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Simple to Spectacular
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Simple to Spectacular : How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication (Canada, UK)
By Jean-Georges Vongerichten & Mark Bittman
Publisher: Broadway Books
Publication Date: Oct. 2000
ISBN: 0767903609Cookbooks by Fancy-Dan chefs can be problematic — often very beautiful to look at and contemplate, but totally impractical for most home cooks. The techniques and exotic ingredients available to big-city, big-budget chefs are not to be found in most home kitchens.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, among the fanciest of the Fancy-Dan chefs, and Mark Bittman, author of several cookbooks and writer of “The Minimalist” cooking column in The New York Times have tackled this problem head on in their joint work, Simple to Spectacular. The book features a few dozen basic recipes, each of which has four variations that are increasingly sophisticated (both more exotic and more challenging).
We made three of the roast chicken recipes — the simplest Roast Chicken with Butter and Thyme, the second-level Roast Chicken with Ginger and Soy-Whiskey Glaze, and the third-degree Roast Chicken with Rôti d’Abat, a plain chicken with accompanying “savory French toasts coated with a rich, fragrant combination of chicken livers and seasonings, then sautéed in butter.”
All three were delicious. Our appetite for roast chicken gave out before we got to the fourth-level Roast Chicken with Olive and Vanilla Sauce and the ultimate Roast Chicken with Truffles. (Note: unless you have ready access to a supply of truffles, there are a number of categories where you are simply not going to get to the fifth-level recipe!)
We also made the Carmelized Walnut Tart, which was a hit at several parties. The walnut tart is the fourth level in the tarts section, which moves from a simple cream Tart Vaudoise through the cherry clafouti and a chocolate tart in a chocolate crust, and ends with the intriguing Tart au Vin.
We don’t usually list the entire contents of cookbooks, but with such a relative few categories, think it will help give a good sense for the scope of the book:
- Soups: chicken stock; chicken soup; butternut squash soup; gazpacho
- Salads: frisée, mesclun
- Eggs, Crepes & Savory Tarts: scrambled eggs, buckwheat crepes, puff pastry (plain, pizza, Pissaladière, Tart flambée, Tuna-Wasabi Tart, and Leek & Truffle Tart)
- Pasta, Noodles & Rice: pasta (Curried Pasta, Mushroom Pasta, Garlic-Thyme Pasta, Herb-Printed Pasta, Lobster-Roe Pasta; cannelloni; Spätzle; sticky rice
- Vegetables: roast stuffed tomatoes, mashed potatoes; oven-roasted vegetables; sautéed vegetables in broth; tomato confit; sautéed mushrooms; lentils
- Fish & Shellfish: oven-braised halibut; slow-cooked salmon (with parsley & capers, with crunchy lemongrass, with horseradish, with herbs, mushrooms & tomato fondue, and with mussels & coriander); sautéed snapper; fish with beurre noisette (flavored, browned butter); seviche; raw tuna; grilled shrimp; shrimp tempura; poached lobster
- Poultry: roast chicken; sautéed chicken; chicken in foil
- Meat: seared steak, sautéed filet mignon; braised short ribs; braised veal; roast pork loin; loin of venison; rabbit
- Seasonings & Sauces: flavored salts (spicy, celery, ginger, exotic (star anise, clove, nutmeg, coriander, red pepper flakes, & cumin) and citrus); spice mixes; tapenades; vinaigrettes; mayonnaises
- Desserts: sorbets (strawberry-red wine, raspberry-chile, tamarind, rum raisin-fromage blanc, orange sorbet in oranges (I’m thinking positions four and five (and maybe three, as well) should be swapped); ice cream; crème brûlée; bananas cooked in butter; poached pears; tarts
Now don’t kid yourself, even the basic recipes in some of these categories are beyond the skills of novice cooks. And yes, even the basic ingredients for some of these dishes are exotic or hard to find or hard to afford. And no, none of this is diet food. But the more confident you are the kitchen, the more possibilities this book holds for you.
With the task of finding five recipes per dish, Vongerichten and Bittman often include a French preparation, one or more Asian preparations (Japanese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese), occasionally something North African, and generally something American or Classical or non-denominational. Each recipe estimates the time required for preparation, and each new set of recipes offers general notes and tips on getting the most flavor from the ingredients.
Who needs five roast chicken recipes? Everyone. Some nights, you just have to get dinner on the table with the least fuss. Other nights, you want choices, variety, and perhaps even some sophistication. And that, from start to finish, is what Simple to Spectacular is all about.
Simple to Spectacular (Canada, UK)
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