Try This at Home

April 29, 2013
One expects innovation from a Top Chef All-Stars winner, and Richard Blais delivers with this quirky yet reverent collection of recipes. Blais' own emphasis on herbs and acidity begins with his pantry of homemade condimentsâviolet mustard, umami ketchup, and "everything bagel" vinaigrette. Comfort foods are remixed to transcend the typical savory and sweet categories: Oatmeal Risotto, Macaroni and Headcheese, Black Olive Chocolate Cake, a Pâté Melt with crème fraiche, truffle oil, and ligonberry preserves. These are, for the most part, labor-intensive enterprises, designed for the serious home cook. Budding molecular gastronomes with sous-vide machines and smoking guns will find lessons in food science here (liquid nitrogen-frozen gazpacho; yogurt foam), as well as variations that might sub out geoduck clams for pasta or aerate the cheesecake batter instead of baking it. Alternating photos with hand-drawn images from his journal, Blais never seems to run out of interesting ideas for elevating technique and reinventing the classics while keeping the proceedings colorful and fun. Color photos.

April 15, 2013

For Atlanta restaurateur and Top Chef winner Blais, no ingredient is sacred. Blending the refined with the familiar, he serves french fries with a mixture of caviar and store-bought ranch dressing, and reimagines the Spanish tortilla as an omelet stuffed with kettle-cooked potato chips. His cuisine, infused with the whimsy that characterizes Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen, will thrill ambitious home cooks who enjoy bold flavors. Though some recipes require unconventional ingredients (e.g., liquid nitrogen, transglutaminase) and equipment (e.g., smoking gun, immersion circulator), many are suitable for novices. VERDICT Humorous and inspiring, this is the most entertaining title yet from a Top Chef alumnus.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2013
Southern cooking isn't what it used to be. Although the cuisine of the American South has become fashionable all across the nation, its evolution in the past several decades has taken it a good distance from its roots. At his Spence restaurant in Atlanta, celebrity chef Blais combines tradition with postmodern technique for spectacular results, and now he offers his recipes for home kitchens. The first hint that the cookbook's title imperative may prove no small challenge comes right up front in Blais' equipment inventory, a list calling for a siphon, a sous-vide cooker, and a smoking gun. Since few home kitchens have access to such tools, Blais' fans may need to consider the book's more accessible recipes, such as quail potpie, pasta with sausage and broccoli rabe, and lamb shanks braised in root beer. The spiky-coiffed chef also shares his formula for his remarkable hair gel: duck fat and liquid nitrogen.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)