title: Garde-Manger 
author: Chuck Hughes

publication date: April 16, 2012
publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Food is constantly evolving, changing, becoming…Food is alive! Capturing something as ephemeral as a recipe or a favourite dish is anything but straightforward.
— Chuck Hughes (Garde-Manger)

The first cookbook from Canadian chef Chuck Hughes, Garde-Manger gives readers a “sampling of our recipes at Garden-Manger, and above all a guide to our favourite dishes”.

Paul and I first discovered Chuck’s cooking through his show, Chuck’s Day Off. His relaxed cooking style, amazing looking food and fun-loving personality were a welcome change of pace from all the reality cooking shows that seemed to be popping up. His success on Iron Chef America was also pretty awesome!

Smoked Mackerel with Stewed Tomatoes and Pan-Grilled Garlic Bread

the first nibble:

Filled with gorgeous photographs of food, the restaurant and some off-beat graphics, the book imparts the same feel that Hughes’ show does – an energetic, passionate and genuine love of food and the people around him.

On my first pass through the book, five recipes that jumped out as ‘must try’:

• Fried hot chicken on waffles, pg.68
• Lobster poutine, pg.82
• Praline pecans, pg.114
• Lobster roll, pg.188
• Lemon and granola parfait, pg.208

 
the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): no number given

recipe list? Yes, at the start of each chapter, there’s a list of recipes contained in that chapter

table of contents:Besides “Cocktails”, “Fish and Seafood”, “Potato Crazy” and “Desserts”, the other categories are more general (or vague, depending on how you want to look at it)

photography: There is some seriously fun and beautiful photography in this book. There are shots of food, of scenes from the restaurant (both behind-the-scenes and of patrons enjoying the food) and other crazy visuals (city shots, close-ups of honeycomb, etc). There are shots of finished dishes, but not every recipe comes with a photo of the finished dish. Some are accompanied by a photo of an ingredient and others are next to images that have nothing to do with the recipe at all.

photo to recipe ratio*:  out of 97 total recipes**, 55 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 1.8)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted

recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? yes
– recipe format: numbered steps

There are many recipes that I had already scene on Chuck’s show, Chuck’s Day Off, and there are some new ones. There is a definite focus on seafood, especially lobster. Since Paul and I absolutely love lobster, this is going to be a fun book to cook from.

Just check out some of the recipes that include lobster: Arancini and lobster bisque, General Tao lobster, Lobster poutine, Lobster butter, Potatoes with lobster, Lobster roll – and the list goes on!

Some of the recipes come with a really short intro, but others don’t, making this a “just get cooking” book as opposed to “settle down with a cup of tea and read through slowly” book.

the last bite:

Can a cookbook exude energy? Because this one does. Maybe because I imagine Chuck discussing the recipes in that energetic voice of his, or maybe it’s the eclectic collection of of photos in the book. Whatever the case, this book makes you want to get into the kitchen and get cooking!

The recipes centre around common themes and as I mentioned, seafood plays a huge part. There are some traditional dishes (Roast suckling pig, Strawberry shortcake, Oysters Rockefeller) and lots of comfort food. I also appreciate the chapter called Garde-Manger, which includes recipes for kitchen staples like Chicken stock, Mayonnaises, Barbecue sauce, etc.

This book, with all its tempting recipes, interesting photography and minimalistic text, definitely sets you up to get into the kitchen and create some amazing tastes.

Click here to purchase Garde-Manger from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

Lobster Poutine