The School of Essential Ingredients
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Eight students gather in Lillian's Restaurant every Monday night for cooking class. It soon becomes clear, however, that each one seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen as Chef Lillian, a woman whose connection with food is both soulful and exacting, helps them to create dishes whose flavor
… More »Eight students gather in Lillian's Restaurant every Monday night for cooking class. It soon becomes clear, however, that each one seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen as Chef Lillian, a woman whose connection with food is both soulful and exacting, helps them to create dishes whose flavor and techniques expand beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of her students' lives.
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Add a Quote"In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence...Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister's tale of food and hope is certain to satisfy." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The School of Essential Ingredients is a delicate, meltingly lovely hymn to food and friendship...You'll want to tuck yourself into one warm corner of it and stay all day." MARISA DE LOS SANTOS, author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me
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Add a CommentThe School of Essential Ingredients is a charming novel whether you are a foodie or not. It follows eight students through cooking classes at Lillian’s Restaurant--- a popular and seemingly upscale spot. Each chapter focuses on a student and gives insight into his/her life and what brought them to class. Bauermeister does a fine job of developing interesting characters yet allows the reader space to come up to certain conclusions on their own.
An interesting concept where each chapter takes you into the lives of the members of the cooking class. I found, in comparison to similar books, that this one didn't engage me to the same depths. I felt interested in the characters, but not enough to keep going...
Mid way through and am enjoying it very much. Engaging characters, short easy chapters - a good book to read when you have 20 mins to read here and there (as when dinner is in the oven!). Wishing I could take the class too!
Great book! Easy read, but full of depth. If you're a foodie, this is a must read!
The School of Essential Ingredients is written from the perspective of the participants of a night class. In the class the students learn about cooking and a little about themselves as well.
I think of this as a light version of “Olive Kitteridge”. A chef runs a cooking school from her restaurant’s kitchen periodically, and this book offers a glimpse into the lives of her students. Each person signed up (or was signed up) for the cooking lessons for wildly different reasons. There is joy and heartbreak in the mix, but overwhelmingly this book is cheerful and pleasant.
A good quick read, with lots of good recipes. As the Monday night cooking class starts each chapter gives us a little look at each student's history and their interactions with others in the group. A truly tasteful read.
Wonderful relationships, lots of talk about food....what could be better. A gentle book to relax with and enjoy.
I was not ready for the book to end! The author drew me into each characters' lives and into the tantalising foods she described. It makes me want to cook! Please bring us a sequel!! -esj
A quick, light and easy read. It made me hungry the whole way through and reminded me of a 1-night cooking class that I recently took. Note: If you are interested in the recipe highlighted in each segment, the author has included them on her website.