David Burke: New American Classics

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Toward the beginning of The Incredibles, "Susan Parr" -- AKA Elastigirl -- turns to her simpering teenage daughter Violet, who isn't eating her steak, and says: It's leftover night! We have meatloaf, pasta -- what are you hungry for? "Leftovers" -- that much maligned word -- range from rich stews (which typically taste better reheated) to cold pizza. Surely the French, who gave the world Haute Cuisine, have a word equally heavy with inuendo -- and they do. Les rests sounds no better in French than in English (especially since they borrowed the word from us). Nevertheless, in our busy, modern world, many home cooks try to intentionally stretch one dish to two or more night's worth of meals by reworking the leftovers into something other than the same thing reheated. That is the idea behind David Burke cookbook New American Classics (Knopf 2006). For each dish, oatmeal, roast chicken, or lobster, David offers three interpretations: Classic, Contemporary, and Second Day Dish (his euphemism for "leftovers"). Along with creating these New American Classics, it seemed only right to devise some new methods of using the incumbent "leftovers." So I've created "second Day Dishes" using some elements of a previous classic meal for a repast just as interesting and inviting a the dish from which it was derived. (p. xv) The recipes are all about comfort food for home cooks to create. Assisting him is Judith Choate, a veteran of the New American style, having worked with one of David's mentor, Charlie Palmer on his cookbooks. Like Charlie, David's food at davidburke & donatella and his other restaurants is all about big flavor. The three-recipe concept works quite well in many of the breakfast dishes. Take French Toast (pp. 19-24). The first recipe is for a classic French Toast with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar and Apple Syrup, in which the apples are sauted in a syrup beforehand. Following is Contemporary Titanic French Toast with Three Jams, in which whole small loaves of bread are deep fried. Finally there is French Toast with Bread Pudding Brulee, a fun take on a classic. It does use leftover French toast, but the recipe is good enough to make even if you don't have the leftovers and have to make the French toast, too. In addition, the recipe notes are packed with further variations, like a sandwich French toast suggestion, so the book is rich in ideas to lead the imagination of the novice cook. The techniques involved in each recipe build on previous ones. David is famous for his recently introduced Flavor Sprays and salmon pastrami, which appears in the book as the Contemporary recipe for salmon (p. 49) followed by the whimsical Smoked Salmon lollipops (pp. 50-51), which he markets to specialty food stores around the country. Barbecue is big subject close to the hearts of many Americans and David tackles barbecue chicken in three interesting recipes. The Classic, Barbecued Chicken Parts with Corn on the Cob and Grilled Vegetables (pp. 94-96) is a bit of a misnomer, the chicken is also poached and roasted and finally grilled. It is a very complicated but well-written recipe involving a great vat filled with almost 2 1/2 gallons of poaching liquid for the chicken, then roasting the chicken with David's own barbecue sauce, then grilling it. (The vegetables and corn also have to be cooked separately.) No doubt this creates moist and flavorful chicken, but what a lot of work! Next follows the Contemporary take, Pretzel-Onion Crusted Barbecued Chicken with Pretzel Latkes, Corn and Mustard (pp. 97-8) a many-stepped pretzel and onion coated chicken (this time, prepared only on the grill) and pulverized pretzel latkes. Oddly, David doesn't let on what kind of pretzels he likes to use, or why he uses pretzels in the first place. The last recipe is Barbecused Chicken Sticky Buns (pp. 99-100) which are made with Parker House rolls or Pop'n Fresh dough biscuits. These are simple and easy to make, with nice flavor coming from cumin seeds. In sum, David Burke is a chef with a big talent. You don't have to be Elastigirl to re-enact his exploits (though wouldn't David make a great Mr. Incredible?), but you do need real zest, energy, time, and a sense of humor to enjoy properly. New American Classics captures some of his unique thinking and is full of great information and helpful hints. At times, it almost feels that the three recipes concept is too confining because there are so many variations possible. What works is how closely the book captures a chef's thoughts and how that can teach the rest of us to use our imaginations in the kitchen. Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Previous articles: [Cookbook reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks --> back to superchefblog