Staff Meals from Chanterelle

by David Waltuck, Melicia Phillips

It's the other menu at Chanterelle, New York's dazzling four-star restaurant. Customers eat foie gras and truffles. The staff eats Venison Chili with Red Beans. Customers swoon over the signature seafood sausage. The staff, elbows on the table, cheerfully tucks into Lamb Shanks with Tomato and Rosemary. Of all the great restaurants in New York, Chanterelle serves the finest staff meals--nothing fancy, just delicious home-style peasant and bourgeois dishes. And here they are, in Staff Meals from Chanterelle .

In 200 recipes, Chanterelle's chef, David Waltuck, brings the superb culinary insights and techniques befitting one of America's best chefs ( Gourmet ) to the delectable stews, pasta dishes, roasts, curries, one-pot meals, and blue plate specials that have made families happy forever. Outstanding yet easy-to-make, these are dishes for home cooking and entertaining alike, including Fish Fillets with Garlic and Ginger, Thai Duck Curry, Sauteed Pork Chops with Sauce Charcutiere, and the most requested dish of all, David's Famous Fried Chicken with Creamed Spinach and Herbed Biscuits. Tips throughout put cooks in the hands of a four-star teacher, from the best way to boil a potato (uncut and in its jacket) to shaping hot, oven-fresh tuiles into sophisticated dessert cups.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

464 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite extraordinary. Even after 15 years, I still go back to this book for the borscht recipe, cream cheese pound cake, and more. Unfussy but delicious recipes.

[Magdalene Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "Cooked", Michael Pollan writes, "When you consider that twenty seven minutes (average time spent preparing meals in American households) is less time than it takes to watch a single episode of Top Chef or The Next Food Network Star, you realise that there are now millions of people who spend more time watching food being cooked on television than they spend actually cooking it themselves." In short, watching > cooking.

I have taken this a step further, reading this cook book with no intention of cooking anything. Reading > cooking, several hours > 27 min.

Hypothetically, if I were... The asian-inspired recipes are welcome because there are more of such ingredients where I live - in Asia. Also, I think Kikoman should sponsor him for mentioning their brand every time the recipe calls for a good soy sauce. :p

That said, I enjoyed the style of writing where the author gives a back story to the dish or describes the food. Good for those reading without the intention of cooking :p

[Kathleen Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all know that the staff gets the best food. I'd willingly trek up to NY and bus tables for a crack at some of the dishes in this book. We liked the soups best, but the desserts were fun too. It's been one of our favorite cookbooks for years

[Sue Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recipes of foods served to the staff of the Chanterrel Restaurant in NYC. Haven't gone wrong yet with any of the recipes.

[Mindy Pannell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite cookbooks! It has a wide variety of recipes for meals served to the staff at the Chanterrel restaurant in NYC.

[Lynnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got some great ideas. Lots of Asian-influenced meals, and lots of very involved meals, but several recipes I may tinker with later on.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great used bookstore find.

[Lucylu57 · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite cookbooks. Great recipes for family eating. The sloppy joes are the best ever - my mom threw away her recipe once she tasted the ones I made from this cookbook.