Customer Reviews
What a beautiful book! - By: Cooking Maven, 10 Nov 2008 
I love the clear descriptions of the principles of Sous Vide, as well as the different chefs' perspectives on the uses of this technique. The recipes are easy to read, with ingredients helpfully measuredin grams. Many have stunning colour photographs, & each has a clever "At Service" section indicating how best to achieve a stunning presentation. There is also an invaluable chart listing temperature & cooking times for each ingredient. "White Asparagus with Field Rhubarb & Black Truffle Coulis"? "Torchon of Monkfish Liver with Green Apple Jelly & Ossetra Caviar"? Or maybe a "Cherry-Vanilla" consisting of "Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cake, Morello Cherry Ice Cream, Italian Pistachio Coulis, Kirsch Foam, & Cherry Jam"? Thomas Keller is a genious!
So disappointed - By: The Inspector, 03 Nov 2008 
I'm sorry to give a totally negative review but claiming to be 'the first book writtenin English on cooking sous-vide' (simply not true) & describing food as being 'sealedin plastic' should have given me the hints that this book would massively disappoint.
Is my beautiful copy of Sous-Vide Cuisine by Joan Roca & Salvador Brugues notin perfect English & been poured over by me for at least a year now? The forward of 'Under Pressure' states that 'It's fitting that the first book to present the sous-vide method to English-speaking cooks........' Where on earth was the editor? Too scared of editing a subject such as this & so leaving it to the authors alone?
I found this book simply an ego trip for the author(s) with hardly a page being turned without a reference to one or other of their restaurants - so many referencesin fact that is became very boring. The book misses chances time & again to educate the reader (few if any tables on cooking times for each of the meats/fish/ etc)in this fascinating method of cooking & instead concentrates on egotistical menus of massive complexity. Sous Vide is not complex & the subject presentedin this way I found counter intuitive & counter productive.
The sections regarding the vital yet basic factors governing cooking by sous-vide for either mis en service or for storage & use at a later time & the safety aspects relevant to each were,in my opinion, not given the relevance that each separately & distinctly deserves. The two have quite distinctly different factors regarding safety & I didn't find that the book stressed this enough - safety seems to have been treated, albeitin depth, as one which is a little worrying really.
Many pages contain what I saw as written bullet pointsin isolation without form or structure. If ever a book needed a decent editor to give it this structure & form then this is it - it seems as if the publisher has just let the author(s) do it & then publish 'as is'. The book to my mind is a mess.
Menus containing blatant plugs for suppliers missed the fact this book is being sold internationally. I'd find it pretty tough to source ingredients for "Roulle of Four Story Hills Farm Poularde" when Four Story Hills Farm is certainly thousands of miles from where I live & cook - not all of us livein the USA remember.
The pages on stock recipes (nothing to do with the subject of sous-vide) were far more entertaining & informative than anything written here on the subject of sous-vide.
Altogether a total disappointment, waste of some serious cash & this book doesn't even come close to Sous Vide Cuisine by Joana Roca. I'll be astounded if they don't sue the publishers for allowing the claim for this book to be the first written on the subjectin English.
Oh, a very talented friend of mine once said he'd never buy a book on cookery if each recipe didn't have at least one photo - hmmm, editorial absence maybe on this one yet again.
So sorry - I think my copy is destined for an early sale on e-Bay & won't be missed.
