A Great American Cook: Recipes from the Home Kitchen of One of Our Most Influential Chefs

Renowned chef Jonathan Waxman knows that becoming a great American cook starts at home—here he shares methods for recipes you can pull together with just a few ingredients.

Widely recognized as one of the fathers of New American cuisine, Jonathan Waxman knows how to make magnificent food from just a few ingredients, roasting eggplants and red peppers for an intensely flavored soup or tossing asparagus with oranges and hazelnuts for a refreshing first course. His vision is bold, but strikingly unpretentious: many of the dishes in A Great American Cook—like the Shrimp BLT, Crispy Chicken and Goat Cheese Burritos, and Gingerbread with Brandied Plums—are free-spirited plays on classics, and his “less is more” philosophy animates suppers like flash-seared scallops on caramelized onions and chicken cooked under a brick with a sauce of rosé wine, bacon, and peas. From a versatile vegetable dish that goes with nearly every main course to handmade pastas with delicate sauces to a foolproof way to cook salmon, Waxman gives you all the techniques and recipes you need for simple, sophisticated cooking at home.

Amazon.com Review
Can a great chef's cookbook feel loose, almost laid-back? It can if its author is Jonathan Waxman, a "founding chef" at Alice Water's Chez Panisse and proprietor of Jams and Barbuto in Manhattan. His A Great American Cook--a collection of 100-plus recipes for the likes of Sea Scallop Fettuccine, Pork Shoulder with Mole Sauce, and Curried Catfish with Apple-Corn Fritters--shows a master in top form, blending global cooking traditions to produce uniquely American food, homey yet refined. His dishes are accessible to all cooks willing to cull the necessary (sometimes pricey) ingredients and spend a bit of time in the kitchen.

Following an idiosyncratic take on ingredients and techniques (on bacon: "OK--I love bacon--and yeah, I'm from a Jewish household") the book explores, in addition to the usual course stops, sandwiches like Shrimp BLT and pizzas, as well as desserts, including Angel Food Cake with Toffee Crunch and Flourless Chocolate Espresso Tart. Of top interest are Waxman's grilling how-to's and other technical insights (for example, to dress a salad properly, add the vinegar first). Seafood, and salmon in particular, receives expert attention. Here is one man's soul cooking of a high yet relaxed order that readers will happily embrace. --Arthur Boehm