Milk Bar Life by Christina Tosi
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Christina Tosi is well-known for Milk Bar, the sister bakery of David Chang’s restaurant, Momofuku. Prior to receiving this cookbook for review, I was unfamiliar with either Tosi or Milk Bar. Warning: this cookbook is NOT a collection of fancy desserts found at the bakery. This is a collection of recipes that Tosi creates when she’s off the clock. Some of the recipes featured are family recipes passed down from her grandmother or those that must make an appearance at family gatherings. There are recipes that are made for “family meal” when her kitchen staff eats together before service begins. There are supermarket-inspired recipes featuring corn flakes, Ritz crackers, boxed cake mix and refrigerated tubes of crescent rolls. I’m not sure that some of the recipes can even be called recipes like Brown-Butter Cinnamon Toast and Blue Cheese Pretzels?!! This is not a stuffy cookbook, but one that focuses on flavors, not fuss. This book shows that chefs don’t always have the time nor energy to create fancy schmancy meals when they get home at who knows what hour after a long day in the kitchen. Milk Bar Life reads like a conversation with your best friend. Tosi’s writing is so down-to-earth and real. I love her philosophy that we all deserve at least one cookie a day, or for her, more like five a day…and that’s not including work cookies! This book has been in my possession for over a month now and I have yet to make anything from it. While this is a fun read, it doesn’t have many recipes that are appropriate for my every-day repertoire. On my to-try list though are a few of the desserts. Nothing earth-shattering, but Crock-Pot Cake, Hershey’s Kiss Roll and Crackle all appear to be easy and tasty.
Since receiving this book, the Weekend Chef brought home cookies from Milk Bar which he got from their stand at pop-up UrbanSpace Garment District in New York City. It was nice being able to read this book while sampling some of the deliciousness that Tosi is so well-known for. Tosi is a judge on the sixth season of MasterChef, that premiered May 20. This is not the last that we will be seeing or hearing about Christina Tosi or Milk Bar!
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
