Friday, October 30, 2009

Cookbook Library: Cooking With Caprial



Caprial's Bistro is one of my favorite restaurants in Portland. I also love her on her tv show and have learned a lot by watching her. For instance, I am indebted to her for fixing my pie crust -- I needed to use more water, as I learned from one show.

Too bad, then, that Cooking With Caprial: American Bistro Fair doesn't really do much for me. The recipes, like the items on Caprial's bistro menu, are deceptively simple. But the things I make never taste as good as they do at her restaurant. Of course, I'm not a world-class chef; she is. She must have secret ways (yes, called "talent") that makes things taste super yummy.

I am glad to have this one in my cookbook library, but I really do not use it very often.

4 comments :

  1. The Best Cookbook I ever read was Pat Conroys' cookbook. The stories between recipes were great and the recipes were drool worthy.

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  2. Well, some things just taste better when other people make them. Salad, for one.

    Meanwhile, you are making pie crust from scratch??? I bow to you, with my Pillsbury box in hand.

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  3. Rod -- I didn't know Conroy has a cookbook. I'm going to go investigate. Thanks for the tip.

    JG -- I do make pie crust from scratch, which is why we don't eat pie very often at my house. :) But after years of trial and error, I have reached the point where the crust comes out right. Part of it was finding a Mexican butcher that sells lard (the lard to butter ratio is key), and the other part was learning from Caprial's cooking show to use enough water.

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  4. Darn! My friend just told me that Caprial's Bistro closed just a couple of months ago. Too bad. It was a gem.

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