Alinea

After reading the book - Life on the Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas, I wanted to see their cookbook. I was at the bookstore, and saw it on one of the shelves. The book was really big and wrapped in cellophane and it was plenty expensive. After going home, I promptly looked up the book on Amazon.com. I looked through some of the pages and then I saw that I could buy it for half the price. I used my gift card. When I received the book…I was not disappointed.

This isn’t just a cookbook but it is a book that I believe belongs on one of the shelves at the New York Metropolitan Art Museum. It is that grand of a book. Each photo is a work of art. T The creativity was in the chef’s presentation as he used the plates and the food, as an artist uses his subject matter on a canvas. The photographer, Lara Kastner has a terrific eye for her subject matter, and the quality of the photos makes the book.

I love the presentation of the foods, and the sensual looking way the dishes were artfully displayed. Actually, I wanted to sit down with a fork and knife and eat the food right off the pages or the book. Who knows – maybe I would be able to taste all those wonderful flavors. Looking at each photo, I felt that I could smell and taste each flavor of the foods that I saw on the pages as I read each recipe.

I even decided that there were a few things that I would love to eat at Alinea, like: Licorice Cake with Orange Confit, anise Hyssop and Spun Sugar; Hot Potato – Cold Potato, Black Truffle and Parmesan; Squab with Thai Peppercorn, Strawberry, Oxalis pods; Bison with Braised Pistachios, Potato and Sweet Spices, and Crab with Cashew, Parsnips, Young Coconut. No chocolate lover will be able to pass up the Chocolate with Braised Figs, Bergamot Tea, Cassia Ice Cream, Dehydrated Chocolate Mousse, and Warm Chocolate.

Of course I plan on reading the book and recipes from cover to cover. I also plan on looking at each enjoying the photographs, over and over. To be honest, I will not be putting this cookbook with my other ones. It is going on my coffee table, where I hope others will look at it and enjoy it as much as I do.