Cook with Joan Roca: Step-by-Step Preparation and Cooking Techniques

This comprehensive book from one of the world's most well-known chefs guides precision-oriented home cooks in the creation of recipes that range from simple to elaborate.

Joan Roca is the chef at his family's Michelin 3-star restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca, in Catalonia, Spain. His attention to technique made his earlier book on sous-vide cooking a trusted resource for professional kitchens, and here he offers ambitious home cooks similarly rigorous guidance in thinking and acting like a restaurant cook.

The first one hundred or so pages of the book discuss kitchen organization, meal planning, choice of tools and ingredients, and how to clean and prepare those ingredients for use.

The recipes are organized by cooking technique, and often supported by step-by-step photo sequences:

• Boiling
• Steaming
• Braising
• Stewing
• Frying
• Poaching, confit, and pickling
• Stir-frying
• Roasting and grilling
• Coating and gratineeing
• Vacuum cooking
• Microwaving

While it's possible to find straightforward recipes such as fresh bean stew with fresh garlic, more typical are dishes such as carpaccio of pig's trotters or cod with spinach, raisins, pine nuts and idazabal cheese.

This is a book for people interested in stretching their skills and their palates under the guidance of a renowned culinary practitioner.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.