In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart by Alice Waters

In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart Reviews

• 
  Happyreader

  Basic, way too basic. Having Charlie Trotter write a paragraph on how to peel a tomato, and he peels a tomato using a common technique we’ve all been taught to peel a tomato, is like having Einstein write a paragraph on how objects of the same mass fall at the same rate of speed. What’s the purpose of having highly skilled practitioners explain a topic if they’re not going to provide any more insight than your average Olive Garden line cook? Nothing particularly green about this book either except a mention to buy local and organic and please compost. Lots of star flash with little substance. A book developed with the express purpose of raising funds for the Chez Panisse Foundation in support of Edible Education and to encourage more home cooking should be more interesting and enlightening than this.
• 
  Shari Henry

  A mother of the sustainable food movement, Waters offers a brief and very readable how-to for creating a green kitchen and cooking from it. You'll find inspiration from her "Green Kitchen Manifesto" which includes things such as "cooking and shopping for food brings rhythm and meaning to our lives" and "setting the table and eating together teaches essential values to our children." The author insists, and I agree, that you need only a basic list of ingredients, a few good techniques, and handful of well-made equipment to enjoy cooking and eating the food you create. She enlists the help of several great chefs to walk the reader through a number of techniques, each accompanied by a few recipes. This book will be quite basic to the experienced cook, but will provide critical knowledge in an easy-to-read format for beginners. And experienced in the kitchen though I may be, I still found good reminders and encouragement in these pages.
• 
  Amy

  I received this book as a gift and was looking forward to it after having enjoyed "The Art of Simple Food" so much. This book is visually lovely, but its function was a fundraiser for a foundation, so it has many more pages fully devoted to photographs of famous chefs than it does recipes or information on cooking.
  
  It doesn't have much to do with the current concept of "green," either, so the title is rather confusing. The techniques are very basic: slicing an onion, roasting a chicken, peeling a tomato-- if you were paying attention while someone was cooking during your youth, you know how to do all of these techniques. If not, there are excellent YouTube videos to teach you everything.
  
  This one will go to the library book sale and continue its purpose of raising money for worthy organizations.
• 
  Bunny

  This is a very pretty book. The cover's pretty. The pictures inside are pretty. The chefs photographed are pretty.
  
  Pretty pretty pretty.
  
  Also? Lovely font.
  
  ...
  
  And, if you can't find your mortar and pestil, you can use this book to grind up your freshly shorn wheat.
  
  Seriously, I just...
  
  I found one recipe I liked. ONE. That is unheard of, I'm a recipe whore.
• 
  Natashya KitchenPuppies

  A good book about basic kitchen technique and keeping an organic/sustainable kitchen. The book is a fundraiser, which I like, to teach children about growing and cooking organic food.
  Its only downfall is that it is too brief, I would have liked more.
• 
  Jill

  A poem of a cooking book, essays and brief biographies tucked between "techniques to learn by heart" - which having done so, you can then cook well with the briefest of recipes - or with no recipe at all - with the freshest and simplest of ingredients...
• 
  Catherine

  Interesting, but pretty basic. My big takeaway was that I should use my mortar and pestle more and my food processor less.
• 
  Libraryassistant

  In many ways this is indeed a basic book. However, the sense of camaraderie she feels to so many chefs and the sharing of their beautiful simple techniques are delicious reminders that good sustainable sourcing is a foundation for really good, simple food.
  I especially enjoyed the comparison that French Laundry is like Chartres cathedral to Chez Panisse as a little chapel in the woods— and yet there is no sense of this being a competitive statement. Both are beautiful in their place.
• 
  Maisie Harrison

  Some helpful pointers for some new to/reconnecting with home made cooking.
  I like that many chefs have contributed - it makes me appreciate that I am standing on the shoulders of giants each time i cook.
  Does little to critically analyse what a ‘green’ kitchen is and to who. Few meal-worthy recipes.
• 
  Gaili Schoen

  Interesting instruction from Alice Waters and her many chef friends on how to make some basic recipes. The techniques are not surprising, but are explained clearly and elegantly by these masters of the profession. Lots of great photos, which is always a huge plus for a cookbook.
• 
  Jasmine

  This book is as it promises to be: basic kitchen techniques shared by a community of cooks. There's nothing mind-blowing here, but the book is still a decent (albeit quick) read.
• 
  Robin

  Simple basic recipes with green and healthy cooking in mind. Great for someone just getting started.
• 
  Carolyn

  This I will reference for a long time. Move over JOY OF COOKING. ALICE WATERS is teaching us how to eat AND cook. This is a beautiful book to have and will no doubt inspire the very act of cooking
• 
  Ruth Glen

  I don't watch cooking shows so this was a good How To book.
• 
  Cynthia Wheelehan

  I will always give everything Alice Waters 5 stars - she has changed my life and my cooking
• 
  Riegs

  This book could have benefited from pictures of the techniques, instead of soft glamour shots of the famous contributors.
• 
  gina

  I really enjoyed this book. The layout is beautiful. You feel like you learn about the authors, but it isn't an overly long bio (boring you to death), the pictures are artistic and enjoyment all by themselves. The recipes are delicious and incredibly to the point and simple. No excessive strangeness here in order to break out of some imagined culinary mold. Instead you find straightforward recipes that sometimes have interesting choices, but not shocking. They are not gaudy but fine in their choices, reminding us that simple is classy and delectable. I use the word simple not to imply that they are without surprise or interesting choices, but to mean that they aren't trying to reinvent the wheel, or trying to make so many steps it's impossible for a novice cook to follow. Also, I really liked their two page spreads of ingredients pictures. Lovely! Perfect! This would be an excellent book for anyone to own and reference regularly. Thank you Alice Waters!
• 
  Aleah

  "There is enormous pleasure in cooking good food simply and in sharing the cooking and the eating with friends and family. I think it is the best antidote to our overstressed modern lives. And there is nothing better than putting a plate of delicious food on the table for the people you love." -- Alice Waters
  
  Food activist Alice Waters delights in demonstrating how simple it is to prepare delicious, local food. "In the Green Kitchen" showcases recipes and cooking techniques collected by Waters from cooks around the country. The focus is not on complicated "foodie" recipes, rather "In the Green Kitchen" aims to bring practical cooking know-how to the rest of us. Waters believes that a foundation of basic cooking techniques leads to comfort and inspiration, and that's what this book is all about.
• 
  Aron

  I meandered my way through almost half of this book before I decided to cut my losses and donate it. I was baffled at the purpose of its existence until I noticed other Goodreads reviews mentioning a related fundraiser.
  
  Ah.
  
  I highly recommend checking out The Art of Simple Food instead. It's an absolutely stellar Alice Waters "cookbook" that teaches techniques, discusses ingredient quality, and, of course, has plenty of recipes.
• 
  Kim

  Really neat book, starting with the very basics, and filled with fun recipes on making vinaigrettes, aiola, using a mortar and pestle to make guacamole, and many more recipes. I love the stories behind each recipes and also learning about each chef who contributed the recipes in question. Rick Bayless is in this book, and he's one of my favorite chefs. Highly recommended.
• 
  David Gallin-Parisi

  Quick recipes, full of healthy options, and always giving the tastiest routes. Though forget that last sentence and get this book for the chefs' photos! Especially the guacamole workout shirt, pony-tail rocking, moustache gleaming guy. All the other photos are just as extraordinary. Power your green machine.
• 
  Linda

  Yes, this cookbook covers the basics...but it has changed the way I cook! I got out my old mortar and pestle and started making small batches of pesto and vinaigrettes to add flavor . Not to mention croutons and breadcrumbs . You will never waste an old slice of bread again! Thank you Alice for the inspiration.
• 
  Allison

  Absolutely marvelous--going on my to-buy list immediately. Waters is a leader of the Slow Food movement, and her beautifully photographed, unpretentious cookbook is an inspiring take on simple, clean cooking. I am an abysmal cook, but she and her collaborators make it accessible to me, and I cannot wait to try these recipes and techniques for myself.
• 
  Nancy

  Very basic beginner's book, but not at all comprehensive. So not really all that useful, even for beginners. Does anyone need a whole page written on how to toast bread for croutons or wash lettuce? Maybe, but then the book should cover all sorts of other kitchen novices' instructions. And I must have totally missed the "green" theme. But there are some lovely photos in it.
• 
  Sarah

  This is a gorgeous book, and I like it as a coffee table/presentation book, but I felt like I already knew or had seen all of the information inside. I found one new recipe, for fresh tomato soup, that looks wonderful, but this will not be one to buy.
• 
  Jennifer Miera

  Though Waters isn't vegetarian, there's a lot of information to be gleaned here - as there was in the Art of Simple Food. I like her style and how she's an advocate of local food, local farms, and schoolyard gardens.