The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution: A Cookboo

Product Description

An indispensable resource for home cooks from the woman who changed the way Americans think about food. 

Perhaps more responsible than anyone for the revolution in the way we eat, cook, and think about food, Alice Waters has “single-handedly chang[ed] the American palate” according to the New York Times. Her simple but inventive dishes focus on a passion for flavor and a reverence for locally produced, seasonal foods.

With an essential repertoire of timeless, approachable recipes chosen to enhance and showcase great ingredients, The Art of Simple Food is an indispensable resource for home cooks. Here you will find Alice’s philosophy on everything from stocking your kitchen, to mastering fundamentals and preparing delicious, seasonal inspired meals all year long. Always true to her philosophy that a perfect meal is one that’s balanced in texture, color, and flavor, Waters helps us embrace the seasons’ bounty and make the best choices when selecting ingredients. Fill your market basket with pristine produce, healthful grains, and responsibly raised meat, poultry, and seafood, then embark on a voyage of culinary rediscovery that reminds us that the most gratifying dish is often the least complex.

Top Reviews

So simple that it's ridiculous
by Zeesal (2 out of 5 stars)
November 23, 2018

I get that its the Art of SIMPLE Food, by a very respected chef, but this book is so overly simplified that if you have ever made a meal, or cooked anything - then there's nothing here for you. I couldn't even get through the teaching chapters and started skimming, looking desperately for information or recipes I could use - and seriously it's a whole lot of nothing. Returning. I was hoping for more...
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This has been a great resource for trying new dishes
by ARDANI (5 out of 5 stars)
April 29, 2018

This has been a great resource for trying new dishes. The descriptions are so detailed and I could really make a completely new dish without any problems and every new dish I've tried to make from this book has been a big hit. There's always something new to learn in cooking!
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One of my top 10 cookbooks.
by Vernazzait (5 out of 5 stars)
November 10, 2016

This is in my top 10 cookbook list and I give it as a gift. My top ten are cookbooks that have the requisite recipe, but is also instructional and you will learn why you do certain things.
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An excellent book with a wonderful philosophy of food
by Michele (5 out of 5 stars)
January 13, 2018

An excellent book with a wonderful philosophy of food, great ideas to help keep my kitchen in order and prepare my own wonderful meals, plus some excellent realistic recipes. I really enjoyed this and consider it a kitchen shelf basic.
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Wow!
by Ady Reader (5 out of 5 stars)
July 6, 2019

This was a very simple but very wonderful guide on cooking. It's not a book of fancy recipes and pretty food photos, but it is a book of great advice on using what you have near you and how to cook various things and plan your meals. There are recipes in it, really GREAT recipes, but this is not what I would call a "recipe book". This is an actual cookbook.
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Primer for those starting out
by C. Ebeling (4 out of 5 stars)
October 28, 2008

I greatly admire Alice Waters and her leadership in the American food tradition. Her emphasis on fresh foods, cooking from scratch, eating family dinners, and buying from local growers and dairy/meat farms is helping to make this world a better place. These values and the desire to help everyone find a way to live this way infuse "The Art of Simple Food," a primer for beginners.
"The Art of Simple Food" is half how-to, with a few recipes illustrating fundamental techniques like braising, roasting, steaming, etc., in the first section. The other half is more of a standard cookbook that offers recipes organized according to appetizers, soups, entrees, etc. It is meant to be read from beginning to end because of the emphasis on building a repertoire of skills.

The good thing about "The Art of Simple Food" is that it calls for produce that is commonly found at most farmer's markets around the country or in supermarkets. As much as I admire Waters, I've not always gotten along with her other cookbooks because there is usually some deal-breaker in a recipe--usually an ingredient I can't get locally, like a Meyer lemon, golden beets or a blood orange, for instance. Though I have access to an abundant farmer's market 5 months out of the year, the selection is prosaic compared to what Waters can find 12 months out of the year in California. I've had better results cooking out of "Simple Food" but some dishes, like the braised Savoy cabbage, come out bland. Waters likes to emphasize the natural flavors, but she has access to more interesting flavors in the selection at her disposal than I do. Another issue is that for all the care in walking the reader through technique, some ingredient details are rather vague. How small is she thinking when she calls for a small head of Savoy cabbage? The smallest I could find was the size of a head and I don't think that's what she had in mind.
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One of my favorites, often referenced
by AdventureMK (5 out of 5 stars)
June 22, 2017

A great, go-to book that I refer to as often as The Joy of Cooking, Ina Garten and Anna Pump's insights. I simply love this, and the series.
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MORE SAGE ADVICE FROM A GREAT CHEF
by David Keymer,Top Contributor: Rock Music (5 out of 5 stars)
October 18, 2009

We recently bought Alice Waters' newest cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, from Amazon. I haven't cooked a complete recipe from it yet but I've read and used several of the sections of advice: how to mix a salad, different strategies for combining pasta and sauce.

It's rather oddly organized. Part I: "Starting from Scratch: Lessons and Foundation Recipes," runs 212 pages, from "How to Get Started" (what utensils and pots and pans you need and how to lay them out) to "Cookies and Cake" (no explanation necessary). Each chapter starts with general advice and then presents some base recipes or exemplary recipes to illustrate the topic just covered. The second part of the book, "At the Table," is more conventionally laid out. It is an abbreviated recipe book, 173 pages long. For three decades, Waters has championed the cause of good cooking in her Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. She is a master chef and food preparer and her advice on cooking is usually on the mark.

On the back cover of the book, she lists her fundamental guidelines for cooking and eating:

Eat locally and sustainably

Eat seasonally.

Shop at farmers' markets.

Plant a garden.

Conserve, compost and recycle.

Cook simply.

Eat together.

Remember food is precious.

The advice is the best part of this book. The recipes seem almost incidental. This is a good bookprovided you don't expect it to be comprehensive.
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Great source
by lovelovemydogs (5 out of 5 stars)
February 22, 2019

I bought this book for my best friend who in her own right is an amazing chef! She loves it! There are no photos with recipes so it would not be one I would like however.
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Much more than I expected!
by Geoff Puterbaugh (5 out of 5 stars)
December 1, 2008

To begin with, I live in Thailand, and so almost all of the "seasonal" advice in this book is useless --- except for the general idea, which is all-important: buy high-quality ingredients when they are in season. In Thailand, that would translate to "wait for the hot season before gorging yourself on mangoes, or mango-with-sticky-rice." Most Thai fruits have seasons when they are at their best, so pay attention.

This includes the basic idea of "don't just go to the market and buy an onion." Some folks see an onion and grab it instantly, checking off that chore. Others inspect the onions carefully, waiting until they see a really gorgeous (and delicious-looking) batch. If all the onions look like junk, it might be time to put off onion soup to another day!

I have tried just one recipe so far: Braised Chicken Legs. It was very good, and I already know how to make it better next time. Talk about simple! Four chicken legs run about $2 over here, and then add garlic, onion, tomato, some chicken stock, plus a bay leaf and a pinch of rosemary. You're probably looking at a total cost of $3-$4, and this recipe fed three people! Next up is probably the Chard Fritatta, which will become a Spinach Frittata over here.

My biggest surprise: I think I have actually found a replacement for my venerable "James Beard Cookbook." This book is better, and it's just jammed with recipes. I also think that it dusts "How To Cook Everything."

Of course, on nights when I'm cooking Thai food, this book is pretty much useless, except for the general advice noted above.
----- REVIEW UPDATE -----

The "Spinach Frittata" was devoured instantly, and very yummy. I made the "Braised Chicken Legs" with my changes: first, throw in some cayenne or hot pepper (NOT A LOT, just a hint!). Second, add some chopped potatoes and turnips to the final braise. Third, put in some salt and pepper before it goes for its 45-minute final cooking. Results: everyone loved it! This may be the best chicken I have ever cooked in my life, or at least tied with that lovely Persian dish, "Fesanjan." (Walnuts and pomegranate juice, oh yum!)

This book is a real winner!!!

Highest recommendation!
----- ANOTHER UPDATE!----------

By the way, Alice Waters agrees about the salt. For most meat, if you intend to salt it, you might as well salt it when you bring it home. This will accomplish two things: first, it will retard spoilage, but more important, it will make the meat taste "seasoned" rather than "salty."

So, for "steak au poivre," buy some yummy steaks, salt them when you get home, put them in the fridge, and then take them out 2-3 hours before cooking and rub ground pepper into them. The 2-3 hours will ensure that the meat is not chilly when it goes into the pan, and will enable the pepper to get into the meat and flavor it.

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