Cookbook Profile: Winning Styles Cookbook

Winning Styles Cookbook
Recipes from the James Beard Foundation
Award-Winning Chefs

Also check out the recent International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards (includes Julia Child Award) and the recent James Beard Awards.

American cooking icon James Beard was passionate about life, and he shared his zeal with others through his cooking. The James Beard Foundation has been dedicated to continuing his legacy by recognizing those aspiring cooks who have preserved and perpetuated Beard's commitment and devotion. The year 2003 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Beard, and in an unprecedented culinary event, 21 master chefs, who have all garnered prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards, share their passion in Winning Styles Cookbook: Recipes from the James Beard Foundation Award-Winning Chefs.

Winning Styles Cookbook is a veritable all-star team of super chefs who reveal the stories behind their success as well as more than 100 recipes—all complemented by stunning full-color photography throughout by John Ormond. Food professionals and home cooks alike will revel in this practical guide that is also a beautiful testament to the memory of the illustrious James Beard. This inspired new cookbook will give the reader the opportunity to learn the techniques for preparing basics such as stocks and sorbets to the chefs' prized risottos and ragouts—all of which are accompanied by food and beverage pairings. But the book, with its many photographs of the chefs themselves, is also a window into their lives and a moving, personal account of the struggle and success of these dedicated and gifted men and women.

The delicious offerings in Winning Styles Cookbook are as diverse as the chefs and the cities where they live. Patrick O'Connell, of the Inn at Little Washington, spotlights local Virginia ham—"country folk's caviar"—in his Pizza with Black Truffle and Country Ham, and Susan Spicer, of Bayona, takes full advantage of the local New Orleans fare in her Crayfish Pie. Meanwhile, Rick Bayless, of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, brings Mexico to Chicago in his Tortilla Soup with Shredded Chard, and Lidia Bastianich, of Felidia, Becco, and others, shares her art of Italian cooking in Sautéed Assorted Mushrooms with Buckwheat Polenta. and desserts seem to cross all cultural and geographic boundaries with Toasted Cream Torte with Cherry Ice Cream from Christine Keff, of Fandango, or a Banana Tart from the self-admitted "ferocious" sweet tooth of Robert Kinkead, of the eponymous Kinkead's.

In addition to learning the secrets of these master chefs, the reader will also discover that Michael Schlow, of Radius, was on the road to becoming a professional baseball player before a shoulder injury sent him on the path of another winning career in cooking. Gary Danko, of Restaurant Gary Danko, began his kitchen career at 14—assisting his father, who was a general contractor renovating a restaurant. The reader will learn that these award-winning chefs are often as altruistic as they are talented. Just one example is Charlie Trotter, of Charlie Trotter's, who has created a non-profit education program for students seeking careers in the culinary arts, and Trotter personally hosts a weekly dinner for students around Chicago. Winning Styles Cookbook is a fascinating compendium that matches the lives and faces of the artists to the great work that is the legacy of James Beard.

With its diversity of cooking styles, techniques, and flavors, the handsome Winning Styles Cookbook is a collection of the superb recipes and beverage pairings of some of America's great chefs. The book is also a personal glimpse at the lives and culinary efforts of 21 individuals who are an inspiration for the 21st century and the generations of cooks and chefs to come.

Buy the Book!

Winning Styles Cookbook
Recipes from the James Beard Foundation Award-Winning Chefs
Feeding Frenzy, Inc.
$42.00/hardcover
4-color photography throughout
ISBN: 0-9728697-1-9
Information provided by the publisher.