Secret Ingredients

by Michael Roberts

Book Overview

There are no such things as secrets in the kitchenbut there are secret ingredients, those ingredients that are not tasted but would be missed if they were omitted. The key to using these wonderful... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553053205
• ISBN13: 9780553053203
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

unbelievable!!

This is a cookbook like no other. Definitely NOT for the beginning cook, however. The flavor combinations are simply amazing. Some recipes are simple, but don't be surprised to see "two weeks advance preparation" at the top of a recipe. My favorite is the Pears Poached in Red Wine with Roquefort Cream, which had my guests literally howling!! This book is just a great adventure in cooking...and eating.

Indispensible for all interested in American Cuisine

I worked with Julia Child in the 1980s in Boston. This was one of her favorite books. I met Michael through Lydia Shire at Biba Food Hall--the restaurant I worked for then. He was then struggling to walk, but was gracious, kind and very funny to be with. He invented "California Cuisine"--which is now thought to have sprung from something in the LA soil. It did not--it came from Michael Roberts, who is missed every day.

Must have!

I am a professional chef. This is one of the four 'desert island' cookbooks for my crew and I (Along with Escoffier, Larousse and Joy of Cooking). Throw out most of your cookbook collection: Roberts teaches you to pay attention to flavors, textures, combinations, etc. Once you get it, you can do your own recipes. Enlightening and liberating. Sad that it is out of print

A Tutorial in Culinary Creativity

I feel emotions about this book that I did not think that a cookbook could elicit from me. For starters, the recipes themselves are fantastic. Over the years (I originally bought the hardback) I believe that I have tried at least 75% of them, among my favorites being the guacamole made from peas and the glazed brussel sprouts, of all things. The only recipe that didn't work out for me was the homemade sauerkraut, and the book has a whole chapter on sausages that just didn't appeal to me as a matter of personal taste. But the recipes are only the beginning. As educational as the surprising combinations are, the most valuable aspect of the book is content unusual in a cookbook: Michael Roberts includes a succinct prelimary discussion on flavors and how to marry, oppose, and juxtapose them, each of these verbs representing a different type of combination. For example, lemon and garlic is a flavor *marriage*; sweet and salty, like peanuts on an ice cream sundae, is a flavor *opposition*; and clove and red wine is a flavor *juxtaposition* (tasted at different times or on different parts of the tongue). These three types of combination underlie all the recipes in the book. Roberts takes pains throughout to explain why his combinations work and to offer variations on the recipes. Together with his introductory chapter, this book offers the cook beyond the beginner stage a tutorial in culinary creativity. The adventurous cook will not regret this purchase.

Every Recipe Is Wonderful

This has been my favorite cookbook since 1993! Many of the recipes are a bit of work, but all are worth the effort. The "Pork and Succotash Stew" is fabulous...the secret ingredient is caraway seed. Mmmm. I also love the "Pan-Roasted Lamb Chops with Cracked Pepper and Tarragon"...and be sure to try the "Chicken, Spinach, Eggplant, & Peanut Salad".