Taste: One Palate's Journey Through the World's Greatest Dishes

by David Rosengarten

Do you want to make spice-rubbed ribs the way they're made by the best barbecue cooks in Memphis? Crispy soft-shell crabs that taste like they're right out of Chesapeake Bay? Refreshing Thai salad just as it's made in Bangkok? A moussaka that could be the star of a great taverna in Greece? A bisteeya that will transport you to Morocco? Catalan lobster soup, Vietnamese summer rolls, proper Dover sole, a real tiramisù? A golden, buttery tarte Tatin?
          
David Rosengarten will show you how.
            
The New York Times has said that David Rosengarten's hit show, Taste, on Food Network "reconceived the idea of what a cooking show could be. . . . He explores his subjects so thor-oughly and thoughtfully that he makes instant   experts of his viewers." Now Rosengarten has reconceived the idea of what a cookbook can be. Taste gives you a chance to experiment with some of the world's greatest dishes with the world's best cooking teacher at your side.
          
Each recipe is accompanied by a set of criteria--letting you know exactly what experts mean when they say a risotto is good, a gazpacho is excellent, or a chocolate chip cookie is perfect. Now you'll know how to make it--and what to look for along the way. Rosengarten tells you exactly what to shop the bottled hot sauce from the West Indies that makes the best ceviche, the brand of chocolate that produces the deepest-tasting molten chocolate cake. He's similarly candid about equipment, detailing everything from a handy smoker that's indispensable in the preparation of jerk chicken to the best heat source for a homemade crème brulee.
          
The chapter on wine is itself an education. You'll find everything you need to know to match wine with food--including a list of twelve inexpensive wines that will never let you down. With his characteristic candor, Rosengarten pricks the bubble of wine pretension--exploding many of America's most fervently held myths.
          
David Rosengarten is a great teacher, with an irrepressible enthusiasm that comes through as vividly in this book as it does on the screen. Beginners will learn the basics from this book. For those who know their way around the kitchen, Rosengarten's in-depth culinary information will be a revelation. A cookbook teaches you how to cook. Taste teaches you how to taste. You'll never want to cook again without it.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food

333 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 1998

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great cookbook to read, with recipes for basic recipes deeply explored. Picked up a few key techniques here for making the perfect quesadilla, and also one of my favorite bits of cooking advice: Never cook with wine you cook with wine you *wouldn't* drink, obviosly; but more importantly, never cook with wine you'd *rather* drink!

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this in theory, but it turned out a bit too condescending. like, in the "criteria for quality" category he questions "is it loaded with flavor?" "is there a bright flavor?" "is the rice paper moist not limp?" - i don't think the goal of this book is to really teach the very first cooks, but there are recipes that take 25 ingredients to complete and some good techniques and then 3 pages on the quesadilla. it just doesn't all work together. oh, and there's no real order, so you have to read like a book to find anything.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ordered this book because of a David Rosengarten spread in Food and Wine called "7 days a week", all the recipes were pretty amazing and fun to make. "Taste" was pretty disappointing to me, its more about presentation and giant pictures than actual recipes. Plus when someone says heating cream will give your quiche a "sexier texture" it grosses me out and I feel embarassed to own the book.

[Larissa Mackenzie bengtson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always wondered what the heck happened to David Rosengarten. I picked this up forever ago when he was still a regular on Food Network. He gives a compelling background on each of the dishes he writes about and includes enough anecdotes to communicate his love for preparing and eating delicious food. I need to pull this one out again soon!