Etxebarri

I bought this as I wanted to be able to elevate my grilling skills and I was excited to see Etxebarri had a recipe book. However, it immediately became apparent that the book follows the same template as many Michelin starred chef's books (looking at you, Heston!) and is rather indulgent with over 200 pages outlining the man himself, his methodologies, kitchen mindset and more. However, as it is all written by two other authors, it is written with such a sense of awe and reverence, it is a bit off-putting. The description of him grilling an egg could easily have be mistaken for discovering the cure for cancer.Still, all could be forgiven if the recipes are great and the techniques are explained for the home cook.Unfortunately, neither of these things are true. Short of continuously praising Bittor, nothing is done to translate his incredibly impressive and totally bespoke setup into the home. Secondly, the recipes fluctuate from containing ridiculous over-specificity to being infuriatingly vague. For example, several recipes call for "mussels, caught just south of the Mont Saint Michel" or hilariously, eggs laid on Bittor's own farm. Now this can be forgiven as an eccentric look at how the chef himself creates these dishes, but it doesn't help the reader understand WHY, so that they can source decent alternatives.What is unforgiveable is the vagueness. One recipe, "Green Peppers in Tempura Batter" has one ingredient listed. "Green peppers" and three steps: cuts the peppers, dredge in tempura batter and fry. Now, I've spent a lot of time in Japan, so I know tempura batter -- and there is a definite ratio, technique and trick to getting it right. To not even list the ingredients or preparation is insulting to the reader.So is this book a total write-off? No. It has some stunning photography throughout, both of the farm, the personalities and the food itself. It also undoubtedly inspiring -- in the UK, a grill is something you fire up 4 times a year when the sun actually shines and incinerate some sub-standard piece of meat to within an inch of its life. This book shows what practice, finesse and culinary creativity can do to elevate it to a true art form. It has absolutely inspired me to try certain seafoods and more wood-fired grilling this summer.But ultimately, this book feels like it was written BY Michelin star grill chefs FOR Michelin star grill chefs! It tells us WHAT you can do but wildly and lazily misses the mark on HOW to do it. Aspirational but not particularly useful. One for diehard Etxebarri fans only.

I was really excited to get into this book, it seemed like it would provide some fresh approaches to cooking on fire, actually it is about 50% biography on the restaurant and the philosophy, and the other 50% has ‘recipes’ for a mostly a single ingredient… get some really fresh tomatoes, put them on the bbq for 15 seconds, don’t add any other ingredients because the ultra fresh produce is so amazing. Serve.It is a beautiful book but theres no content.

Nice pictures.Thats about it I'm afraid.tldr

Great book, great place, great read.

Un libro fantastico, per chi come me adora questo tipo di cucina. È sempre stato fonte di ispirazione per me e, finalmente grazie ad Amazon, sono riuscito a trovare il suo libro.