Cuckoo for "Momofuku" Cookbook

I realize I have an unfair advantage playing the inside baseball "I've Read This and You Can't Until Four-and-a-Half Months From Now" card, but I wanted to take a moment to champion one of this fall's most anticipated cookbooks, Momofuku. My bound galley arrived last week and I immediately read it cover to cover in one sitting. Written by award-winning chef David Chang and co-writer Peter Meehan, the book captures the eclectic spirit and inventive dishes of Chang's East Village eateries. There's probably more f-bombs per headnote than you'll find in your average cookbook, but that's just part of the David Chang experience.

The book is broken out into sections covering Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar, and Ko, with detailed origin stories of each restaurant, including original menus, staff e-mails, and personal notes. But will I cook from it? You bet. The signature Pork Buns are in there, along with the Bo Ssäm (an 8lb mash note to pork butt), noodles, oysters, Slow-Poached Eggs, Fried Chicken, and Ko's Frozen Foie Gras. As a pickle fiend, I was thrilled to see several pages devoted to quick-pickle variations using one master brine that, with some tweaks, works for ramps, cherries, sunchokes, and watermelon rinds alike. At certain points in  the book, Chang devotes several pages to some of his culinary passions: Allan Benton's country ham and smoked bacon, Wylie Dufresne's "meat glue," and Hudson Valley foie gras.

While a typical sweet finish to a David Chang meal used to be a cone of soft-serve ice cream at Noodle Bar or a slice of Blondie Pie at Ssäm Bar, I do regret that recipes from his most recent venture, Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar, are absent. Momofuku includes pastry Chef Christina Tosi's Cereal Milk Custard and Fried Apple Pie, but Bakery and Milk Mar's menu highlights like Crack Pie, Pistachio Cake, and Cornflake-Marshmallow-Chocolate Chip Cookie are sadly MIA.

I realize the the desserts were probably omitted due to deadlines, or perhaps we'll see a future Momofuku cookbook devoted to Bakery and Milk Bar. Until then, I guess I'll need to reverse-engineer a recipe for the Blondie Pie at home.

Recommended for fans of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating and The Babbo Cookbook.

--BTP

Comments

[on June 21, 2009 at 07:50 AM]

love this!