Can you imagine boiling down 1000 pounds of bone every night to make the basis of soups and sauces to be served the following day? And what about the pressure of maintaining a tradition of quality, luxury, and excellent service spanning more than a century?

John Doherty has overseen the kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel since 1985, when at the age of 27 he became the hotel’s youngest Executive Chef. Just recently, this beautifully photographed edition of The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook, published in 2006, caught my eye after I happened to enjoy a special food and wine pairing event held in the kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria.

You can read more about the event, but even when it was all a memory, this seductive book gives the secret details behind Chef Doherty’s magic. You can see – and read – about the dishes that made the Waldorf famous, but even more than that, you have an insight into a chef confident enough in his culinary skills at a very young age to take on (and possibly improve) upon the very symbol of luxury dining in Manhattan.

The original Waldorf Astoria Hotel cookbook was published in 1934, in black and white (this 2006 edition of Chef Doherty’s is in sumptuous color) and a few pages of this coffee-table sized book is devoted to the famous people (the king of Siam, Babe Ruth, Dalai Lama and many more) who dined there. In this new edition, the layout allows for Chef Doherty to comment on inspiration for the recipes, and also, recall conversations about those recipes with the famous people who have enjoyed them. For example, on page 111, Chef Doherty says how much he enjoyed cooking for President George H.W. Bush and specifically cites a conversation he had with the president about the Gruyere Cheese Souffles with Prosciutto Chive Cream.

More than the famous names, Waldorf Astoria Cookbook is exciting because it stirs such sensuous desires in the reader. And it’s not just the gorgeous pictures of succulent cuisine either. It’s a combination of everything … the pictures, Chef Doherty’s commentary on the (seemingly!) easy to prepare recipes, and also the reality that if and when you do prepare these dishes, you are accessing all the creative culinary energies of what has been the beacon of culinary artistry for over 120 years.