Learn to COOK - Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud Cookbook: French-American Recipes for the Home Cook

"Cook the sauce another minute, then add just a touch of olive oil," urges Daniel Boulud in his kitchen at Café Boulud in New York City. "Not too much. That's it," he exclaims. His voice carries his passion as he swirls the copper pan holding the finished dish. Over the tops of his glasses he assesses the color and takes in the aroma of the sauce. Then he brings a few drops of it to his lips. After thirty years of cooking in France and America, the chef knows what he wants. "I'm looking for balance," he explains. "A hint of herb, a little acidity -- sweet seafood needs a bit of sharpness -- and all the brininess and flavor of the scallops." It is a simple but perfect recipe and it has been given all his attention, commitment, and talent -- as have each of the recipes in this simple but perfect cookbook.

Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook contains all his creative cooking skills made accessible. By means of Dorie Greenspan's expertly written recipes, Daniel accompanies you into your home kitchen, where his inspiration becomes yours and his instructions are easy to follow. With little effort, you find yourself reproducing his magic on your own stove.

One ingredient for a perfect dish is family tradition. In the book's first section, La Tradition, we are transported to the original Café Boulud run by Daniel's grandparents on the outskirts of Lyon -- France's culinary capital. Daniel's education as a cook began with his grandmother and the Poulet Grand-mère she lovingly prepared for her guests. It continued with great chefs that shaped his unique interpretation of home cooking. Recipes such as Skate with Brown Butter and Capers, Hanger Steak with Shallots, and splendid Pommes Frites reveal the influences of his French roots.

But tradition also includes respect for seasonal ingredients. In the next section, La Saison, Daniel accompanies us through the market. We select peas and sugar snaps that are ready to tumble into the pot for the Chilled Spring Pea Soup. Fresh corn becomes the surprise ingredient in Lobster with Sweet Corn Polenta. Complete the celebration of the seasons with Ruby Grapefruit with Pomegranate Sabayon or a milk chocolate-cherry tart like no other.

In the third section, Le Voyage, Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook takes us on an exploration of many of the world's cuisines with dishes as varied as Italian-style Veal Gremolata, Spanish Gazpacho with Anchovy Toast, or a fast and easy Asian salad of crab, cucumber, and mango. Imagine yourself under the warm Middle Eastern sun as you taste Daniel's Coffee-Cardamom Pots de Crème.

In the last section, Le Potager, Daniel offers an extraordinary selection of vegetarian dishes, from easy starters like Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad to main courses such as Lemon-Lime Risotto with Asparagus or bone-warming Root Vegetable Cassoulet, and, of course, sublime desserts to cap any meal.

Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook opens wide the door of his kitchen and invites you in with 150 recipes that will unfailingly stimulate your passion for flavor while offering a healthy, easy, and modern approach to good eating. He also provides a collection of basic recipes that are used at Café Boulud; a glossary of terms, techniques, and ingredients; and a short batterie de cuisine, a guide to pots, pans, and a few gadgets. He even provides a list of trusted suppliers so you can find the same ingredients he uses at Café Boulud. Thirty-two pages of color photographs of finished dishes prepared personally by Daniel will allow you to see, and almost smell and taste, what you are cooking. Watch as this book becomes the extension of your own hands. Whether making a salad for one or a dinner for eight, let Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook be your reliable guide to great food.

It is important to note that while Daniel Boulud is the headliner, there is a very important co-author, Dorie Greenspan, who has won more cookbook awards than any three celebrity chefs put together. It's hard to determine exactly how much Dorie contributed, but, as a major cookbook author in her own right, I have to believe her contribution was a lot more than transcribing Boulud's words from tape recordings and notes. My guess is that, at the very least, she was instrumental in translating the recipes from the restaurant to the home kitchen. Her contribution must be, therefore, essential to the attraction of this book.

As other reviewers have noted, the book, like the menu at Café Boulud, is divided into four independent sections covering French, World, Seasonal, and Vegetarian cuisines. In evaluating the recipes, I believe this division is incidental. All of the recipes are easily identifiable as having sprung from the French culinary tradition. The only thing distinguishing one section from the others in my reading is that the first section on traditional French recipes presented a concrete look at the elements of Nouvelle Cuisine in the Troisgros brothers recipe `Salmon and Sorrel Troisgros'. In the past, I have read many generalities but few real examples on what this movement is really about. I thank Daniel and Dorie for that. There is, of course much, much more.

While the subtitle of the book proclaims it to contain recipes for the home cook, these are primarily only practical for the `foodie' cookbook collector, food hobbist, weekend meals, and special entertaining meals where the added cache of preparing something from Café Boulud adds interest to the feast. Almost all recipes are LONG, with long ingredients lists. Many recipes include long marinades and braises. Most recipes include substantial subpreparations such as for stocks and sauces. Luckily, the authors always add a warning when the technique requires a plan ahead step. None of this detracts from the type of enthusiasm Martha Stewart had for the book, as I felt the same thing. These are good recipies.

It is to our advantage that the new interest in food in the US is centered around both American and French cuisines, as this means that very few ingredients used in this book will be hard to find. I have even seen Jerusalem artichokes in my local supermarket. No need to travel to a farmer's market or to the regional megamart. Spices and herbs should be no problem. The hard to find stuff is more likely to be things like sweetmeats and marrow bones.

I found no errors in this book. The closest it came was to relate Jerusalem artichokes with globe artichokes in the main section of the book. The two are not botanically related, and this is cleared up in the appendix on ingredients. In general, I find such appendices on tools, techniques, and terms to be of little value, since, being just a few pages long, they invariably omit something you may look for. This book's appendices have good content, but they fail to explain many of the French culinary terms. I also give little credit to the pantry recipe sections, but, in this book and other good books like it, you need to know how the author prepared their veal stocks and the like to really know how their stuff is supposed to turn out.

The color pictures in this book are the way I like them in separate sections, all together, so you can page through all the pictures to choose a dish. In this book, the pictures are divided into the four sections of recipes. Very wise.

This book is MUCH better than the later `Chef Danial Boulud: Cooking In New York City', where the celebrity chefs started entombing their cuisine in coffe table books with lots of useless photographs. The absence of Ms. Greenspan's influence is also felt in the latter volume.

Even at $35, this book is a keeper.

Unique is the organization of recipes, here into four groupings of Traditional French, Seasonal Specialties, Other Cuisines and Vegetarian.

Offerings in each include main entrees, sides and desserts as well as first courses, soups, etc.

A marvelous dish from French category is Sea Bass en Croute or the Cornish Hens a la Diable. Unusual combo exemplefies Boulud's coupling of tastes, Sweet Swiss Chard Tourte. Don't tell your guests what this is until they eat. Swiss Chard done right is magnificent. A tangy sweetness to it that here is married with honey, orange and pine nuts. This is superb!

How about Cod with Blood Orange Sauce and Creamy Grits from Seasonal section? Who would have thought to put blood organes with cod? Citrus goes so well with seafood as this, but with grits? This guy is truly French-American chef.

I find his abilities and recipes to be inspirational for amateur gourmet. Techniques are not too formidiable and much is offered in the way of purchase and prep techniques. The small, details are what is worth the book. The user will see that this guy is on to each ingredient and wants to display its savor at max.

This is breakthrough cuisine, with simple, straightforward technique, but full throttle flavor and expert combining of luxurious components. You'll have fun with this one!