Egg

Starred review from April 7, 2014
Ruhlman (Ruhlman’s Twenty; Charcuterie) pays homage to the amazing egg in this appetizing exploration of the greatest of all foods. He starts with the basics, from hard-cooked to gently fried to poached, and shows how to perfectly prepare each. Curried egg salad and poached duck egg on duck confit hash are just a taste of what eggs can do. Omelets with creamy morel mushrooms, bacon and sausage breakfast strata, and frittatas made with potatoes, onions, and cheese elevate the egg even higher. Yet it can switch from star role to helper—in a binder, egg wash, or as an enricher. Breads such as brioche and challah and most cakes rely on eggs as leaveners. Ruhlman’s regard for this simple ingredient is evident as he describes the multiple functions it serves and then offers up recipes for a wide array of appetizing dishes. Scrumptious desserts including chocolate mocha cake and crunchy French meringues and creamy sauces such as lemon-shallot mayonnaise and blender hollandaise confirm his assertion. Home cooks and professionals will embrace this useful resource, which includes a pull-out flow chart measuring over four feet long.

Starred review from April 15, 2014
If there is a single indispensable ingredient in cooking, it has to be the egg. It binds together the humble meatloaf, gives dramatic height to an elegant souffl', renders a hollandaise sauce silky on the tongue, and clarifies a cloudy broth. It appears at every daily meal, from breakfast omelet to pasta lunch to dinner shrimp tempura, and in every meal course, from appetizer deviled egg through entr'e chicken fricassee to floating-island dessert. Ruhlman deftly analyzes the egg's culinary role, deconstructing it into white and yolk and cooking it by itself as, say, a poached egg or combining it with seafood in a sophisticated roulade. Sharp photographs by the author's wife illustrate techniques and demystify such complexities as braiding a loaf of challah, and they guide the cook to successful culinary results almost as well as if Ruhlman himself were standing at elbow. A must-purchase for cookbook collections, this book invites the reader to understand as much as to execute.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)