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Manresa: An Edible Reflection [A Cookbook]
Product ID: 267471889
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The long-awaited cookbook by one of the San Francisco Bay Area's star chefs, David Kinch, who has revolutionized restaurant culture with his take on the farm-to-table ethic and focus on the terroir of the Northern California coast. Since opening Manresa in Los Gatos in 2002, award-winning Chef David Kinch has done more to create a sense of place through his food--specifically where the Santa Cruz Mountains meet the sea--than any other chef on the West Coast. Manresa's thought-provoking dishes and unconventional pairings draw on techniques both traditional and modern that combine with the heart of the Manresa experience: fruits and vegetables. Through a pioneering collaboration between farm and restaurant, nearby Love Apple Farms supplies nearly all of the restaurant's exquisite produce year round. Kinch's interpretation of these ingredients, drawing on his 30 years in restaurants as well as his far-flung and well-fed travels, are at the heart of the Manresa experience. In Manresa, Chef Kinch details his thoughts on building a dish: the creativity, experimentation and emotion that go into developing each plate and daily menu--and how a tasting menu ultimately tells a deeper story. A literary snapshot of the restaurant, from Chef Kinch's inspirations to his techniques, Manresa is an ode to the mountains, fields, and sea; it shares the philosophies and passions of a brilliant chef whose restaurant draws its inspiration globally, while always keeping a profound connection to the people, producers, and bounty of the land that surrounds it. Review: In my dining experience, no other American chef distills (and refines) his locale onto the plate better than David Kinch. - First things first; this is a remarkable book written by a unique chef. It's easily worth the price tag. And it's a refreshing, inspiring change from most of the volumes hitting the culinary shelves these days. For instance, it's *not* a "hot new chef book" by somebody who has run a kitchen for a year or two and who is now trying to parley his 15 minutes of fame into a half hour. Instead, chef/author David Kinch has been at the stove for more than three decades in Louisiana, New York, California and Europe, and he knows exactly what he's talking about. It's *not* a "TV chef book" by somebody more attuned to staring into the camera while flashing a mouthful of shiny white teeth than focusing on the precise but natural-looking plates going out of his kitchen. To my knowledge, Chef Kinch's only foray into the wild, wild world of the Food Network was back in 2009, when he thoroughly kicked Bobby Flay's butt in Battle Cabbage on Iron Chef America. Rather than jump on the fabled media bandwagon after that experience, Chef Kinch went back to what he intimately knows and loves - his restaurant, and all that it involves. And it's *not* a "coffee table cookbook," meant simply to look great in your living room this holiday season. Yes, on first gaze, it looks that way. Oversized ... check. Texturally-correct abalone shell on the cover ... check. Absolutely killer photographs (from Eric Wolfinger) sprinkled here, there & everywhere ... check. But it's *way* more than that. This is the rare culinary treatise that embodies so much more than recipes. It encompasses Chef Kinch's philosophies (insofar as things like these can be captured by the written word) about food, nature, cooking, hospitality, technology, professionalism, respect (in all its relevant guises), mentoring the next generation of chefs, etc. It's an ode to his 11 year old restaurant, Manresa, and his life in the industry. I've dined at Manresa several times (and enjoyed Chef Kinch's hospitality at Sent Sovi - his previous restaurant - well over a decade ago). But don't think that I'm just raving about the book because I've been to the restaurant. If anything, my firsthand experiences only increased my expectations for the book. Clearly, I needn't have worried. You should understand upfront that Chef Kinch's recipes weren't designed for home cooks or home kitchens. This is Michelin-starred stuff folks, presented the way they do it at Manresa. Indeed, to me, the recipes are included primarily because they are necessary to tell the story of the chef and the restaurant. That some folks will want to duplicate the food at home, I think, is necessarily secondary. For most of us mere kitchen mortals, some of the recipes are inspirational; we may never be able to exactly reproduce them, but we can still take from them pearls of wisdom for use in our own cooking. Now, does that mean it's impossible to make all of these recipes at home even if you are a reasonably skilled home cook with a well-outfitted home kitchen? No, of course not; some are really pretty simple. But you need to recognize that many recipes require time and attention to detail. Many include obscure or not easily sourced ingredients, too, but for me, that's part of the book's charm. It speaks directly to Chef Kinch's desire to make Manresa distinctive while still focusing on the local, the seasonal, the best of what's available to him. If you really want to cook from this book, read the recipes carefully before you step into the kitchen ... heck, before you even think about heading to the market. Then you'll know which ones your kitchen, local markets and cooking skill level can accommodate and which ones you can dream about eating at Manresa. The bulk of Chef Kinch's recipes shun flashy, high tech gizmos (like Pacojets and immersion circulators) and ingredients (like hydrocolloids). He's not blind to the potential advantages technology offers culinary professionals, but at heart he's a cook's cook. As he notes in a brilliant little essay entitled, "Creativity and Technology," beginning at page 251, "what I've learned is that I want to use the best possible techniques that are right for me, whether they are ultramodern or ultratraditional." In other words, if a lamb rack cooked in a water bath no longer has the texture of lamb, why bother? Why, indeed. This book also plumbs the details of Chef Kinch's relationships with his purveyors, most especially Cynthia Sandberg's Love Apple Farms, with which Manresa has an exclusive association. These local connections with passionate folks allow Manresa to showcase the terroir of the Santa Cruz Mountains foothills in an utterly unique way. And, boy, does he take advantage of it. In my dining experience, no other American chef distills (and refines) his locale onto the plate better than David Kinch. You usually hear the word "terroir," roughly translated as "a sense of place," in the world of fine wines, but it's certainly an apt description of what Chef Kinch relates in this book and in the Manresa dining room. And he's more than happy to share the limelight; as he so correctly notes at the end of a short piece beginning on page 9 called, "How I Met Cynthia Sandberg," "thanks to Love Apple Farms, our food tastes of nowhere else in the world." If you have any interest at all in learning what goes on in one very creative and successful culinary mind when it comes to developing dishes and menus, please read, "Building a Dish: 1, 2, 3" (p. 163) and "Building a Menu," (p. 191). Really ... I mean it. Even if you have to borrow somebody else's copy or (gasp!) sneak off to your nearest brick and mortar bookstore. In my opinion, the cookbook segment of the market has been over-saturated for years, and so it's rare and gratifying to find a book like this one that both informs and resonates without sounding preachy or holier-than-thou. Review: Top book - Ho acquistato questo libro perché mi piace la cucina dal mondo .Sono rimasto molto soddisfatto perché un prodo di qualità , e soprattutto ha rispettato tutte le tempistiche. Eccezionale
| Best Sellers Rank | #155,838 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #563 in Cooking Education & Reference #1,467 in Regional & International Food #15,140 in Crafts, Hobbies & Home |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 263 Reviews |
O**N
In my dining experience, no other American chef distills (and refines) his locale onto the plate better than David Kinch.
First things first; this is a remarkable book written by a unique chef. It's easily worth the price tag. And it's a refreshing, inspiring change from most of the volumes hitting the culinary shelves these days. For instance, it's *not* a "hot new chef book" by somebody who has run a kitchen for a year or two and who is now trying to parley his 15 minutes of fame into a half hour. Instead, chef/author David Kinch has been at the stove for more than three decades in Louisiana, New York, California and Europe, and he knows exactly what he's talking about. It's *not* a "TV chef book" by somebody more attuned to staring into the camera while flashing a mouthful of shiny white teeth than focusing on the precise but natural-looking plates going out of his kitchen. To my knowledge, Chef Kinch's only foray into the wild, wild world of the Food Network was back in 2009, when he thoroughly kicked Bobby Flay's butt in Battle Cabbage on Iron Chef America. Rather than jump on the fabled media bandwagon after that experience, Chef Kinch went back to what he intimately knows and loves - his restaurant, and all that it involves. And it's *not* a "coffee table cookbook," meant simply to look great in your living room this holiday season. Yes, on first gaze, it looks that way. Oversized ... check. Texturally-correct abalone shell on the cover ... check. Absolutely killer photographs (from Eric Wolfinger) sprinkled here, there & everywhere ... check. But it's *way* more than that. This is the rare culinary treatise that embodies so much more than recipes. It encompasses Chef Kinch's philosophies (insofar as things like these can be captured by the written word) about food, nature, cooking, hospitality, technology, professionalism, respect (in all its relevant guises), mentoring the next generation of chefs, etc. It's an ode to his 11 year old restaurant, Manresa, and his life in the industry. I've dined at Manresa several times (and enjoyed Chef Kinch's hospitality at Sent Sovi - his previous restaurant - well over a decade ago). But don't think that I'm just raving about the book because I've been to the restaurant. If anything, my firsthand experiences only increased my expectations for the book. Clearly, I needn't have worried. You should understand upfront that Chef Kinch's recipes weren't designed for home cooks or home kitchens. This is Michelin-starred stuff folks, presented the way they do it at Manresa. Indeed, to me, the recipes are included primarily because they are necessary to tell the story of the chef and the restaurant. That some folks will want to duplicate the food at home, I think, is necessarily secondary. For most of us mere kitchen mortals, some of the recipes are inspirational; we may never be able to exactly reproduce them, but we can still take from them pearls of wisdom for use in our own cooking. Now, does that mean it's impossible to make all of these recipes at home even if you are a reasonably skilled home cook with a well-outfitted home kitchen? No, of course not; some are really pretty simple. But you need to recognize that many recipes require time and attention to detail. Many include obscure or not easily sourced ingredients, too, but for me, that's part of the book's charm. It speaks directly to Chef Kinch's desire to make Manresa distinctive while still focusing on the local, the seasonal, the best of what's available to him. If you really want to cook from this book, read the recipes carefully before you step into the kitchen ... heck, before you even think about heading to the market. Then you'll know which ones your kitchen, local markets and cooking skill level can accommodate and which ones you can dream about eating at Manresa. The bulk of Chef Kinch's recipes shun flashy, high tech gizmos (like Pacojets and immersion circulators) and ingredients (like hydrocolloids). He's not blind to the potential advantages technology offers culinary professionals, but at heart he's a cook's cook. As he notes in a brilliant little essay entitled, "Creativity and Technology," beginning at page 251, "what I've learned is that I want to use the best possible techniques that are right for me, whether they are ultramodern or ultratraditional." In other words, if a lamb rack cooked in a water bath no longer has the texture of lamb, why bother? Why, indeed. This book also plumbs the details of Chef Kinch's relationships with his purveyors, most especially Cynthia Sandberg's Love Apple Farms, with which Manresa has an exclusive association. These local connections with passionate folks allow Manresa to showcase the terroir of the Santa Cruz Mountains foothills in an utterly unique way. And, boy, does he take advantage of it. In my dining experience, no other American chef distills (and refines) his locale onto the plate better than David Kinch. You usually hear the word "terroir," roughly translated as "a sense of place," in the world of fine wines, but it's certainly an apt description of what Chef Kinch relates in this book and in the Manresa dining room. And he's more than happy to share the limelight; as he so correctly notes at the end of a short piece beginning on page 9 called, "How I Met Cynthia Sandberg," "thanks to Love Apple Farms, our food tastes of nowhere else in the world." If you have any interest at all in learning what goes on in one very creative and successful culinary mind when it comes to developing dishes and menus, please read, "Building a Dish: 1, 2, 3" (p. 163) and "Building a Menu," (p. 191). Really ... I mean it. Even if you have to borrow somebody else's copy or (gasp!) sneak off to your nearest brick and mortar bookstore. In my opinion, the cookbook segment of the market has been over-saturated for years, and so it's rare and gratifying to find a book like this one that both informs and resonates without sounding preachy or holier-than-thou.
S**I
Top book
Ho acquistato questo libro perché mi piace la cucina dal mondo .Sono rimasto molto soddisfatto perché un prodo di qualità , e soprattutto ha rispettato tutte le tempistiche. Eccezionale
I**E
geniales Kochbuch
Grossartige Bilder Grossartige Inspiration Ich kann dieses Buch nur weiter empfehlen, jedoch sollten Laien die Finger von diesem Buch lassen- da es eher etwas für Köche ist-die dieses Buch als Inspiration oder Sammelwerk nutzen wollen
T**L
Llegó Roto
Llegó usado sin papel protector y roto , el libro es maravilloso pero la calidad del envio y el estado en el que vino muy mal para el precio que tiene. Espero una compensación económica , un libro de 40 € debe llegar perfecto.
D**A
One thing of pure Beauty......Gob Smacked....WOW!
I have had so many great things told to my by my peers and colleagues about Manresa, So when I got wind of the books imminent publication and release I wated for what seemed a life time salivating over my special purchase, and Hey it really is just so so Special I have had it next to my computer in the office for 3 weeks now and when I am a little tense I rub my hand over the Oyster textured cover and I am in a pure Zen Moment......Pure Quality! The book by chef David Kinch is a remarkable piece of food and life philosophy, and the expression of a very focused life. Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of the recipes are not going to happen in a normal household kitchen, they are articulated clearly and surrounded by the unmistakable voice of the author. Also: gorgeous artwork. If you want to understand the nature of what a restaurant like Manresa is built on, and what their food is all about, and the people who are integral to the entire process, read this book. I may change your life forever! There are 9 Chapters (I will not go into detail) 1. How I met Cynthia Sandberg 2. An Homage to an Egg 3. An Edible Reflection 4. To Renew 5. The Pacific as a Muse 6. Building a Dish 7. Building a menu 8. Creativity & Technology 9 Bar & Cellar Also there is a great Intro by the man himself Eric Ripert... Needless to say I have booked a vacation to California to take the Kids to Disney and then they will have to be forced to come with me to Manresa... Happy Days (as the small faces once sung)
Trustpilot
1 month ago
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