Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of
Cooking, the Art of Eating by Michel
Richard
Creative Yet Simple Cooking You Can Do At Home
In cooking as in love, you have to try new things to keep it interesting. So
says chef Michel Richard in his cookbook Happy in the Kitchen, a
collection of 150-plus recipes that more than make his point. Whether
reinventing traditional recipes, often whimsically, as he does with dishes
like Tomato Tartare, Cuttlefish Schnitzel, and Turkey Steak au Poivre, or
presenting otherwise novel treats like Tuna Medallions with Passion Fruit
Salsa; Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Honeydew Melon; and Lamb-
Loin with Basil Crust and Fennel, Richard delights readers with creativity
that can thrill. Vegetable dishes, including his spuds-for-rice Potato Risotto
and Lo-Carb Carbonara, in which sliced onions sub for pasta, are
particularly ingenious. Equally novel--and tempting--are sweets like
Upside-Down Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake, Lemon-Lime Madeleine
Muffins, and Raspberry Meringues with Raspberry Tuiles. To pull off his
particular sleight-of-hand, Richard has devised novel techniques--like
using plastic film to shape and poach food, and gelatin to bind fatlessly--
that all cooks should know about. Whether readers will tackle the often-
exacting recipes will depend on their willingness to engage in kitchen
workouts that also regularly require special equipment like a Japanese
mandoline and electric meat slicer. Though there are a number of simpler,
homier recipes like Tomato Soup with Fresh Mozzarella and Thyme-
Glazed Baby Back Ribs--and the formulas themselves couldnt be more
lucid--this handsome book will probably be best appreciated as an artful
record of a great and wonderfully playful cooking intelligence. Replete with
stunning photos, used generously to illustrate techniques, its hard to
imagine any serious cook who wouldnt want to join Richard, dig in, and
learn. --Arthur Boehm
Personal Review: Happy in the Kitchen: The Craft of Cooking,
the Art of Eating by Michel Richard

If you love to cook, watch cooking shows, or collect cookbooks, this book
is a must have. I really wish I could give this book more than five stars
because it deserves to be distinguished from many other five star
cookbooks. I have a huge cookbook collection that ranges widely, and this
is one of my five all-time favorites. The adjectives that first come to mind
for this book are fun, precise, creative, delicious, and more fun. Michel
Richard is a very affable and creative cook. His playfulness and unique
style is on full exhibition on every page. If you ever get the opportunity
toeat at one of his restaurants or see him on TV, you will be delighted and
amused. His ideas are simple yet clever. His execution and attention to
detail and the craftsmanship of his dishes (flavor pairings, hot vs. cold,
texture contrasts, etc.) are second to none. His presentation is better than
almost everyone else - he takes it as seriously as the ingredients
themselves. Many of his tips, in fact, are designed just to make the
presentation more interesting, fun, and offbeat. If ever there was a cooking
maverick who deserves the oft overused term "genius" this is the man. His
book is a gem. Buy it. Buy it. Buy it.
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