The New Food Lover's Tiptionary : More than 6,000 Food and Drink Tips, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Other Things Cookbooks Never Tell You

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Summary: Tips and Techniques to Boost Basic Cooking Skills.
Review: "The Food Lover's Tiptionary" is a collection of tips and techniques on basic culinary subjects, organized alphabetically. I believe there are about 500 separate entries, but the book doesn't say. The 6,000 tips referred to on the book's cover fall under the entries. The book covers specific foods, general food categories, kitchen utensils, and culinary techniques. Food entries are presented in the following format: Tidbit (either a definition or food trivia), Purchasing, Equivalents, Storing, Preparing, Cooking, and/or Using. Some of the food entries are accompanied by short recipes. The formats of other types of entries vary, and may be best described by example: The entry for "Cookies" provides extensive instructions on making dough, preparing pans, baking, finishing, and storing. "Ice" gives general information and instructions for various ice cubes for different occasions. "Baked Goods" includes general baking tips. "Pasta Shapes" describes 65 shapes. Food quotes by recognizable names are scattered throughout the book, wherever the subject of the quote is found. There are several charts in the book, such as metric conversion, oven temperature equivalents, and pan sizes. And there is a Recipe Index in the back, for the over 100 short recipes found throughout the book.

Every cook could learn something from the "Tiptionary", but I think beginning or moderately experienced cooks will find it most useful. The subjects, themselves, are pretty basic. "Gourmet" subjects are few, and ethnic foods not at all. The entries are thorough, though, and would be helpful to an experienced chef if he/she doesn't happen to have experience with a particular food that is included. The emphasis is on instruction in "The Food Lover's Tiptionary", whereas the author's popular "Food Lover's Companion" emphasizes definitions. The "Food Lover's Companion" describes nearly 6,000 culinary terms -ethnic, gourmet, and obscure included.

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Summary: Simply The Best
Review: I flipped open this book at random the minute I got it and learned something new . . . and I keep learning the more pages I keep turning . . . cooking tips galore for everything I can think of. Thought I knew a lot about cooking, but The Food Lover's Tiptionary just seems to fill in the spaces and then some. This book's a pip . . . loads of info . . . a huge thanks to this book's author for making me feel even more at ease in the kitchen.

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Summary: Simply The Best
Review: I got this book because I love one of this author's other indispensable books, the New Food Lover's Companion. Whereas I use the latter for everything from good conversation fodder to look up menu terms, the Tiptionary, for me, a "cook's" book, tailor-made for those who love to cook. On the other hand, I think it would be great for people who don't love to cook, as it shows you how to navigate through almost any problem effortlessly. This Tiptionary has so many solutions for cooking questions big and small. For example, I finally learned how to prepare artichokes correctly (the book even has the technique for eating them, although I knew that). Oh, and so much, much more. I highly recommend this book and wouldn't give it up for anything.

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Summary: Best one yet
Review: I got this book because I love one of this author's other indispensable books, the New Food Lover's Companion. Whereas I use the latter for everything from good conversation fodder to look up menu terms, the Tiptionary, for me, a "cook's" book, tailor-made for those who love to cook. On the other hand, I think it would be great for people who don't love to cook, as it shows you how to navigate through almost any problem effortlessly. This Tiptionary has so many solutions for cooking questions big and small. For example, I finally learned how to prepare artichokes correctly (the book even has the technique for eating them, although I knew that). Oh, and so much, much more. I highly recommend this book and wouldn't give it up for anything.

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Summary: Thanks again, Sharon Tyler Herbst
Review: I've long been a fan of Sharon Tyler Herbst's books (have "The Ultimate A to Z Bar Guide," the "New Food Lover's Companion, the "Wine Lover's Companion" and "The Ultimate Guide to Pitcher Drinks"). So, when I recently received the new edition of her "Tiptionary" I eagerly started thumbing through it. This one's absolutely fabulous, and is also arranged in an easy A to Z format, which is one of the reasons I like this author's books so much! My new hubby's a hamburger fanatic (I'll convert him, yet;) so imagine my delight when I found over two pages of info on the subject. Now I cook his burgers just the way he likes them. Of course, I've found oodles of other subjects that make ME happy, like corn. The "Tiptionary" gave me dozens of hints on how to buy, store and cook it, and it has a super recipe for "Grilled Corn Off the Cob," which my spouse loves! And that brings me to another favorite feature of this book--it has dozens of short recipes scattered throughout. Not to mention that it tells you what to do with leftovers of whatever food you're looking up. Add to that loads of charts (temperature, measurements, pan sizes, pasta sizes, etc.), and you've got a book that every cook should have. Thank you, Sharon Tyler Herbst, for another great one!

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Summary: Bathroom Book
Review: Interesting facts for various foods, but it seems more like trivia than information you would retain as a cook.

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Summary: A REAL WINNER
Review: This book is a winner, no doubt about it. Any good cook will learn something here they didn't know . . . any beginner can't be without it. I learned a lot just flipping through it. And the other night, when I needed to thicken a soup, I just flipped to the "thickeners" page and found what I needed. I love the easy format, arranged alphabetically so I can immediately find what I need. I like this author's books--she tells it like it is in an explicit, easy to use way. And I love this book.

I received this book for my birthday along with this amazing new beverage as an alternative to coffee. Made from 100% soy that's organic, its absolutely delicious! It's caffeine-free and comes in 8 delicious flavors. Just google it under "s oyfee" to find it and you won't be disappointed.

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Summary: IT'S LIKE HAVING "MOM" IN YOUR KITCHEN
Review: Trivia? I don't think so. This is a winner, no doubt about it. Any good cook will undoubtedly learn something here they didn't know . . . any beginner can't be without it. I learned a lot just flipping through it. And the other night, when I needed to thicken a soup, I just flipped to the "thickeners" page and found what I needed. I love the easy format, arranged alphabetically so I can immediately find what I need. I'm with Julia Child . . . I love this book!

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Summary: GREAT FOR BEGINNER AND EXPERIENCED COOKS ALIKE!
Review: Trivia? I don't think so. This is a winner, no doubt about it. Any good cook will undoubtedly learn something here they didn't know . . . any beginner can't be without it. I learned a lot just flipping through it. And the other night, when I needed to thicken a soup, I just flipped to the "thickeners" page and found what I needed. I love the easy format, arranged alphabetically so I can immediately find what I need. I'm with Julia Child . . . I love this book!

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Summary: A "How-To" Manual For The Kitchen
Review: Well, I got this book for my wife for her birthday, but I think I've referred to it as often as she has (we both like to cook). It has become indispensable for both of us because it always seems to have the answer to some cooking problem that, before, we would have muddled through on our own. There is so much information in this fat, friendly book that, so far, there hasn't been anything we needed to know that we couldn't find an answer to (now we know why our low-calorie muffins and biscuits always taste like hockey pucks--it is because there's no fat in them, and fat tenderizes baked goods.) My wife calls Sharon Tyler Herbst the "Dear Abby" of the kitchen and, as much as I hate to admit that she's right (again), I have to agree with her!