Manresa

Starred review from September 2, 2013
In his first cookbook, Kinch demonstrates how to allow the best ingredients available to shape the dishes being prepared, in the spirit of his restaurant, Manresa. Moving farm and kitchen closer together (Manresa partners with Love Apple Farms for its produce) yields fresher, more complex flavors. All of the dishes in the book are elegant and intricate, from starters like a tartine of unripe tomato, nori, and duck liver to the beautifully balanced mains, including shards of scallops with buckwheat-nettle dumplings, nasturtium, and asparagus gazpacho. There are also simpler classics like coq au vin. Kinch demonstrates how to blur the lines between ingredients and how to build a meal from the bottom up, revealing which interesting drinks and wines complement the offerings. With its high standards for ingredients and techniques, multifaceted and delicious dishes jump from the book’s pages.