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| The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution | 
 enlarge | Author: Alice Waters
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $20.00
You Save: $15.00 (43%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $20.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (63 reviews)
Sales Rank: 824
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0307336794
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5
EAN: 9780307336798
ASIN: 0307336794
Publication Date: October 2, 2007
Release Date: October 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Useful for any skill level August 21, 2008
Can you still use this book if you don't have a Meyer lemon tree in your backyard, a friend who makes artisanal cheeses and a farmers market overflowing with organic heirloom vegetables? Yes, you can. I have several of the Chez Panisse cookbooks and while I enjoy them, I only use them occasionally. This is not a restaurant cookbook but one with everyday recipes that I use frequently. I have made several of the salads, soups and vegetable dishes. The recipes are, as the title promises, simple and usually there are several variations given. I find these are particularly helpful as they give you a starting point but also encourage you to be a little more creative and use what you have instead of requiring a long shopping list. In addition to the recipes there is a lot of text, many detailed explanations of techniques and even an accomplished cook can learn something new.
 An Excellent Basic Cookbook August 7, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I signed this out of the library, renewed it as long as I could, returned it, signed it out again, and once again kept it as long as I could. I rarely buy cookbooks any more, but I'll be setting aside some money from next month's grocery budget for this one.
I think this book will be most useful to a beginning cook, or to anyone who uses a lot of convenience and prepared foods at home and wants to start cooking more 'from scratch'. Alice Waters covers all the basics in Part I "Starting From Scratch" including choosing ingredients, planning menus, and a good set of 'foundation recipes.' Part II expands on the foundation recipes and includes plenty of interesting and tasty variations.
I usually use recipes and cookbooks for inspiration and rarely follow recipes to the letter. However, I decided to use this book with my 10 yr. old who is learning to cook. Since she wanted to begin with dessert (naturally!) we made the 1-2-3-4 Cake, which turned out beautifully with the suggested variation of adding orange zest and juice and filling with whipped cream. We also tried several of the salads in Part II for our lunchtime. The Jicama Salad with Orange and Cilantro was good, but we increased the cilantro to twice the maximum amount suggested. We also enjoyed the Green Bean and Tomato Salad (we subbed Roma for cherry tomatoes, and added feta) and the Lentil Salad. I've never prepared a lentil dish my children liked until this one, so I was very pleased, and my daughter quite proud.
Although I like Alice Waters' approach and enjoyed reading this book and trying the recipes, I've given it 4 instead of 5 stars. First, although I try to 'eat locally and sustainably' I'm awfully tired of reading/hearing chefs' admonitions to do so. Like a lot of people, I have to work within a strict food budget, and it is more expensive to get fresh local produce, dairy, and meat than it it to get it at the supermarket. It's a privilege to be able to choose this, and I'm grateful that I can, but it's also a struggle and I'm a little weary of people who talk about sustainability as a moral imperative rather than a privileged choice. Another criticism of this book is simply that many of the recipes are very restrained in their use of herbs and spices. Beginning cooks might not even detect these flavors unless they increase amounts, and beginning cooks are often reluctant to deviate from the recipe. However, to be fair, Waters' does encourage readers to cook with all their senses, and to adjust seasonings. A good method for learning how to cook herbs and spices is to add the seasoning incrementally, tasting after each addition until you can taste it and are happy with the flavor.
So, buy this book and use it often, but don't feel guilty if your potatoes came from the supermarket and your eggs aren't organic, and be sure to follow Waters' advice about looking, smelling, and tasting as you cook.
Excellent book and received with excellent service. July 29, 2008
I love this book- it is one of the first guides I reach for in the kitchen when I want to get something good cooking properly. I am not a seasoned pro, and cooking is a fairly new venture for me. For this reason, the lengthy descriptions of particular techniques are very, very helpful. I like that the book is sprinkled with philosophy about healthy relationships with food, and the value that goes into making healthy, fresh foods. Definitly a great addition to any kitchen.
Enormously useful for any level of cook July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A terrific, versatile, useful book--- the best Waters have ever done. It lives up to it's name exactly. If you are looking for more complex fare then look elsewhere. This is for excellent simple food, with suggestions on ingredient changes to make different versions of same. I've cooked for many years from very challenging books, but this is a refreshing, unpretentious book, and one I now refer to regularly.. Highly recommended!!!!
deceptively simple, the recipes are gems July 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I flipped through the pages of this cookbook 3 or 4 times at the bookstore before I was even interested in cooking from it. When you browse the book, it looks so boring--all these recipes that you've cooked already, though not Alice Waters' version. But once I tried a few recipes, I was hooked. These are simple little gems, many of them easy, but they are so well thought-out and perfectly balanced in their flavors. It's really a foundational book for the Chez Panisse style of cooking.
This is not a chatty, entertaining book. You have to sit with it and read slowly to imagine how the recipes will turn out. But if you do, you'll probably notice how Alice Waters has given most of these standard recipes a new twist--her take on a classic recipe, or an old favorite recipe. When I did this, that's when I remembered that before Waters became famous for her politics of sustainable, organic food, she caught the world's attention with her great food.
And I mean great food. When I made the Linguine with Clams, that old warhorse, it was the best version of this dish I had ever tasted. And how many cornbread recipes have I made in my life? Waters' version may be the best I've ever tried. A dull sounding recipe, like Baked Sliced Onions, was a revelation. The onions cooked up chewy and sweet, so delicious. And when I made her ridiculously simple recipe for Marinated Beet Salad, I wondered why anyone would want to eat beets any other way. So far I've cooked over 20 recipes from this book, and I've been pleased with all of them.
As with all Chez Panisse recipes, the quality of the ingredients is key. You'll have to invest in excellent meat and produce, plus the accoutrements of high-quality olive oil, fresh herbs and spices, and the like. Because many recipes are so pared down and simple, every ingredient matters--you taste it all.
Before I bought my book on Amazon, I borrowed the book from my public library, xeroxed a couple recipes, and cooked them. I recommend doing this if you can, because this book will not appeal to everyone. Some people will think it's too easy (the recipes are DECEPTIVELY simple.) But I think the book is remarkable. For a home cook, this cookbook is probably Alice Waters' best ever.
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