Craft of Cooking Notes and Recipes from a Restaurant Kitchen: A Cookbook

by COLICCHIO, TOM

• ISBN13: 9780609610503
• ISBN10: 0609610503
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-28
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Summary

From Tom Colicchio, chef/co-owner of New York's acclaimed Gramercy Tavern, comes a book that profiles the food and philosophy of Craft, his unique restaurant in the heart of New York's Flatiron district, and winner of the 2002 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America. From its food to its architecture and menu design, Craft has been celebrated for its courageous movement away from culinary theatrics and over-the-top presentations, back to the simple magic of great food. Realizing that his own culinary style had grown increasingly unembellished, and gambling that New York diners were experiencing that same kind of culinary fatigue (brought on by too much "fancy food"), Colicchio set out to prove that the finest food didn't have to be the most complicated. From its opening in March 2001, Craft offered diners simple, soulful dishes centered around single ingredients that went on to shake up many people's ideas of what "restaurant food" should be like. Craft of Cookingleads you through Colicchio's thought process in choosing raw materialslike what to look for in fresh fish, or how to choose the perfect mushroomto show that good food is available to anyone with access to a good supermarket, farm stand, or gourmet grocery. The book also features "Day-in-the-Life-of-Craft" portraits, which offer a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse at areas of the restaurant beyond the dining room. These segments allow the reader to peer into the fast-paced prep kitchen, to witness the high drama of reservations, and to get a taste of the humor and empathy necessary to serve New York's colorful visitors and foodies. And then there are the recipes.Craft of Cookingpresents 140 recipes that range from the simplest dish of spring peas to roasted fish; from lush but effortless braises to complex brining and curing of meat for homemade charcuterie, included to give the reader a "fly-on-the-wall" experience of visiting the Craft kitchen for themselves. Dishes are dividedlike the Craft menu itselfinto categories of meat, fish, vegetables, potatoes, grains, desserts, and pantry, and then further delineated by techniqueroasting, braising, sauteing, etc.with abundant suggestions and technical tips. Using Tom's straightforward and friendly voice, Craft of Cooking offers recipes suited to any purposefrom a quick family meal to a festive dinner party for twelve. As he did in his James Beard award-winning book, Think Like a Chef, Colicchio usesCraft of Cookingto teach, tell his story, and offer inspiration to cooks of any skill level. With more than 100 full-color and black-and-white photographs,Craft of Cookingis destined to become a staple of home cooks everywherethe one "restaurant cookbook" they can't live without.

Author Biography

TOM COLICCHIO is the chef/co-owner of New York’s celebrated Gramercy Tavern, ranked New Yorkers’ #1 favorite restaurant in the 2003 Zagat Survey, as well as chef/owner of Craft, the 2002 James Beard Best New Restaurant in America. Tom also received the 2000 James Beard Award for Best Chef in New York City, and a James Beard award for Best General Cookbook in 2001 for his first book, Think Like a Chef. In 2002 Colicchio opened Craftbar, a casual adjunct to Craft, CraftSteak in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel, and introduced CraftKitchen, a line of olive oils and condiments imported from Calabria, Italy. In 2003, Colicchio opened ’wichcraft, next door to Craftbar in New York’s Flatiron district, bringing Craft’s ethic of simplicity and great ingredients to the ever-popular sandwich. He is married to a New York writer/filmmaker and is the father of 10-year-old Dante, who is a big fan of his father’s veal-ricotta meatballs.

Excerpts

PORCINI RISOTTO

Although I can get dogmatic at Craft about using fresh ingredients, in this recipe we use dried porcini. After reconstituting, you're left with a wonderful mushroom-flavored stock, which is then used in cooking the risotto; this adds just one more layer of flavor to the finished dish.

Serves 6

9 cups chicken stock
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cups arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese to taste

Bring 1 cup of the chicken stock to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms. Remove from the heat and set the mushrooms aside until they soften. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the stock. Strain the reserved stock through a fine strainer, then finely chop the mushrooms. Add the chopped mushrooms to the mushroom-flavored stock.

Bring the remaining 8 cups of chicken stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Allow the stock to reduce by about 1 cup, then keep warm over low heat.

Combine the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, high-sided skillet. Heat over medium heat until the butter foams. Add the onion and cook until it is translucent, about 15 minutes. Stir in the rice, thoroughly coating it with the onion, butter, and oil. Cook the rice until it is no longer chalky looking and begins to pop, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and simmer, stirring constantly until it has evaporated.

Add 1 cup of the warm chicken stock. Simmer, stirring, until the rice is almost dry. Repeat twice more. Stir the mushroom-flavored stock into the rice. Cook, stirring, until the rice is dry again.

Finish cooking the rice by stirring in enough additional warm chicken stock, a cup at a time, so the rice is just barely tender. Stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and add cheese to taste.

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Excerpted from Craft of Cooking: Notes and Recipes from a Restaurant Kitchen by Tom Colicchio
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.