Comments: A little bit of an unusual book, but then finding a very upscale restaurant in a 100-year-old resort in the wilds of Montana might strike some as unusual. Probably best to say the book is a good reflection of the kitchen at Chico Hot Springs Resort.
Sections include breakfasts, appetizers, main courses, and desserts, as well as a chapter on salads and other vegetable dishes grown in the resort's hot-springs-heated, year-round greenhouse. Additionally, there are three lavish menus – an "extravagant" picnic, a wine-cellar dinner, and a western barbecue, with multiple courses, full recipes, and lists of everything you could possibly need for an out-of-dining-room feast. A final chapter includes recipes for stocks, sauces, and vinaigrettes needed to complete other recipes in the book.
The recipes on the whole look very good, and it is clear a lot of work went into translating them from chef's recipes to make-at-home recipes. Some (Beef Wellington, Duck L'Orange (sic)) are a little old fashioned. Others caused even us to raise our eyebrows at their disregard for Nutritional Correctness (a baked brie sitting in a pool of Hollandaise Sauce, a bread pudding with half a cup of heavy cream per serving). Nonetheless, there is a nice mix of traditional and new restaurant dishes that confident cooks may want to add to their repertoires.
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