5 comments about Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Patrick O'Brian).

1. For anyone who didn't read this series or read it only casually, this probably wouldn't be terribly interesting. However, for someone (like my husband) who read and very much enjoyed the entire series, (even the last, unpublished #21)this helped to clarify the day to day routine of the life of a middle class sea captain. All I can say is thank goodness I wasn't their cook.



2. I haven't cooked anything from this cookbook yet. It's not exactly family dinner fare. But I've flipped through it enough to know that the writers have done a great deal of research into the food, on land and sea, in the times and places of the Aubry/Maturin novels. In several cases, they offer two recipes for one dish, one that tells how it would have been cooked in a ship's galley and one that tells how to cook it in a modern kitchen. My husband has read all of O'Brien's books and has looked through the cookbook to find many dishes he remembers from the books. They're all there. It was everything I hoped it would be. Now if I could just find a good reason to cook this stuff! :)



3. I made both of the title dishes (and many of the others)and all were great. The writing was both entertaining and informative. The recipe for Millers in Onion Sauce almost makes me willing to try rat for dinner.



4. Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is a lot of fun for those of us who are both fans of Nelson's navy, and part time chefs as well. I sometimes think that a historically accurate dish somehow transports us back to those swashbuckling days when men were men, and walking the plank was not measuring your new hardwood floor at home depot.
   The recipes are apparently accurate, and the comments are drole. And if you've got a little time on your hands, there's a theme party waiting for you to create. Get your pals to dress up like Horatio Hornblower and break out the Admiral's Flip. Then the neighbours'll have something to talk about, damn your eyes! Beat to quarters, if you please!



5. Lots of fun for cooks. A pleasure for readers of Patrick O'Brian's novel (so you can find out what "drowned baby" consists of).
   
   Highly recommended!

5 comments about Celtic Folklore Cooking.

1. This book has more than just traditional Celtic foods but has foods geared toward each Sabbat along with some history like the corndollies for example and some poems. What a great book!!



2. This book is an absolute favorite of mine. Normally I love big glossy photos in a book- but this one just has something special. It is like the Joy of Cooking that way- it doesn't need it. The writing style draws you in and recipes are wonderful. Pumpkin bread, sorrel soup and cock-a-leekie are loved by people who don't think they like 'that kind' of cooking! Hearty country fare, but with wierdly wonderful herbal additions and old time drink recipes sprinkled with bits of folklore. Contains both things you can use in your regular cooking rotation and special recipes to try once in a while for historical interest.



3. "Celtic Folklore Cooking", by JoAnne Asala, is a unique blend of recipes and lore from the British Isles. Part history lesson and part mythology class, this text weaves stories and folklore together with timeless recipes in a seamless, easy-to-follow fashion.
   The book is organized into sections based on the main recipe components (such as "Meat and Wild Game" and "Breads, Porridges, and Breakfast Foods") and further grouped into similar dishes (i.e. porridges and furmenty, fritters, pancakes, and so on) regardless of their sometimes unusual names and origins. This makes for a convenient reference if you know the basic dish you'd like to prepare. However, for more Pagan-minded individuals, the detailed Index in the back of the book has suggested recipes for Celtic holy days as well. There is a bibliography which proves just how much detailed research Ms. Asala put into this excellent cookbook, as well as a glossary of terms.
   My favorite part of the book, though, is the simple but effective description of the Celtic Wheel of the Year, and a page on each holiday and esbat which includes associated dieties, customs, symbols, and sacred food for the event.
   In all, this is a fabulously well-research cookbook for any enthusiast of British history and mythology, Pagan cooking, and those who want to try their hand at ancient and tasty dishes.



4. I love this book. It's like sitting down with Grandmother and hearing old time stories mixed with family favorite recipes. This is as much of a good read as it is a good cookbook. Worth every penny!



5. I received this book just prior to a Lughnasadh celebration with other members of a Celtic cultural organization called An Ceangal Mara (The Linking Seas, to symbolize the linking of the Celtic minds in the Old World to those of us in the New World). I used the recipe for Citrus Curd, combined it with an oat-based shortbread crust and topped it with a compote of seasonal fruits. It made a wonderful dessert for out celebration. I love the bits of folklore, stories and poetry in this work, as well as the connections of each recipe with the important events in the wheel of the year. Food is such a vital part of any culture, and it is a lovely thing to be able to count on the historic linking of the food and recipe to the holiday. Our next celebration will be the Celtic New Year, and I will again turn to this book for inspiration and guidance in my culinary efforts.

5 comments about Great British Cooking: Wellkept Secret, A.

1. Like a previous reviewer I too have spent time in the U.K. (as I married a Scotsman). The recipes in here are the standards to British cooking. I've tried many other and this is by far the best for anyone wanting to cook British meals in the U.S. The measurements have all been scaled for an American kitchen and every recipe I've tried has come out wonderful. A LOVELY BOOK!!!!



2. I am an American who loves Britain and who has lived in England. I think British cooking gets a bad rap, and that's just what the author points out. Just yesterday I made the Brown Windsor soup and it's wonderful, so I'd say I'm off to an excellent start with this excellent book. Hooray!



3. The delight in this book is not only in the recipes, which I have enjoyed immensely. Jane Garmey's wit in the presentation makes one sense a wink at the poor reputation British food generally holds, just as her recipes give it the lie. Generally, British food at its best is wonderful... trouble is that finding it 'at its best' often requires a journey.
   
   The volume is not exhaustive, but presents many classic dishes, most easily prepared (and some which would appeal to, for example, one so avidly traditional as to spend the two months it takes for genuine plum pudding.) It is a pleasant sampler of varied main dish, savoury, pudding, and tea favourites.
   
   I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy cooking. There are many items here which do not require unusual effort or odd ingredients, and can have wonderful results.



4. Although the book has no pictures, the recipes taste and look like authentic British foods. The measures have been converted to standard American measures and some traditional British ingredients have been changed to easier to find American ingredients such as sour cream instead of creme fraiche; however, this book would be easy to use in any country. A good basic 'What the English really eat' cookbook!



5. I like to cook but don't have as much time for it as I'd like. I can do the recipes in this book on the weekends, but on workdays, they just take too long.
   
   That's too bad, because the food is very good.

5 comments about Happy Days with the Naked Chef.

1. This is absolutely the best cookbook I have ever owned. Usually I own a cookbook and prepare maybe one or two recipes before it sits of the shelf and begins to collect dust.

   Happy Days is chock full of simple, low fuss recipes that taste as though hours of work have been spent in the kitchen. Simple, accessible ingredients and winning combinations. A recipe has yet to disappoint me. For someone who's life is too busy for long hours in the kitchen and want flavorful recipes with flair and originality - this is the book for you!




2. I don't know why the recipes in this book don't turn out right. Every recipe I tried has been a disaster, not to mention required an extremely expensive list of ingredients (porcini mushrooms and arugula anyone?). Jamie Oliver puts on a great show, but the food just doesn't seem to live up to the "easy peasy" hype. His "My favorite curry" with "Lemon rice" took almost 3 hours from prep to finish and tasted horrible. I won't be buying another Jamie Oliver book.



3. In every way imaginable, this third Jamie Oliver cookbook proclaims that he has arrived as a celebrity chef, husband, father, and all around swell lad made good. His name on the cover is about three times the size of the book's title, `Happy Days with the Naked Chef', the book is dedicated to his two children, Little Henners and Jakey Bakey, and photos his nibs with his wife, Jools appear throughout the book. On top of all this, there is a much broader representation of international flavors in these recipes based on trips to the Orient, echoing the influence of Japan on the culinary thinking of Joel Robuchon.
   
   At the risk of laying it on just a little too thick, I really believe Oliver shows the kind of passion about good food and cooking which I have seen in very few other TV culinary personalities. Stopping short of a comparison with Julia Child, as Saint Julia did say she couldn't quite understand him most of the time, I would compare his enthusiasm with that of Mario Batali and Jacques Pepin, although he does not have the depth of technique of Jaques or the extensive knowledge of local Italian cuisines as Mario.
   
   Oliver does not simply dedicate to his children for schmaltz value as he devotes a sizable section of the book on the value and attitudes to use when cooking with your kids. These few pages alone are worth the price of the book. Emeril just published a whole book on techniques for cooking with your kids, and as good a job as he did in telling you how to do it, Jamie does a much better job of telling you why you do it and what benefits will arise from the effort. Jamie also gives a few insights into his cooking with Jools as well when he says that once upon a time, every little suggestion on Jools' cooking from world famous chef Jamie was taken as a criticism and tended to dampen her enthusiasm for doing something she did not especially enjoy anyway. The whole picture changed when Jamie simply praised everything Jools did in the kitchen. The quality of her cooking and her attitude improved dramatically. I can think of a few of my relatives I would love to feed the wisdom in this book.
   
   In reviews of Oliver's other books, I have warned that while Jamie preaches simplicity, this is not the same as quick or easy. Jamie does lean a bit toward quicker and easier in some chapters in this book, keeping to the cooking with the kids theme. He has a chapter on `Quick Fixes' and `Comfort Grub' plus `More Simple Salads'. And, he leaves out any recipes for homemade pasta, with all pasta dishes being based on dried pasta, which he always says is not inferior to fresh, just different. There is also a very short chapter just after the introduction on using fresh herbs, which for the entire world sounds like a sermon from Pastor Oliver exhorting you to use fresh herbs. This homily is understandable if you recall that Jamie Oliver's writing and televising about food is all about lifestyle, not just how to cook. His lesson is that fresh herbs are necessary to good cooking.
   
   As always, Oliver's most appealing recipes are for salads, pasta dishes, and seafood. I sometimes wish that all of his books would be reissued collecting all like chapters into individual volumes and I would buy the salad and pasta volumes simply to have all these recipes together. They are by far the most original of his dishes, although there is one pasta dish Jamie attributes to Mario Batali and there are a few in his books that are attributed to his experiences at the River Café.
   
   Bread is one of my favorite culinary subjects and Jamie is one of the very few superstar chefs who gives special emphasis to bread baking. His basic bread recipe is a classic fast method he probably got from Gennaro, as Contaldo uses a very similar recipe in his book `Passione'. The recipe violates the recommendation from experts like Peter Reinhart who promote little yeast and long rise times, but I have made Jamie's bread and I find it just fine, especially as a medium for rolling in savory additions such as onions and salami. To atone for his fast yeast bread, Jamie adds a recipe for artisinal sourdough bread with natural yeast and a classic Italian bega. Read this recipe very carefully before starting, as it takes a FULL WEEK to complete. If you are serious about bread, check out books by Reinhart, Joe Ortiz, or Nancy Silverton, but you could do a lot worse than getting your first taste of bread baking from Sir Jamie.
   
   When someone has an engaging TV personality, I fear their enthusiasm may not transfer to a skill with the written word, especially with Jamie, as I have heard him say he dictates all his books into a tape recorder, as he never really learned to write properly in school. Let me assure you here that even his chapters with low culinary interest such as his chapters on mixed drinks are a joy to read.
   
   Jamie has a habit of labeling certain recipes as `the best ever'. Well, I have made his `best ever' recipes and I agree with him. They have all become standards in my repertoire. He continues to match or exceed the very high quality of recipes you will find from the River Café or even from Signoir Batali himself.
   
   On the remote chance that Hyperion editors read this review for constructive criticism, I will point out that the layout of ingredient lists makes reading the recipes a bit annoying, as does the absence of ingredient lists from some of the simpler recipes.
   
   If one wishes to get more out of their cooking, they could not do much better than to work their way through Jamie Oliver's cookbooks.



4. The first few times I made things from this book, they seemed off. But Jamie is such the grab and go and not really measuring cook. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then I tried one of his bread recipes... the Banana and Honey Bread (p.245) and using the basic bread recipe (p. 236). Starting with the banana recipe, he says to puree 6 bananas and add water to equal two cups. 6 bananas pureed came out to way more than two cups... then I didnt know what to do about the water. In the basic bread recipe, there it calls for 2 TABLESPOONS of level salt and 2 TABLESPOONS of level sugar. The sugar I could understand, but I had to read the salt one over and over again. I dont even use 2TBS of salt for a roasted chicken and I like salty foods. Then the banana recipe did not call for the removal of the salt from the original recipe. Needless to say, the bread did not turn out well was quite salty, among other things. In retrospect, I think this book has suffered from the conversion from the British system of metrics to the American measurements. I was really disappointed in how much energy and time and enjoyment I had poured into this book and Jamie Oliver, when someone did not care enough to proof the book and ensure that recipes were accurate and usable. I was so disappointed that despite the small fortune I used to collect the books, I decided to give them away with the belief that you should use the book for inspiration, and for recipes that do not call for exact measurements, otherwise, this is not really a cookbook but a selling of a celebrity or personality. I was truly disappointed.



5. I really enjoy Jamie Oliver. He is more down-to-earth than many of the other food network chefs and I just love the food he prepares. This is a wonderful book! buy it!

5 comments about Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen.

1. I know she does in fact have one other book that I also own. This book is great for basics - you're encouraged to be creative. Also, great to find a vegetarian book that can so easily be adapted to meat eaters as well and doesn't rely on tomatoes or peppers or squash for every recipe. You'll find great biscut recipies, pot pies, etc., and dialogue for each recipe grouping. Her other book, "Super Natural Cooking", is my favorite - same reasons, different style of book completely. This book is definitely versatile and very usable.



2. this book is great for foodies & those who need to tackle the challenges of being vegetarian. great ideas, easy to read, easy to implement, just an excellent resource for your cookbook library.



3. I first discovered Heidi on her website 101cookbooks when I was looking for gluten free recipes. From there I discovered she published two books: this one and Super Natural Cooking. I bought both.
   
   This book is, simply put: BRILLIANT. She takes the book and breaks it up into sections such as main dishes, side dishes, desserts, beverages. But that is as traditional as she gets. In each section she covers one type of food and gives you several ways of preparing it. For example, she does a section on panini sandwiches. She will introduce what the panini is, tips for cooking (such as what type of bread to use), then she will have two or more pages of different panini sandwiches such as brie/apple/ cranberry/"fake" bacon. The recipes are read left to right instead of the standard up and down, in an excel-like format. And all of her recipes only take a handful of ingredients and are made in usually 3 steps or less.
   
   Some other foods covered are pizzas, risottos, pot pies, salads, pocket sandwiches, soups, pastas, stir-frys, dressings, flavored butters, ice cream, sorbets, sherberts, beverages...and the list goes on.
   
   Simple, concise, fun to read, and the recipes themselves taste phenomenial! Highly recommended!
   
   Gluten-free note: as I am vegetarian and my kids are gluten free I found this cookbook appealing on many levels. For me, I can follow the recipes directly, for the kids I can substitute bread and pasta for the gluten free type and make a similar dinner so the kids don't feel left out. And they love the food!



4. This is great for anyone especially those who want to try to eat vegan. It is simple with variety of options offered for each created dish! This is a keeper.



5. This cookbook is my current favorite. It's like music; in each section, the author creates a theme and variations upon it. There is a core recipe with at least four different versions that taste completely different. In doing this, it manages to give you great ideas for what ingredients you can swap to make something new without having to learn a new skill set for each recipe. I have made the parmesan & basil drop biscuits, broken lasagna with cherry tomatoes, salsa verde and two smoothie recipes, and each has been easy to make with simple 3-step instructions and delicious every time. This book hasn't left my kitchen counter since I got it last week! I plan to make just about everything in here.
   
   The best part is that I'm not a vegetarian and there's not a single recipe in here that turns me off. The author isn't pretentious about being vegetarian the way many vegetarian cookbooks are (you know what I mean, "2 organic tomatoes, free range eggs, etc"). It just happens to be food without meat or meat-replacements, which is great because I am not a fan of tofu either.

5 comments about Scotland and its Whiskies: The Great Whiskies, the Distilleries and Their Landscapes.

1. A couple of years ago I was blessed by being given one of the best, if not the best job in the world. "Brand Ambassador" for one of the finest and best known Scotch Whisky Brands. After an all too brief trip to Scotland, I have dedicated most of my free time to reading everything about Scotland and her Whiskies that I can get my hands on.
   Mr. Jackson's wonderfully poetic description of the land that now owns my heart has served to make a return trip much more than a wish.
   I so loved this book that I made a gift of it to the library of Cardhu Distillery.
   Thank you Mr. Jackson for making Scotland come alive to Whisky lovers everywhere.
   Slainte bha
   Charles Swett



2. I got hooked on single malt scotches a few years ago--not hooked in an AA "higher power" sense--but hooked on sipping and savoring Balvenie, Oban, Cragganmore, and others.

   As an adoptee who recently learned of his Scottish heritage, this handsome book with its lovely pictures of the highland countryside makes me proud. The Scottish have given the world the telephone (Graham Bell), the bicycle (Dunlop), the game of golf (St. Andrew's), cloning (Wilmut), penicillin (Fleming), and capitalism (Adam Smith)...not to mention some fabulous hooch

   Our author is a foremost specialist on the subject of single malts discussing the subtle differences based on barrel-wood and mineral earth that make each scotch unique to its region. Besides, with someone like Michael Jackson says a 12 year old is tastier than a 16 year old, you better believe him.




3. An excellent book about my favourite all time drink! That's how I would describe this well written, beautifully photographed and intricate journey through Scotland, describing its whiskies.
   
   Working together, Jackson and Wright have put together a combined piece of verbal and photographic artwork. The information provided is very educational, but enjoyable, with historic and technical information entwined with Jackson's fireside conversational style making this a pleasure to read. I can't reproduce the photography but I can give you a sample of the style of writing from page 63:
   
   "After I had breathed the air of early Christianity and Celtic myth, the journey back was slow. It was not just the two hours' drive from Fionnphort to Tobermory, the main town of Mull, but also the otherworldliness of the landscape."
   
   This book has been broken up with the chapters as follows: Overture; The Islands; The East; Coda; Directory of distilleries; Glossary, Index and Acknowledgements. I liked the maps each section had that showed where distilleries were either operating, operating with visitor centre, mothballed or operating intermittently; or closed. This information would come in handy if you are planning on visiting the areas yourself.
   
   `Scotland and its Whiskies' is the perfect gift for that special person who has everything (including you!). It is an informative and enjoyable read; while pleasing the eye at the same time.



4. This is a quality production. The photos and the descriptions are fantastic. I found myself pouring a glass of scotch from whichever region I was reading that night, ie. Islay, Speyside, etc, and enjoying the dram more than usual.



5. This book was purchased along with MJ's 5th Edition Whisky guide. I found it an excellent read while enjoying a nice glass of single malt. The pictures are beautiful and MJ's commentary make me want to visit Scotland and tour the distilleries myself.

2 comments about Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook.

1. Fergus is at it again, writing another delightfully written and informative book about good honest food.
   
   I love the guy.



2. Although much more dessert and baking oriented than I would have liked, this book still deserves all your attention as it is the perfect complement to the first book. Most recipes are written in a delightfully humorous prose dusted here and there with a few opiniated, informative or funny comments. If you like no non-sense anti-diet be-happy food, this book if you.
   
   Among the great lessons from that book is what Henderson calls trotter gear wich is simply pre-cooked and debonned pig trotters in their cooking liquid. This can serve as the base of deliciously unctuous braises, stews or pies. I will now keep a few bags of 'trotter gear' in my freezer in the same way many keep veal stock.

5 comments about Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics.

1. not quite a cook book.. more an exploration of certain kitchen classics and how to molecularly gastronimize them. or at least use a ton of steps and special equipment to make them. treacle tart with an ice cream made with dry ice? Just try to make the black forest choco cake he has in here.



2. This was a great book. It reads like a book instead of a cookbook. The stories are excellent. It should serve as a guide to any Chef. The way that Heston goes about researching ingredients can be used by anyone. I am not saying that we need to travel the world trying different components of a recipe but trying the best of our local ingredients would suffice. Heston is at the cutting edge of the Culinary world and it was great to see his thinking process put down on paper.



3. IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION: REINVENTING KITCHEN CLASSICS comes packed with color photos by Simon Wheeler and presents reflections by one of the world's most renowned chefs: as such, it will find its place not in the casual cook's collection, but in any library catering to neo-professionals fascinated by American regional culinary history in general and Blumenthal in particular. His scientific research into the origins and influences of dishes explores ways of cooking them to perfection and features a focus on what makes recipes stand out from the crowd. From sausage history to chicken packaging, IN SEARCH OF PERFECTION ladles out a wealth of fun, enlightening culinary detail.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. Yep, it's Alton Brown on steroids.
   
   I am a big fan of Alton Brown, and now I have found an even greater hero: Heston!
   
   Just one thing though - he scares the living daylights out of me - if he weren't in a kitchen the only safe place for him is a padded lockdown.
   
   I've made about two of the recipes so far, and I am looking forward to doing more. I have already ordered Further Adventures in Search of Perfection and pre-ordered his (very expensive) The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.
   
   On his Fish and Chips:
   Alas, no turbot on the US West Coast. Maybe no-one understands me because I use the English pronunciation (like fillet) - pronouncing both t's, unlike the American/French with a silent 2nd t.
   
   I used halibut - love halibut.
   His batter method is unnecessarily long-winded. I used a 5lb CO2 bottle with a special adapter for a standard plastic soda bottle instead of a soda siphon, With this exception completed his recipe and found where the book's true value is:
   
   It didn't work for me, but it allowed me to see where to improve my beer batter recipe that I have used for years.
   I now use 2/3 beer, 1/3 vodka, (plus a large splash of lemon juice and paprika).
   
   And now I make very small batter batches, don't wait for the every last lump to disappear, batter immediately, and straight in the fryer - all as fast as possible. It is a tangible improvement - thanks Heston!
   
   His chips (french fries) again has what to my unrefined palette is an unnecessary step - the initial boil.
   Instead I now extend my initial low temp (300F) fry to 10 mins, and cool completely in the 'fridge.
   But I found an improvement - I use a little portable fan to blow over the fries to hurry along the dehydration process - all thanks to Heston!
   
   I also tried the entire steak recipe which was 100% great, and the mushroom ketchup is to die for!
   
   Now I have a few words to say about our little naysayer J. Alt, who mysteriously has but one review.
   Little disgruntled are we J?
   
   The reason that Heston sears the meat before the long 120F slow cook (and I know because I did it) is that the Maillard reaction flavors from the sear spend that time permeating through the meat.
   Do I care that his reasoning is off at a tangent? NO.
   You know why? Because it is the best damn tasting steak I have ever made. Good enough?
   
   And if he tests 5 varieties of potatoes to get the best roast potato, yet doesn't draw a sufficiently tight logical line to satisfy Mr J. Alt, I don't care either. The man has sufficient bone fides for me to trust his judgement and conclusions.
   And you know why I doubly don't care? I can't get Maris Pipers in the U.S. anyway!
   
   I used his method of trying every potato I could get my hands on and made my own judgement. *
   
   Which is what any reader of these reviews should also do.
   
   I recommend this book.
   
   Kevin
   * I decided on White Rose. Thanks yet again, Heston!



5. An interesting read for the culinary inclined!
   
   This book, by Heston Blumenthal is an in-depth discussion about the history, ingredients and food preparation of 8 different food dishes. The end result is a culinary offering that he'd be willing to describe as near 'perfection'. However, he's the first to admit that 'perfection' is obviously a very subjective matter.
   
   The choices for this book include the following...
   
   1.)Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes
   2.)Pizza
   3.)Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes)
   4.)Steaks
   5.)Spaghetti Bolognese
   6.)Fish and Chips
   7.)Black Forest Gateau
   8.)Treacle Tart and Ice Cream
   
   All recipes found in this book were developed after extensive research and travel. The best authorities of the region(s) involved were visited (on both sides of the Atlantic) and consulted to learn special cooking techniques and to obtain the best ingredients. Then further research and testing was done back home (England) in an attempt to create the 'perfect' dish.
   
   Blumenthal freely admits in the 'Introduction' that this effort was not intended to be a 'cookbook' as such, more rather a personal attempt to do something he's always wanted to do, now that he has the resources to do so. An with this in mind, the book has accomplished its goals.
   
   Anyone contemplating making any of these intriguing and beautiful meals, be forewarned, there is a huge degree of impracticality about all of these recipes. For Example, the chicken in 'Roast Chicken and Roast Potatoes' comes only from Bresse area of France, the potato from England. The 'Steak' recipe uses a specific type of beef that is browned with a blow torch and then the meat must be slowly heated to 120F (using a digital thermometer to make sure it doesn't exceed 120F) in an oven (this takes 4-8 hrs) before finally being cooked in a pan. The 'Treacle Tart and Ice Cream' recipe requires 'dry ice' to make the ice cream, etc. All recipes are unique and use items, ingredients and techniques that most of us would never have access to, nor the time to prepare such extravagant meals. Although, having said that, there is a photograph at the end of each section showing the final creation. WOW, simply mouth watering!
   
   In the back of the book there is a 'Directory', listing Restaurants, suppliers and addresses of places where you can eat or get ingredients; places that Mr. Blumenthal visited on his travels to make this book.
   
   Conclusion: A fun and informative culinary read. A look at the art of food preparation that has been taken to the next level. 5 Stars
   
   Ray Nicholson

5 comments about Naked Chef, The.

1. Just the kind of book you'll love to give to your wife, fun, food written



2. The book is really good. I love this so much I bought Happy Days with the Naked Chef too. The recipes I have tried out so far have worked every time and the instructions are clear. Although I loved cooking, I was not what anyone would call a professional in the kitchen. I would have balked at anything that sounded too complex. The mushroom risotto and the chickpea and leek soup are two of the recipes I make most often. I also tried the Roasted butternut squash in a risotto just as he suggests. It was brilliant and had to be one of the most economical meals I have made. Spotted Dick pudding, minestrone, Fruit crumble, marinated chickpeas, roast chicken have all turned out very well. Such an encouragement for me, the cook..



3. its very interesting and have lots of ideas.Very easy to prepare the food . no need to weight the ingredient.



4. jamie oliver is the best! he is funny, cute, and most inportantly passionate about food. i am currently in culinary school, and jamie's first book.... the naked chef, is the reason i am doing what i am doing. his book makes cooking look so fun and relaxed... exactly what it should be!!!! (i should know... i spend 7 hours in cooking class every day.) the pictures are colorful and artistically taken. give this book as a present to anyone, chef or not. i remember staying up way late at night reading his words and looking at pictures..... mmmmmmm its to bad hes married already!



5. Jamie Oliver clearly knows what he is doing as far as Italian cuisine goes, the recipes were good, not all that simple though very authentic. My major dissapointment was the text quality, I've skimmed through its pages about five times, by the third time its pages were falling out of it.

5 comments about Gordon Ramsay: The Biography.

1. Truly an excellent book. This book opens your eyes to the hard work it takes to become a great Chef.
   I recommend other Gordan Ramsay books.



2. I would consider myself a fan of Gordon Ramsey, I think his theories on management and what it takes to be a success could be a lesson to all. Also he has led what seems like a fascinating life, rising up from a rough part of Glasgow, dealing with the issues of a broken family and a promising football career ruined by injury. Sadly this book is written in little better than tabloid tidbits for those with a very short attention span. His childhood and motivations that led him to being a world class chef are glossed over and given about 30 pages. His troubled relationship with his father and its impact is mentioned several times in the book but never really elaborated on sufficiently. His early years as a chef are dealt with in about 15 pages and his years in Paris are given even less coverage despite Gordon's belief that they were absolutely central to him becoming the chef he is today. The author seems more interested in making constant references to Gordon's notorious foul mouth and his relationship with the tabloid press. What a shame there are so many more interesting facets to his life that could have been explored here.



3. This was a great book. It really gives you insight to his behavior. (which is not bad) It was a page turner, and I finished it in a weekend.
   He really had alot of disappointments in life but turned it all around. It gives you inspiration.
   If you like Gordon,this is a must read.



4. I agree with previous reviewers. This is short attention span writing. It jumps from one topic to another topic without going into depth. It felt like reading People Magazine and not a book.



5. If this biography was a dish on one of the episodes of Hell's Kitchen, Chef Ramsay would have told author Neil Simpson to "take off your jacket and leave Hell's Kitchen". I thought the book was poorly written and provided little more than superficial insight into Gordon Ramsay and his meteoric rise to success in the culinary world. Too much of the time the author seemed more interested in trying to justify the boorish behavior that Ramsay is known for as somehow being okay because of Ramsay's passion for food. In addition, the book portrays Ramsay as having an idealized family life that doesn't seem possible given the driven, workaholic nature of Ramsay. I would have prefered a book that provided a more balanced, and yes, more critical look at Ramsay.