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Alinea [Hardcover]

Grant Achatz
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £48.00
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Book Description

1 Oct 2008 1580089283 978-1580089289
Three feature pieces frame the book: Michael Ruhlman considers Alinea's role in the global dining scene, Jeffrey Steingarten offers his distinctive take on dining at the restaurant, and Mark McClusky explores the role of technology in the Alinea kitchen. "Alinea" holds the Five Diamond Award from AAA and Five Stars from Mobil, and has been featured in the "Wall Street Journal" and the "New York Times",

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Ten Speed Press (1 Oct 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1580089283
  • ISBN-13: 978-1580089289
  • Product Dimensions: 25.6 x 4.2 x 31.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 9,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

'Despite being robbed of the professional cook's most critical faculty - to tell one flavour from another - [Achatz] battled against formidable odds to create dishes of extraordinary subtlety and invention.' --The Observer, 20th July 2008

'A recent article in Observer Food Monthly gave Grant Achatz a higher profile, but his name has always been significant amongst the food cognescenti .... However, it is the collection of 100 dishes made up of some 600 technically sophisticated recipes that make this book such a desirable buy. Achatz's take on molecular gastronomy and his amazing presentation skills are dissected in detail.' --Yes Chef Magazine, Autumn 2008

Your Dinner's in the Lab: A Christmas dinner special looking at sell-out molecular gastronomy cookbooks --The Sunday Times, 28th December 2008

About the Author

Grant Achatz was named one of the best new chefs in America by Food and Wine in 2002, received the James Beard Rising Star Chef award in 2003, and won the Beard Best Chef/Great Lakes award in 2007. Before opening Alinea in 2005, Achatz was sous chef at the French Laundry

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Danny Marbella TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
My guess is that many of the reviews of Alinea are going to try to define the book, and invariably there'll be a comparison to The French Laundry Cookbook. They're both gigantic hardbacks with unwieldy dimensions and an obsessive focus on precision. Not to mention that there's a nice human-interest angle to the fact that Thomas Keller was Grant Achatz's mentor. But the books are more different than they're alike.

They should admit that this is a recipe collection that's unapproachable for most people, and sell it like A Day at El Bulli. Not to cooking from, but more as a source of inspiration. Or, alternately, they should present this as a real cookbook, with a straight face. They should be saying "these are the recipes, cook them. If you can't cook them, don't purchase the book."

Here's an oversimplification: French Laundry is accessible. Keller's whole thing, his metier, is taking everyday food (lettuce, cheese, oyster, chocolate) and doing it up in such a way that its essence is revealed. The portions at his restaurants are so small because the one bite of marrow that you get is all you need - it is one perfect bite of marrow, it is the platonic ideal of marrow, reduced and contextualized to contain all marrow of all cows on all ranges in that one bite. What Keller does is edit food down, distill it, and that's something people can do at home. If they can't do it at home, it's still something they can wrap their heads around.
Imagine a lamb chop, but it's the best, most succulent, most intense lamb chop you've ever had. Imagine it melting in your mouth. Imagine it surrounded by peppery greens whose flavors are so intense that they seem to crystallize. You can do it, right? Your mouth is watering. All you have to do to describe Keller's food is name the ingredient, and then say "and now imagine that as the best, most intense version of that possible." Keller is accessible.

Achatz, on the other hand, isn't. Imagine a blackcurrent. Now imagine it's on a sheet of tobacco-flavored whipped cream, made with a crushed cigar, and the cream is set using gelatin so it doesn't feel in your mouth like whipped cream. And top that with smoked salt, and bee balm, and peppercorns. Imagine that. Are you imagining it? Is the flavor in your mouth? Alinea isn't accessible in the same way

In the right context, this lack of accessibility isn't a bad thing. It's what makes eating at Alinea so extraordinary, that the flavors and sensations and textures are turned inside-out and on their ear. A meal at Alinea isn't a meal - it's multisensory performance art, it's the culinary equivalent of dropping acid, it's palate-expansion.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My most amazing and inspiring cookbook ever 3 Mar 2009
Format:Hardcover
Unlike other reviewers I do not think that the very sophisticated and inspiring recipes in this book are impossible for the home cook. But they are complicated, for sure. Sometimes even incredibly complicated.
But the descriptions are extremely accurate, the photography is fantastic and I particularly loved the 'to assemble and serve' paragraphs that end each recipe. Though many recipes are also too complicated for me as an advanced amateur, I dare say that that I succesfully made 8 dishes from this wonderful book at my own 2008 Christmas dinners.

Grant Achatz is a fabulously talented chef and his book Alinea is highly recommended to advanced home chefs. Incredible photography makes it inspiring and mouthwatering at the same time, even if you don't do any of his recipes at all.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars eye candy... beautiful... coffee table book 3 May 2010
Format:Hardcover
This book is for the professional chef. It is a gorgeous tome of nearly impossible recipes for the home cook. I do love looking and reading it though and cannot wait to eat there. Grant is a true inspiration. A wonder of a restaurant, a wonderful book, and a fantastic chef. The book physically is big and heavy and impressive. Perfect for the coffee table to look through like a large art book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars alinea cookery book
excellent book and excellent service this book is worth every penny a real chef's book written by a top American chef
Published 3 months ago by Lawrence Hall
4.0 out of 5 stars He's ideas are amazing!
How grant comes up with ideas like the dishes in this book only he knows. One of the most imaginative chefs of this era.
Published 6 months ago by The Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars My name is Grant Achatz chef of chefs! Look on my works ye mighty and...
Wow! It.....when you open it......OMG!! The food!....The images!.....Wow!. Recipes? Yes but how do you even begin?!!! Read more
Published 16 months ago by Wannabe Foody
5.0 out of 5 stars Alinea
This is a beautiful cookbook which offers people a chance to understand and create modernist cuisine using new techniques and ingredients

A must for any serious chef or... Read more
Published on 4 April 2011 by Mr. John W. Barton
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but impractical
This is about as complex a cookbook as I've ever come across. In general, I enjoy trying to recreate restaurant style dishes at home but much of Alinea is impractical unless I were... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Me
4.0 out of 5 stars Only for advanced professionals
Only for advanced professionals. Who wants to see that other chef make. Recipes consisting of multiple components. Cooking some not possible if you don't know the principles. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2009 by J. Semeljova
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and inspiring book
I probably will not use this book for cooking one-to-one, however the innovative and artistic style of cooking that it represents is indeed inspiring.
Published on 30 Jan 2009 by Jakob K. Voldum
5.0 out of 5 stars achatz at the top of the game
it took me well over a month in fact nearly 2months to get this book and i thought of cancelling it. i got to say im glad i didnt. Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2008 by Mr. Ryan J. Gibson
5.0 out of 5 stars A book you won't cook from....
This is a truly amazing book but one I don't think I will ever use to cook from. The photography, the writing, the recipes are all excellent but I think maybe a little too... Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2008 by N. welch
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