Top Chef the Cookbook

I'll never make any of these dishes

Received this as a gift, as I'm a big fan of the Top Chef series. The book is a good mix of culinary and entertainment, and the recipes are true to the dishes prepared on past seasons. But, as a cook book, I'd rank it lower; the recipes and ingredients are a bit "out there" and probably appeal to only a small segment of epicures. The bio's on the contestants and judges are interesting, as are the nuggets of Top Chef trivia, but it's not the type of volume I'd keep on my cookbook shelf.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

There are two different reasons to buy this book and I'll review it two ways for both types of people! IF YOU'RE A CHEF: I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book because I'm not a gourmet cook by any stretch. However, I love to cook and this book has a huge variety of recipes--just like the show! I was very pleased to see that nearly every page is in full color and lots of the recipes are pictured in detail. Although parts of the book are arranged by season, the table of contents also lists things by meal 'breakfast, small plates, fish, dessert, vegetarian, etc.'. I found the book easy to navigate with a clearly delineated table of contents and a great index of ingredients. That way, if you have a certain item in mind 'peppers, for example' you can find things from all different seasons. Some of the recipes do seem complex, but the instructions read as 'easy enough' and I think everything is well explained. IF YOU'RE A 'TOP CHEF' FAN: You will DEFINITELY love this book, I say that without hesitation. And what a bargain! Usually 'full color' like this goes for $35 or more 'like the Jamie Oliver books and the Rachael Ray or Giada, three others that I love'. For about $20, this book is great! It's AWESOME if you are a fan... it has pictures of cast members, summary pages of the seasons, and recipes from the 'Quickfire' challenges as well. GREAT eye candy 'admit it, Sam from season three is ALL THAT and Padma is gorgeous'. There are also notable quotes from multiple seasons at the bottom of pages and on the sidebars 'who could forget Dave's famous, 'I'm not your...' quote!'. I'm a huge fan of the show and the book is great... it's about time they came out with a cookbook! I can't wait to see what happens on season four!

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Great--but I Want More!

For fans of the show, this book is wonderful. It has info about the winners and the top competitors who didn't win, as well as some of the best recipes. I
I only wish there were more recipes; I saw many dishes I would love to try at home over the course of the (now) five seasons; I hope they update every year.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Top Chef the Cookbook is a keeper.

I love this book. It tells all kinds of things about the various chefs from the past. Little tidbits that you would not hear on the air. I haven't tried any of the recipes but just looking at them makes me hungry!! Best of all....Top Chef's new season starts Wednesday, August 19 so the saga continues.

Top Chief

Hard to review a book when it was ordered for Christmas but has not been delivered as of yet!

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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