Taste: One Palate's Journey Through the World's Greatest Dishes

by David Rosengarten and Television Food Network

Book Overview

Do you want to make spice-rubbed ribs the way they're made by the best barbecue cooks in Memphis? Crispy soft-shell crabs that taste like they're right out of Chesapeake Bay? Refreshing Thai salad... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375500111
• ISBN13: 9780375500114
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 333 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Not wide, but wonderfully deep

David Rosengarten's FoodTV show, Taste, beautifully illustrated how good the food network *used* to be. Instead of trying to cover several dishes during his half hour allotment, Rosengarten focused on one item in particular -- and then told you everything about it. He showed what could go wrong with, say, a reuben sandwich or creme brulee, and then demonstrated how to do it right. You knew what his standards were and how to achieve them. Oh -- and he did it all with humor. I think his book, Taste, came out at about the same time. It has the same premise: individual dishes in great depth, rather than a whole cuisine or a collection of random beef (or whatever) recipes. So you get five or more pages about paella or BBQ ribs or the "ordinary" fruit salad. The result is that you learn EVERYTHING about that one subject: his criteria for quality, the variation in methods (for example, Rosengarten compares the difference in gumbo when the dish is thickened with roux, okra, and filé powder), and sometimes its history. It's always informative, and I have NEVER had a recipe failure. It isn't always the simplest choice, but he explains why you should bother with the extra effort. (His explanation of charcoute garnie causes me to pick a Parisian restaurant that specialized in it, so I could understand exactly why he made such a big deal about it. I'm spoiled for life, now, because I can't find the right kind of saurkraut to make it myself.) The result is that I don't flip through Taste when I'm looking for an "I'm in the mood for Italian" dinner. It does mean that, when we're thinking about making crab cakes, we're guaranteed to say, "Does Rosengarten have a recipe? Let's see what he does."

Cultural Culinary Tour

This is a cookbook to read, not just flip through. David Rosengarten takes us on his idea of the perfect cultural culinary tour... and I was very happy to 'tag along.' I've tried several of the recipes - all delicious - but his commentaries are what makes this book special. He describes the food (or drink) in its own cultural context, then discusses his favorites, gives his opinions, and tells us why. His 'criteria for quality' make it easier to try out and evaluate a new recipe, and his wine suggestions for each dish round out the meal. By the way, his recipe for Molten Chocolate Cake is better than any I've tried in restaurants!

David did the work for you!

David Rosengarten thoroughly researches and reports on ingredients and recipes. The information helps me to make beouf bourgingone to be as delicious as it possibly can be! I know that the recipes in the book are the best of their kind, so it saves me a lot of trouble comparing recipe versions.Besides his penultimate recipes, they are created for the home cook. You won't need special tart pans or an industrial stove to create your own demi-glace. His instructions are logical, and he explains why certain steps are included. I've made 8 recipes from the book (so far...) and they have all been terrific.

The chapter on wine will save you many $! Buy it!

A great book for many reasons - foremost is that Rosengarten is not afraid to express a definite opinion whether it is fashionable or not! His wine and beer chapters are gems, echoing my husband and my sentiments regarding big, oaky wines NOT going well with many foods. Rosengarten introduces you to many wine varieties that go well with different flavors of food, and his intuitive method of pairing food with wine is helpful. He sees food and wine as partners - each helping the other to taste their best. It's realistic!His recipes are very good and there are definitely some gems in here, but the real value of them is that each one is really a course in itself, discussing traditional preparations and variations, then giving his version of the recipe. He tells what ingredients impart what qualities, so you feel that you have more control over the end product. After you read about and make his version of a classic dish, you gain the knowledge to judge other recipes and preparations of the dish, and develop your own opinion of how YOU want it to look, taste, feel.The book really is what it advertises - about devoloping your sensitivity toward food, i.e. Taste. Though quite a "foodie" myself, I found I learned more than I expected from this book.

A delicious mix of facts and strong opinions!

In an improvement on the current influx of cookbooks that promise the perfect, culturally and culinarily correct recipe, David Rosengarten has offered us the truth. He shows us in TASTE, that even the most historically correct food is personalized by the cook. It is easy to miss this detail, when it would seem that his words suggest that only purists should cook!! He is, however, quick to remind us in his examinations of his favourite meals, that the (strong!) opinions stated are his own.Rosengarten passionately wants people to be as excited by food as he is, and invites us to think about ingredients and where and WHY they belong. His forceful words (how often he exclaims, "Do NOT, under any circumstances...") are not intimidating because of the wealth of his knowledge. So much can be learned from Rosengarten about enjoying the food we eat. But he does not stop there - the most accessible, unpretentious introduction to wine awaits you at the end of the book. He starts with a terrific outline of the the components of flavour (salty, sweet etc.) and clearly shows how to match wine with food. But not any wine, no - inexpensive, easily found wine types. This section alone is worth the cost of the book.Every base is covered in Taste for you to have an enjoyable, educational read (and cooking experience - the Crab Cakes are sublime!). Rosengarten is the friend who doesn't care which of the Seven Wonders of the World you saw on your vacation, he wants to know what you ate when you were there!