The Frog Commissary Cookbook

Organized by meal course, the book contains a multitude of creative recipes, adapted for serving at home and reflecting a quixotic, multiethnic blend of foods and ingredients. Full of insider tips on food preparation and service and delightful anecdotes, this bountiful feast of information is also a lavish treat for the eyes, with Becky Roller's wonderful drawings and calligraphy gracing each page. The Frog/Commissary Cookbook is the perfect introduction to a very special culinary world--and the ideal addition to every cook's home library.

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Originally published in 1985, The Frog Commissary Cookbook harks back to a time when a reader wouldn't be too likely to choke upon reading a chowder recipe that called for a quart of half-and-half. Those were the days, author Steven Poses suggests in his foreword, when you could graduate from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in sociology, put in some time in the Peace Corps and the antiwar movement, work your way up from busboy to sous chef in a mainstream French restaurant and, with a copy of Jane Jacob's Death and Life of Great American Cities tucked under one arm and a total investment of $35,000, open a restaurant all your own in Philadelphia. Such was the success of Frog, its eclectic menu reaching out to many a flavor-starved palate, that seven years later Poses could reopen with a $1 million budget and expand into other restaurant ventures.

The Frog Commissary Cookbook rises out of the experience of Poses's restaurants and catering business. It's not an easy collection to finger, to size up and categorize with a single swipe of the pen. And that makes for some exciting page turning. This would be a good book to have on the shelf and open when you simply don't know what to do or what you are looking for.

You'll find goodies like Bourbon Pecans (this "Hors d'Oeuvres" section ends with 25 quick ideas; the same is true of the "Salads" and "Pizzas" sections), Chicken in Romaine Leaves with Lime Hot Sauce, Corn and Clam Chowder, a plethora of creative salads and dressings, Seafood Stew with Aioli, Stir-fried Duck with Chinese Sausage, Italian Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Prosciutto, and Pumpkin Waffles. This book is all over the place, leaving a trail of deliciousness in its wake.

According to Poses, exemplary care was taken to work out the recipes in an apartment kitchen and not on a professional stove. While all the recipes have proved popular over the years in Poses's restaurants, they were all written from scratch for the home cook. --Schuyler Ingle