The New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook Review

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(More customer reviews)I lived in the Boston area for over 10 years and went to Legal's many times for quick late-night meals (clam chowder or a fish sandwich to go) as well as for more elaborate meals on special occasions. I really liked the place a lot. So when I found out they had a cookbook, I thought it would be great to replicate some of the dishes that I'd really liked at home, esp. now that I'm living on the West Coast. The names of some of the favorites were there: Crab and Artichoke Hushpuppies, Baked Scrod, etc. But when I looked closely at these recipes once I bought the book, I realized that they are NOT the dishes that they served at the restaurants. The Baked Scrod at Legal's has buttery herb breadcrumbs, yet the cookbook describes it as a dish that's scrod, baked in butter and topped with lemon (and that's it - the recipe is really, really short). The Crab and Artichoke hushpuppies recipe doesn't have artichokes in the ingredients list. I'm not sure why artichokes are listed in their name then? And I remember there being artichokes in the version I've eaten at the restaurants. The key lime pie at the restaurants is somewhat like a light, creamy key lime cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, yet the recipe in the book is the standard more jelly-like key lime pie with a standard floury pie crust. I was really confused about how they could claim in the inner flap that this was "the complete guide to buying, cooking, and enjoying seafood - with more than 200 recipes - from the restaurant that knows it best." I guess they meant that the guide was from the restaurant but not the recipes? Overall, there's lots of advice on how to select and cook seafood and I'm sure it's all very useful to people who want to know more about that, but the book didn't serve the purpose I bought it for - to replicate favorite dishes at home.

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Tom's Big Dinners: Big-Time Home Cooking for Family and Friends Review

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(More customer reviews)This is neat concept, that of "big dinner." Tom and his wife both knew what this was all about, everyone has their own job. Now, for Tom it means that everybody contributes something to the meal. What a great idea!
He starts it with helping us home chefs to "Basics" that is making stuff in advance and saving it, e.g. stocks,dough, etc. so that it comes in handy in putting together spectacular dinners.
Additionally cool about this are the some thirteen feats that are Tom's big dinner gang's favs. There is the rarified Wine Cellar Dinner with Chocolate Crepes for the finale, or the inviting "Merlot Release Picnic." This has as its continuous theme, you guessed it, "merlot." Included is yummy "Lamb Chop T-bones in crushed cherry marinade with tarragon mustard," with merlot in the marinade. This is great picnic or barbie fare.
The book is warmly written with great color photography and source info and wine & drink suggestions galore. Big dinners will be advanced significantly and funnier with this aid.

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I Love Crab Cakes 50 Recipes for an American Classic Review

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(More customer reviews)A crab cake is a crab cake; but not to Tom Douglas. And to his credit he proves his point. This is not a man with to much time on his hands, he loves Crab Cakes and gives you the recipes to prove it. This book is great for the home cook or Chef that is looking to put something special together for their next dinner party. The Avacado and Crab salad, awsome. The Artichoke stuffed soft shell crab, fantastic and in the last few pages he reinvents how we look at the average fried crab cake by wrapping and steaming in banana leaves or making it into Crab Louis Cheesecakes, SOOOOOO good. It is a great one for your collection and the recipes will impress your guests.

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Where do you get the best crab cakes? Ask one hundred different people and you'll likely get one hundred different answers. Some swear by classic Chesapeake Bay crab cakes, and some by spicy Creole crab cakes, while others maintain that Pacific Northwest crab cakes can't be beat. In I Love Crab Cakes!, award-winning chef and cookbook author Tom Douglas brings the best of East, West, and Gulf coasts to the table and proves that the most delicious crab cakes of all come straight from your home kitchen.

Tom thoroughly examines every thorny, crab cake–related issue. Bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, panko, or no crumbs at all? What kind of crabmeat: Dungeness, king, or Peeky Toe? Are the best crab cakes pan-fried, deep-fried, or not even cooked?

Tom offers up dozens of his famous crab cake recipes, including classic crab cakes from East and West, North and South, plus newer innovations such as Wild Ginger Crab Cakes, Pesto Risotto Crab Cakes, and Crab Louie Cheesecakes. There are crab cake sandwiches, breakfast crab cakes, and crab cake sauces and salsas.

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The Kitchen Table: Brennan's of Houston Review

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(More customer reviews)First off if you love Brennan's you are going to love this cookbook. With that being said if you are looking for the recipe for their pralines, or the banana's foster, you need to look at one of their other cookbooks because this book isn't filled with the traditional recipes that we all know and love Brennan's for.
This book was lovingly created, and has many unique recipes. Recipes contained in this book are those that you would expect to find in a finer dining establishment. Satsuma orange jelly, warm spinach salad, Heirloom tomato salad, are just a few of the recipes in this book. The book contains a good selection from all courses of dinner; meats, baked goods, vegetables, and additional items to make a meal complete. There are photos of each and every recipe, the photos make you want to go into the kitchen and start cooking immediately.
While many of these recipes are very good, I had personally expected this to have more items I would see on the menu. One of the appeals of Brennan's is its classic standards that you come to enjoy. This book contains none of these recipe, but it does contain other good recipes that an adventuresome cook would enjoy making.


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The Kitchen Table is the experience of enjoying dinner in the private dining room within the kitchen of Brennan's of Houston—ringside! From that vantage point, in command central of that superlative restaurant, friends of Brennan's of Houston can observe the line cooks, the dishwashers, the salad and pastry chefs as they move with snappy efficiency and athletic energy around the gleaming kitchen festooned with copper pans. For groups of as many as ten friends or family at The Kitchen Table, the chefs prepare customized tastes from the lavish menu over which Executive Chef Randy Evans presides.Under Chef Evans' inventive leadership is unfolding at Brennan's of Houston an exciting revival of classic dishes with an evolving of Texas Creole cuisine into the now. Customers become friends of Brennan's, and, says Chef Randy, "We keep our customers thinking, personally educating them and moving their palates forward."The Kitchen Table: Brennan's of Houston opens with "Diaries of the Kitchen Table," customers' telling what they saw, heard, tasted, and learned while dining in the center of the action. Following are chapters corresponding to the seven courses served at The Kitchen Table, from lagniappe through dessert and including "the forgotten course," cheese. The kitchen is open at Brennan's of Houston!

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