Rating: 
Summary: a exceptional cookbook
Review: This book is more than just a cookbook,it has great advice for buying cookware,mixers,knives etc.Also gives you a guide to what you really need in your kitchen. The recipes are great too!
Rating:
Summary: Great resource with fool-proof recipes.
Review: This book is the first cookbook I've read which has turned me on to the science of food-making in a clear, understandable, and fool-proof way. It is liberating to realize that broccoli tastes best when steamed 7 minutes (this is really true), that I can make truly amazing salad greens (I can't stop eating them) if I dress them with WHITE balsamic in a 4-to-1 ratio with fine olive oil--I add a teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary and cracked pepper; and that a perfect roast chicken can be achieved by simply brushing the skin with butter and turning two times. By following along with his scientific method of figuring out what tastes best, I've also found that I've picked up an understanding of cooking that has allowed me to experiment more in the kitchen, and get creative--which is half the fun of it, after all.Kimball's recipes focus on bringing out the best qualities of the food being prepared, rather than relying on sauces, cheeses, etc. to make it taste good. My snobbiest cooking friends have tasted food I've made from this book and commented on its deliciousness. I highly recommend it, especially to people who want to learn the hows and whys of cooking to become better, more creative cooks.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for recipes and cooking techniques.
Review: This cookbook is concerned with teaching proper cooking techniques, and instructing both the novice and experienced cooks in how to make "the best" of everything, including: bread, roast chicken, barbeque sauce, and brownies.
All the recipes have been extensively tested to make sure that they produce excellent results. The methodology the author used to perfect the recipe is discussed prior to the recipe itself, so that the reader gains an understanding of how to experiment with food. The author provides useful tips which assist in cutting the time involved in food preparation (for example, the best way to cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of a cake pan is to trace around the pan with the back of a chef's knife).
I have to admit, the recipe for brownies makes the best brownies I have ever tasted
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for recipes and cooking techniques.
Review: This cookbook is concerned with teaching proper cooking techniques, and instructing both the novice and experienced cooks in how to make "the best" of everything, including: bread, roast chicken, barbeque sauce, and brownies.
All the recipes have been extensively tested to make sure that they produce excellent results. The methodology the author used to perfect the recipe is discussed prior to the recipe itself, so that the reader gains an understanding of how to experiment with food. The author provides useful tips which assist in cutting the time involved in food preparation (for example, the best way to cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of a cake pan is to trace around the pan with the back of a chef's knife).
I have to admit, the recipe for brownies makes the best brownies I have ever tasted
Rating:
Summary: If I had to have one cookbook only, this would be it.
Review: This cookbook is truly a bible to me. I keep a copy in the kitchen and another copy on my nightstand; it's both recipe book and reference book, all in one. I find myself consulting it at least once a day, not just for meal-planning and specific recipes -- and all the recipes I have tried are utterly delectable and fool-proof like all of Christopher Kimball's well-tested and well-reasoned recipes -- but also to help me in devising my own recipes or modifying recipes to my taste. That's the beauty of Kimball's reasoned approach: once you understand how ingredients and techniques work, you are able to amazing things! With what I have learned, I have "perfected" my chocolate-chunk cookies to make them denser and chewier as I like them; my baking powder biscuits by using tenderizing buttermilk and the right proportion of lard to butter; my pizza dough to make it more crispy and chewy by putting the olive oil on, not in, it; etc. Also, my meats are cooked perfectly every time, using Kimball's cooking temperatures and cooking times, for he has tested all the possibilities for you and set forth the results in useful charts. Now my roast loin of pork is always meltingly moist and tender. In short, I couldn't get by without this bible and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to cook better!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: This is a book that just doesn't deliver. It reads well and gives the impression that everything will work - well everything doesn't. Things that do work are mediocre and things that don't work, really don't work, just try the pie crust and you'll see what I mean. A good concept, interesting to read, just don't cook from it.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual Book a Must to own
Review: This is a must for every cook. It is unusual in the way it rates cookware etc, along with recipes. It gives a Master recipe, but explains why and how it became the best way to make that recipe. I have never seen anything like it. Mr Kimball has written something unique to Cook Books. Everything I tried was a winner. I consider myself a gourmet cook, so I was slightly put off by the Best American Cooking, as I tend to like French, and many other foods. However this is definitely for the gourmet cook, as actually there is really not much that is American Cooking, most recipes come from Europe. No matter how many other cook books you have this one is a must to any library.
Rating:
Summary: Best Cookbook Ever
Review: This is the most useful reference book you can have in the kitchen. You might think 'how hard is it to cook an egg?" but Christopher Kimball has tried all different ways and tells you the best and why. This is a MUST have for new cooks as well as those who cook often. The Lamb Roast master recipe is to die for!
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