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Summary: The proof is in my cousin........
Review: .....who never really liked cooking. She actually received this gift from co-workers as a joke! Recently, while visting her city, I spent several days with her and she decided to show off her new cooking skills, telling me that I'd be the "guinea pig". With this she held up her copy of Cooking for Dummies and explained how she came to possess it. This book starts very simply apparently, explaining such things as the difference between "boil" and "broil" and how to tell if meat is cooked. It's perfect for those who've really never done a day of cooking in their lives or those who are still in the fairly early stages of learning cooking basics. It proceeds slowly until the point where the reader is actually ready to put together a dish and can follow the book's recipes. Well, my cousin wowed me over the next several days and really put together some quite tasty meals! I recommend this book for all novice cooks!!! If she can do it, you can too!!!
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Summary: Great book for neophytes
Review: A great little book for those who are kitchen-phobic. Tells you what to buy in terms of ingredients and equipment, with great starter recipes
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Summary: A Dummies' Guide on how to Get it Done in the Kitchen.
Review: Cooking for Dummies is funny, informative, and like all it's "For Dummies" cousins, immediately hands on.I'll take away one star, only because the opening can be intimidating to a rank beginner who doesn't know the difference between a soufle or a sauce pan. Moreover, as has been pointed out earlier, "Cooking for Dummies" seems to say that one must have or obtain a kitchen far beyond the reach of most new cooks. If that's overly intimidating, it's made up for later, as the book gives simple steps that are all but foolproof. If the beginner cannot afford the costly equipment recommended, the beginner should make do with what can be obtained. However, cooking is like any other craft--the better the equipment, the better the results. But the recipes and techniques are the highlight and soul of the book. Written with humor, insight, and a firm remembering of the intended audience (e.g. "dummies in the kitchen"), "Cooking for Dummies" is sure to please. The recipes are complete and easy to follow; the techniques are explained so that even a klutz like myself won't lose his fingers while chopping herbs or hard vegetables; and the results are uniformly satisfying. "Cooking for Dummies" is great reading, easy to use, and will be a favorite for many new cooks learning to use the kitchen for more than storage of beer and chips.
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Summary: A Dummies' Guide on how to Get it Done in the Kitchen.
Review: Cooking for Dummies is funny, informative, and like all it's "For Dummies" cousins, immediately hands on. I'll take away one star, only because the opening can be intimidating to a rank beginner who doesn't know the difference between a soufle or a sauce pan. Moreover, as has been pointed out earlier, "Cooking for Dummies" seems to say that one must have or obtain a kitchen far beyond the reach of most new cooks. If that's overly intimidating, it's made up for later, as the book gives simple steps that are all but foolproof. If the beginner cannot afford the costly equipment recommended, the beginner should make do with what can be obtained. However, cooking is like any other craft--the better the equipment, the better the results. But the recipes and techniques are the highlight and soul of the book. Written with humor, insight, and a firm remembering of the intended audience (e.g. "dummies in the kitchen"), "Cooking for Dummies" is sure to please. The recipes are complete and easy to follow; the techniques are explained so that even a klutz like myself won't lose his fingers while chopping herbs or hard vegetables; and the results are uniformly satisfying. "Cooking for Dummies" is great reading, easy to use, and will be a favorite for many new cooks learning to use the kitchen for more than storage of beer and chips.
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Summary: Learn how to cook with 'Dummies'..
Review: For someone that isn't that experienced in the kitchen, Cooking for Dummies is amazing. For the simple recipe to make scrambled eggs most cookbooks have gourmet recipes. When I looked in Cooking for Dummies I found out how to make scrambled eggs without the pretty stuff. It does a great job explaining what you need and how to prepare your meal. Cooking for Dummies has made me become less afraid of getting in the kitchen. Having a book that is easy to understand and simple has actually encouraged me to want to cook more. I definitely recommend this book to the first time cook!
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Summary: The Perfect Present...Almost
Review: I bought this for my cooking-challenged spouse Bessie and she was not amused. In fact, the last time I saw this supposedly useful book was when it bounced off the top of my head. Be careful who you give this to.
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Summary: The Perfect Present...Almost
Review: I bought this for my cooking-challenged spouse Bessie and she was not amused. In fact, the last time I saw this supposedly useful book was when it bounced off the top of my head. Be careful who you give this to.
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Summary: Great Advice in Easy Steps
Review: I greatly enjoy all of the "Dummies" books. Not that I consider myself a dummy, but I have found this book series to offer good advice on the basics on whatever you want to do. This guide is no exception. My only complaint would be discussions regarding equipment. I feel that too much attention was given to this necessary but individual segment of cooking. Cooks need tools, but good tools don't make good cooks. But the book still has many merits and certainly makes for fun reading.
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Summary: A good idea, with a fatal flaw - luckily, it can be ignored
Review: My idea of the "For Dummies" books is that they are supposedto be for the beginner and not intimidate anyone. As an aboveaverage cook who is regularly asked for a recommendation on where a newcomer to the kitchen should start, I had hoped that this could be my answer. Unfortunately, there is a fatal flaw that make me hesitate and certainly give a disclaimer with any recommendation I might provide. My biggest reservation has to do with the chapter on equipment. While I will certainly not disagree that I can cook slightly better with better equipment, I also know that you can be a perfectly good cook with 50 cent knives and $5 saucepans. This chapter should have been an appendix - "When you're ready to buy the best tools" instead of such an early chapter. At most the chapter should have contained a discussion about what each item is used for, and stopped there. As it stands, it succeeded mainly in putting off the less experienced cooks I showed it to. This is a shame, since much of the rest of the book is useful, funny and informative. I have since recommended it to one person with the caveat that they should ignore that chapter until they could afford not to. But most people just starting out can't afford what's in there. (Heck, I'm well beyond starting out and can't afford much of it. Then again, I regularly produce gourmet meals on a $20 set of knives and a $50 set of pans. So can anyone.) In the end, the author broke what I consider to be the cardinal rule of the "For Dummies" books - MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE. In the end, a $50 knive and a $100 pan are just not accessible and also, not NECESSARY to be a good cook. Learning the skills of cooking can be done on almost ANY equipment (the tops have to seal and the knives have to cut - that's about it). This book made it seem necessary to drop a $1000 or so before you could start boiling water and that's not just inaccessible but intimidating, too.
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Summary: You can cook!
Review: My sister, whom moved out and had never cooked a thing in her life, really enjoyed the benefits from this book! The moment she saw it on my shelf, she snatched it up and took it home and I haven't seen it since. I hear she's cooking some great meals and hope she'll invite me over for dinner sometime soon! ;)
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