Happy Sunday, everyone! As the deadline for my master’s dissertation gets closer and closer, I seem to be getting busier and busier. However, I still have time to bring you a review for a unique book. Unlike with most of my reviews, today’s book is not a fiction novel, collection of short stories or poems, or even a nonfiction novel; it’s a cookbook. The book I am discussing is The Ultimate Culinary Collection: 100 Recipes Personally Contributed by 100 Executive Chefs from 100 of the World’s Finest Hotels and Restaurants, compiled and written by Stuart Hopkins.
Now, you might recognize the name “Stuart Hopkins” from a review I posted back in October 2017 for the excerpts of his novel No Grey Areas. Unfortunately, that work has been delayed due to developments in Hopkins’s life, including the birth of his beautiful baby girl in August 2018. These developments mean that there will be even more adventures for No Grey Areas—and until then, we have The Ultimate Culinary Collection.
As the title states, The Ultimate Culinary Collection contains one hundred recipes collected by the author, Stuart Hopkins, from one hundred executive chefs around the world. From the Ritz-Carlton to Shangri-La, contributions have been made from some of the finest hotels and restaurants in modern times, some even being the chefs’ signature dishes. There is also a bonus recipe from Jaden Mascernhas, a sixteen-year-old student chef mentored, when he was only fourteen, by Chef James Knight-Pacheco of Six Senses Resort in Oman. These recipes are split into five categories: fish and seafood, meat (i.e. beef, lamb, etc.), poultry and game, vegetarian, and desserts. Each recipe includes a mouth-watering picture of the final product, a short bio for the chef, and information about the restaurant or hotel where they work.
As spectacular as the origins of these recipes are, they are not the most noteworthy aspect of this cookbook. Rather, that honor belongs to where the proceeds from this book are going: toward getting underprivileged babies in the Philippines vaccinated for rotavirus. The author plans to continue raising funds for this cause through creating The Ultimate Culinary Collection II and hotel/brand-specific cookbooks.
I must start by saying I am not a cook by any stretch of the imagination. The best I can do is boxed pasta (seriously, boiling water and stirring are the limits of my cooking expertise; I don’t even like to use the toaster most of the time). However, I can still appreciate good food, and all of these recipes look delicious. Even the fish and seafood, which I am usually not a fan of outside of shrimp and fish sticks, seem incredible. Of course, I think that once I decide to try these recipes myself, I will probably stick with either the beef, poultry, vegetarian, or dessert dishes. No reason to taint my opinion of the recipes unnecessarily because I don’t like that kind of dish anyway.
That being said, it should be noted that these recipes are most likely not for a novice cook or, probably, for those on a tight budget. After all, these recipes come from one hundred of the best chefs at one hundred of the finest hotels and restaurants in the world. Such sources are not exactly known for being cheap or easy to imitate; that’s why they are the best. Still, that does not stop any reader from trying these recipes out for themselves. As Chef Gusteau says in the Disney film Ratatouille (which, by the way, is part of one of the dishes in this book), “Anyone can cook.”
This brings me to one small issue I have with The Ultimate Culinary Collection. After reading it, I honestly have no clue where I would begin to find these ingredients or how much they would cost. In an attempt to become a more self-sufficient cook, I have looked through cookbooks in the past and know that such information is not typically provided. However, this cookbook is advertised as one containing recipes from one hundred executive chefs from one hundred of the finest restaurants in the world. For this reason, one might expect it to be hard to get a hold of some of these ingredients or at least fairly expensive. In some places, it could be nearly impossible to find many of them, my own hometown included. Having an idea of where to get the ingredients and the kind of prices to expect would help readers a lot.
Regardless, for what it is, this cookbook is extraordinary. It is well written and easy to follow, the information—both for the recipes and the chefs’ bios—is thorough and comprehensive, and the recipes are ones that you are unlikely to find anywhere else short of culinary school. While The Ultimate Culinary Collection is not a beginner’s cookbook, it is definitely a great way to put your cooking skills to the test and impress even the pickiest of dinner guests, including yourself.
If you would like to buy The Ultimate Culinary Collection by Stuart Hopkins and help raise money for vaccinations in the Philippines, you can snag an eBook copy on the official fundraising page for $10. You can also keep tabs on this project’s progress on both Instagram and Facebook.
Do you know of any books I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!
Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011