good things - Liz Posmyk
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs

Maximum Flavour - Recipes that will change the way you cook by Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot

3/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Maximum Flavour - Recipes that will change the way you cook
Maximum Flavour by Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot, image courtesy Hardie Grant
'We love to play with food. In fact, we love it so much so we've made careers out of it. When we cooked professionally, we started experimenting in our free time, teaching ourselves new approaches and embracing innovation to make food taste better.'                                    
                    — chefs Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot, in the introduction to Maximum Flavour

Taking a standard recipe and seeing if they can improve it by experimenting with different ways to prepare it is just one approach adopted by this innovative pair who created Ideas in Food, a team that helps restaurants and food companies solve kitchen conundrums and teaches businesses to think more creatively about cooking. I like it!!

Reading the short publicity piece for this book, I was keen to learn more and it was statements such as those above and this next one that sold me on this book: 'Modern cooking, aka molecular gastronomy, has inspired many chefs and cooks to explore new ideas in the kitchen, which is a good thing. But some of its techniques can be too over-the-top for most home cooks — like using liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream [for example].' And that is so true! 

Instead, Kamozawa and Talbot play around with recipes, use pantry ingredients strategically, and take advantage of common kitchen equipment all in the name of delivering food with maximum flavour. They recommend that cooks 'experiment, taste and play with food' so that they can 'discover why cooking and eating are so fascinating and fun'. Sharing expert advice on everything from making gluten-free baking mixes and homemade cheeses and buttermilk to understanding the finer points of fermentation or sous-vide cooking, Kamozawa and Talbot chronicle their quest to bring out the best in every ingredient. With their help readers will learn: 

• Why steaming potatoes in the pressure cooker before frying them makes for the crispiest French fries 
• Why, contrary to popular belief, you should flip your burgers often as you cook them for the best results 
• How to cook steak consistently and perfectly every time 
• How to make easy egg-free ice creams that are more flavourful than their traditional custard-base cousins 
• How to make no-knead Danish that are even better than the ones at your local bakery 
• How to smoke vegetables to make flavourful vegetarian dishes 
• Why pâte à choux — or cream puff dough — makes foolproof, light-as-air gnocchi 
• How pressure cooking sunflower seeds can transform them into a creamy risotto 
• How to elevate everyday favourites and give them a fresh new spin 

Among the recipes that caught my attention are banana caramel ice cream (page 243), where the bananas are first cooked in a dark caramel to help break them down and release some of their natural pectins; slow cooked T-bone steak (page 177), where the meat is first browned and the fat caramelised before being cooked sous vide; and lemon roasted potatoes (page 125), where the spuds are nestled on a bed of onions and lemons, which then caramelise into a marmalade-like texture. Wow!

Kamozawa and Talbot have worked with both individual chefs and companies, such as No. 9 Group in Boston and Fourth Wall Restaurants in New York. Their company grew out of their blog, which they started in 2004 as a way to record their daily work in restaurant kitchens. They have featured in the New York Times, Popular Science, Food & Wine and Saveur, and speak regularly at professional conferences around the world. 
Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot, authors of Maximum Flavour
Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot, authors of Maximum Flavour, image courtesy Hardie Grant
Print Friendly and PDF

Maximum Flavour by Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot, Hardie Grant, $39.95. Thank you to the publicity team at Hardie Grant, and also to Aki and Alexander, for giving me the opportunity to review this title. I look forward to road testing the recipes in my kitchen, for I, too, love to play with food! 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Bookshelf

    Cookbook reviews and interviews with food writers and chefs.



    Titles/Authors

    All
    101 Cookbooks
    5:2 Lifestyle
    Adam Liaw
    Adrian Richardson
    Almond Bar
    Almonds : Recipes
    Ancient Grains
    Annabel Crabb
    Anna Bergenström And Fanny Bergenström
    Anna Gare
    Annie Rigg
    A Passion For Fruit
    A Story Of Seven Summers
    Australian Vegetable Garden
    Bake
    Catherine Saxelby
    Charmaine Solomon
    Chefs
    Clive Blazey
    Coffee Trails
    Complete Food And Nutrition Companion
    Cookery Book
    Country Womens Association Classics
    Crust
    Culture
    David Thompson
    Delicious
    Delicious Every Day
    Delicious. Home Cooking
    Dish It Up
    Doggylicious
    Dominique Rizzo
    Eat
    Eat In
    Eleanor Ozich
    Elizabeth David
    Emma Galloway
    Farmers Market Family Cookbook
    Food Markets Of The World
    Frances Mayes Edward Mayes
    Francis Van Arkel
    Fried Chicken & Friends By Gregory Llewellyn & Naomi Hart
    Growing Your Own Fruit And Vegetables
    Guy Mirabella
    Hayden Quinn
    Heidi Swanson
    Hilary Burden
    History
    Home Baking
    Home Cheese Making In Australia
    Hungry
    Ian Hemphill
    In A Glass
    Indochine
    Italian Food
    Jane Grover
    Johnnie Mountain
    Jo Wheatley
    Kate Walsh
    Limoncello And Linen Water
    Lorenza De'Medici
    Love
    Love Aimee X By Aimee Twigger
    Luke Mangan
    Luke Nguyen
    Maggie Beer
    Maggie's Christmas
    Margaret Fulton
    Marie Claire Summer
    Marion Grasby
    Marion's Kitchen
    Mark Jensen
    Matthew Evans
    Maximum Flavour
    Monday Morning Cooking Club The Food
    Monday Morning Cooking Club - The Food
    My Darling Lemon Thyme
    My Family Table
    My Kitchen Year
    My Petite Kitchen
    My Taste Of Sicily
    Naked Food
    New Vegetarian Kitchen
    Nicola Graimes
    Nigel Slater
    Pauline Nguyen
    Pies And Tarts
    Pig
    Real Food Projects
    Rediscover Australian Pears
    Richard Bertinet
    Ruth Reichl
    Salmon Cookbook
    Salt Grill
    Same Same But Different
    Secrets Of The Red Lantern
    Sharon Salloum
    Signature Dishes
    Simply Gluten-free & Dairy-free
    Simply The Best
    Slow Cooking
    Special Delivery
    Spice Notes
    Stephane Reynaud
    Super Natural Every Day
    Sweet Things
    Tessa Kiros
    Thai Food
    The Australian Vegetable Garden
    The Complete Asian Cookbook
    The Diggers Club
    The Dinner Ladies
    The Dirty Chef
    The Feast Goes On
    The Food Of Vietnam
    The Gentle Art Of Preserving
    The Good Life
    The Sisterhood
    The Stories
    The Tuscan Sun Cookbook
    Toby Smith
    Two Asian Kitchens
    Under The Tuscan Sun
    Under The Walnut Tree
    Valerie Pearson
    Veganissimo!
    Winter On The Farm


Good Things is written and published by Liz Posmyk © 2011-2020.   All rights reserved.
Excerpts may be used provided that full and clear credit is given. Thank you.


  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • My book
  • Writing & Media
  • FAQs