Rating: 
Summary: An essential cookbook
Review: A true 'Cooking Book' (as opposed to a collection of recipes), this book has changed the way I cook. It helped me move beyond recreating recipes and along the road to becoming a much more accomplished cook. The style is informal, the content up to date, and the instructor is exceptional. It deserves a special place on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to become a better cook.
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Better then nearly most of the classes I have taken.
Rating:
Summary: It's da bomb!
Review: If you only want to buy one cookbook, you must buy this one. It's got absolutely everything you could ever want to know about cooking. The really great thing is that it goes from very simple to amazingly complex, so you don't necessarily have to jump straight into making a veloute sauce from scratch right away. You can sort of adjust for complexity. Also, I really like the wine recommendations that come alongside most of the recipes. They're dead on.
It's a great book for the money. Just try comparing it to any of the other really exhaustive cookbooks out there.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrific but...
Review: Ms Kamman's book is an exhaustive tome to be sure. She covers nearly every aspect of European cooking and a few forays into other cuisines as well. You also have to appreciate the way her personality comes through. It's not hard to hear her voice guiding you in the kitchen.The recipes are generally clear and the ones I've tested work well. So why only 4 stars? Mainly it is the indexing. It is sometimes hard to navigate the book to find what you want. Unlike the Joy of Cooking which seems designed to be an immediate reference work, Making of a Cook takes more work to find what you're looking for. Also, there are some surprising ommissions for a book intended primarily for an American readership. There's virtually nothing on roasting a turkey other than one somewhat odd recipe, and some commentary following the discussion of roasting a chicken. There's considerable difference between roasting a 4 lb. bird and a 14 lb. one. But, the good stuff is definitely worth the investment of time. The explanations of why certain techniques matter and the recipes themselves make this a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific but...
Review: Ms Kamman's book is an exhaustive tome to be sure. She covers nearly every aspect of European cooking and a few forays into other cuisines as well. You also have to appreciate the way her personality comes through. It's not hard to hear her voice guiding you in the kitchen. The recipes are generally clear and the ones I've tested work well. So why only 4 stars? Mainly it is the indexing. It is sometimes hard to navigate the book to find what you want. Unlike the Joy of Cooking which seems designed to be an immediate reference work, Making of a Cook takes more work to find what you're looking for. Also, there are some surprising ommissions for a book intended primarily for an American readership. There's virtually nothing on roasting a turkey other than one somewhat odd recipe, and some commentary following the discussion of roasting a chicken. There's considerable difference between roasting a 4 lb. bird and a 14 lb. one. But, the good stuff is definitely worth the investment of time. The explanations of why certain techniques matter and the recipes themselves make this a must have.
Rating:
Summary: are you a little weird?
Review: Perhaps the best cooking guide I have read! The wealth of information on technique and cooking science is presented in such a manner that the book is easily readable cover-to-cover. Madeleine Kamman certainly has given as much importance to writing this volume as she gives to her cooking and in doing so, has produced an extraordinary teaching source. She introduces concepts of sauces by presenting a very insightful history of saucemaking citing such masters as Escoffier and Careme. The bibliography itself is worth a great deal as it presents numerous sources which can be used for further study. This is definitely a required book for anyone who is serious about cooking!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Finest!
Review: Perhaps the best cooking guide I have read! The wealth of information on technique and cooking science is presented in such a manner that the book is easily readable cover-to-cover. Madeleine Kamman certainly has given as much importance to writing this volume as she gives to her cooking and in doing so, has produced an extraordinary teaching source. She introduces concepts of sauces by presenting a very insightful history of saucemaking citing such masters as Escoffier and Careme. The bibliography itself is worth a great deal as it presents numerous sources which can be used for further study. This is definitely a required book for anyone who is serious about cooking!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent read and a tremendous source of information
Review: Recall how your college English teacher used to assign to you a incredibly thick, obtuse novel to read in a week? Mme Kamnan's book is, objectively, quite hefty. I started Chapter 1 with some reservation but 100 pages later, I looked up and it was way past my bedtime. Two days later, I finished the last page. This book is enchanting, informative, funny, insightful and, for the most part, scientifically accurate. I would unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone interested in the history, science or art of cooking. It's rather much like spending a long afternoon with a French housewife in Provence.
Rating:
Summary: Great cookbook!!!
Review: This cookbook is a complete guide to cooking. Everything is explained well without being condescending. In addition, there are interesting anecdotes added with each technique description. Not only does this book describe how to do things, it describes why (this is only useful to those of us who hate mysticism in cooking). It describes things like why egg whites will be stiffer if whipped in a copper bowl. Very cool book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful reference! I refer to it several times a week!
Review: This invaluable reference spends most of it's time on the end table beside my recliner so I can read a page or two between commercials! My wife says if I say to her, "Honey, listen to this..." one more time, she's going to hide the book!! If you don't own it, buy it now!
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