[phatch]

I picked this up from the library a couple of weeks ago. The title grabbed me and the concept of the title is an important one. But it failed to deliver for me.

It's a book of recipes organized around the master recipe and variations concept. However, a recipe in and of itself is the antithesis of improvisation. There's a point in a home cook's growth where they're transitioning from a beginner where such books of techniques are useful and meaningful. But improvisation requires more than that.

I've found it hard to explain well what I consider improvisational information for cooking. And I'll write more about why in a later post after I further hash out my ideas in words. But for now, I really don't see how this book gets so many 5 star reviews on Amazon.