Caviar, truffles, and foie gras--these luxurious ingredients create a dazzling orchestra for the senses and are appearing more and more on the menus at fine restaurants. This elegant cookbook explores the difference between Sevruga and Osetra, the controversy of foie gras, and the enigmatic nighttime world of truffle hunting. Over 50 tantalizing recipes demystify these sometimes intimidating ingredients with straightforward, simple techniques. For those who aspire to decadence in the dining room, it's now possible to enjoy at home the flavors of such sumptuous dishes as Steamed Lobster with Truffle Beurre Fondue or Whole Roasted Foie Gras with Winter Vegetables. Author Katherine Alford reveals the secrets to infusing home cooking with three of the most revered delicacies in haute cuisine. As Alford says, caviar, truffles, and foie gras are celebratory foods with a unique mystique. A food writer and cooking teacher, she was executive sous-chef at the Quilted Giraffe, the famed four-star New York restaurant (now closed), in its heyday, so she knows whereof she speaks. She presents a concise but well-researched introduction to each of these prized ingredients, followed by recipes for amuse-gueules (or hors d'oeuvres), first and main courses, and sides. Some of her sophisticated dishes are indulgent indeed, but others use either relatively small amounts of these expensive ingredients or their less costly cousins, such as salmon roe rather than sturgeon caviar. The book is attractively designed with full-page color photographs of many of the dishes. For most collections. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Katherine Alford gained her extensive knowledge of this exotic trinity as the executive sous-chef at the Quilted Giraffe in New York City. She is currently a senior writer at the Television Food Network.