Ride or Fry: The Dante Fried Chicken Experience

by Dante Gonzales

Overview

When the food is good, the party starts cooking! Media wunderkind and award-winning chef Dante Gonzales has fed some of the world's most popular celebrities--including Demi Moore, Theophilus London, and Santigold--at underground parties as well as red-carpet events. He also takes the party to the streets in the Ride or Fry food truck and around the world with his Ride or Fry pop-up stand, celebrated in this innovative cookbook of more than 100 fresh, delicious, recipes (including his signature Fried Chicken). Packed with innovative, eco-conscious meals (with many vegetarian and vegan options), his grandmother's heirloom dishes, and contributions from Dante's musical and culinary collaborators, this book is the only way to bring the Dante Fried Chicken experience into your own home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402794292
Publisher:	Sterling Epicure
Publication date:	11/06/2012
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dante Gonzales is a filmmaker, chef, and party promoter whose mission is to infuse everything he does with his signature fusion approach to cuisine. Dante's food is always the centerpiece of his parties, which combine his unique culinary voice with the vibrant music and art scenes of New York, Los Angeles, London, and Berlin.

Dante was raised in his grandmother's kitchen, learning the recipes she once served to jazz royalty. Her eclectic fare was prepared using whole, natural, and fresh ingredients. When money was scarce, she found alternatives to traditional ingredients; for example, in the absence of fresh flour, Grandma Jean would stretch her breading mix with ground oats and leftover crumbs (of many varieties!). Dante has spent the last ten years perfecting this heirloom cuisine while curating scene-defining live events around the globe. As a result, he has a massive online presence, and he and his food are frequently featured in print and on TV.

Today, the growing popularity of Dante Fried Chicken's food ventures, video blogs, and parties has translated into the breakout success of his international culinary career. His food truck, Ride or Fry, was featured on the Cooking Channel's hit show Foodography, and received notable critical acclaim with features in New York Magazine, Eater.com, and NY and LA Grubstreet, among others. In 2011, Ride or Fry won the coveted Best Food Truck in LA from Thrillist.com. Dante lives, cooks it up, and makes the scene in Los Angeles.

Editorial Reviews

Even though Gonzales's hipster notoriety has been built upon the fast and furious—a celebrated L.A. food truck, pop-up restaurants, and underground dinner parties—he devotes this book to what he calls "slow skool" cooking, a no-rush style that utilizes numerous ingredients and methodical techniques picked up from his grandmother. Fried chicken is at the heart of his franchise, and he offers eight variations such as "peach-n-pecan" wings, which, between the rub and the sauce, involve two dozen flavorings including paprika, brown sugar, and whiskey. He then extends to a variety of main dishes, baked goods, sides, and desserts that follow his rules of "transatlantic African cuisine." This culinary mashup of Africa, Europe, and indigenous America results in intensely seasoned offerings like andouille corn dogs, drunk-n-fruity pulled pork, and spicy strawberry baby backs. Gonzales's coauthor and sous chef, Terence Teh, is from London, which perhaps explains the appearance of several U.K. mainstays that, once bland, have now been transformed into streetwise novelties. Fish-n-chips take on a spicy pumpkin beer batter. Steak pie is flavored not with Guinness but with chocolate-laced wine and an orange-flavored crust. Ginger finds its way into nearly every recipe or, if not ginger, then coconut, as in the brilliant and simple new-school elote, which is grilled corn on the cob coated in mayo, honey, cheese, spices, and toasted coconut. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Blending African, European, and indigenous American traditions, Gonzales (a chef and artist known for pop-up events and his Ride or Fry food truck) creates extreme dishes that defy categorization. His Credit Crunch Fried Chicken is marinated and battered in over a dozen ingredients, including lemon zest, potato starch, beer, and Sriracha hot sauce. Other recipes (e.g., Island Smothered Tofu, Root Up! Slaw, Orange Coconilla Pie) are similarly extravagant and, as Gonzalez notes, best for special occasions and celebrations. VERDICT A bold cookbook for the reader who likes creative spice blends and abundant vegan options.” --Library Journal

From the Publisher

Blending African, European, and indigenous American traditions, Gonzales (a chef and artist known for pop-up events and his Ride or Fry food truck) creates extreme dishes that defy categorization. His Credit Crunch Fried Chicken is marinated and battered in over a dozen ingredients, including lemon zest, potato starch, beer, and Sriracha hot sauce. Other recipes (e.g., Island Smothered Tofu, Root Up! Slaw, Orange Coconilla Pie) are similarly extravagant and, as Gonzalez notes, best for special occasions and celebrations. VERDICT A bold cookbook for the reader who likes creative spice blends and abundant vegan options.

Library Journal