Azurmendi (2021 Edition)

This large (9.5" x 11.25", 444 pages) book features the food of Basque Chef Eneko Atxa's Michelin 3-star restaurant in the hills outside Bilbao, Spain. The restaurant is renowned for its commitment to sustainable agriculture, and for the extensive gardens where it grows much of its own food.

There are just 75 finished dishes in Azurmendi, but each is composed of multiple elements that can be adapted and used as part of a cook's own inspiration. The chef largely features  traditional, local ingredients, but his treatment of them is technically accomplished and imaginative. Photographic sequences throughout the book demonstrate innovative techniques where necessary, but some are quite simple, such as piping herb emulsion into pommes soufflés.

Among the dishes: Iberian pork tartare with hibiscus infusion and eel brioche; squab with a mousse of its offal, roasted root vegetables, and eggplant; teardrop peas with ham gel and barbecued pea pods; oxtail ravioli with stewed wheat and sheep's milk cheese.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout. Ribbon marker. In Spanish and English.