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| The Entertainment Review |
| Forward by: Padma Lakshmi Publisher: Chronicle Books |
Many people take time out of their day in order to watch shows about people who cook for a living. Others watch
shows about people competing with their ability to cook under a number of constraints. However, many of the meals
that are made on these shows are nearly impossible to copy in the home kitchen because of the fact that there are
rarely ever measurements given or times, but that time is over. “Top Chef: the Quickfire Cookbook” is a massive
collection of the rapid fire challenges that can be seen chefs competing in on Bravo’s highly successful show, Top
Chef.
For those that are unaware of the show and its Quickfire Challenge, Top Chef has chefs compete against each other
in a variety of different tasks and the chef with the best final product proceeds in the competition. The Quickfire
Challenges in the show have cooks taking on the task of creating a dish within a very short amount of time, meaning
that ever little detail of the dish must be timed perfectly.
Readers could see these recipes as the upscale and elite equivalent to 30-Minute Meals, complete with plating tips
for the reader to follow. However, this cooking is meant to impress a panel of judges, and since it is visually dazzling,
it is rightly deemed as fashion food or something the is pretty to look at and not necessarily to eat.
"Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook" is useful with its tips on plating and timing. For any novice cook, it can be quite
helpful. On the other hand, the dishes that are presented in this book aren't everyday foods to be prepared in the
everyday kitchen. The layout of the book is also quite confusing. It's not a conventional cookbook, making it very
difficult for the average person to read through and create the dishes in the book.
The reader will be given interviews with producers, various competitors, season facts and much more. For some
reason it is difficult to make easy to follow books based on TV shows. Ironically, celebrity cooks have books that are
very user-friendly, like Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over
Again,” Michael Chiarello’s “Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking” and Giada De Laurentiis’s “Everyday Italian: 125
Simple and Delicious Recipes,” despite the fact they've been judges on shows like "Next Food Network Star" and
even "Top Chef."
"Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook" is a visually appealing book and has some practical uses for the everyday cook,
but it's more of a feast for the eyes than useful in the kitchen. Those who are fans of Top Chef on television will
probably enjoy reading through this book more for the interviews than for the recipes. The only people that will be
interested in the recipes in the book are either the people who watched the show and are determined to make a dish
that their favorite contestant created, or those that are looking for a bit of a challenge in the kitchen and would like to
prove that they are able to make the same things that are made on shows like Top Chef. For everyone else, Betty
Crocker offers a great cookbook with many more recipes.
shows about people competing with their ability to cook under a number of constraints. However, many of the meals
that are made on these shows are nearly impossible to copy in the home kitchen because of the fact that there are
rarely ever measurements given or times, but that time is over. “Top Chef: the Quickfire Cookbook” is a massive
collection of the rapid fire challenges that can be seen chefs competing in on Bravo’s highly successful show, Top
Chef.
For those that are unaware of the show and its Quickfire Challenge, Top Chef has chefs compete against each other
in a variety of different tasks and the chef with the best final product proceeds in the competition. The Quickfire
Challenges in the show have cooks taking on the task of creating a dish within a very short amount of time, meaning
that ever little detail of the dish must be timed perfectly.
Readers could see these recipes as the upscale and elite equivalent to 30-Minute Meals, complete with plating tips
for the reader to follow. However, this cooking is meant to impress a panel of judges, and since it is visually dazzling,
it is rightly deemed as fashion food or something the is pretty to look at and not necessarily to eat.
"Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook" is useful with its tips on plating and timing. For any novice cook, it can be quite
helpful. On the other hand, the dishes that are presented in this book aren't everyday foods to be prepared in the
everyday kitchen. The layout of the book is also quite confusing. It's not a conventional cookbook, making it very
difficult for the average person to read through and create the dishes in the book.
The reader will be given interviews with producers, various competitors, season facts and much more. For some
reason it is difficult to make easy to follow books based on TV shows. Ironically, celebrity cooks have books that are
very user-friendly, like Ina Garten’s “Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You'll Make Over and Over
Again,” Michael Chiarello’s “Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking” and Giada De Laurentiis’s “Everyday Italian: 125
Simple and Delicious Recipes,” despite the fact they've been judges on shows like "Next Food Network Star" and
even "Top Chef."
"Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook" is a visually appealing book and has some practical uses for the everyday cook,
but it's more of a feast for the eyes than useful in the kitchen. Those who are fans of Top Chef on television will
probably enjoy reading through this book more for the interviews than for the recipes. The only people that will be
interested in the recipes in the book are either the people who watched the show and are determined to make a dish
that their favorite contestant created, or those that are looking for a bit of a challenge in the kitchen and would like to
prove that they are able to make the same things that are made on shows like Top Chef. For everyone else, Betty
Crocker offers a great cookbook with many more recipes.
