About the Book
Since age sixteen, chef David Marteau has cooked and traveled all over the world, each new adventure shaping his cuisine. "Creative Cooking for the Global Kitchen" is a greatest hit collection of David's most delicious recipes. They combine cultural traditions and food influences from his new, exciting, home base of Shanghai. Beginners and experienced cooks will be inspired to discover new ways of preparing traditional dishes and going global in their own kitchen.
About the Author :
Award-winning executive chef David Marteau has been cooking and traveling around the world for over twenty years. His recipes aim to awaken the senses, turn the ordinary into the spectacular, and educate the palettes of his international clientele. Not satisfied with the traditional, well-known recipes of Western cuisine, he reshapes, reconstructs, and delivers on his promise of great food for the most astute food critic to the homegrown foodies looking to spice up their cooking. Born and raised in Normandy, France, he began his career as an apprentice and graduated from the CFA (Centre de Formation des Apprentis) in Le Mans. His work has taken him to world-class cities such as Paris, Brussels, Montreal, and he now lives in Shanghai. In February 2010 David was inducted into the prestigious international gastronomic society, the ChaÃ(R)ne des Rôtisseurs, Shanghai chapter, as a MaÃ(R)tre Rôtisseur, and in the summer of 2010 he was inducted into the Canadian Culinary Federation.
Review :
Chef David Marteau has worked all over the world and is currently the chef for the Parkyard Hotel in Shanghai, China. As a result, many of his recipes have an Asian flair. Most are supremely simple to prepare. This cookbook is for the real everyday home cook that wants his or her meals to appear as though they were prepared by a fine restaurant.
The book contains sections with recipes categorized as appetizers, soups, salads, risottos, pasta, meat, poultry, fish, sides dishes, and desserts. Crisp, clear and designed photographs depict presentation suggestions for many of the recipes. Although a good number of the recipes are "outside of the box" and unlike those that I have ever encountered before, many are basic, using readily accessible ingredients.
I will be trying several of these over the course of the month and will update this post with my results. Here is a sampling of some that sound wonderful and/or unique:
Bon Appetit!
-"Mindy Victores"
NetGalley
I thought this was a really cool book. A word of warning though, this isn't an "everyday," as the recipes in it were quite exotic. Def. a book which I would use more for entertaining. Also, I didn't see this as a cookbook for beginner cooks, as a better chunk of the recipes were quite complex. I did love that the author included pictures of the dishes. He also broke down the instructions for the recipes really well and put in extra "tidbits" of information to make the finished dish perfection.
Just two words of warning. First, there are some pictures that just simply grossed me out! Second, there are some ingredients which might be more difficult to find in a "run of the mill" grocery store. You might need to plan ahead or figure out a "substitute" for the ingredient.
As I see my entertaining events increasing, this would be a cookbook which I plan to purchase for my more unusual menus and, in fact, I just did!
5 STARS
"Naomi Blackburn"
NetGalley
I won't lie. There are some really odd combinations found in Creative Cooking for the Global Kitchen. I'm all for being adventurous in the kitchen, but some combinations I've seen in my years have been way out there. Sometimes, they really work, but there are other combinations I've tried that have been horrible. I got that feeling while looking over the recipes in Chef David Marteau's cookbook.
The chef begins the cookbook by offering insight into his travels and really what makes him tick in the kitchen. I appreciate this background. I always like to get to know a chef before I start trusting in his or her recipes. After that, the cookbook begins where many comprehensive cookbooks should - appetizers. Each recipe includes a photograph, something I find invaluable. Stand out recipes for me included the Shrimp Tempura with Japanese Coleslaw and the Crab Cakes with Cucumbers and Chipotle Mayonnaise. I wasn't sold on the Tuna Carpaccio with Mango Salsa and White Chocolate Mascarpone. Tuna with mango is fine, but throwing in white chocolate really is just overkill in my book.
The book progresses into soups (try the stock recipes), salads, dressings, risottos, pasta, meat, poultry, fish, side dishes and desserts. I highly recommend trying the recipe for Chocolate and Coconut Risotto, it's amazing. The Chicken Curry recipe is also fantastic. I'm a huge fan of monkfish (the fish that North Sea fishermen used to call garbage fish because customers wouldn't touch it) and can't wait to try the Monkfish Osso Bucco, but finding monk in my area is challenging.
Heading into the side dishes, I wasn't sure the Apricot Ratatouille would work, but it's become my favorite ratatouille recipe. That brings me to desserts. The author admits he's not a pastry chef. Pastries and baking is a hobby to me. Given that, his recipe for Chocolate Salami is incredible unique and very tasty. Serve the decadent Chocolate Salami with a recipe he includes for Chocolate Martinis and you have a
