A Masterpiece

Relae: A Book of Ideas by Christian F. Puglisi

As soon as you pick this book up, your thoughts are "A Masterpiece". It is as a dictionary of old, the thumb indents per chapter and ideas, so simple but elegantly constructed. The book is divided into three chapters with an appendix.

Chapter 1: Groundwork (six essays)

Chapter 2: Ideas on a Plate
Liquids (four essays)
Animal (six essays)
Land (thirteen essays)
Sea (seven essays)
Manipulations (ten essays)
Textures (nine essays)
Flavor (six essays)
Theory (thirteen essays)
Inspirations (nine essays)

Chapter 3: Dishes
Snacks (seven entries)
Herbivorous Starters (six entries)
Omnivorous Starters (eleven entries)
Herbivorous Seconds (nine entries)
Herbivorous Mains (eight entries)
Omnivorous Mains (seven entries)
Cheese and Desserts (thirteen entries)

Appendix: Recipes

If you are a beginner cook you may be overwhelmed, this book is not for the light of heart in any culinary sense. Puglisi's essays are intriguing and educational from vinegars to olive oil and butter. He tells of his experiences, his life and shares his knowledge.
The recipes are far from American normal meals, they are more like an expensive restaurant meal with small servings of many plates making up the one meal, you can easily think of one of those restaurants you need to make reservations far in advance, we are talking months.

This is more a book of ideas and theories than a simple cookbook. Your normal home cook does not own a dehydrator to dehydrate vegetables to rehydrate to get a specific texture, so it is best to look at learning techniques from Puglisi's book than looking at it as a cookbook with recipes, though there are a few.

I highly recommend it for the 'experienced' cook and restaurant chef. My kitchen isn't the average with 4 convection ovens and 10 burners, (5 electric and 5 gas). My husband and I enjoy cooking tremendously and yes I own a dehydrator (really 2). I must admit if you are into learning more techniques and applications this is the book for you, and your bookshelf. If you are just starting out it may be to much, but well worth having on your shelf for reference and learning after you get the basics down.

My only concern is the light color of the book itself, sitting on my counter may get stained a bite with use.

 "I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."