Welcome to Alineaphile

When I pre-ordered Grant Achatz's Alinea cookbook early in 2008, I knew it was gonna be good.

Spending years working in restaurants during college, I was taught to cook as so many had before — traditionally. But when my copy arrived in October, I had to reassess my assumptions about food. It's more than good, it's a revelation into a whole new way of thinking about food, its preparation and cooking. So now what am I to do?

I'll tell you. I decided on the day I first looked through it, that I was going to cook through it. Every recipe. Think I can do it?

My kids say I have to let them in on this, so it looks like I'm not doing this alone. This blog is a record of our (mis)adventures in recreating the food from the Alinea cookbook. Hopefully you will find it interesting or helpful if you get the bug yourself. I am not a professional chef, nor am I here to brag, boast, or compete with anyone else who may have the same ideas. In fact I encourage everyone to try thinking about food in new ways. And try some of these dishes with us. I think it'll be a blast!

Each recipe will be recreated as closely to its original presentation. We'll use fresh, local ingredients whenever possible, and use the equipment and techniques suggested in the text. There will also be resources for finding those oh-so-exotic or hard-to-find components peppered throughout the book. I'm searching out the equipment and serveware we'll need too. Another goal is to publish prep times, costs and yields for each recipe, so you can see what we're really in for.

So join us, on this first day of a new journey, in saying "yes we can [cook]."

Next, Preserved Meyer Lemons.