Taste and technique

[Okanagancook]

It is just out.  Anyone have one?

i have read several reviews.

overall good but for a more accomplished cook crowd such as Egullet people.

great explanations of techniques and interesting dishes with great photography 

I must say I am partial to books with a pic of your intended finished dish.

just so you have idea on whether you are on track.

[Anna N]

 It is on my wish list which only really means that I'd like to know more about it. There doesn't seem to be a great deal out there on it yet.   I have done the Kindle preview which covers a couple of sauces but not much else.  I will be watching and waiting.

[rotuts]

thanks for the heads up.

 

ive got my name in at the library

[Anna N]

Here's a look at some of the thinking behind the book in Saveur. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N  

 

thanks for that ref.

 

it brought back to me the Zuni book , which Ill have to take another look at from the Library.

[Okanagancook]

Thanks Anna N for the link.  Other reviews I read said the one thing they didn't like was the way the written recipe was done.  Most like a concise, 1, 2, 3, style where this book has more paragraph style of presenting the recipe. 

I don't have a problem with that.  At least the ingredients are listed separately.

 

I am looking forward to getting it...next week I think it should come.  I've been to Beast for one her dinners and it was really, really excellent.  And she wasn't even there!  She was apparently on her honeymoon.

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Thanks Anna N for the link.  Other reviews I read said the one thing they didn't like was the way the written recipe was done.  Most like a concise, 1, 2, 3, style where this book has more paragraph style of presenting the recipe. 

I don't have a problem with that.  At least the ingredients are listed separately.

 

I am looking forward to getting it...next week I think it should come.  I've been to Beast for one her dinners and it was really, really excellent.  And she wasn't even there!  She was apparently on her honeymoon.

Ah!  So you are a couple of steps ahead not only by ordering the book but by having eaten in her restaurant.  I have absolutely no issue with the format of the recipes, however, having seen the menu for one of her book tour events I suspect that her dishes will prove a little too challenging for me. Sourcing even very ordinary ingredients is already somewhat of a challenge and if she is particularly heavy in luxury ingredients, as I suspect from the menu I saw,  then I may have to rethink.  Although I am not against buying a book just to enjoy it without feeling that I must cook from it. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Didn't look like one I wanted to buy sight unseen but I have the first hold from our library.  (Modernist Bread kind of stretched my book budget.)  But two copies of Taste & Technique are currently in tech services.  Should not be long.

[Anna N]

Anyone have a chance to skim through this yet?  Anxious to know if it's for ordinary mortals.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I started reading it last night.  Looks pretty but no opinion yet.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I started reading it last night.  Looks pretty but no opinion yet.

Hurry up!  

[Okanagancook]

Mine arrives Monday, supposedly.

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Mine arrives Monday, supposedly.

Well I sated my desperate need for SOMETHING new and got Mark Bittman's "Fast Cooking" or whatever its full title is. Kindle version was $3+ today!  I know. I know. 

[chefmd]

Just now, Anna N said:

Well I sated my desperate need for SOMETHING new and got Mark Bittman's "Fast Cooking" or whatever its full title is. Kindle version was $3+ today!  I know. I know. 

Fast Cooking is 2.99 for US kindle.  My Taste and Technique copy is on order from the library.

[Okanagancook]

Here are some opinions on the book.

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28502821-taste-technique

[Anna N]

38 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Here are some opinions on the book.

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28502821-taste-technique

 Thank you but this review is why I rarely consult that site:

"Simple, lux, elevated homestyle dining with freshness and seasonality in mind, Pomeroy goes the extra mile with inspiring long-form recipes and enticing color photographs."

 And that's one of the least objectionable ones.  I'll wait for someone I trust to offer an opinion such as yourself or other members of eG. 

[Okanagancook]

Yeah, yeah, I know but that's "all there is" at the moment.....isn't that song???

[JoNorvelleWalker]

"I have little use for expensive professional tools, like sous vide machines or Combi ovens..." made me think I may not be her target audience.

 

So far I have not found anything impossibly difficult, but nothing that I really want to make.  I have barely scratched the surface though.

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

"I have little use for expensive professional tools, like sous vide machines or Combi ovens..." made me think I may not be her target audience.

 

So far I have not found anything impossibly difficult, but nothing that I really want to make.  I have barely scratched the surface though.

While I love my kitchen toys I am not likely to be discouraged by someone who disses them although she'd lose one star for that. But "nothing that I really want to make".  Now that might be the kiss of death. 

 I totally understand @Okanagancook's desperate search for reviews. I keep doing the same thing even checking back on Amazon.com to see how many reviews there are.   Not that I trust them either although occasionally you find the odd bright one by someone who actually cooks from the book before reviewing it.

I am asking myself today whether a thumbs down by one or more of our members will really serve to totally discourage me or whether I will absolutely have to see for myself.  If the Kindle edition were $9.99 (as so many are) there would be no contest but it's $22.99 which gives me pause. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I continue to make my way through Taste and Technique.  Photography is superb.  But an egg based aioli?  Really?  And why four pages devoted to Hollandaise?  Compare with a few paragraphs from Joy of Cooking.  (Though both books specify a bain marie which in my opinion is unnecessary or worse.)

 

I objected to the advice to pour boiling water over an egg to make it safe.  From a food safety standpoint this is pernicious.  If you are going to pasteurize the egg, then pasteurize it.

 

But the onion soup looks nice.

 

I may not be the best one to comment upon the vegetables, as my tastes are contrary to hers.  I prefer barely blanched broccolini, 30 second green beans, just a couple minute Brussels sprouts.  Sauced vegetables do not typically appeal to me.*

 

I noted with amusement she mentions that her grandmother would make supper from a plate of tomatoes from her garden.  Such was my dinner tonight.  That and the second half of last night's baguette.  With Oro Bailen olive oil.

 

 

*Not counting asparagus Hollandaise, of course,

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I continue to make my way through Taste and Technique.  Photography is superb.  But an egg based aioli?  Really?  And why four pages devoted to Hollandaise?  Compare with a few paragraphs from Joy of Cooking.  (Though both books specify a bain marie which in my opinion is unnecessary or worse.)

 

I objected to the advice to pour boiling water over an egg to make it safe.  From a food safety standpoint this is pernicious.  If you are going to pasteurize the egg, then pasteurize it.

 

But the onion soup looks nice.

 

I may not be the best one to comment upon the vegetables, as my tastes are contrary to hers.  I prefer barely blanched broccolini, 30 second green beans, just a couple minute Brussels sprouts.  Sauced vegetables do not typically appeal to me.*

 

I noted with amusement she mentions that her grandmother would make supper from a plate of tomatoes from her garden.  Such was my dinner tonight.  That and the second half of last night's baguette.  With Oro Bailen olive oil.

 

 

*Not counting asparagus Hollandaise, of course,

 

If you have read "Zuni Cafe" how do they compare in terms of teachable moments?  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

If you have read "Zuni Cafe" how do they compare in terms of teachable moments?  

 

Sorry, I've not read Zuni Café.

 

[chefmd]

This may be interesting to @Anna N

 

https://www.eatyourbooks.com/blog/2016/9/18/taste--technique---naomi-pomeroy

 

 

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, chefmd said:

This may be interesting to @Anna N

 

https://www.eatyourbooks.com/blog/2016/9/18/taste--technique---naomi-pomeroy

 

 

Thank you. Thank you.   Exactly what I was hoping for.   Now I can make up my own mind.  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Sorry, I've not read Zuni Café.