Not all restaurant cookbooks are the same nor are they intended for the same purpose. Many of the fine dining persuasion are coffee table stacks intended for the restaurant’s (or more likely, the chef’s) ardent fans.
Ownership is a matter of pride for the purchaser and their publication is a status symbol of achievement for the subject. (Cynically, it’s not bad PR). For example, Noma, Centrale and Gordon Ramsay’s totemic sleeved cookbook for this eponymous London three star.
Realistically, owners do not cook the food. Instead they gain a printed insight like pulling back the veil to glimpse behind the scenes.
Then there are the everyday restaurant cookbooks which are more accessible and I’d argue those are more influential on the culture of cooking and the public at large—Ottolenghi and The Silver Palate makes that point.
A really interesting analysis with which I mostly agree. Sourcing restaurant-style Ingredients, rather than method, presents the most obvious dichotomy. Where does the home cook find quantities of fresh langoustines or even proper spinach?
But, as a restaurateur, I was dismayed to read that old trope about staff being paid poorly while owners accrue vast wealth. It is simply untrue. Even in the countryside, a middle-ranking person can earn £50k-plus while, after five years of trading, April was the first month we took anything — a princely £3k.
One other aspect of this I think gets underplayed is that in order to be put out for home cooks recipes have to be rescaled. Commercial scale for baked goods, sauces, etc in a restaurant isn't the same as "serves 4-6 people". The best restaurant cookbook by far I've run across in terms of replicating the flavors comes from the Manna Cafe Cookbook by Barb Pratzel, who put the cookbook together after she and her husband closed their popular neighborhood cafe. Barb worked with a specialist as part of the cookbook writing to help scale down, and in some cases formalize, recipes to convert them into something for home cooks.
In this case I can't get the restaurant experience from them anymore, but damn if those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (which have a cute story about being added to the permanent menu at the restaurant based on relentless customer demand) and Cheesy Hash Browns etc don't taste on point when I go to the trouble of making them myself.
Not all restaurant cookbooks are the same nor are they intended for the same purpose. Many of the fine dining persuasion are coffee table stacks intended for the restaurant’s (or more likely, the chef’s) ardent fans.
Ownership is a matter of pride for the purchaser and their publication is a status symbol of achievement for the subject. (Cynically, it’s not bad PR). For example, Noma, Centrale and Gordon Ramsay’s totemic sleeved cookbook for this eponymous London three star.
Realistically, owners do not cook the food. Instead they gain a printed insight like pulling back the veil to glimpse behind the scenes.
Then there are the everyday restaurant cookbooks which are more accessible and I’d argue those are more influential on the culture of cooking and the public at large—Ottolenghi and The Silver Palate makes that point.
A really interesting analysis with which I mostly agree. Sourcing restaurant-style Ingredients, rather than method, presents the most obvious dichotomy. Where does the home cook find quantities of fresh langoustines or even proper spinach?
But, as a restaurateur, I was dismayed to read that old trope about staff being paid poorly while owners accrue vast wealth. It is simply untrue. Even in the countryside, a middle-ranking person can earn £50k-plus while, after five years of trading, April was the first month we took anything — a princely £3k.
One other aspect of this I think gets underplayed is that in order to be put out for home cooks recipes have to be rescaled. Commercial scale for baked goods, sauces, etc in a restaurant isn't the same as "serves 4-6 people". The best restaurant cookbook by far I've run across in terms of replicating the flavors comes from the Manna Cafe Cookbook by Barb Pratzel, who put the cookbook together after she and her husband closed their popular neighborhood cafe. Barb worked with a specialist as part of the cookbook writing to help scale down, and in some cases formalize, recipes to convert them into something for home cooks.
In this case I can't get the restaurant experience from them anymore, but damn if those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (which have a cute story about being added to the permanent menu at the restaurant based on relentless customer demand) and Cheesy Hash Browns etc don't taste on point when I go to the trouble of making them myself.