By Adam - Secrets of Great Chefs Recipes, Techniques, and Tricks from Americas Best Cooks

by Adam D. Roberts

Learn to cook from the best chefs in America Some people say you can only learn to cook by doing. So Adam Roberts, creator of the award-winning blog The Amateur Gourmet, set out to cook in 50 of America's best kitchens to figure out how any average Joe or Jane can cook like a seasoned pro. From Alice Waters's garden to José Andrés's home kitchen, it was a journey peppered with rock-star chefs and dedicated home cooks unified by a common passion, one that Roberts understands deeply and transfers to the reader with flair, thoughtfulness, and good a love and appreciation of cooking. Roberts adapts recipes from Hugh Acheson, Lidia Bastianich, Roy Choi, Harold Dieterle, Sara Moulton, and more. The culmination of that journey is a cookbook filled with lessons, tips, and tricks from the most admired chefs in America, including how to properly dress a salad, bake a no-fail piecrust, make light and airy pasta, and stir-fry in a wok, plus how to improve your knife skills, eliminate wasteful food practices, and create recipes of your very own. Most important, Roberts has adapted 150 of the chefs' signature recipes into totally doable dishes for the home cook. Now anyone can learn to cook like a pro!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Foodie

Hardcover

First published September 4, 2012

About the author

Adam Roberts is the creator of the food blog The Amateur Gourmet (launched in 2004). Since then, he's written several books -- including The Amateur Gourmet and Secrets of the Best Chefs -- as well for film and television. His latest book is a novel, FOOD PERSON, which is being published by Knopf in May 2025. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his husband Craig and their dog, Winston.

Reviews

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been laid low all week long with the very worst cold that's ever been known in my household, and I had nothing at all worth a damn to read. Extinction! Lord Peter Whimsey! Warm Bodies! Flavia de Luce! All were tried & found wanting beneath my withering, head-cold-ified gaze. So I'm going to go ahead & rate this even though it's a cookbook, because I'd like to go ahead & be bold & frankly, I still feel horrid so I'll live how I please. This isn't even so much a straight-up cookbook as it is a compilation of many lessons on what it takes to be a good cook spruced up with some fancy-pants recipes. I made the chilaquiles on Tuesday & was pleasantly surprised to find that I must be a darn good cook in the way this book suggests; I followed the recipe to a T even though I was suspicious of some of the preparation & found that I should've trusted my instincts. Next time, I'll roast the onion along with the poblanos. Thus, the lessons of this book were not lost on me, so at least I got something positive out of the past few days. And now I'm probably just going back to bed.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a book I got from the library and haven't finished. I love the fabulous layout of meeting the chef and learning about them and the recipes the author make with that chef and then the pages of the authors recipes based on that experience and sometimes modifies/simplified for the home cook. Even better, there are tips throughout to help you get the best experience out of each recipe. This book is enjoyably read from cover to cover but it makes a person very hungry.

[T Crockett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like some of the stories the author tells about meeting these chefs, but I've read about 1/2 the book and find myself with no desire to make any of the things the author made with them. And often as I read their tips, they feel so far removed from what I would put the effort into doing in a kitchen, that they're no use to me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 really (I don't do many 5s)

Have enjoyed Adam Roberts blog, so knew I'd like this conglomerate cookbook/how-to.

One of those where I want to try so many of the recipes I need to run right out (to his blog?!) and buy it!

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m surprised by the number of today’s celebrated & prominent chefs who are featured in this 10-year-old book - Alice Waters, Samin Nosrat, Roy Choi, Lidia Bastianich. I’ve enjoyed reading the anecdotes shared by the vast array of chefs in this book, but unfortunately, I can’t say the same of the recipes. So far, everything I’ve tried is - ok. It’s not horrible, but it’s not great, either, and nothing has knocked my socks off. There are still many recipes that I have bookmarked to try, but with each attempt I’m less enthusiastic about investing the time or expense in doing so.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is organized by chef. Each chef has several recipes paired with tips.
This layout makes it hard to find useful tips. The fact that many of the recipes aren't that healthy makes it harder for me to find useful information.

[Rachel Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting cookbook. It has some great recipes.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of tips & tricks. Not too many photographs though.

[Dray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a little short on secrets (there are a few), the stories and personal recipe picks of a strong cross section of excellent chefs makes this cookbook worth reading.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects a few recipes from each of a couple dozen chefs, along with what Roberts learned while making the dishes in their kitchens. It was a nice format, getting some of the personality and approach of each chef before going into a recipe. One major lesson of the book is not to rely on precise amounts of ingredients or time. Taste, he says. When making a tomato sauce, he says, taste the tomatoes. "If they're not very acidic, add a splash of vinegar." If they're very acidic, don't. He has you adjust seasonings until it tastes "slightly too salty and bright." But Roberts is cautious on behalf of his readers who don't know how much oil "coats the pan" or how much butter constitutes a knob. He measures the size of dice. He sneaks surreptious glances at his watch. The chefs tell him to stop worrying so much.

The country bread is the only bread I've been making the last few weeks. I copied out several pages of recipes. I'm excited to try crab and cucumber, the raw rhubarb daiquiri, the mussels with cider, cream, and mustard. I like it for that, and for the many kitchen tips that seem to have notched a hold into my brain. Since finishing it I bring it up often with Adi: "we must Taste!" or "one of the cooks says you can't stare at a pan, it's like staring at a cat" or "I'm trying to let them sit and caramelize, not to touch it. It was in that Adam Roberts book" or "one of the cooks sprinkles his rum cakes with rum after baking, every few days." Bunches of little things that I find I continue to remember.

[Susan Cassell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One really does not read a cookbook but browses it. There are tidbits of new to me information that I can tuck away for future use. The chefts profiled in this book cover many cusines and food choices. One can see trends in the food industry and ingredients that are used over and over in the various chefs choices of menues.

For a new cook there are simple dishes and for a more experienced cook there are a few more challenging ones. The best part of the book are the tips. Those are the sutle techniques that can make or break a dish.

I picked this book up at the library and most like likely will not purchase a copy but might put it on a gift list.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as irreverent as Roberts' blog, this tome still does well.

You get the essence of a variety of food-oriented (I say this because there are cookbook authors, chefs, DIY maestros and more featured) people. I liked the variety, and that I didn't know who everyone was.

The book itself is well organized, and has a bunch of interesting little tidbits (one tip was to grind your pepper in a marijuana grinder; I won't be trying that one anytime soon). I also liked the little notes that Roberts included next to the recipes, though they did get confusing at times when trying to match which note corresponded to which step.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun to read to discover little tricks of the trade from a variety of chefs; however, I found many of the recipes to be dishes I'm not likely to try. That being said, I liked learning about techniques individual chefs found useful. I bought the Kindle edition, since I knew it didn't contain a huge number of recipes overall.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roberts has a warm, friendly voice, and I like the idea of learning techniques/approaches that you can later apply more broadly to your cooking. That said, a lot of the recipes seemed like too much work for me as someone who is usually cooking for one. This is a good library checkout, but not a title that I'll add to my personal cookbook collection.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I don't cook this way but I loved the stories of the cooks that do. Quite a ride across the country meeting chefs, cooks and bakers of all kinds. Their love of food and the importance of sharing it came through page after page.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting tips and recipes.

[Leslie]

from Smitten Kitchen, 1/22/13

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

When using chives, make sure you cut them up into tiny bits.

[AdultNonFiction Teton County Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

TCL Call#: 641.5 Roberts A

Madeleine - 2 stars
I was bored. And there wasn't really any recipe that begged to be made. Lovely photos though.

[Hanzi Deschermeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the personal narratives of these chefs. Roberts did an excellent job of compiling them, too.

[Martha]

for techniques, not recipes

[victoria.p · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading but not much I will ever actually use.

[Minneapolani · Rating 3 out of 5]

More chef fanzine than cookbook.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.unshelved.com/bookclub/201...