Professional Cooking Books - Page 9

Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen

Pino Luongo, Mark Strausman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When two great chefs—buddies and business partners for twenty-odd years—decide to write a cookbook about the simple Italian food they love, you get decades of experience, sage advice, and wonderful recipes. And you also get a few great arguments thrown in along the way, as Pino and Mark debate the right way to make everything from meatballs to pot roast to eggplant parmigiana.

Of course, the issue is not whose recipes are better—Pino and Mark would be first to praise each other's food. And it's not about a right or wrong way. It's about preferences in ingredients, technique, and approach.

Pino, a native of Tuscany cooking in America, is a purist. His food is grounded in tradition. Mark, a New Yorker, loves the Italian-American cooking he grew up with. Each has his favorite recipes (see back cover) and his own way, but they're bonded by a shared philosophy that the simplest food is the best, and a shared desire to please families, friends, and loyal customers with food that makes them happy.

So here are nearly 150 delicious recipes representing the best of Italian and Italian-American cooking from not one master but two, with text that teaches, dialogue that's lively, and photography that's gorgeous. There's no question about who reaps the rewards of their friendly competition—it's the reader, hands down. Whether you make...

• Pino's Oven-Braised Lamb and Artichokes with Oven-Roasted New Potatoes and Spring Onions or Mark's Braised Holiday Capon with Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
• Mark's Chopped Roman Salad or Pino's classic Caesar Salad
• Pino's Mushroom Risotto or Mark's Farro with Button Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, and Goat Cheese
• Mark's Pears in Vin Santo with sweet Polenta or Pino's Neapolitan Cheesecake

...the end result is the same—unpretentious food that is timelessly pleasing. This is home cooking at its very best.

Dessert University: More Than 300 Spectacular Recipes and Essential Lessons from White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier

Roland Mesnier, Lauren Chattman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As Executive Pastry Chef at the White House for almost twenty-five years, Roland Mesnier has been responsible for creating thousands of elegant, delicious confections and dazzling desserts for hundreds of state dinners and family occasions. An accomplished teacher as well as a master chef, he now shares his expertise with home cooks in Dessert University.

This beautifully illustrated volume is a complete course in making the full spectrum of spectacular sweets -- from breakfast pastries, cookies, and pies to fresh-fruit desserts, frozen confections, and cakes. Recipes in each chapter are organized from the simplest to the most complex, and Chef Mesnier walks you through each step, pointing out common mistakes and offering insights on technique gained from his years as a professional. Most of these recipes need few special ingredients and almost no fancy equipment; nearly everything can be purchased at a well-stocked supermarket, department store, or kitchen supply store. Chef Mesnier includes tips on techniques, ingredients, and serving suggestions, and offers home cooks practical advice, such as how to fill and use a pastry bag and the best way to whip egg whites. A resource list is also included, so cooks can find the more unusual ingredients they need to make these delectable creations.

Mesnier starts off with his fresh-fruit desserts, including uniquely wonderful recipes such as Bananas in Raspberry Cream, Blueberry Fool, and Poached Peaches with Chestnut Mousse. He moves on to creamy custards, puddings, soufflés, mousses and Bavarians, ice creams, meringues, crêpes, and breakfast treats (including buttery brioche and croissant doughs). Chef Mesnier's cookie and bar recipes will fill your cookie jar with such treats as Chocolate Chip Cookies, Almond Crescents, Orange Butter Cookies, Brownies, and Florentine Squares. There are sweet and savory tarts, and cakes ranging from the simple (Lemon Pound Cake) to the unusual (Peanut Butter and Jelly Roulade Cake) to the sophisticated (Chocolate Champagne Mousse Cake). Ambitious home cooks can even try their hand at making chocolate candy and sugar decorations. A chapter on syrups, sauces, and other dessert components completes the book.

More than fifty black-and-white line drawings throughout illustrate Chef Mesnier's instructions for the more complicated recipes, and there are sixteen stunning color photographs of finished desserts.

Home cooks and professionals spend hundreds of dollars in formal cooking classes to learn what masters like Roland Mesnier have to teach. In Dessert University, Chef Mesnier has distilled the experience and expertise of an extraordinary career into one accessible, user-friendly volume. Whether you're a novice who has never picked up a rolling pin or an accomplished cook looking to hone and enhance your skills, this is truly a book you cannot do without.

The Complete Caterer

Elizabeth Lawrence

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A must! 5 out of 5 stars.
99 of 100 people found this review helpful.

When I first started out, I did not know how much to serve and how to break down my expenses. After reading this book, that information was no longer a mystery. It is precisely what the beginner needs and what the experienced can use for reference. Not only does it contain information on what to charge and spend, it sets up scenarios that illustrate what the author is referring to. There are recipes that are fresh and practical and interesting.

Editorial Review:

Colorful, festive, and filled with imaginative ideas, this superb Christmas cookbook features cakes, cookies, and other holiday favorites, plus full-course menus, great gift ideas, and much more.

Full color photographs and B & W illustrations throughout

The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine

The French Culinary Institute, Judith Choate

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1984, Dorothy Cann Hamilton founded The French Culinary Institute with a singular vision: She wanted to create a culinary school that combined classic French techniques with American inventiveness in a fast-paced curriculum. Since then, the FCI has gone on to become one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, boasting a list of alumni that includes the likes of Matthew Kenney and Bobby Flay and a faculty of such luminaries as Jacques Pepin, Andrea Immer, and Jacques Torres. But perhaps the greatest achievement of the FCI is its Total Immersionsm curriculum, in which the classes prepare a student to cook in any type of kitchen for any kind of cuisine.

Now, for the first time ever, all the best that the FCI has to offer can be found in a single sumptuous volume. The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine presents the six- and nine-week courses taught at the FCI that cover all 250 basic techniques of French cooking. Along with more than 650 full-color photographs, the book features more than 200 classic recipes as well as new recipes developed by some of the school's most famous graduates. Complete with insider tips and invaluable advice from the FCI, this will be an indispensable addition to the library of serious home cooks everywhere.

Zagat 2008 New York City Restaurants (Zagatsurvey)

Zagat Survey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

zagat's 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are planning to take a trip to New York City, be certain that you have the latest copy of Zagat's with you. It will totally enhance your dining experience. don't leave home without it.

You need a Zagat if you want to eat well in NYC. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Everyone who wants to eat well in NYC needs a Zagat guide. It lists almost every kind of cuisine, price level and restaurant location in the city. The reviewers are people just like you and me, they like to eat and they are willing to share their experiences. If you are visiting NYC for the first time, or for the 20th time, you need this book.

Editorial Review:

All new for 2008, New York City Restaurants covers over 2,050 restaurants in the five boroughs. This handy guide contains Zagat Survey's trusted ratings and reviews for New York City area restaurants based on the opinions of diners like you. The trademark reviews and corresponding ratings for Food, Décor, Service and Cost are organized alphabetically in a user friendly format. Use the indexes arranged by cuisine, neighborhood and special features like In Places, Winning Wine Lists, or Romantic Places to find the perfect restaurant for any occasion. Includes color foldout map, neighborhood maps, stick on bookmarks and more.

Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice: A Management View

Costas Katsigris, Chris Thomas

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Editorial Review:

The New Edition of a Favorite Resource!

From the decor that helps define the customer's experience, to the steps taken to comply with workplace safety and health regulations, to the capital investments in major equipment,a well-designed foodservice facility blends many different elements into a functional and pleasing whole. Decision-makers who understand these different elements and how they work together will reap the plentiful rewards that come from good design choices in a restaurant or foodservice endeavor.

Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice, Third Edition takes a comprehensive approach to planning and developing a restaurant or foodservice space. This "go-to guide"encompasses everything from creating a restaurant concept to maintaining a commercial-grade oven, and is unique in its attention to both the front and back of the house.

Revised and updated with the latest foodservice industry trends, this new Third Edition features:

• New and expanded coverage of green design, including energy and water use, recycling and waste streams, smarter use of space, and LEED "green building" principles
• New information on technology use in foodservice
• Coverage of design in the context of industry trends including mobile foodservice, multichain operators, branding concepts, design for smaller spaces, and integrating cook-chill methods for quality control
• Recent developments in equipment technology and equipment purchasing, financing, leasing, and insuring
• The latest updates on topics including sanitation practices, healthier cooking oils, and regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act

Clearly organized for learning, and full of such resources as callout boxes, interviews with industry experts, take-away points, and other helpful features, Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice, Third Edition gives hospitality industry students and working professionals a complete guide to this essential subject.

Remarkable Service: A Guide to Winning and Keeping Customers for Servers, Managers, and Restaurant Owners

The Culinary Institute of America

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Topics include:

• Dining room and kitchen organization and personnel
• Reservations, greeting, and seating
• Classic and modern styles of table service
• Beverage and wine service
• Money handling
• Service challenges––what to do when things go wrong
• Front-of-the-house safety and sanitation

Industry surveys consistently show that service is the number one reason that people come back to a restaurant–or dine elsewhere. With competition increasing for today’s dining dollar, restaurants must go beyond culinary excellence to ensure their success. They must offer Remarkable ServiceSM, the kind of service that makes guests feel comfortable, makes dining out enjoyable, and creates customer loyalty.

This book offers unique, comprehensive coverage of the principles, standards, and practices that are the hallmark of truly Remarkable ServiceSM. Written by The Culinary Institute of America, which has been hailed by Time magazine as "the nation’s most influential training school for cooks," it shares the knowledge and techniques necessary to exceed guest expectations through every part of the dining experience.

Remarkable ServiceSM places detailed practical information within the framework of Nine Basic Principles of Hospitality and Service. These critical principles provide the foundation for building an outstanding customer service program in any setting, from informal to fine dining. Filled with invaluable real-life examples and important do’s and don’ts, this book gives both new and veteran servers–and their managers–the skills, confidence, and flexibility to bring Remarkable ServiceSM to virtually any situation–and keep customers coming back for more.

Club Cuisine: Cooking with a Master Chef

Edward G. Leonard

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Recipes and cooking tips from the kitchen of one of the country's most exclusive clubs


Club Cuisine is the new, stunningly visual cookbook featuring Certified Master Chef Edward Leonard's dynamic club fare. It presents more than 150 recipes that, until now, have typically only been enjoyed by privileged members of private clubs. Inside, you'll find helpful hints and insights to create these scrumptious dishes, as well as inspiring photographs by renowned photographer Ron Manville, who has worked extensively with the ACF Culinary Team USA and other top chefs.

For serious chefs, Club Cuisine is a dream come true. Featured recipes include amuse-bouches, seafood, beef, and pasta dishes as well as delectable soups, salads, and sandwiches. Also included is a guest chef chapter featuring recipes from some of the top club chefs around the country that add to this impressive collection. Caterers and restaurant owners will also find complete seasonal menu items that have pleased distinguished diners at top private clubs.

For everything from a simple nosh to a hearty but elegant meal, Club Cuisine is the cookbook to keep at your fingertips.

Restaurant Favorites at Home: A Best Recipe Classic (The Best Recipe)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Bring out your inner chef 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful.

Somehow, I feel this book has not received its due credit or attention. As someone who is very familiar with Cook's Illustrated, I am very surprised that this book did not become one of their top sellers. Perhaps because it is somewhat of a departure from what Cook's Illustrated normally does that people have not been able to truly embrace its concept? I must say that even I was surprised that they set out on such an undertaking with this book, especially since their founder, Christopher Kimball, is a self-proclaimed loather of all foods fancy. But after the tremendous success I have had with the amazing recipes from this book, I am so thankful they ventured into restaurant quality territory.

Before I go on, let me first say that this is probably not a book for the uninitiated. If you are a beginner cook, I strongly urge you to start out with Cook's Illustrated "The New Best Recipe" cookbook. There is a wealth of information and techniques to be learned from this all-encompassing cookbook (the "Bible" to us Cook's Illustrated fans) and you will be better served to learn the fundamentals of cooking and baking before you try most of the recipes from "Restaurant Favorites". However, if you are a seasoned cook looking for delicious, foolproof recipes with the wow factor of a four star restaurant, then you have hit the jackpot with this book!

How CI approached this venture is they contacted scores of food editors from all over the country and asked them what dishes from their favorite restaurants they would most like to recreate at home. They then asked the chefs of those restaurants to share their recipes. In typical CI fashion, they took those recipes into the test kitchen and exhaustively tested them until they came up with a version that would translate into the home kitchen. Most high end restaurants use hard to obtain ingredients, difficult techniques, and have expensive equipment not normally found in home kitchens. They also have sous chefs on hand to help with lengthy preparation and dishwashers to clean their mountains of dishes. We home cooks are not afforded these luxuries. With this in mind, CI set out to transform these recipes into something the home cook could feasibly do at home, while still maintaining the integrity of the original dishes. They substituted expensive, hard to find ingredients with ones available to most home cooks, they simplified techniques, and they streamlined recipes to shorten preparation and cooking times. But all the while, they maintained the genius and drama of four star restaurant cooking. For those of us looking for ways to add new flavors and flair to our dishes without having to take expensive cooking classes, this book is like a gift from heaven!

There is a diverse array of recipes contained within, from the striking beauty and flavor of their "Crab Towers with Avocado and Gazpacho Salsas" to the homey flavors of their "Braised Short Ribs with Creamy Polenta". You will most likely find something to prepare for whichever occasion you choose. The recipes included run the gamut from first courses (appetizers, soups and salads), main courses (vegetarian, poultry, meat and seafood), side dishes and desserts. While this book may be a departure from what Cook's Illustrated normally does, you can still find elements that you have come to expect from them. Like product and equipment ratings, illustrations of techniques, and helpful tidbits that are scattered throughout the book. And like all other CI cookbooks, every recipe comes with a detailed write-up of their experiences in the test kitchen...how they arrived at the final version of the recipes, what lessons were learned in their undertaking, etc. As always, the good people at CI are not only recipe writers, but educators as well.

I cannot recommend this book enough to people who are looking for new and exciting recipes to wow their family and friends. You will be surprised at how doable all these recipes are, and you will be taking your cooking and entertaining to a whole new level. I do admit that I tend to use this cookbook more for entertaining than I do for every day cooking. While there are certainly recipes that you can make for weeknight meals (Tortilla Soup, Greek Salad, Jambalaya, German Pot Roast), more of them have that restaurant flair that seems more appropriate for dinner parties, holidays and special occasions than a Tuesday night in front of the television. But one thing's for certain, every recipe that I tried not only looked beautiful but tasted as good as or better than anything I've ever had in a high end restaurant. I can't thank Cook's Illustrated enough for this book. I've never thought I would be able to cook like this with such minimal effort!

If you are looking to elevate your cooking to an all new high, then you will definitely want this book on your shelf. You owe it to your inner chef to give it a try. :-)

Editorial Review:

Would you like to cook restaurant recipes at home? Have you ever been tempted to make a restaurant recipe only to be disappointed by the results? The editors of Cook's Illustrated set out to find out how to make restaurant cooking at home a reality. After collecting together hundreds of recipes they selected 150 recipes that excited them most and spent thousands of hours in their test kitchen making those recipes work. They trimmed each recipe to its essentials without compromising on flavour or visual appeal. Restaurants usually prepare huge batches of food, so the recipes were reworked to serve 4 rather than 40. As a result, Restaurant Favourites at Home offers tried and tested recipes for starters, soups, salads, main courses, side dishes and desserts as well as the usual wealth of tips, tastings and equipment tests that are so much a part of all the Cook's Illustrated recipe books.

The International School of Sugarcraft Book One

Nicholas Lodge, Janice Murfitt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Great book for pastry fanatics and chefs alike!!! Very specific with images, graphic explanations, photographs, and everything is explained step by step. 100% recommended!!!!

Everything for all beginners should know!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

It's great for anyone who wants to decorate your own cake but don't know where to start. It gives you the most details you should know and love to know, and easy to follow. I have a couple of cake decorating books, of course, this one is my favorite.

Helpful 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I bought both vol 1 and vol 2 of this book. Vol 2 is more in tune with what I wanted as I am trying to learn cold porcelain. BUT it does have some useful information. Also has a few patterns I believe I can use.

Very useful! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book contains exactly what I was looking for. I am a self learner and love to cook and bake. I am sure this will help me learn to make great birthday and wedding cakes for my family.

Editorial Review:

Arranged as a twenty-lesson coursebook, The International School of Sugarcraft, Book One teaches how to make perfect cakes, icings, frostings, runouts, ribbon work, frills, collars, lettering, modelling, and piped decorations.