Culinary Arts & Techniques Books - Page 15

Smoking Food: A Beginner's Guide

Chris Dubbs, Dave Heberle

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Editorial Review:

Everything you need to know about home smoking.

In Smoking Food, Chris Dubbs and Dave Heberle assure us that smoking is an art, not a science, and they fearlessly reveal that art's essentials—and how simple they can be. They explain how to choose the best fuels (you can use corncobs!), how to build smokers from old refrigerators and cardboard boxes, and, of course, how to smoke everything from turkeys to turtles. Their advice is as ingenious and cost-conscious as any given by Alton Brown. Aware of the needs and wants of the modern cook, they include low-sodium preparations, alternatives to preservatives like sodium nitrite, and thoughts on safely handling meat. With more than one hundred recipes and tips for making brines, marinades, cheeses, appetizers, soups, and main dishes, Smoking Food is an invaluable resource for the home smoker. 50 color photographs.

Famous Dave's Backroads & Sidestreets

Dave Anderson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not for more advanced chefs 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

While I didn't harbor hopes that this cookbook would divulge a secret so commercially-valuable as Famous Dave's BBQ sauce recipes (it doesn't at all, and in fact makes a big fuss at how 'important' it is to guard your secret recipes), I DID hope that it would teach a bit about the flavors involved in the type of food I usually tend to associate with images of New Orleans, Chicago, and all the small town in between. I had hoped it would be at least on par with one of Bobby Flay's books on grilling (incidentally, I'll point out that I heartily support Bobby Flay's openness with his recipes, and his understanding that even if he gives me his exact recipe for Mesa Grill BBQ sauce--which he does in one of his books--my version of it will never taste the same as his).

This book does not offer any of that. I was sublimely disappointed when I opened it up to his 'famous' rib recipe and found that the 'recipe' called for several bottles of his "famous Dave's BBQ sauce". In my opinion, this isn't a recipe, it's a plug for a product. I had hoped to find some discussions about cooking techniques...slow-roasting, smoking, etc, but there is maybe a paragraph on this in one of the recipes, and it's ambiguous at best. What it DOES offer is a small handful of recipes slathered with a thick layer of recipe titles like "Jumpin' Jukin' And Jivin' All-Day Beef Brisket" (requires 3 bottles of Famous Dave's BBQ sauce), an overwhelming amount of photos of various Famous Dave's storefronts, and a cover laden with claims of this book being voted "best in america" for recipes.

If your idea of making 'homemade baked beans' involves buying a can of bakes beans and a bottle of bbq sauce, mixing the two together, and calling it a day, this is the book for you. If you're a food network junkie, if you know what Alinea or El Bulli are, or if you see value in cooking from scratch rather than using preprocessed ingredients, you're probably best to seek elsewhere. I wish I could point to a better cookbook on BBQ-ing, because I know finding one is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but I'm hoping it'll suffice it to recommend against buying this cook.

Editorial Review:

Award winning recipes inspired by America's down-home eateries. More than 100 recipes for comfort foods and authentic regional dishes. They come from neighborhood storefront restaurants and blues joints (Voodoo Chicken & Mojo Salsa and Beale Street Shrimp and Corn Fritters); small town roadhouses and cafes (Route 66 Truck Stop Chili, Creamy Sweet & Sour Coleslaw, and Caraway Cheese Soup); country kitchens (Front Porch Cheesy Grits, Real Honest Southern Fried Chicken, and County Fair Blue Ribbon Peach Pie); and rustic cabins and lodges (Log Cabin Chicken Pot Pie, Ketchickan Lodge Salmon Pate, and Drunken Peach Cobler.)

Williams-Sonoma Collection: Sauce (Williams-Sonoma Collection)

Brigit Legere Binns

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Another Great Cookbook From Williams Sonoma 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I have a friend who is a professional chef, and a good one. One night we were discussing steaks, and he said that anyone can "do" a steak, but it is the exceptional cook who knows how to make the meal memorable with the right sauce. I believed him then and do so now: the right sauce makes a good meal memorable. However, my early explorations led me to recipes that were complex and time consuming, and thus frustrating

Then I came upon this little gem while searching the amazon.com roster.The title is a bit misleading, because the book provides suggested entrees (and desserts) for each sauce recipe. For example, the recipe for duxelles sauce has it accompanying veal chops, and the recipe for carmel sauce accompanies the recipe for carmel swirl ice cream.

Nontheless, the sauce recipes are clearly written and easy to prepare. The results so far have been exceptional.

So, if you want to kick your cooking up a notch, try this book. No disappointments so far.

Editorial Review:

SAUCE

From a barbeque sauce that imbuse pork ribs with smoky flavor to a creamy hollandaise contrasting with crisp asparagus or refreshing pineapple salsa that sets off a single grilled fish, a delicious sauce can improve every dish. This is specially true when it comes to desserts -- think of an almond pound cake drizzled with orange sauce, or a banana split topped with hot fudge.

William-Sonoma Collection Sauce offers more than 40 terrific recipes from familiar favorites to fresh ideas. Each versatile sauce is presented as a part of an inspired dish, and you will find tempting fare to suit every course and every occasion. This beautifully photographed, full-color receipe collection is certain to become an essential addition to your kitchen library.

"Just as the clothes make the man, the sauce can most certainly make a dish."

The Seduction Cookbook: Culinary Creations For Lovers

Diane Brown

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

Editorial Review:

Whether you're planning for the slow seduction of a three-course meal or an imaginative way to lead up to the real main course, here are dozens of delicious recipes and creative tips for that perfect night in - and the morning after.

In The Seduction Cookbook, author Diane Brown offers much more than romantic recipe secrets. She teaches how to heighten passion through appetizing anticipation, and shares tempting techniques for preparing and serving her creations. Inside you'll find appetizers that will induce a little "fork-play" such as Chile Lime Shrimp; Rocket Salad with Black Mission Figs; and Ahi Tuna Ceviche with Advocado. Erotic entrees include Scallops with Asparagus and Ginger Beurre Blance and Sausages in Red Wine. And if you make it to dessert, try replacing low-carb with "low-garb" by enjoying the sweet sensation of Strawberries Stuffed with Mascarpone Cheese and Dark Chocolate or Poached Pears in Cardamom Syrup, among many others.

Diane Brown also features menus for special occasions, dishes you can make together and intimate serving suggestions. So relax, slip into something a little more comfortable. With these simple recipes The Seduction Cookbookwill surely satisfy in more ways than one.

This hardcover has been redesigned, repackaged, and includes "seduction tips" for each recipe not available in the paperback.

Goodness Gracious: Recipes for Good Food and Gracious Living

Roxie kelley and friends

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great for Kids & Adults! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book was a gift to me from a good friend. I was immediately struck by how beautiful the pages looked - a welcome relief from the usual textbook-like cookbooks I've kept in my cabinets. Then I started to read the recipes and realized that these were simple! The bonus was that not only would my husband like many of these recipes, but so would my young daughters. I use it almost every week for a great home-cooked meal or dessert.

Editorial Review:

Roxie Kelley and Shelly Reeves Smith nourish the body and soul by combining simple yet satisfying recipes with tips on gracious living and friendly entertaining, all presented alongside warm and inviting hand-drawn illustrations. Destined to become treasured family keepsakes, each book features flavorful recipes along with distinctive touches:

This charming book celebrates a combination of good food and gracious living with chapter-ending "grace notes"—personal anecdotes and thoughts inspiring positive reflection on family, friends, life, and food. It features recipes for Apple Streusel Tea Loaf, Sweet Pepper Bisque, Garlic-Asiago Mashed Potatoes, Baja Lasagna, Pumpkin Cheesecake Tarts, and much more.

Culinary Math

Linda Blocker, Julia Hill, The Culinary Institute of America

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Must buy culinary students 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I'm a culinary student and found this book very helpful for converting units into metric units. It helped me with my baking class because it showed how to convert measurements properly and with great accuracy. I also used the following to study for the National Servsafe Test which is also on amazon.com:
Study Guide for the National Servsafe Exam: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (ISBN: 0971999678). It showed me the type of questions asked on the exam. In addition, was quite helpful for my sanitation class. Get both books if you're in culinary school.

Editorial Review:

Written by two former instructors at The Culinary Institute of America, this revised and updated guide is an indispensable math resource for foodservice professionals everywhere. Covering topics such as calculating yield percent, determining portion costs, changing recipe yields, and converting between metric and U.S. measures, it offers a review of math basics, easy-to-follow lessons, detailed examples, and newly revised practice problems in every chapter.

Escoffier: Le Guide Culinaire: The first complete translation into English

Auguste Escoffier

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

Why not go to the Source? 5 out of 5 stars.
30 of 31 people found this review helpful.

Some of the buzz among today's cooking enthusiasts concerns classic recipes or modern departures from them. Arguments arise among cooks over what are "mother" sauces in France; people point to the latest coffee-table cookbook for its "classic" recipes.

But if you're interested in anything like that, why not go to the source, Escoffier? Recipes in the "Gee See" (or "Zhay Say," depending on your native tongue) organized much of this subject in the first place. Escoffier's Guide Culinaire has always been available for those who are interested. ISBN 0831754788 is the reissue of Cracknell and Kaufmann's English translation of the 1921 Flammarion edition in French. Including unvarnished comments from its original time and place: "It may be of interest to note that the authentic type of Indian curry is not suitable for European tastes, but the flavor of the above sauce is generally acceptable." Such opinions (far more numerous in, for instance, the popular 1961 Crown "Larousse Gastronomique"), honestly included in the reprint rather than being edited out to flatter modern "tastes" in turn, add to the historical interest of this edition.

The Guide Culinaire, the French national professional cookbook, is where the "classic" recipes were organized and popularized by Georges Auguste Escoffier. It is what the Nouvelle Cuisine of the 1970s rebelled against and what the neo-traditionalists rediscover. It begins with Recipe #1 which is a brown stock, ends with #5012 for a wine punch. It is the direct source of an Internet signature file I used on and off since the 1980s (mostly "off," in recent years):

"Foundation or Basic sauces -- Espagnole (brown sauce), Velouté, Béchamel, tomato." [Recipes 16-26, by the way.]

(Cooks may argue with each other about what are "mother" sauces. But they mayn't argue with Escoffier.)

Cooking on the Road with Celebrity Chefs

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Woodall's Cooking on the Road with Celebrity Chefs - edited by Anne de Ravel
- The only cookbook that combines gourmet cooking with cooking in an RV and at camp!
- Over 25 Celebrity Chef contributions of unique recipes
- Dozens of tips and sidebars that makes recipes easier to use while traveling
- Unique sections on gourmet grilling, simple soups and salads, specialty stews, easy breakfasts, fantastic desserts and more!
- Safety tips for meat storage and preparation from meat experts
- Personal camping stories from each celebrity chef
- Secret hints from the chef's themselves - especially for RVers


Introducing gourmet meals for your RV kitchen!
Cooking on the Road with Celebrity Chefs is a one-of-a-kind RV cookbook, created for food enthusiasts!
Cooking on the Road with Celebrity Chefs features a collection of recipes, ranging from contemporary flavors to updated regional classics, reflecting greater diversity in RV cooking without requiring top-notch culinary skills.
Meet some of the best chefs in the country, from TV personality Chef Harry who cruises in his "rock & roll" bus, to Melissa Perello, executive chef at Fifth Floor restaurant (San Francisco). You'll learn about their unique personalities and style in the kitchen and on the road, find out how they cope with limited equipment, and peek into their lives learning some great tricks of the trade along the way.
A few of the 25 celebrity chefs included are:
Charlie Palmer, Chef/Restaurateur(founder of the CP Steak Houses, and author of Great American Food and Charlie Palmer's Casual Cooking), Laurent Tourondel (founder of the BLT Steak and BLT Fish Restaurants), Chef Harry Schwartz(featured on the Shop at Home Network and creator and star of "Chef Harry and Friends" syndicated television show), Zak Pelaccio (founder of 5 Ninth and Fatty Crab in NYC, NY),and many more!

Enjoy reading sidebars and tips from famous chefs, which give short cuts for recipes, explain how to prepare and store meats and other foods for your trip, and give suggestions for early preparation of menu items. In addition, each of these famous chefs share their own personal camping stories and their own personal cooking at camp secrets.

Cooking With the Firehouse Chef

Keith Young

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Cooking with the Firehouse Chef 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For beginners and veteran cooks, this book is packed with wonderful recipes sure to become family favorites. I'm giving this copy to my son who is just beginning to learn the joys of cooking for himself.

Greatest Cookbook Ever..... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I recieved this Cookbook as sort of a joke for x-mas because "I LOVE FIREMEN" and it has been the greater present I have ever gotten. There quick and very easy recipes to follow and use. My cookbooks looks like it has gone to hell and back I use it constantly. I wish Keith would come out with another book soon. Watch out Rachel Ray move over for a FIREMAN.G

Editorial Review:

Now in paperback: the food that fuels the FDNY-from a firefighter who is also an award-winning chef.

Shopping, preparing food, and eating together builds a unique camaraderie among firefighters-and provides a chance to blow off some steam when not saving lives. Now, trained chef and firefighter Keith Young takes that ritual to a whole new level. Bringing his culinary expertise to the firehouse, he has created recipes that satisfy the hunger in these everyday heroes-without scrimping on taste. His award-winning dishes have made meals at FDNY Ladder-156 in Brooklyn an event in themselves, and now readers can recreate the experience in their own homes.

Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A handy encyclopedia of stripped-down, minimalist, no-frills recipes 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

[Note: Originally credited to Ruth Berolzheimer, but has since been republished with no author credit.]

This isn't the sort of book you buy to learn how to cook - you buy it keep on your shelf as a sort of culinary safety net, for those times when you need a recipe for something in a hurry, and you cant find it anywhere else in your home library. Hollendaise sauce ? It's in there. Creamed spinach ? Yes, and don't forget the obligatory sliver of garlic and tiny grating of nutmeg. Buerre Blanc Sauce ? Check. Cream of Asparagus Soup ? No problem. Bisque ? Several, and remember to stop shy of a boil after adding the yolks (or they'll break). It's ALL in there, sans fancy photos. You open the book to find a basic no-frills starting point for any given recipe, and then you explore/experiment/personalize it from there.

Weighing in at a hefty 974 pages, all of it in tiny print too, this encyclopedic tome of basic core-American cuisine is the sort of fall-back omni reference that all serious cooks had on their shelf in the days before on-line databases like 'epicurious' became easily available.

I've given it a thumbs up - not because it's enjoyable or entertaining (hardly), but because it's so useful. It's a bit dated, the instructions are minimalistic, and the few photos that are present are all B&W and not especially helpful, but it's still a good book to have on hand if your cooking styles tend to roam loose and free, and where improvized 'door knock dinners' or 'cupboard special dujour' are a frequent and welcome diversion into culinary improv.

A handy, well dog-eared, fixture atop my fridge.

[Added clarification]:

This is NOT the sort of book one turns to for inspiration. Rather, it's the place you turn when you've forgotten the specifics of how to make something specific, and you need to refresh your memory by briefly consulting an easy-to-search encyclopedia of uber-minimalistic no-frills examples. The kind of stripped down recipes that are analagous to a rusty old VW beetle left up on chocks in a back alleyway.

Case in point: "cream of (insert vegetable here) soup" ... it gives one basic stripped-down ultra-short recipe, and gives 1 sentence variations on adapting it for broccoli, brocciflower, spinach, mushroom, etc. And it does it all in under half a page too. We're taking TERSE ... barely 1 step above microfilm, if you know what I mean.

Incidentally, when I first bought this book, I kept thinking that the title "Culinary Arts Institute ..." (CAI) meant that the book published by the "Culinary Institute of America" (CIA). There is no such connection.

Editorial Review:

From the basic to the gourmet, from preparation to serving, it's all here, all presented in a clear, concise, simple manner. Includes 10,000 different rec ipes and countless food facts and ideas.