Consider the strawberry: its familiar flavor and texture; its fresh, sweet smell. Now imagine the same fruit distilled and carbonated for a refreshing soda, slow-roasted for a reinvented strawberry shortcake, made into a creamy strawberry ice cream and a chewy strawberry leather, and combined with coconut cream and crisp chocolate pastry. Alone, each dessert is a taste of paradise, but together this “fourplay,” or tasting, created by Johnny Iuzzini, superstar pastry chef of the celebrated four-star restaurant Jean Georges in New York, is a sophisticated explosion of a familiar flavor that begins with the taste of strawberry rich on your tongue and ends with an effervescent tingle in your nose. Far from the conventional slice of cake at the end of a meal, Johnny’s seasonal creations—four mini desserts in a quartet of complementary flavors and textures—are a culinary adventure. In Dessert FourPlay, he shares his secrets and inspirations, delivering standout recipes for incredible desserts that can be served alone or combined into his signature fourplay groupings, creating the perfect sweet finale for any meal. With the home cook in mind, Johnny offers tips on simplifying professional recipes and provides basic recipes for transcendent cakes, cookies, tuiles, ice creams, sorbets, granités, and more. These building blocks can be used to create magnificent multifaceted desserts, or they can be perfect desserts by themselves. Some recipes have surprising versatility: the shiny smooth chocolate glaze Johnny uses to ice cakes doubles as the ultimate hot fudge sauce; a lemony madeleine batter becomes a layer in a cake. Iuzzini pairs cool with hot, crispy with creamy, sweet with spicy, and the expected—chocolate, strawberries, and cinnamon—with the unexpected—chiles, beets, and chocolatey puffs. The result: desserts that refresh, inspire, and satisfy beyond expectations. Dessert FourPlay invigorates all the senses and inspires home cooks to create innovative desserts of their own.

Dessert FourPlay: Sweet Quartets from a Four-Star Pastry Chef: A Baking Book

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Finamore, Roy

Iuzzini, Johnny

Baking

Clarkson/Potter

Everyone loves potatoes. This book transports cooks beyond the usual side dishes and introduces them to the secrets and specialties of great chefs and cooks the world over. Finamore shows how to prepare spectacularly simple appetizers, including dips, chips, and showstopping cocktail potatoes made from a few ordinary ingredients. He presents dozens of soups and salads, including rich Summer Vichyssoise and Herb Garden Potato Salad. There are more than fifty main-dish possibilities, such as Sunday Lamb with Proper Roast Potatoes and Chicken Stuffed with Potatoes and Shiitake Mushrooms — not to mention a sophisticated rendition of Shepherd’s Pie. The potato turns up as the hidden ingredient in such breads as Potato Cheddar Bread with Chives and in such desserts as moist Farmhouse Chocolate Cake. Finamore shows how to master crisp steak fries, silky mashes, and sumptuous gratins. A bonus feature of the book is the sweet potato, in dishes from a delightfully nostalgic Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow to an urbane Semifreddo with Chocolate Sauce.

One Potato, Two Potato

Stevens, Molly

Cooking by Ingredient

Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

For the past twenty years, Roy Finamore has shaped America's most popular cookbooks, publishing such influential authors as Martha Stewart, Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa), and Lee Bailey and working alongside chefs and other food authorities to help them streamline their recipes. Now, in Tasty, he shows you how to make the most of your time and have fun in the kitchen. Tasty proves that a meal doesn't need to be showoffy to be uncommonly good. When you serve food from this book, your family and friends will sit up and take notice, and you'll be relaxed and smiling when you sit down at the table. Among the simple but exceptional dishes in Tasty: Buttermilk Pancakes with Hazelnut Butter: breakfast with a minimum of effort; unbelievably light and fluffy. Sicilian Spinach Pie: perfect for a lunch or picnic, with the easiest pastry you've ever made. Fresh Pea Soup: with three common ingredients, it's ready in five minutes. Chicken Milanese: Crisp chicken and tart salad -- the kind of food you crave when it's hot out. Pork Roast with Fruit Stuffing: a fine company dish or Sunday supper. Chinois Noodles: Asian-inspired and equally good warm or cold. Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake: Whip cream, add eggs and a few dry ingredients, and you've got cake! As Roy says in his introduction, "Good simple food is meant to be shared and enjoyed. Cook often."

Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day

Regional & International

Comprehensive. Friendly. Indispensable. With more than 250 simple and delicious recipes. No doubt about it, fish is a cook’s dream. Fast. Low in fat, versatile, and healthful, it’s even brain food. No other fish cookbook contains such a comprehensive selection of approachable, contemporary recipes. It’s written by a pair of experts: a nationally known three-star seafood chef whose true passion is teaching home cooks, and an award-winning writer and sought-after food authority. Arranged for the cook’s complete convenience, Fish without a Doubt encompasses chapters on all the techniques of fish cookery—from poaching to grilling to sautéing—as well as on all the most popular seafood dishes—from appetizers, to soups and salads, to burgers and pasta. The recipes range from updated versions of classics (Trout Almondine, Linguine with Clams, Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes) to the latest favorites (Steamed Black Bass with Sizzling Ginger,Tuna Burgers with Cucumber Relish, Thai-Style Mussels). It includes slews of quickies for weeknight specials (Broiled Fillets with Butter and Herbs) and centerpieces for splashier occasions (A Big Poached Char). Featuring only seafood that is not overfished, Fish without a Doubt provides the latest information for the eco-conscious cook about our last wild frontier.

Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook's Essential Companion

Moonen, Rick

Harvest

This is an elegant book, a celebration of love in art and literature. Gloriously illustrated with more than 60 great paintings from the Renaissance to the present day. This book presents a year by month and date.

Love: A Book of Days

Literature & Fiction

Stewart. Tabori & Chang

In any discussion of New York City landmark restaurants, the Grand Central Oyster Bar &amp; Restaurant stands in a class by itself. From its unique position in the Terminal’s lower level, with the famous “Whispering Gallery” at its entrance, waiters have been serving up platters of the freshest seafood for a century. Here are more than 100 of the restaurant’s classic recipes―some dating back to its opening in 1913―along with behind-the-scenes stories, historical anecdotes, and a wealth of expert information on buying, cooking, and serving fish. An ocean’s worth of delicious eating is provided: from raw bar and seafood buffet favorites, to stews and chowders, to fish dishes fried, broiled, and grilled. Featured throughout are vintage images and ephemera, along with sumptuous food photography. Part history, part souvenir, The Grand Central Oyster Bar &amp; Restaurant Cookbook is a must-have for visitors and New Yorkers alike. Praise for The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant Cookbook: “A big, handsome book full of wonderful photographs, nostalgic tales and enticing recipes―some dating back to the restaurant’s opening 100 years ago . . . you will appreciate the no nonsense instructions for buying, cooking and serving seafood.” ―Miami Herald “Helps uncertain home cooks navigate the world of clams, crabs, shrimp, and more. Starting with a very simple yet comprehensive oyster list (including source, flavor, and size) and then delving into recipes for a Maryland Crab Cake Sandwich, a Manhattan Clam Chowder, and Dover Sole Meuniere, the cookbook tackles it all, and provides helpful tips and loving historic tidbits throughout.”―Epicurious.com

The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant Cookbook

Ingber, Sandy

Stewart, Tabori and Chang

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