Culinary Arts & Techniques Books - Page 8

Naked Chef, The

Jamie Oliver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

oh so good! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

jamie oliver is the best! he is funny, cute, and most inportantly passionate about food. i am currently in culinary school, and jamie's first book.... the naked chef, is the reason i am doing what i am doing. his book makes cooking look so fun and relaxed... exactly what it should be!!!! (i should know... i spend 7 hours in cooking class every day.) the pictures are colorful and artistically taken. give this book as a present to anyone, chef or not. i remember staying up way late at night reading his words and looking at pictures..... mmmmmmm its to bad hes married already!

Editorial Review:

Stop making reservations, and start cooking dinner! Jamie Oliver introduces us to his concept of -naked+ food, and shares his simple, feisty, and delicious recipes that combine bold flavors with fresh ingredients. Oliver+s cookbooks appeal to anyone who wants to prepare fantastic meals but doesn+t want to spend all night cooking.The Naked Chef, filled with more than 120 fuss-free recipes and with full-color photographs throughout, proves that even kitchen novices can make perfect foolproof roast chicken, homemade ravioli, five-star risotto, and a chocofreak+s dream chocolate tart. The Naked Chef is an international bestseller, and has sold more than 200,000 copies in hardcover in the U.S.

The Improvisational Cook

Sally Schneider

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In The Improvisational Cook, Sally Schneider helps home cooks declare their independence from recipes and set lists of ingredients and offers an invitation to a fun, more spontaneous way to cook with whatever is on hand. But how do you become an improvisational cook?

Once you understand how a basic technique or a recipe works, you can then begin to improvise. Start with one of The Improvisational Cook's essential recipes, such as Caramelized Onions. A special "Understanding" section follows, explaining the internal "logic" of the recipe and its creative possibilities. With that in mind, a savory onion jam; a real onion dip; a quick bruschetta topped with the onions, anchovies, and olives; or a rustic onion soup with dried porcini mushrooms is just a step or two beyond. Sally's notated improvisations illustrate simple, clever approaches and can be followed as is or used as a jumping-off point.

The possibilities are endless. Slow-roast fish at 300 degrees, along with some cherry tomatoes and olives for a sauce. Prepare a savory lemon jam to go with lamb or veal chops, or turn it into a cake filling. Roast a whole lobster instead of a fish in a salt crust. Add minced rosemary or Earl Grey tea to butter cookie dough. Turn a brownie batter into an elegant pepper-scented chocolate cake.

Sally gives you the know-how to embellish, adapt, change, alter, modify, and experiment in your cooking with plenty of encouragement and helpful information -- the tools and insights you need to find your own voice and cook improvi-sationally. These include an exploration of the "inside" of improvisation -- the creative mind-set, where to find inspiration, how to deal with the unexpected, practical approaches to learning "what goes with what," including a chart of classic flavor affinities, and tips on organizing your kitchen to make improvising easier, from long-keeping pantry staples to makeshift tools.

Using The Improvisational Cook, you'll discover a way of cooking that's fun, unfussy, and truly pleasurable. Everyday cooking can become creative every day.

Best-Ever Casseroles Cookbook (Gooseberry Patch)

Gooseberry Patch

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

I'm a Collector... 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 19 people found this review helpful.

of Gooseberry Patch cookbooks because I really like (most) of them. This one is no exception. It is filled with recipes that real people really cook, with ingredients you probably have on hand most of the time. It is rare to make one of these recipes and not have it turn out well.

And, I like this cookbook because it is readable. It's fun to sit down and read all the "Serve It Up With Style" suggestions, things like making herbal tea without even boiling water or creating personalized votives to brighten up dinnertime. Quick, easy, fun.

The book is not just dinner casseroles, either. It begins with breakfast and brunch, then has 5 more chapters, each devoted to a different main ingredient--poultry, seafood, beef, pork or vegetable. In the back, there are casserole and baking pan measurements, quick fix casseroles, basic lists for pantry and refrigerator and casserole equivalents (i.e, 1 medium potato = 1 cup).

Another winner from Gooseberry Patch.

Editorial Review:

Over 200 of your favorite casseroles are featured in our Best-Ever Casseroles Cookbook! Enjoy tried & true recipes like rise & shine breakfast souffle, weekend beef burgundy, hearty chicken noodle bake, ham-it-up casserole and many more. We've also tucked in a quick-fix chart and a list of ingredients to stock your pantry and fridge.

Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead: A Year of Feasts to Celebrate with Family and Friends

Diane Phillips

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Outstanding guide to preparing great feasts 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I'm an experienced cook but I bought this book for assistance in learning how to do more of my cooking in advance of a party, etc. Philips more than delivers on her promises, offering thoughtful, delicious menus with recipes that don't cut the corners on flavor or excellence. Most of the recipes can be adapted by an experienced cook to your own favorite recipes. I found it invaluable to learn what can and can't be done in advance, definitely making entertaining easier and more enjoyable.

No kitchen should be without it! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Diane Phillips' Happy Holidays cookbook has become one of my favorites (and I have a collection of about 200 cookbooks). I love to cook for friends and family, but also like to be able to spend time visiting with them. I've tried three of Diane's complete meals (appetizers through desserts) and have not only found every recipe to be delicious and attractive, but was able to do the majority of preparation well ahead of time. Although I'm retired, it's great for working folks also because you can do a dish every couple of evenings, freeze or refrigerate them, depending on the dish, and just add the last minute touches on the day of your dinner. I've gotten rave reviews on each of her 'feasts' and look forward to cooking more of them.

Editorial Review:

This book is the follow-up to the successful Perfect Party Food. Happy Holidays from the Diva-of Do-Ahead brings the same how-to and do-ahead approach to creating menus for 12 holidays-with special emphasis on Thanksgiving and Christmas-as well as tips on recipe variations, decorating, and serving. Featuring a beautiful 16-page color photo insert, this is the perfect book for anyone who wants to take the stress out of entertaining and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore

Jennifer Mclagan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Top food stylist and food writer Jennifer McLagan has a bone to pick: too often, people opt for boneless chicken breasts, fish fillets, and cutlets, when good cooks know that anything cooked on the bone has more flavor -- from chicken or spareribs to a rib roast or a whole fish. In Bones, Jennifer offers a collection of recipes for cooking beef, veal, pork, lamb, poultry, fish, and game on their bones.

Chicken, steak, and fish all taste better when cooked on the bone, but we've sacrificed flavor for speed and convenience, forgetting how bones can enhance the taste, texture, and presentation of good food -- think of rack of lamb, T-bone steak, chicken noodle soup, and baked ham. In her simple, bare-bones style, Jennifer teaches home cooks the secrets to cooking with bones.

Each chapter of Bones includes stocks, soups, ribs, legs, and extremities (except for whole fish -- they don't have any). Many of the recipes are simple, with the inherent flavors of the bones doing most of the work. There are traditional, elegant dishes, such as Roasted Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad, Olive-Crusted Lamb Racks, and Crown Roast of Pork, as well as new takes on homestyle favorites, such as Maple Tomato Glazed Ribs, Coconut Chicken Curry, and Halibut Steaks with Orange Cream Sauce. Stunning, full-color photographs of dishes like Rabbit in Saffron Sauce with Spring Vegetables; Grilled Quail with Sage Butter; and Duck Legs with Cumin, Turnips, and Green Olives are sure to inspire.

In addition to the recipes, Bones includes a wealth of information on a wide range of bone-related topics, including the differences among cuts of meat, as well as the history and lore of bones.

Fix-it And Forget-it Recipes For Entertaining

Phyllis Pellman Good

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Can't live without this book 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This is the greatest slow cooker recipe book I've ever bought, and I've bought quite a few. I have 3 young children and a business so my time is valuable. I just "set it and forget it." The recipes are so easy to prepare. Most with ingredients you find in most kitchens. I ate over my brothers house and a friends house and found 1 thing in common. Great food. The recipes were both from the same cookbook. Thats when I knew I had to have it. We eat from this cookbook at least 2 times a week.

great slow cooker recipies 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This has been a great cookbook! I have a family of 6 and we are always on the run. It is great to walk into a great smelling kitchen at the end of the day and know we will have a delicious homemade dinner---not fast food!

A Few Gems Scattered in Mostly Drek 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I love reading cookbooks and trying new recipes, and I thought this would be a winner. After all, it's a New York Times best seller! But after reading a number of entries, I have to say I'm shocked! I agree with another reviewer on the "hot chicken sandwiches." Chicken and water?? This is a recipe? Under vegetables we get "Super Creamed Corn" which involves 2 lbs. of frozen corn, an 8oz. package of cream cheese, sugar, and butter. This has to be cooked 4 HOURS! I'm pretty sure you'll get great results in 15 minutes on top of the stove.
To me, slow cooker recipes are for melding complex flavors and seasonings over long periods of time, for tenderizing tough cuts of meat. Chili, spaghetti sauce, soups and chowders, baked beans, and maybe even rice pudding come to mind. And many of the recipes in here deliver just that--and more. In fact, I can't wait to try some of them. But the rest of the recipes are just embarrassing. Oatmeal? Are you kidding?? Oatmeal? We're invited to cook oatmeal for breakfast for 6-8 hours on low. I for one am not putting oatmeal ingredients in the slow cooker at midnight so that I can save 15 minutes at the stove the next morning.
Bottom line, buy it for the many good recipes that are actually in here, but don't be fooled into thinking they're all winners. Some of them are total duds.

Editorial Review:

This book is bursting with absolutely delicious recipes, as well as Tips for Hosting, Menus for Meals with Friends, and Ideas for Go-Alongs that compliment clow cooker dishes. You'll love cooking, hosting and eating from this treasure of good food.

The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery: For Connoisseurs, Chefs, Epicures Complete With 2973 Recipes

Auguste Escoffier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fascinating to read, but not a "cookbook" in the modern sense 4 out of 5 stars.
34 of 34 people found this review helpful.

"The Escoffier Cookbook" is a heavily abridged American version of Auguste Escoffier's 1903 book "Guide Culinaire". It is a fascinating look at the art of professional European cookery at the beginning of the 20th century.

However, to appreciate this book fully, it's important to understand exactly who it was written for. Escoffier's original guide was never for a second intended for the home cook. Escoffier was a pioneer with respect to the education of professional chefs, and originally wrote this book for the use of those working in grand houses, in hotels, on ocean liners, and in restaurants who might not have had access to contemporary recipes. Accordingly, the original book does not attempt to teach basic cooking or food preparation techniques. The American translation does include some details on cooking techniques and utensils unfamiliar to the average American chef (such as poeleing, worth the cost of the book alone, and the old French form of braising), but even in the translation it is assumed that the reader is a trained, experienced chef.

The recipes themselves are clear and simple to follow, but represent only a small subset of French cooking of the early 20th century. An earlier reviewer mentioned that there was no recipe for onion soup; this is true, but it should be understood that onion soup would never have been accepted by the class of restaurant patron Escoffier cooked for. Much of what has arrived on this side of the Atlantic as "French cooking" - dishes such as pot-au-feu, onion soup, and steak frites - is distinctly middle-class, and consequently would have been rejected by the clientele of quality restaurants of the time as being unspeakably boorish. Escoffier personally enjoyed bourgeois cooking, but as an astute, intelligent businessman he provided the haute cuisine his clients demanded.

One interesting difference between modern cooking and the cooking featured in this book is that Escoffier uses few spices, and indeed declaims on the foolishness of using large amounts of spices in meat dishes. This appears bizarre from our vantage point, but Escoffier had sound economic reasons for his proscriptions. Most diners of the time grew up in the days before refrigeration, when old deteriorating meat was heavily spiced to make it palatable. Fresh, unspiced meat was a sign of the highest quality. The association between strong spices and poor quality was powerful enough to survive long into the 20th century, as any reader of a 1950s American cookbook can attest.

As for the recipes themselves, I doubt that many of them could be prepared by the North American home cook. Most of us cannot afford (if we can even find) foie gras, truffles, or capons, and few have espagnole sauce or fish fumet available at all times. However, many recipes can be adapted for the modern cook - using cepes or porcini mushrooms for truffles, for instance - and those that can be prepared really are delicious.

Editorial Review:

An American translation of the definitive Guide Culinaire, the Escoffier Cookbook includes weights, measurements, quantities, and terms according to American usage. Features 2,973 recipes.

Food Drying with an Attitude: A Fun and Fabulous Guide to Creating Snacks, Meals, and Crafts

Mary T. Bell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"What a glorious book! This is now essential reading for our entire culinary team at Charlie Trotter's restaurant."—Charlie Trotter

This ultimate food drying resource has something for everyone: vegetarians, natural and raw food enthusiasts, hunters, fishermen, gourmet cooks, gardeners, farmers, hikers, and even fast food junkies. With more than thirty years of food drying experience, Mary T. Bell offers straightforward and practical instructions for drying everything from yogurt to sauerkraut to blue cheese, without ignoring traditional favorites such as jerky, mushrooms, and bananas. Throughout, Bell offers nutritional tips and highlights the time-, space-, and money-saving benefits of food dehydrating. Also included are descriptions of how various food dehydrators work to give readers a better understanding of the tools of the craft. Food Drying with Attitude gives readers the recipes, instructions, and inspiration they need to get the most out of their home food dehydrators. 100 color photographs.

Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual

Peter Hertzmann

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very Sound Basics for the Amateur. There are good alternatives 4 out of 5 stars.
23 of 25 people found this review helpful.

`Knife Skills Illustrated' by cooking instructor, Peter Hertzmann, is eminently subtitled, `A User's Manual', as one could wish that such a book actually accompanied your one thousand dollar plus set of French, German, or Japanese knife sets, except that Professor Hertzmann makes the excellent case, along with almost everyone else who covers the subject, that you only really need three knife styles, the chef's knife, a pruning knife, and a serrated slicing knife.
Before buying this book, one must consider another volume, `The Professional Chef's Knife Kit' prepared by The Culinary Institute of America. The book has only 3/5 the pages of Hertzmann's volume, and costs five more dollars, list price, but it actually covers far more ground and may actually be preferable to Hertzmann if you already know your way around a chef's knife and cutting board.
Hertzmann's book is truly for the inexperienced amateur, in that he covers only the most basic techniques; however, he does this very, very well. Two aspects of the book may leave the professional or skilled amateur a bit impatient. The first is that all techniques are fully illustrated from the point of view of both a right-handed and a left-handed person. Thus, a lion's share of the book's 256 pages duplicate information. The second is that the sections on preparing vegetables often repeat the same techniques for produce where the methods are very similar, as with an onion and a shallot or a turnip and a potato.
This said, all the instruction Hertzmann gives us is very, very good. Coverage includes all the usual subjects, such as how to hone a knife, how to wash and store knives, how to use, wash, and care for cutting boards, and how to hold and handle knives safely. I may have been just a bit disappointed that the author did not cover knife sharpening in more detail, but I firmly agree with the author (and many others as well) that with expensive knives, this task is best done by a good professional. I am also just a bit surprised that Hertzmann does not give just a bit more attention to use of the Santoku design knife and the Chinese and Japanese style vegetable cleavers, especially as the author points out that his first real training was with Martin Yan, and that he used the Oriental style cleaver for many years before switching over to the European style chef's knife.
Even though much of the material is familiar to an experienced cook, I found a few tips which were so good to virtually be worth the cost of the book. High on that list is the better method for finding the best point on asparagus to cut off the woody ends. As I have often thought, the test snap method really wastes much good vegetable. Another rare and valuable piece of advice is the three different methods for dicing an onion, one of which is especially useful if you don't need to dice the entire vegetable.
In contrast, the CIA Knife Kit book goes far beyond Hertzmann in dealing with both far more different types of cuts such as rondelles, ripple cuts, gaufrettes, ribbons, Paysanne, Tourne, Fermiere and decorative cuts. The book also covers using a mandoline in great detail and gives far more detailed descriptions and photographs on techniques for washing, storing, and honing knives. And, most importantly, if you are willing to do it, precise information on how to sharpen knives using a whetstone. There is a fair amount of information in this book which an amateur may never use, but all of it is useful to both a professional and an amateur who is simply interested in how the professional does things. It is also important to point out that the material in this book does not appear in the big CIA book `The New Professional Chef'.
This book is perfect for the person who simply wants to be able to make Rachael Ray recipes in almost 30 minutes (Rachael can do it simply because she has all these skills). It is also a boon to people who like to cook efficiently, but don't know where to find these basic skills (and doesn't have the time to watch the collected 256 episodes of Alton Brown's `Good Eats' show. If you already have good knife skills, consider the CIA book instead.

Editorial Review:

Don't be surprised if it changes the way you cook.

Knives are the most common pieces of equipment in the kitchen, yet few cooks know the basic techniques that can allow them to carve, chop, slice, and mince effectively. Peter Hertzmann teaches you skills that encompass everything you need to do with a knife in the kitchen, whether you're a four-star chef or an at-home beginner. This comprehensive guide fills a gaping void in culinary literature.
• Over 800 step-by-step illustrations for right- and left-handed cooks.
• Exact instructions on how to do everything: mince onions, julienne ginger, bone trout, carve turkey.
• How to select the best knives and cutting boards.
• Directions for proper knife maintenance.
• 2-color throughout; 800 drawings.

834 Kitchen Quick Tips: Techniques And Shortcuts for the Curious Cook

Cook's Illustrated Magazine

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Restart the grill with a hairdryer. Use chopsticks to dry wine glasses spot-free. Peel a kiwi with a spoon. Skewer cheese using pretzel sticks. Leak-proof a cone with mini-marshmallows. Slice strawberries with an egg slicer. Protect a cake during transport with toothpicks with mini-marshmallows.

Soften butter with a rolling pin. Prevent a scorched saucepan with marbles. Clean a garlic press with a toothbrush. Melt chocolate with a coffee maker. Pit cherries with a paperclip. Drain lobster with a pair of scissors.

What’s the best way to preserve leftover herbs, peel eggs in record time, or chop chocolate with ease? Ever wondered if it’s possible to soundproof your coffee grinder or tame the heat of fresh chiles? Find the answers to these questions and more in this indispensable A–Z handbook. Even the most experienced cook will find that these tips—the most highly-rated feature of Cook’s Illustrated magazine—-deliver unique and clever solutions to common kitchen problems.