David Burke's New American Classics: Brilliant Variations on Traditional Dishes for Everyday Dining, Entertaining, and Second Day Meals

`David Burke's New American Classics' by, of course, David Burke with co-author, culinary pen for hire, Judith Choate is a great foodie cookbook and if you appreciate good food and cookbooks, stop reading this now and scroll up and order yourself a copy instead of wasting any more time reading my thoughts on this truly worthy cookbook!I can generally recognize very good and very bad cookbooks after about two or three minutes of reading the table of contents and the introduction. I could tell this book was worthy of consideration even before I opened it, based on an appearance by Burke to promote the book on the Today show a few days ago. Being an inveterate watcher of both talk show food segments and Food Network shows, I have become jaded to most conventional rehashes of typical dishes where the segments are little more than shuffling swapouts. Due to the fact that lamb is one of my very favorite things to eat, Burke got my attention in that his segment was a new take on doing filleted leg of lamb. Having just done a leg of lamb for Easter with less than spectacular success, I was quite willing to listen to new ideas, and Burke hit the nail on the head. His solution is to easily fillet the rolled leg of lamb meat into its easily identified component muscles, saute the seasoned pieces almost as if you were doing a beef fillet, then pan-roasting the seared pieces to the correct temperature, requiring not much more than 10 minutes. I was hooked. Then I opened the book, and found the whole book to be chocked full of such ideas.Burke's first attraction was the fact that his Table of Contents listed every major recipe rather than simply the usual tired chapter headings. This Table fully revealed his strategy of offering three variations on 39 classic American recipes.The first recipe of the trio is a traditional dish, although not necessarily simple or easy dishes and not necessarily the most familiar traditional fare. It is more likely that the traditional recipe will be a tradition of great American restaurants than great American home cooking, although there are exceptions.The second recipe of each trio is a contemporary take on approximately the same ingredients. The contemporary dish is always different enough from the classic that it is worth having and making both recipes without risking a boring `oh, that again' from your family or even yourself. Most contemporary dishes are also `restaurant grade' and not necessarily original to Chef Burke, but most are well within the capabilities of an experienced home cook.The third recipe concept alone is worth the price of the book, in that it gives a recipe for remaking the leftovers from one of the two earlier recipes into an entirely new dish. The recipes for the leftover French toast and pancakes alone may be worth the price of the book, as I constantly find myself making a standard recipe for either and am left with about twice as much as I can serve at the time.Speaking of pancakes and French toast, any good cookbook which covers breakfast almost automatically wins my heart, as breakfast is easily the most widely neglected meal in cookbooks, especially for those of us among the retired 60 Somethings who need to stay away from high salt and empty calorie dishes so common in breakfast fare. Our advantage is that we have the time to take an hour in the morning or some time the night before to do up oatmeal right.All of this would be for naught if the recipes were not good, and I am certain that these recipes are more than good. My first clue was when I spotted Chef Burke's cooking times for potatoes. One of my biggest complaints about so many recipes is that their cooking times for potatoes, especially for fried potatoes or potatoes au gratin are too short. I see no such problems here. And, while the cooking instructions may be just a bit advanced for the total novice, there is no absence of careful detail to cover unfamiliar procedures. I am so impressed by the care with which the recipes are written that I will even sign on for some of the especially fussy techniques such as storing poached eggs in a warm water bath of a very specific temperature.One of my surest signs of an important cookbook is that regardless of what page I open, I find interesting recipes, comments, tips, and impressions on ingredients. The section of tuna recipes is a case in point where the classic recipe is a tuna steak cooked all the way through, as it was always done before `nouvelle cuisine' got their mitts on the fish. The issue Burke points out is that while this is a very nice way to cook tuna, one must guard against drying out the flesh, almost as one must cook pork chops carefully to avoid creating shoe leather with dried meat. Thus, Burke supplies the appropriate sauce to keep your rather expensive fishy fare succulent.Speaking of sauces, one of the very few ways in which I could think to improve this book would be to give a special index of supplementary recipes of sauces, condiments, and side dishes provided in each of the 39 main recipes.This is a rare book composed primarily of recipes where I feel constrained by only being able to assign five stars, as it is better than many books to which I have already given five stars. This is a truly great foodie book in that there is a real risk that if a non-foodie reads it, they will turn into a foodie, the material is that alluring. This book is most like the two great collaborations between Mark Bittman and Jean-George Vongerichten and the collaboration between Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon, except that it is better than both for the average cook!

Saw this chef on Rachel Ray and he was showing the audience how to make delicious dishes from leftovers. I thought "What a great idea". I'm always throwing out leftovers, because no one in my family will eat them. Most of the recipes in this book are too elaborate for everyday use, and the recipes for the leftovers call for ingredients that are not in the normal households. I would have to go to the store and purchase ingredients to make the leftover recipes, which kind of defeats the purpose. Also the ingredients are not ones that I would normally keep in the house. This book is great when you want to make something for a special occasion.

My order with Amazon was carried out without a hitch. Reading through the book, I was unimpressed. It is a cookbook. Tried one receipe with so, so results. Maybe time and more use will change my mind, but for now, an average cookbook.

Finally a professional tells that you can plan your perfect dinner and then you can have somethingdifferent next day even tho made from ingredients of your earlier dinner. No three days of sameold food in a row. Great!

I picked up the book "David Burke's New American Classics". It has a lot of very good info in it. Was glad that I got it. Big book.

Best meatloaf recipe in the world and looks cool

Good for the home cook.

My brother-in-law has a David Burke obsession and I found this book used and bought it for him for Christmas. He loves it.