Good Together: Drink & Feast with Mr Lyan & Friends

Another gem from Mr. Lyan! Wonderful, creative recipes that I’ve been enjoying at home! If you enjoy getting creative in the kitchen, don’t miss this one!

Food is such a vital part of our lives. For many professionals, free time and socializing are almost foreign concepts. This book is a celebration of getting together and relaxing and enjoying the people we care for at the same time as we eat and enjoy good food.Almost everyone seems to have some foods from their past which are tied into some shared family history. Aunt Gen's cranberry orange salad, gran's chestnut turkey dressing, that broccoli cheddar casserole that cousin Judy always brings... etc.This book is a very adventurous trendy gastronomique version of those homey dishes. These are edgy, impressive, challenging and (to me) very unusual. The collaborators in this cookbook are all, as far as I can tell, professional foodies, most of them actively cooking for very high end restaurants. Many of the ingredients are (again, to me) bizarre and difficult to source. A few examples: fennel pollen (p. 30), moscatel vinegar (p.34, presumably sherry vinegar would be an acceptable substitute?), 300g (10½oz) beef muscle, from a happy, grass-fed cow (p. 42), salted wild garlic capers (same recipe), gentian liqueur (Kamm & Sons for preference, p. 70), etc. There is also a lot of very specialized and expensive kitchen equipment specified in the recipes.I usually try to test several recipes before reviewing cookbooks, however, this time around, I could only easily source the ingredients for one of the recipes: Cherry Kirsch Cake (p. 110). It was lovely, and I closely followed the directions (including adding eggs one at a time with flour to prevent splitting), but my cake split quite ferociously. I think if I try the recipe again, I will probably add a pan of water to increase the humidity in the oven (or maybe source eggs from truly happy chickens) ;)The photography is lovely and compliments the recipes very well. (I was also fascinated by the varied and beautiful tattoos of the creators pictured in the book).Final thoughts. VERY fancy, very trendy, fairly difficult. For foodies who intend to impress and really love the process of food and creating food.Three and a half stars, would be 4-5 for die-hard foodies.Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

Good Together by Ryan Chetiyawardana, et. al. is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in early November.A diverse, eclectic, gathering-themed cookbook compiled from several different cooks (i.e. each chef/restauranteur chimes in with a full menu related to a kind of gathering, rather than all the drinks, appetizers, etc. being grouped together) that's replete with sunny photos, narrow and vertically-oriented recipes, and quirky doodles. My favorite recipes include grilled sweet corn and fermented shrimp butter, peach and fino cobbler (a drink, not a dessert), lamb shank berry biryani, and dumplings (both vegetarian and meat-filled).

Rarely does a cookbook come along that contains absolutely nothing tempting enough to put forth the effort to cook. However, Good Together: Drink & Feast with Mr. Lyan & Friends is one of those rare cookbooks. Mr. Lyan runs two very famous bars in London, and there is no doubt that he is gifted when coming up with fancy drinks and running bars. However, in an effort to add upscale recipes, Mr. Lyan has paired his tempting drinks with famous chef’s recipes that have absolutely no appeal to the mainstream cook or foodie. Most of the recipes are for dishes that will most likely appeal to the pretentious, who think that eating ostentatious and extravagant foods will make them somehow better than all of the other humans who eat.Even in a cookbook as unappealing as this (personally, I have over 7,000 cookbooks in my recipe collection and have over 30 years of experience reviewing and cooking from them, and so know what constitutes a good or a poor cookbook for most people), there are positive aspects. The photographs, especially of the drinks, are beautiful. The prose is well-written and easy to understand. The book is organized and it is easy to find what you are searching for.This is a cookbook for food snobs. Since the focus is on the drinks, it is also a book for those looking for unique and fun cocktails. It is for that reason alone – fancy drinks - that Good Together: Drink & Feast with Mr. Lyan & Friends has any appeal at all, and the only reason to actually purchase it. For those who appreciate good cookbooks, this is definitely one to skip.Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Perfect

fantastic book, full of lots of ideas and many things to make!

I think this is the kind of "recipe" book that looks nice on the shelf, is nice to read through and will get people talking when they come around and are nosing around your kitchen.It's a well put together thing, feels a quality product and is jam packed with gorgeous photography.Sadly where it falls down is the content.It's a neat idea to match drink and food but whilst most things in here are straightforward enough to make in terms of the instructions (though in places they are lacking in context) the endless obscure ingredients (and the strong suggestions that that cheap gin you can find at the local Bargain Booze just won't be fit for purpose here) make it something I'm unlikely to ever make much of what is inside.The drinks part was more appetising, even if I wouldn't be bothered to go to the lengths of getting the premium quality ingredients you simply have to have to make the most of the recipes.It has it's market and that market is probably those who find the labels more important than what's inside, have acres of disposable income and don't mind taking the time, effort and expense to source the more obscure ingredients in here that you are never likely to use for anything else.

This book ‘Good Together’ is the second book from by Ryan Chetiyawardan, the first being ‘Good Things To Drink’, The book is fantastic, the pages are high quality and thick. The photography is wonderful.The book combines food and drink for every type of social gathering. Other chefs have helped create this book which include Karan Gokani from Sri Lankan hotspot ‘Hoppers’, who created ‘An Indian Extravaganza’. ‘Eastern Banquet’ by Lisa Lov. ‘Tigermom’, Pasta and Wine’ by Tim Siadatan from ‘Trullo’ and ‘Padella’. Thanksgiving Dinner’ by Tien Ho. ‘Whole Foods’‘The Country Table’ by James Lowe from ‘Lyle’s’. The recipes are different and exciting and the cocktails are not the usual run of the mill. They are created to compliment the dishes. I think even a teetotal would be tempted my many of the recipes for cocktails in the book, although there are non-alcoholic cocktails also such as the sorrel cooler and the oolong soda. Some of the ingredients would be difficult to get hold of, but worth the effort if you want to impress your guests when throwing a dinner party.I think this book will appeal to someone who wants to give their guests the wow factor when entertaining and someone who likes to experiment in the kitchen. Some of the recipes include, lamb heart bulgur, oysters and onions soup, pigs ear salad with chilli oil and sesame. Also, simpler recipes such as salad of poached chicken and wild mushrooms’ and red curry of braised pork cheeks with boiled peanuts and confit potatoes. I think many of the recipes could be adapted to suit your own taste, for example many of the herbs and even the cocktails, for example gin could be used instead of vodka.This book is the ultimate guide to entertaining in style and definitely has the wow factor.

And, at last, here we have it the ideal book for that bartender/chef in your life !!We all know that food tastes so much better when accompanied by the correct beverage, especially when that beverage is of the alcoholic kindThis is such a cheerful book (whether influenced by the advertised cocktails or not), delightfully illustrated ~ there is a real skill in photographing tempting cocktails (and delicious food)Contributors from the "world of food" have put together a delightful album which will inspire anybody who loves their kitchen particularly if it includes a great liquor cabinet !From the Intimate section of Garden Bites, Dinner Parties, and Date Night to the Raucous delights of "Watching the Game", BBQs and Eastern Banquet there is something for everyone here.This feels more like a culinary autobiography than your average cookery book; the involvement by the authors and their detailed descriptions of the delights included feel as genuine as I have ever read.It is virtually impossible not to favour favourite sections of the book mine is An Indian Extravaganza with the cocktails Singha Sour and Coconut Ramos accompanying Lamb Shank Biryani ending with Passionfruit and Mango Pavlova is a new ingredient to my fooddreams !!If you are looking for any more excuses for buying this intriguing book then look no further than the wonderful and puzzling cocktail called the "Bosom Caresser" ~ enough said!!