This is the first of a new blog series, Read the Recipe! Each month, I will review a cookbook that interests me. Sometimes, these will be new titles in our collection, others will be classics that may deserve another look. Each review will be from the view of a competent cook, but I hope to show the achievability of each chosen recipe. Full disclosure: in my former life, I spent some time in professional kitchens, but I am by no means a chef. I plan to make a few dishes from each book, preferably an entire meal, share photos of my process or finished products.
My first title is “The Family Meal” by Ferran Adria & Eugeni de Diego. Ferran Adria ran arguably the best restaurant in the world, El Bulli, from the mid-1980s to 2011. Eugeni de Diego was a chef at El Bulli, and after the restaurant’s closing, he moved on to his own restaurant chain, A Pluma in Barcelona.
Why I chose this title: This book was written with participation of one of the best, most inventive and influential chefs of the last 35 years. When I was cooking, I read the book “The Sorcerer’s Apprentices” (a reporter from TIME spent a season with Adria’s team and wrote about their experiences), and it changed my outlook on the dedication it took to be the best. Most cookbooks from top chefs are nearly unusable to home cooks, either because of techniques, equipment, or most commonly, expensive or difficult-to-acquire ingredients. It is important to note that the “family” in the title is not meant as a nuclear family, but rather the “family” of restaurant staff, and these are meals served to that family of staff shortly before service. So, when looking at the presentation or enjoyment of the dish, you should temper expectations with the knowledge that these meals were intended to feed staff, not wow them or make them truly yearn for more. This may sound like I’m knocking the content when actually, as a former cook, I would have loved these for family meals. When I chose this book, I had tried a few of the recipes in the past, and had no issues. In preparing this post, I looked up reviews to find potential problems. I chose a couple of the recipes that were specifically mentioned in negative reviews.
Fair warning: At times, these recipes require prep, like days-ahead prep. Though this is clearly stated at the beginning of the book, it can be frustrating. For this first attempt at reviewing I chose to avoid most of the prep-heavy items. Also, common sense must prevail — not all of these ingredients are available in the Midwest and substitutions must be made. Lastly, not everyone has all the necessary equipment to make these as written.
The good: Loaded with pictures of both prep needs and in-action shots, the book is filled with (mostly) reasonable recipes. The idea of planning a month’s worth of meals is admirable. Where this book separates itself from the rest is the comprehensive look at what a properly stocked pantry can look like for the everyday cook, as well as its offering of a monthly meal plan that gives each meal a timeline to guide the cook to use prep time effectively in order to finish the dishes together.
The bad: The authors use volume measurements but also suggest that a scale is an essential item. (For a chef so dedicated to perfection, volume measurements are nearly anathema to Adria’s ethos.) Sometimes, the abundant use of photos is borderline condescending. Some reviewers have found errors in the scaling up of recipes. Some of the prep work makes an unnecessary amount. Take the aioli recipe as an example: the recipe yield is six cups, but the entire 30-day meal plan calls for using maybe one and a half cups total, and since you shouldn’t keep aioli for more than a few days (due to the raw egg), the prep is wasted. There is mention of the prep being used in the meal plan, but not to a great degree. For example, you could use the extra aioli as a base for the Caesar salad dressing, but this is not suggested.
These are the recipes I tried:
Chocolate Cookies (meal 2)
I chose this not only because it looked especially tasty, but because some negative reviewers used this as an example of why they didn’t like the book. I made the 100-count cookie recipe as stated. I didn’t notice any issues with the batter. Now, after I made them, I realized that the complaints may have stemmed from the 20-count cookie recipe. My results were good, though not at all like the photos! I had the batter in the freezer for nearly 24 hours, but when I baked them, the cookies spread more than the book examples. I kept some of the batter in the freezer for longer and baked another small batch to test. This photo is the result, though still not as structurally solid as the book examples. This may be an instance of restaurant-quality equipment able to quick-freeze items, whereas in the home things take a bit longer.
Thai Curry Beef (meal 12)
This meal was pretty easy to make. I used a sirloin instead of the blade steak suggested in the recipe. I made one small error: I did not finish the sauce with the remaining coconut milk, though I doubt it would have made much difference. I should have removed the beef, reduced the sauce, then reintroduce the meat to bring dish back up to serving temperature. As an entree it really needed something extra. If I were to make this again, I would add a bit of rice to go with it.
Garbanzo Beans with Spinach & Egg (meal 24)
Very simple meal, pretty good though. I used fresh spinach and canned, no-salt-added garbanzos because we almost always have these on hand. I had one issue in preparing the tomato “pulp” because my tomatoes came from a coworker’s garden, which may have had an effect on water content, so I tried to reduce the sauce/pulp in a saucepan. The final dish had plenty of tomato flavor, was colorful and the poached egg was a nice touch.
Mexican Slow-cooked Pork (meal 15)
This may have been the best-tasting pork I’ve made. I could only find Sazon Achiote powder (not the achiote paste as suggested), so the marinade was a bit watery, despite my best attempts at modifying it for my needs. The finished roast was not exactly photogenic as the meat stays wrapped in aluminum foil for the entire cooking process, so no beautiful crispy pork skin. When I make this in the future, I will unwrap the meat to allow the skin to brown.
Overall, I still like the book and will use it in the future. I had different expectations going into the book than many of the folks that had problems, which may have helped. I wasn’t expecting a guide to feed my family, but an outline to create and modify my own meal plan. 
The recipes are easy and are without difficult techniques. Though there are some mistakes, newer editions reportedly fixed these problems. If you’re looking for an all-in-one source for meal planning, this is probably not your best choice. If you need a couple dozen easy and relatively quick dishes with guides as to how long everything will take, there are few better examples!
Finally, I didn’t do everything myself, I did have a bit of “help.” My supervisor made sure my plating was picture-worthy.
