Charlie Trotter - Kitchen Sessions With Charlie Trotter Review

I was walking through Costco and out of the corner of my eye I spied a book-signing. Lo and behold it was Charlie Trotter. Interestingly, he was hawking old volumes; Raw and Kitchen Sessions. Well, I've already got a couple of his books and they are books which I rarely use. Frankly, his preparations are too involved and frequently require ingredients which are too difficult to obtain--too difficult despite living in a huge metropolis. Anyhow, utility aside I had to get a signed copy from one of the world's great chefs.

 I picked up the copy of Kitchen Sessions because I recalled a couple of episodes from the series on PBS and remembered the recipes being more improvisatory than his usual fare. Turns out this is the whole point of the book: taking an idea and improvising on it. Lots of suggested substitutions, etc. It's kind of the way I cook anyhow. Charlie has some cool non-traditional techniques which anyone could incorporate into their repertoire. He's totally changed the way I make pasta dough, for example. Different flavor combinations, textural elements. Any cook could get a lot out of this book...especially the home cook who thinks Charlie's other books are just too much a PITA to use in the home kitchen.