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Summary: The Book for Professional Chefs, Written by Master Chefs!
Review: As a student of the Culinary Institute of America, there is only one true cooking book for me, The Professional Chef! To me and other culinary students this book is "Priceless!" The fact is that most students have to hide it from being stolen! This book, beside being the most wanted book in the cooking industry also holds an enormous amount of information in cooking methods, cooking information, and a huge source of cooking recipes that date all the way back to the 1940's. I highly suggest that if you are interested in the Professional Kitchen to BUY this book. I also recommend this book for people who are just looking to cook at home you just may want to reduce some of the recipes.
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Summary: The best cooking basis book out there
Review: When you want to learn to cook in a style that will amaze your friends, turn to the professional chef. This book whick lays out the basics for all forms of cooking and food preparation will not turn you into a chef. Being a chef is all about creating good looking, well prepared and presented food with your own tastes. This book gives you all the basics in order to accomplish that and goes farther it gives you recipes in order to practice the skills that it teaches you.
Simply amazing photography shows you visually steps of different styles of cooking and gives you information on all sorts of cooking including converting from european measurements to U.S. Most people know the high standard that the Culinary Institue of America (CIA) shows and the high quality of graduate they turn out. This book, used at at the CIA, is an invaluable asset to those aspiring to be chef and those looking to turn out a perfectly cooked pleasing meal.
Try this book. There is no one I know who would be displeased at either recieving this book as a gift or purchasing it for oneself. The cost is truley small compared to the insight and wisdom that it gives you.
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Summary: Make this one your core technique book
Review: I've always believed that the serious amateur chef (or skier, auto mechanic, or gardener) can always benefit from professional training and approach. The Professional Chef (7th ed., 2002) is promulgated by the venerable Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA). It is the institute's complete basic professional course. The book is profusely, nay, minutely, illustrated.Since The Professional Chef is a text, written based on the CIA's experience in teaching food techniques to thousands of students who often come to the Institute knowing next to nothing about food, it is organized for learning. The book gives full detail on every basic culinary technique, explains scientific backgrounds of major food phenomena, repeats and recapitulates nicely. This is a serious text, but of course you do not have to master the whole thing. Ever wanted to really know how to cut a carrot? The Professional Chef will give you illustrations and exact instructions on julienne, batonnet, brunoise, paysanne, fermière, lozenge, rondelle, and tourné techniques. Preparation techniques for individual vegetables-onion, garlic, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, chestnuts, corn, artichokes, peas, avocados, asparagus-get their own illustrated spreads. Lest you begin to think "this is way too much detail for me," bear in mind that the CIA has bent over backwards to make these materials superbly usable and didactically sound. Dip often into this true resource; double dip if no one is looking. Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com
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Summary: I love the details of this wonderful book
Review: This is a book to have in your kitchen whether or not your a professional cook. It covers all subjects of cooking including kitchen safety, but I decided to buy the Study Guide for the National Servsafe Exam: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations because it describes in more depth of how to handle and store your foods properly. Both books I would definitely keep in my kitchen along with my recipes.
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Summary: I love this book
Review: It was a gift from a great friend. It is a very good "textbook". Any questions that you may possibly have can be answered in this book. Highly Reccommended!!!
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Summary: I love this book
Review: It was a gift from a great friend. It is a very good "textbook". Any questions that you may possibly have can be answered in this book. Highly Reccommended!!!
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Summary: A great reference guide, though it contains errors...
Review: The Professional Chef is an excellent reference for any serious cook. If I were to own one cookbook, this would be it. However, I have found minor typographical errors. On page 4 of the seventh edition, in the box titled "Major Culinary Historical Figures", the description of Marie-Antoine Careme starts as follows:
"MARIE-ANTOINE CAREME (1784-1883) become known as the founder of the grande cuisine..."
-The verb "become" is incorrect; it should be "became". Also, on page 25 of the seventh edition, in the "common conversion" chart it states that 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 1 fluid ounce. This is not correct, as 1 fluid ounce equals 2 tablespoons.
I'm not a perfection[ist], but I mentioned these mistakes for the sole reason that there is a burrito in my eye.
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Summary: A Great Reference, An Okay Cookbook
Review: As a home cook, I find this book somewhat useful as a reference tool. The recipes themselves are fairly standard, nothing abou them is new or exciting. However, the step by step instruction for techniques is very useful, and there is a lot of information on ingredients. If I were a chef, this book would be much more useful.
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Summary: Worth every cent, VERY thorough!
Review: This is an exceptional reference that was well worth the cost (especially at 30 percent off!) I managed three restaurants about ten years ago and I can tell you this book is about as thorough as a single tome can come. The book is written in plain English and contains clear descriptions on wealth of important subjects including nutrition, rotating stock, selecting and inspecting all types of meat, fish and produce, descriptions of utensils and their proper uses, creating menus, kitchen safety (look in the table of contents for more details.) All that, complemented by 100's of recipes makes this book a great investment. Business plan aside, this book provides enough information to take a lamen off the street and provide the knowledge to start a restaurant. While no one book has everything, I could not think of a better reference.
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Summary: Magnifique!
Review: First of all, this is not just a "cook book". It is a book about cooking and there is a huge distinction. In many ways it defies description...it is a homage to Larousse in its references to (and admiration of) classical French cuisine but it is not a didactic recitation of rules nor is it a mind-boggling tome about the science of cooking. First of all, it is eminently readable and beautiful to view. The pictures are all full-color and offer minute details rarely found in other cookbooks. The steps for cleaning soft-shelled crab are a work of art. It is a guide "for the professional chef" which includes those folks who make money cooking or those amateurs who prepare elaborate meals for the sheer artistry and taste. What is most helpful are the "basics" - the little things that professionals do that makes their food taste so good. The first few chapters deal with the basics BUT is written with a professional in mind (how to buy meats in quantity, compute cost per meal, appropriate actions of kitchen workers, many descriptions). Then there are chapters on the science of cooking which require more than one reading. Following that we come to sauces, creams, soups, broths and roux - in my opinion, without a doubt, the most important items in the book since these form the basis of every reputable kitchen. A meticulous step-by-step approach is explained and illustrated in the best single-volume presentation of its kind. Always, there are little hints and common sense rules. Identifying meats, vegetables, fish precede actual recipes that are simply mouth-watering. WARNING*** This is not a tome for beginners but is quite possible the best teacher outside of a classroom you will ever find.
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