TC

[EliAnnKat]

Top Chef: Has anyone tried to recreate any recipes?

[momjamin]

I did Elia's beach brunch recipe with the frozen waffles, egg, refried beans, ham, etc., since I was intrigued and the ingredients (or close approximations) were in the house. Even with my substitutions, it was actually pretty good.

[gyozagirl]

I just bought the Top Chef cookbook yesterday, and took a stab at Season 3 Hung's Sauteed Shrimp, Corn Pudding, Bacon and Corn Salad, and Shrimp Foam. Taste was great, but turning the foam into an actual foamy consistency... not so much. What can I say, I'm no molecular gastronomist...but it was fun though!

[LindaWhit]

You're brave. :-) Sans the shrimpy foam, how hard was everything else to do? However, I guess recipe difficulty rating depends on how good a cook you are, so your "easy as pie!" might be my "this is f'ing hard!" rating. <g>

[gyozagirl]

Haha thank you. Believe me, I'm right at the brink of "I can cook ok, but a little nervous about this cookbook!", so if I was able to do it, I'm sure most anyone can, especially if you're on CH!

Overall, this recipe wasn't that difficult (except the foam, which tasted great, but it was pretty runny and I couldn't get it to foam up)- however, I have to say that with a small apartment kitchen, organization really really helped! I'm not really one that has a mise en place for ALL meals I've made, but for the Top Chef cooking it was pretty necessary, at least for me. I read through most of the recipes last night and a lot of them require many steps, one right after another, sometimes while you're doing something else, but that aren't very hard on their own...at least compared to other cookbooks I own.

I would recommend that anyone that is interested at least pick it up and take a look if you come across it in a bookstore- photos are great, and it's fun to make something from a show I love!