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Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes
Here's a cookbook destined to be talked-about this season, rich in techniques and recipes epitomizing the way we cook and eat now. Bar Tartine—co-founded by Tartine Bakery's Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt—is obsessed over by locals and visitors, critics and chefs. It is a restaurant that defies categorization, but not description: Everything is made in-house and layered into extraordinarily flavorful food. Helmed by Nick Balla and Cortney Burns, it draws on time-honored processes (such as fermentation, curing, pickling), and a core that runs through the cuisines of Central Europe, Japan, and Scandinavia to deliver a range of dishes from soups to salads, to shared plates and sweets. With more than 150 photographs, this highly anticipated cookbook is a true original.
709 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2014
185 people are currently reading
618 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 7, 2017
More useful for the techniques than for the recipes, which tend towards the precious.
July 21, 2019
Started off as an impulse checkout from the library, and ended up being a very enjoyable book and covering a lot of items I was curious about wanting to make.
February 28, 2015
In the end, I gave Bar Tartine: Techniques and Flavors, by Nicolaus Balla and Courtney Burns, a rating of three stars. You might say that I'm not a fan of California cuisine and neither do I embrace fusion.
It wasn't that. I simply didn't find the first half of the book - the techniques - very useful. I've been growing/grinding/drying/powdering/preserving/mixing, and experimenting with herbs, flowers, seeds, alliums, veggies, peppers, spices, fruits, and meats forever...making yogurt, sprouting beans, flavoring vinegars, pickling and preserving, simmering stocks, and prepping grapes for wine and other uses.
I'll admit to being a only a fledgeling baker - my husband made the bread - but I've grown mushrooms, made cheese, done almost everything the book suggests at one time or another. So three stars for Part One: Techniques. Well written with solid ideas for those who need them. Not enough new in these methods to change this old foodie, set in my ways.
The second half of the cookbook is mostly about small plates and other dishes, as they are served at the Tartine Bar, using the new knowledge and growing collection that the home or restaurant cook has amassed in the pantry by working through the Techniques. All in all, Part Two: Flavors was interesting and useful though heavy on the fusion aspect, I thought. I WILL try many of these recipes.
I love to get a cocktail, or a glass of wine, or a bottle of beer, or a pastis and a glass of ice on a warm summer night and serve myself small plates - tapas from the coffee table. I gave the section four stars but knocked one off when I realized that I might prepare lots of these ideas but would probably not love the tastes nor experiment with any of them more than once. The beauty of a great cookbook is that the recipes insinuate themselves into your life through editing, trial and error, and the desire to make certain dishes again and again.
As Tartine owner Chad Robertson (who is teaching me how to bake with sourdough starter, albeit from his first cookbook Tartine Bread) wrote the Forward to this book and was also the photographer, I'm so glad that I ordered it. His layouts and pictures are beautiful...the story of the life of the restaurant in full view of the reader. If Robertson gets tired of baking bread he can always find a position as a food stylist. I also loved meeting the authors of this book, Balla and Burns. It's uplifting to find chefs who really love preparing food and make it such a part of their lives. All in all, a great teaching tool. I can see Bar Tartine becoming a textbook at culinary schools.
It wasn't that. I simply didn't find the first half of the book - the techniques - very useful. I've been growing/grinding/drying/powdering/preserving/mixing, and experimenting with herbs, flowers, seeds, alliums, veggies, peppers, spices, fruits, and meats forever...making yogurt, sprouting beans, flavoring vinegars, pickling and preserving, simmering stocks, and prepping grapes for wine and other uses.
I'll admit to being a only a fledgeling baker - my husband made the bread - but I've grown mushrooms, made cheese, done almost everything the book suggests at one time or another. So three stars for Part One: Techniques. Well written with solid ideas for those who need them. Not enough new in these methods to change this old foodie, set in my ways.
The second half of the cookbook is mostly about small plates and other dishes, as they are served at the Tartine Bar, using the new knowledge and growing collection that the home or restaurant cook has amassed in the pantry by working through the Techniques. All in all, Part Two: Flavors was interesting and useful though heavy on the fusion aspect, I thought. I WILL try many of these recipes.
I love to get a cocktail, or a glass of wine, or a bottle of beer, or a pastis and a glass of ice on a warm summer night and serve myself small plates - tapas from the coffee table. I gave the section four stars but knocked one off when I realized that I might prepare lots of these ideas but would probably not love the tastes nor experiment with any of them more than once. The beauty of a great cookbook is that the recipes insinuate themselves into your life through editing, trial and error, and the desire to make certain dishes again and again.
As Tartine owner Chad Robertson (who is teaching me how to bake with sourdough starter, albeit from his first cookbook Tartine Bread) wrote the Forward to this book and was also the photographer, I'm so glad that I ordered it. His layouts and pictures are beautiful...the story of the life of the restaurant in full view of the reader. If Robertson gets tired of baking bread he can always find a position as a food stylist. I also loved meeting the authors of this book, Balla and Burns. It's uplifting to find chefs who really love preparing food and make it such a part of their lives. All in all, a great teaching tool. I can see Bar Tartine becoming a textbook at culinary schools.
December 15, 2016
This kitchen manual for the do-it-yourself craze takes cooking from scratch to a deeper level. If you've ever wanted to make your own garlic powder or kefir cheese, this is your book. The authors provide detailed techniques for pantry staples, which are combined in luscious recipes with Eastern European, Scandinavian and Japanese influences. These are not 30-minute meals, but nothing is too complex. More inspirational than aspirational, and yields great results!
February 2, 2015
Another one of those cookbooks- 27 ingredients in the simplest recipe, yet I'd happily eat most of it if someone else made it!
May 27, 2015
Gorgeous but all of the instructions are two pages long and ingredient list is ridick. For the serious hobby cook.
October 10, 2025
There's a lot of plus and minus to this book.
On the plus side lots of good info on how to build up foods from scratch. As well as A fair number of interesting recipes.
On the minus side, despite what the authors state as A goal of using easy to find or source ingredients in their recipes, I found most included ingredients that were not to be found or sourced without some difficulty outside of a major multicultural city.
Also, the recipes are fairly complex and it would have helped to have notes on optional or substitute ingredients.
While difficult to pin down without a little more data I would also take exception to the recipe scaling, for example: recipes usually state serves 4-6, but adding up the weights of all ingredients lead me to believe that this would make for outrageously large portion sizes. I would say each would need to be plugged into recipe software to check portion sizes and adjustments.
By the same token, you'll need a lot more space than your average kitchen to implement recipes as is, and forget having an outside job...most a time intensive
While a great source of inspiration, your average home cook will need to modify a lot to utilize much from this
On the plus side lots of good info on how to build up foods from scratch. As well as A fair number of interesting recipes.
On the minus side, despite what the authors state as A goal of using easy to find or source ingredients in their recipes, I found most included ingredients that were not to be found or sourced without some difficulty outside of a major multicultural city.
Also, the recipes are fairly complex and it would have helped to have notes on optional or substitute ingredients.
While difficult to pin down without a little more data I would also take exception to the recipe scaling, for example: recipes usually state serves 4-6, but adding up the weights of all ingredients lead me to believe that this would make for outrageously large portion sizes. I would say each would need to be plugged into recipe software to check portion sizes and adjustments.
By the same token, you'll need a lot more space than your average kitchen to implement recipes as is, and forget having an outside job...most a time intensive
While a great source of inspiration, your average home cook will need to modify a lot to utilize much from this
August 13, 2024
I found the cookbook section at my library and intend to read my way through it. This was a random choice that ended up hitting upon a lot of my thoughts about cooking.
While this book contains recipes way too complex for regular use as a home chef cooking for one, the section on preserving and using ingredients in different ways is fascinating. The food in here is influenced by cuisine from Japan, Hungary, Scandinavia, Laos and more, but the main goal is to get the maximum out of local ingredients. The first section focused on building up a larder, that is then used in the recipes in part two. Most of the full recipes I plan on trying out come from the soup and salad sections, however the sections on shared plates, harvest party, and desserts did have me thinking about flavor combinations and how I could implement some of the ideas is a more reasonable way for me. The goal of this book is not to follow every recipe to the letter, and I don't intend to, but the ideas included within can be implemented in many different ways.
While this book contains recipes way too complex for regular use as a home chef cooking for one, the section on preserving and using ingredients in different ways is fascinating. The food in here is influenced by cuisine from Japan, Hungary, Scandinavia, Laos and more, but the main goal is to get the maximum out of local ingredients. The first section focused on building up a larder, that is then used in the recipes in part two. Most of the full recipes I plan on trying out come from the soup and salad sections, however the sections on shared plates, harvest party, and desserts did have me thinking about flavor combinations and how I could implement some of the ideas is a more reasonable way for me. The goal of this book is not to follow every recipe to the letter, and I don't intend to, but the ideas included within can be implemented in many different ways.
August 24, 2017
I fell in love with this book when I saw it. I had grande ambitions of making lots of the recipes. My partner agreed wholeheartedly we should own it because he thought it was Bar Tangine! And Yes we own a Tangine, and needed to learn how to use it. We brought it home and I lovingly poured over it for days, even months. I sometimes use it as a reference. This thing is, the recipes are complex to the max! It's Beautiful and inspiring. I hope to use this in some way, maybe condiments or fermenting? Or perhaps my level of cooking will eventually lead me to pick this up and wonder why I never used it earlier! One can certainly hope. Still I love that it's here for me to look at and marvel at he techniques.
March 23, 2025
It isn't even that all the meal recipes are all that appealing to me (personal taste issues as well as availability of ingredients in my local context, NOT a reflection on them being qualitatively bad) but some of the larder preparations are just really special and great and inspirational. It is a very pretty book, well produced, structured and photographed and is offering something that other books on cooking techniques do not. the larder section is very personal and very good. It would make a great gift to an advanced cook as it is not repetitive of the stuff that everybody writes about or inasmuch as the "repeat" happens, it is a small paragraph as opposed to several pages of read. this book has TWO authors though. Nicolaus Balla AND Courtney Burns
October 23, 2016
Exceptional photography work and finally a lot of information on prep work instead of simply focussing on the dinners themselves. I think you would rate this book 4 or 5 if you own a dryer or if you dry vegetables in your oven, or if you are a fan of Chad Robertson-style bread and are looking for ways to sneak bread into recipes (like burnt bread in soups or bread stock). Instructions on preserving are very clear but most things require a lot of time and thought before you can begin your actual work so be warned, not for everyone. For example, making your own amazake pudding or fermenting honey for a few weeks or creating your own feta.
February 23, 2021
My rating of this cookbook is swayed by the fact that I see it more as an object and less as a tool.
Yes, there are some very interesting recipes in here (if not that many I want to try). And it was good to learn how to make my own furikake and black garlic...
However, overall this is the kind of cookbook that just makes you want to go to the restaurant, rather than cook any of the stuff yourself. If you are rich, and live in SF, and have eaten at Bar Tatine, and are a skilled and dedicated cook with access to their somewhat obscure ingredients, then you might use this as an actual cookbook.
But for the rest of us, it is just a dream, not a reality, and so not all that useful.
Yes, there are some very interesting recipes in here (if not that many I want to try). And it was good to learn how to make my own furikake and black garlic...
However, overall this is the kind of cookbook that just makes you want to go to the restaurant, rather than cook any of the stuff yourself. If you are rich, and live in SF, and have eaten at Bar Tatine, and are a skilled and dedicated cook with access to their somewhat obscure ingredients, then you might use this as an actual cookbook.
But for the rest of us, it is just a dream, not a reality, and so not all that useful.
May 18, 2024
Maybe this is a practical cookbook for restaurateurs, but not for home cooks. While the flavor profiles are interesting and there are certainly some novel techniques and ingredients here, these recipes are far too fussy for regular cooking. It's also a major pet peeve of mine when you have to refer to other recipes in a book in order to complete a dish, and some of these require 8-12 other recipes in the book, which is just annoying.
April 2, 2018
A preservation/fermentation book that actually contains both techniques and recipes. It is nice that the techniques are separated out unlike most similar books who scatter techniques among the recipes.
August 30, 2020
Phenominal
July 1, 2021
Great book
August 14, 2018
I'm a cookbook junkie but I never add them to my reading totals since I don't read straight through any of them. It's more of a "Oh look at that! What is it? Oh gosh that has my name on it. Kidneys? Eu! I like this but I'd use (ingredient) instead of lard." sort of a process. But my history with Bar Tartine is such that I really wanted to sit down and talk about it. Thus, a review of sorts.
Recently I went on a cookbook borrowing binge at my local library because there was a stack of cookbooks I thought I wanted, and because money is super duper tight right now, I thought "Well why not check them out first?" So I did just that, with an eye to whether I wanted to spend money I didn't have on a book that I might not really enjoy or get any use out of. This one was one of the stack and to be entirely honest, on first run through I was not sold. It looked awfully esoteric, in much the same way that my Ottolenghi cookbooks seemed at first. (I have never not had a case of buyer's remorse with Ottolenghi, and it has never not turned into adoration. I guess that's sort of a Meet Cute for cookbook buyers.)
I put Bar Tartine aside and went through the others fairly quickly, surprised at how many I now felt I could live without. But see, putting it aside rather than rejecting it outright told me something. It said that I needed to think about it, digest it as it were. I told The Housemate that I'd taken it off my wishlist, which I had, but by the next day it was back on because in my second reading, I got it, I got the magic.
Magic? You ask. Yup, there's something magical about cookery. It's not just that recipes are like spells that produce magical results, but that you can take bits and bobs of things and put them together with heat or cold or a hella big mixer, and get something that you want to feed to the people you love to show them you love them.
With a book like this, which is about techniques and ingredients as much as recipes, you can, in your mind, become the all-around cook, making your own cheese, sprouting seeds for salads and such, infusing oils and making your own vinegar from that bottle of wine you left on the counter for too long. You can dream large. Once I got the feel for what the authors were doing, I was hooked. I was ready to fill my dehydrator with all sorts of things, ready to pit cherries, pick herbs, and deliberately leave a bottle of wine on the counter so I could make vinegar.
I could probably go on and on about which recipes made me say, "Yes, please!" (Chilled apricot soup with fennel and noyaux) which ones made me say, "Uh... no." (Grilled tripe with paprika and fennel) and which ones I decided to keep an open mind about (Rye porridge with hazelnut custard, apricot, and flax.) But I won't do that because you don't really care, nor should you. What I say "YES!" to you may say "Oh hells no!" to, and vice versa. What I will tell you is this: The recipes show a good deal of inventiveness, a sense of adventure, and a deep thoughtfulness about the food itself.
The folks at Bar Tartine are committed to local sources and making much of their own stock of flavorings, condiments, etc. You'll probably note strong Scandinavian and Eastern European influences in the recipes, which I love, but YMMV, and that's okay. This cookbook has made me happy, and I've gone through it every day since it arrived, musing on the techniques, and poking at the recipes, thinking about how to make them my own, because that's what I do. I consider recipes to be nice suggestions. I did indeed buy it. I got it used and with a credit on my account, I got it delivered for a grand total of $0.39. I figured I deserved that much fun this month.
Recently I went on a cookbook borrowing binge at my local library because there was a stack of cookbooks I thought I wanted, and because money is super duper tight right now, I thought "Well why not check them out first?" So I did just that, with an eye to whether I wanted to spend money I didn't have on a book that I might not really enjoy or get any use out of. This one was one of the stack and to be entirely honest, on first run through I was not sold. It looked awfully esoteric, in much the same way that my Ottolenghi cookbooks seemed at first. (I have never not had a case of buyer's remorse with Ottolenghi, and it has never not turned into adoration. I guess that's sort of a Meet Cute for cookbook buyers.)
I put Bar Tartine aside and went through the others fairly quickly, surprised at how many I now felt I could live without. But see, putting it aside rather than rejecting it outright told me something. It said that I needed to think about it, digest it as it were. I told The Housemate that I'd taken it off my wishlist, which I had, but by the next day it was back on because in my second reading, I got it, I got the magic.
Magic? You ask. Yup, there's something magical about cookery. It's not just that recipes are like spells that produce magical results, but that you can take bits and bobs of things and put them together with heat or cold or a hella big mixer, and get something that you want to feed to the people you love to show them you love them.
With a book like this, which is about techniques and ingredients as much as recipes, you can, in your mind, become the all-around cook, making your own cheese, sprouting seeds for salads and such, infusing oils and making your own vinegar from that bottle of wine you left on the counter for too long. You can dream large. Once I got the feel for what the authors were doing, I was hooked. I was ready to fill my dehydrator with all sorts of things, ready to pit cherries, pick herbs, and deliberately leave a bottle of wine on the counter so I could make vinegar.
I could probably go on and on about which recipes made me say, "Yes, please!" (Chilled apricot soup with fennel and noyaux) which ones made me say, "Uh... no." (Grilled tripe with paprika and fennel) and which ones I decided to keep an open mind about (Rye porridge with hazelnut custard, apricot, and flax.) But I won't do that because you don't really care, nor should you. What I say "YES!" to you may say "Oh hells no!" to, and vice versa. What I will tell you is this: The recipes show a good deal of inventiveness, a sense of adventure, and a deep thoughtfulness about the food itself.
The folks at Bar Tartine are committed to local sources and making much of their own stock of flavorings, condiments, etc. You'll probably note strong Scandinavian and Eastern European influences in the recipes, which I love, but YMMV, and that's okay. This cookbook has made me happy, and I've gone through it every day since it arrived, musing on the techniques, and poking at the recipes, thinking about how to make them my own, because that's what I do. I consider recipes to be nice suggestions. I did indeed buy it. I got it used and with a credit on my account, I got it delivered for a grand total of $0.39. I figured I deserved that much fun this month.
January 26, 2016
It's really nice to take a peek into the life of a restaurant like Bar Tartine. I had no idea how many ingredients they are preparing in such a time-consuming way. This book is about 50% techniques and 50% recipes. The techniques go deep: dehydrating, sprouting, grinding things into powders, fermentation of veggies and dairy, smoking and curing and so on. For me it's inspiring, but not the most practical cookbook because I probably won't be making many of these things. I'm very tempted to buy a dehydrator and a vitamix, but I'm hoping that temptation will pass because preparing specialty ingredients like dehydrated chiles, black garlic, or kefir buttermilk seems more like a flight of fancy for the home cook than something one might adopt with any regularity.
December 11, 2015
Bar Tartine is a restaurant in San Francisco where the chefs use traditional methods (fermentation, dehydration curing..) to add depth of flavor to traditional foods. The recipes take me straight back to my German and Slovak roots, but there are plenty of Asian flavors in there, too. I already cook with a lot of seaweed, so seeing it in a broth for a Hungarian dish makes sense. The soups and salads look wonderful. Techniques and recipes for the powders, fermented things and cured things are included. If you like to make your own everything (I do), you can. If you'd rather purchase these things, no problem. This is a really good cookbook for the home cook who has their own garden and likes taking whole food cooking up a notch.
July 24, 2015
For the home cook like myself, these are not busy weeknight recipes. These are recipes you make for the sheer love and artistry of good food. I usually don't give star reviews to cookbooks until I try several recipes, but I already know just by reading this book that this is my kind of food. Slow food, food that uses familiar ingredients in new ways, food that celebrates and highlights the amazing and nuanced flavors to be had in well-grown-and-raised ingredients. For me, the lengthy first section on preserving and culturing techniques alone will be worth the price of admission.
February 12, 2015
OK, so most things in here require a confidence in the kitchen and a lot of planning. But it's fascinating what these folks do with food and how much respect they have for their craft and ingredients. With some recipes, it might be faster to hop a plane to San Fran and eat at the restaurant, but the techniques part of this book is invaluable if you like to preserve, make spices, ferment and all that wonderful stuff.
April 20, 2016
TCL Call#: 641.59794 BALLA N
Madeleine - 2 stars
This is a great thumb through book. The pictures are spectacular and the recipes look tasty. IF. As in IF you live in a large city in California where you might have access to the specialty ingredients that appear in almost every recipe.
As it is, I cannot wait to GO to Bar Tartine should I ever be in the area to try all these delicious looking things that I cannot make here.
Madeleine - 2 stars
This is a great thumb through book. The pictures are spectacular and the recipes look tasty. IF. As in IF you live in a large city in California where you might have access to the specialty ingredients that appear in almost every recipe.
As it is, I cannot wait to GO to Bar Tartine should I ever be in the area to try all these delicious looking things that I cannot make here.
May 8, 2015
Divided into two parts; techniques and recipes, are a fantastic idea for building a great kitchen and favourite dishes.
Gorgeous plated food, lush with colour and freshness, the photographs are so good I wanted to bite them!
Perfect for adding fresh new flavours and variety to the regular food prep at home.
Must for foodies and perfect gift for the creative host(ess).
Check it out!
Gorgeous plated food, lush with colour and freshness, the photographs are so good I wanted to bite them!
Perfect for adding fresh new flavours and variety to the regular food prep at home.
Must for foodies and perfect gift for the creative host(ess).
Check it out!
November 30, 2016
Droolworthy
Beautiful book of recipes and vignettes behind their inspiration. I can't wait to plan my garden around the tantalizing possibilities of new flavors for my family. I concede that this book is not for everyone. Very few recipes could be done "now". Most take prior preparation of key ingredients.
Beautiful book of recipes and vignettes behind their inspiration. I can't wait to plan my garden around the tantalizing possibilities of new flavors for my family. I concede that this book is not for everyone. Very few recipes could be done "now". Most take prior preparation of key ingredients.
October 15, 2015
beautiful cookbook, focuses more on essential skills to being a self-sustaining cook and best-practices on making enjoyable meals. It's also beautifully shot, well-written and not pretentious, and informative.
September 6, 2020
This is really a wonderful book, from the chefs of a very inspirational restaurant. My husband (a chef for 30+ years) loved this gift.
Don't expect quick food fixes... This book does not have ANYTHING from a package in it, even the garlic powder is homemade.
Respect!
Don't expect quick food fixes... This book does not have ANYTHING from a package in it, even the garlic powder is homemade.
Respect!
March 27, 2015
Loaded with great ideas, but slightly fussy in a way that doesn't quite work in my kitchen. I did make their amazing pickled carrots and spring garlic with lemon peel and they were incredible!
August 11, 2016
There was absolutely nothing in this book that seemed appealing yo me.
June 2, 2015
Gets 5 stars just for the picture of the woman with the pig leg. Everything besides is a bonus.
Read
March 3, 2016Beautiful and completely over the top. If nothing else, inspirational.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews