Christophe Blain - "In the Kitchen with Alain Passard"

[teonzo]

I bought this book just out of curiosity, without expecting that much. I've been totally surprised!

This is a graphic novel that tells about the author's experience in the kitchen (and not only there) of L'Arpege. We can see Alain Passard (the vegetable master) creating new dishes, discussing his ideas, describing his way of working and how some pairings work. There are a dozen recipes too, the text is the transcription of Passard's words, plus there are Blain's drawings of the kitchen staff realizing each recipe.

The best thing about this book is that Blain has been able to capture the "creative flame", that particular moment when a chef gets the inspiration and starts to realize it from his brain to the real dish. There are thousands of cookbook with recipes, but really few are able to capture that peculiar flame. Blain really succeeded in this, probably since he's an artist depicting another artist (and not a ghost writer trying to understand a chef).

If you enjoy being part of these great moments (when a high class chef creates something new) then this book is really inspirational.

$12.16 on Amazon: In the Kitchen with Alain Passard

Teo

[Robenco15]

I got this book a few weeks ago and read through it immediately. It really is fantstic and I couldn't agree more.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Robenco15 (log)