Gather & Graze: 120 Favorite Recipes for Tasty Good Times: A Cookbook

by Stephanie Izard, Rachel Holtzman

From beloved Chicago restaurateur Stephanie Izard, named one of "10 Breakthrough Rock Star Chefs of 2016" by Rolling Stone , comes a cookbook with flavor and fun at the forefront, with more than 100 recipes and 100 photographs.

Since becoming Top Chef' s first female winner, Stephanie Izard opened three restaurants in Chicago, traveled around China, and became an Iron Chef. And now she's here to share her next a cookbook with recipes that hit all of the right salty, savory, tangy, and sweet notes. Her craveable, knockout food pairings--the ones her fans have been clamoring for--will surprise and delight any home Banh Mi Burgers, Duck Breast with Brown Butter Kimichi, Roasted Shishito Peppers with Sesame Miso and Parmesan, and Sticky Sweet Potato Cake with Blueberry-Tomatillo Jam.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Food and Drink, Foodie

272 pages, Hardcover

Published April 3, 2018

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was introduced to Stephanie Izard when she competed on and won Iron Chef Gauntlet last year. But, that was just a more recent feather in her very full cap - she was the first female winner of Top Chef in 2008, has opened 3 restaurants in Chicago, and is married with a daughter. And somehow she found time to also write this cookbook. Gather and Graze is structured like many cookbooks by meal/topic - brunch, grilling, vegetables/sides, etc. While I'm in awe of her as a person and all she's doing, I guess her cooking style isn't really mine because there weren't a lot of recipes I wanted to try. Overall, a good cookbook from and obviously talented chef, but just not my style.

[Netta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many of recipes have sub recipes. Many of the recipes are high fat and high calorie. Little is vegetarian. Nothing is vegan, including the mushroom ragout where the headnote talks about being vegan but the recipe itself calls for heavy cream and sour cream. I live in a food centric urban area, and even still I would have trouble finding some of the ingredients. Who has time to search out a tofu shop that makes noodles out of block of tofu? No matter how hard I try, I don’t think my spriralizer will make tofu noodles. I like to cook and am willing to put the time into complicated recipes, just not the ones in this book.

[Emily Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great cook book to stretch my skills. She makes the recipes approachable but I wouldn’t recommend this for total kitchen newbs. I’m obsessed with her flavors and her pallet, I’m more drawn to her meats and veggies than the sweets. Some ingredients I’ll have to probably order and won’t be found at the grocery store but again, I’m cool with it because I’m looking to grow my mad kitchen skillz and flavors. (Shout out to my local librarians for show casing this book!)

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, this really made me want to visit her restaurants. Like most chef cookbooks, this features a lot of ingredients that regular home cooks will find hard to source if they don't live in a large metropolis. However, there are also plenty of recipes with accessible ingredients or that could be made with a couple swaps. Overall, a pretty good cookbook that definitely made me hungry.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a pretty adventurous spirit when it comes to eating....however, this book lost me with goat neck.

Plusses: color photos of most dishes.

Minuses: many recipies have unusual ingredients that most home cooks would not have on hand or ready access to at local markets.

Nothing inspired me.

[Emily Duchon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous photos and layout. Some of the recipes, such as the tofu salad and the smoke broccoli will go into the rotation. Some hard to find ingredients which I don't like in my cookbooks--which is why I went with a 3 rather than a 4 star review. I would get this one from the library and write down a few recipes but avoid purchasing.

[Alison James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost every recipe I tried was delicious & I now love scones (her scones only!) Apparently they don't have to be dense or dry! The one thing that held me back were the ingredients. A lot of the recipes included ingredients that a home cook wouldn't have and are not easily accessible at all grocery stores.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Stephanie on Top Chef and was excited for this cookbook. Instead I’m disappointed. It’s too fancy (many ingredients won’t be available for most at their local markets). Kind of like on Top Chef, too many ingredients can ruin a dish. If Stephanie was cooking these for me, I’d sample every one of them. Me: I’ll try four and two are cookies. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Genevieve Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kinda shocked by the reviews of this cookbook on here. I thought it was full of incredibly creative recipes that combined ingredients in new and interesting ways. I was especially into the dessert section - I am not much of a sweets person but these were so intriguing. Definitely found a few recipes throughout the book that I’m excited to try.

[Juli Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I respect Stephanie Izard and there is such inventiveness in the recipes presented here, but I just can't see myself making any of these recipes. The food is heavy, meaty, and just rather over-the-top for me, and most of the recipes are fairly entailed. Not my cup of tea.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, very disappointing. Maybe the food would turn out tasty, but it all seems so muddled and unappealing. Three too many ingredients in every recipe. Maybe better for stoner food?

[Katie Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed, with an easy, natural authorial voice. Everything looks very tasty, although I haven't yet tried out any of the recipes myself. But I fully intend to soon!

[Margery Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

intriguing but not much i feel i could cook. i really want to go to her restaurants though!

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good recipes.