The Professional Chef ® (Study Guide, 7th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Great Sidekick to 'The Professional Chef'
Review: Beware of this book. I purchased it believing I was getting a paperback copy of "The Professional Chef". I waited over three months before finally getting my copy. What a disappointment. Instead of receiving a book filled with great tips on how to become a better chef, I get an outline of a CIA course! Not one suggestion. Not one how-to. Nothing that would be of any help to anyone who was not sitting in a CIA class.

Rating:
Summary: Beware
Review: Beware of this book. I purchased it believing I was getting a paperback copy of "The Professional Chef". I waited over three months before finally getting my copy. What a disappointment. Instead of receiving a book filled with great tips on how to become a better chef, I get an outline of a CIA course! Not one suggestion. Not one how-to. Nothing that would be of any help to anyone who was not sitting in a CIA class.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sidekick to 'The Professional Chef'
Review: For anyone who owns 'The Professional Chef,' this books makes for a great one-two punch. It helps any serious food enthusiast get the most out of TPC by walking you through a logical progression.

I've noted the other reviewer's "Beware" warning, but I think it needlessly discourages people from buying a book that they would otherwise find quite useful.

Yes, beware that this isn't a cookbook, but note that it IS a great sidekick to the best cookbook you'll ever own.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good book on becoming a professional chef
Review: I am studying to become a professional chef one day and decided to purchase this book. It has a lot of technique and helpful hints, but I notice it does not tell you much about sanitation. I notice there is a new book out called the Study Guide for the Servsafe Exam: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations and that book really covered the subject very well. Now when I finally start my own restaurant I will do well in all areas of culinary.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good book on becoming a professional chef
Review: I have been working this book and workbook over for sometime. It has many typos which upset me greatly because someone should have picked up on it...but the overall concept is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Good workbook for the CIA Pro Chef BUT
Review: I have been working this book and workbook over for sometime. It has many typos which upset me greatly because someone should have picked up on it...but the overall concept is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: ripped off
Review: I thought I was buying the full on Professional Chef 7th Edition version and I got the study guide which without the book is completely useless. They use the exact same text to describe this book as they do the larger version which in my opinion is a poor thing to do. Make sure if you want the larger book you don't buy this one first.

Rating:
Summary: Excactly what it states - A study Guide
Review: This book is a great study guide to accompany the text. However, most people will be quite happy just to buy the textbook and the knife guide, but not the study guide.

NOTE TO REVIEWERS: If you are stupid enough to order a book without reading the details first, DO NOT BLAME THE BOOK! A review based on your error is not useful to other readers.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent study guide...
Review: This is what it claims, a study guide companion to the CIA's Professional Chef 7th Edition, which is a textbook meant not for the home chef, but for the aspiring professional chef.

That said, it's a very good guide to dedicated students of cookery (I'm not a professional chef, myself), and provides structure and sets expectations of what you are expected to learn from the main text. As a home chef dedicated to gourmet and quality cookery, I have been studying the primary text and occasionally seeking some structure to my own experiments and studies. While I don't have the liberty of following the text from Chapter 1 to the end (I can't afford to not cook for my family and that requires some compromise), the study guide does a great job of summarizing the points and lessons in each chapter.

As a study guide, this is not really useful on it's own, so I believe that it should only be purcahsed with The Profesional Chef. If you don't, you will be woefully disappointed. If you are only interested in recipes, than this isn't so useful to you, as it is about summarizing the factual knowledge you are expected to learn and retain in the process of this course.