A Taste of Elegance Cookbook - Holland America Cruise LIne by Rudi Sodamin

This is a great collection of recipes for entertaining. While each recipe is very elegant, most are simple enough to prepare in a home kitchen.

It's been a while since I've seen such an elegant collection of recipes. Most home cooks would be proud to serve these to their guests, and guests would be pleasantly surprised to be on the receiving end of such elegance. Of course, this doesn't come as such a big surprise because Holland America Line is known for the elegance of their cruise ships, and their master chef, the author of the cookbook, lays claim to being the most highly decorated chef on the seven seas.

When I first received this book, I feared that the recipes, like so many of the chef-y cookbooks, would be too difficult for home replication. So it was with relief that I discovered the elegance is misleading in terms of preparation. Many of these dishes can be prepared quickly. That's not to say, of course, that this is a 30-minute type of cookbook. Some recipes require time to sit, simmer, or be refrigerated. But the effort to bring them to that point isn't overwhelming.

The instructions are very clear cut, which I suppose also shouldn't surprise me. The author directs galleys of chefs under very challenging circumstances to prepare meals for hundreds of guests multiple times each day. In fact, the introduction to this book provides insight into how chef Sodamin got to where he is today, and what his day-to-day activities require.

He doesn't spare any details, including how to garnish the recipes so that they look like the accompanying photos.

My only real complaint is that the main dishes come with recommended side dishes, but no actual recipes for preparing them. I guess they assume that if you have the skills to prepare these elegant dishes, you must have the basics under your belt. But I believe that even beginners, as long as they can follow directions, can successfully prepare these recipes.