excellant:
Book was well written and was what I was looking for to help me with ideas to use at home. It is also well thought out and organized. Would recommend the rest in the series