Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Perhaps most famous in the U.S. as the host of "Hell's Kitchen," British chef and restaurant entrepreneur Gordon Ramsay shares his cooking expertise in his new book "Cooking for Friends." The book itself is filled with quality photos and split into nine sections: Hot and Cold Soups, Pasta and Grains, Fish and Shellfish, Meat and Poultry, Savory Pies and Tarts, Vegetables and Salads, Desserts and Ices, Chocolate and Coffee, as well as Basics. The recipes themselves are full of European flavor, which is not surprising since Ramsay is from the U.K. Each section starts off with a brief introduction by Ramsay, as well as a listing of all the recipes in this section. Through the introductions, we learn that Ramsay's soups recipes were influenced by his experience with the New England clam chowder, his love for pasta stems from the time he was trained as a chef in Sicily and Sardinia, while his creativity with chocolate dates back to his time working in Paris. Other food sections are influenced by Ramsay's lifestyle--such as the weekly pies his mother baked when he was a child or his wife's Tana's wish to have their children enjoy a rich vegetarian diet. The recipes themselves are unique, with many quite challenging while others fit for beginners. Some of my favorite recipes included lemon meringue pie, grilled vegetable lasagna, crayfish chowder, dark chocolate marquise, and wild mushroom barley risotto. The end of this book has an index structured by ingredients, which I found to be another helpful aspect of this book. So, for example if I want to cook something with bacon, I could look it up in the index and find the page numbers for the recipes that include this ingredient. Same for other ingredients like walnuts, cherries, cheese, celery, etc. Last but not least, this colorful book--embedded with not only images of the recipes but also Ramsay's family gatherings, looks like it would look good on a coffee table or make a great gift for any food lover.
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