The Great Chefs of Baltimore

by Barbara Tasch Ezratty

The great chefs of Baltimore cook everything from this harborside city's seafood favorites (crab cakes on are everybody's menu!) to local favorites (fried green tomatoes) and all the ethnic favorites... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0942929233
• ISBN13: 9780942929232
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Omni Arts, Inc.
• Length: 229 Pages

Customer Reviews

Terrific even with a modification or two

What a fabulous book! Here's how it went picking a dish at random, oh, let's say "Pan Seared Salmon with Saffron Seafood Sauce," page 179: Good one to try. I like salmon, the cat likes salmon. Me and the cat will fix this one. One 8-oz salmon fillet. No problem. Slice off a sliver or two for the cat before we get involved with the cooking part. Now for the "high-heat, nonstick pan, heat until it smokes" part, we don't want to smell up the house too much, so we'll have to modify the recipe already. Damn. Get out the George Foreman grill and fire it up. A few more salmon slivers for the cat before getting fancy with the ingredients. We got the canola oil part, so slather up the fillet before dropping on the grill. Now for the sauce. "Heat olive oil over medium heat; add chopped garlic;" Wup, no fresh garlic. Damn. Well, a pinch of garlic powder will have to sub here, no problem. Continuing, "Add the white wine and reduce by half." We'll just guess at the quantity of wine by pouring an engineer's approximation into the hot pan. Wup, it's a red cabernet. Damn, obscure bottle coloring. No matter, the red wine will stand up to the salmon nicely anyway. "Add the sun-dried tomatoes, seafood broth, saffron, and lemon zest." Wup. None of these four are within four miles of the pantry or fridge. Damn, damn, damn, damn. Never panic, always picnic (quote: Winston Churchill, or maybe Benjamin Disraeli, or one of those British guys). Canned stewed tomatoes from Aldi's are an excellent swap here (no kidding), just drain & dry carefully. Without a handy seafood broth, a chicken bouillon cube in ¾ cup boiling water will do nicely. Saffron? We'll just have to punt on that one. But now for the stroke of amateur genius; with no lemon to zest, and with the last ingredient being a pinch of pepper, we simply sub in some lemon pepper! From here on, just follow the recipe, and you come out with a fabulous faux-sauce. Clearly nowhere near the quality of the original recipe, but still good. Damn good. As for the sweet potato hay, that would have been excellent, except with salt potato leftovers, and a fridge full of romaine, me & the cat had to have a different menu. Except the cat only had the salmon part, no sauce. In fact, here's the cat's version of the recipe: Salmon fillets Slice and serve Very clearly, this book is the one to buy. Also very clearly, by any unbiased opinion, this Chef Ted Stelzenmuller's two dishes are tops. Great job, Son!

Still cooking with integrity in Baltimore.....

One of the best additions to cookbook's this year! "Great Chef's of Baltimore" is the book to own if you live in Baltimore and for all of those who don't live in this wonderful city it is just another reason to love it! This book is put together beautifully with excellent photo's of recipe's and easy to follow directions for home use. And make sure you check out the delicious Grilled Lettuces recipe from "The Chameleon Cafe". It's good stuff people.