Morton's Steak Bible

Recipes & lore from the legendary steakhouse

You have got to love a place that totally knows who they are. When Arnie Morton and Klaus Fritsch founded the company in 1978, Arnie said "Morton's is a neighborhood saloon for the rich and for people who like to splurge now and then." Nothing has changed except that they're now in 70 neighborhoods in the U.S., Canada and Asia. No matter which neighborhood you visit, it's Morton's. That consistency is one of their hallmarks.

Klaus has teamed up with Mary Goodbody, a food writer/consultant/cookbook editor, to share with home cooks how to consistently have that Morton's experience at home. Although steak is what they're all about, they also share recipes for most everything they do: cocktails, appetizers, salads, soups, lamb chops, swordfish, linguini, chicken, Wiener Schnitzel, sauces, sides and desserts.

Photo: Book cover courtesy of Morton's

Basics are all here—suggestions on where to buy meat, what the cuts look like, allowing the meat to reach room temperature prior to cooking, etc. They move on to general rules of cooking, timing and monitoring the temperature.

Before they get into actual recipes, they talk about kitchen equipment, tools and glasses. The good news is, you can create these dishes with tools nearly everyone already has in their kitchen. While cocktail recipes simply call for alcohol (gin, vodka, etc.), the forward is not shy about naming favorite brands.

Recipe layout makes it easy to see what you're getting into and, actually, nothing is too difficult. Instructions are numbered and clear even when there are numerous steps. Each dish gets a short intro about what makes it special, i.e., Beef Filet Diane is a lovely way to dress up steak for a dinner party or special feast, braised lamb shanks take time, so it's best to make them on weekends, Morton's likes lobsters baked versus steamed or boiled for the texture and presentation.

Each main entrée recipe includes wine recommendations and many include notes on things like differences in size of lobsters when making a bisque or where to buy pre-made demi-glace for a peppercorn sauce.

Because Morton's is so consistently Morton's, you'll occasionally feel you're in a time warp, particularly when you're perusing the side dishes. Many are classic comfort foods with no particular concern over calories. Think creamed spinach with half-and-half, rice pilaf with butter, hash brown potatoes also with butter, Lyonnaise potatoes with, no, no butter, just bacon fat. It may sound bad, but you'd gobble it down if it were in front of you. It's all part of the splurge.

Klaus Fritsch, courtesy of Morton's

Morton's has always been a place where celebrities can be found, possibly because other customers are nearly as rich as they are and don't feel the need to stare. Okay, maybe it's the food and ambiance. In any case, throughout the book, Klaus includes "Celebrity Clips"—mini-stories about Frank Sinatra, Queen Latifah, Michael Jordan, Liza Minnelli, Teri Hatcher and more. You can get your cookbook and People fix all in one place!

All in all, this is a fun book. You'll want to perfect your steak-cooking skills and the recipes are ones you'll want to try. Visually the book is very appealing and as you go through and read about the dishes and the people, you're transported to a world you don't inhabit every day. But now that you have the recipes, you could.

Click here to see Morton's steak au poivre recipe

Click here to see Morton's wild mushrooms with garlic butter recipe

Click here to see Morton's garlic butter recipe

Click here to buy the book now from Amazon.com

Gay Douglas/Fall 2006