Dabbous: The Cookbook

When I read that this is anticipated to be the cookbook of the year I got excited. Ollie Dabbous has had the fastest success with his new restaurant more than any other "no namer" people have possibly ever heard of. Virtually a nobody one day, within 2 weeks his establishment began to blow up. Its for a good reason. His style is certainly his own. He combines flavors that most of us would never dream of conjuring up. For that alone I say this is a must read for serious cooks. His philosophy on cooking, (very Raymond Blanc) is simply do things quickly so they retain their flavor. Marco Pierre White (another one of chef Blanc's pupil's) was the first chef I ever heard talking about this same philosophy. For chefs this is an invaluable tool to develop good, clean flavors and letting the ingredients shine.The reason for 4 stars? This book doesn't contain many "wow" dishes. Only a couple recipes could I find myself wanting to make inmediately. The ingredients sometimes obscure, it reminds me of Noma but with less expensive machines and ingredients used in molecular gastronomy. I cant say I learned much about technique other than that mentioned in the beginning of this review. I will keep going back to this book. Perhaps this review was written too soon. But since nobody else had written one I thought I would share my feelings. Its not my favorite cookbook of the year.

There reviews of this book got me interested because they emphasized the seasonal aspect of the recipes and the limited number of ingredients which I thought would be interested. The number of ingredients were low to be sure but they almost every recipe has something rather hard to find and unlike Keller's books I have not found the recipes in Dabbous an inspiration to create approximations of the dishes.

Great book and presentation.

Too much! Trying too hard!Only interesting thing is the unexpected combination of some ingredients.I did not consider it a cookbook.

Very interesting book. I like it and will have it close by. Arrived in good time and shape

I had been looking forward to this book since its listing on Amazon and put in my pre order as soon as possible. The book is nice and big and like most of the Bloomsbury cookbooks of a nice standard. I have to say that by looks alone this book definitely falls into the coffee table category of things. Fantastic full page photography and the like. All recipies are written as they are to be used in the professional kitchen at dabbous which is a help if you have sous vide and the like yourself, if you don't have all the kit though there are alternative methods. Lots of nice ideas for us chefs out there to use and plenty of other stuff to look at for those who love food. Yet to try any recipes properly however the frozen sorrel is quick and very easy and gone down a treat with every one who has tried it.

This book, like Ollie's cooking, is a work of art. Stunning photography that makes you want to stick your fork in the pages, it will look as equally at home in your kitchen as on your coffee table. In addition to beautiful photography and wonderful dishes it is also an interesting read, Ollie's story of his journey to where he is now is inspirational and he is an icon for positive thinking and visualisation! If you love gorgeous food, this is a treasure you must treat yourself to.

An amazing and huge book! Beautiful ideas, luxury recipes and stunning plating! Be ready to spend some time if you want to cook something like this!Will go as a perfect as a gift for any chef!Sadly, my book came with broken corners... But it is already problem with delivery.

Great pictures not a lot of substance