Estate Sale Finds - Elder Road #3 ~ Cooks Illustrated: Restaurant Favorites

Restaurant Favorites at Home, published in 2003. There are 150 recipes selected by Cook's Illustrated from over 700 submissions.  After a dish was selected, it was adapted to "home kitchen" use and at the beginning of each recipe is short blurb regarding where the dish originated and the minor changes made. The goal of the book is to offer easy to prepare meals made with simple and available ingredients while retaining some of the restaurant "magic".

Selections include first courses (appetizers, salads and soups), entrees - mostly beef and at least four chicken dishes, plus green eggs and ham (!) - sides and lastly desserts.

There are photos and information on equipment and techniques, plus discussions on various ingredients ranging from truffle oil, chili peppers, cooking oil and recommendations for the best equipment/gadgets for one's kitchen.

The recipes are not as pretentious as one might expect with the exception of the Crab Towers with Avocado Salsa - which is a bit over the top. Of course there are confits, polentas and croquettes but they are made with simple ingredients and seem to rely more on taste then presentation. One familiar recipe was for Kim Chee Fried Rice - available from the Big City Diner in Hawaii.