On Cooking is a celebration of the culinary arts that will benefit anyone considering cooking as a profession, as well as serious amateur cooks who want to improve their skills--particularly in butchering and charcuterie. Wolfgang Puck, Mark Miller, and Alfred Portale are just 3 of the 30 chefs who share with us their combined wisdom and know-how.
This mighty encyclopedia covers a wealth of subjects, including nutrition, food safety, and standardizing a recipe. The book does assume a fair amount of culinary knowledge and expertise when it comes to proper textures, cooking times, and accurately judging "doneness." There are recipes for more than 700 dishes, including classics such as Turnedos Rossini and Crabcakes Benedict--as well as the basics for making great sauces, stocks, soups, pastry, and so forth. New-style cooking also features prominently, with a delicious recipe for Duck Prosciutto with Fresh Mango being a fine example. On Cooking: Techniques from Expert Chefs is quite an achievement.
From Library Journal
Similar in scope and approach to the Culinary Institute's The New Professional Chef (LJ 8/91), this textbook/reference was put together by Phoenix cookbook author Labensky and caterer Hause. Like The New Professional Chef, it begins with an introduction to the food service industry, then covers equipment and kitchen staples, with the bulk of the book devoted to all aspects of professional cooking and baking. This volume includes 1250 color photographs and 5500 recipes, in contrast to Chef's 700 recipes and 900 color photographs plus illustrations. Many of the recipes in Labensky and Hause's work come from a variety of professional chefs, and it shows. While one should expect that yields for stocks and other basic preparations be large in a text of this sort, home cooks attempting to use the recipes may be frustrated by serving sizes that vary from recipe to recipe, serving from one or two people to ten to 16 or more. The color photographs and step-by-step technique shots give this value as a reference, so special collections may want to consider; those that already have The New Professional Chef, however, can skip it.Judith C. Sutton, Sutton's Place Cuisine, New YorkCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
On Cooking: Techniques From Expert Chefs, Trade Version ANNOTATION
A virtual encyclopedia of culinary arts, On Cooking spotlights more than 600 delectable recipes--from soups to meats to desserts--presented by 30 of the world's greatest chefs. Richly illustrated with more than 1,250 full-color photographs, the book also features special "heart healthy" recipes, international cooking, and more.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The essential text for any serious cook, this new edition of On Cooking confirms the classic status of the original. At once a culinary encyclopedia, a cooking manual, a professional handbook, a catalogue of ingredients and techniques, a kaleidoscope of glorious food photography, and a comprehensive collection of recipes, On Cooking continues to be the indispensable pillar at the center of anyone's culinary library." — Andrew Schloss, CCP, President of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and author of numerous cookbooks "On Cooking is not only a great textbook, it is one of my standard reference tools. It sits on my desk where I can always reach for it to look something up." — Russ Parsons, Food Editor, Los Angeles Times
"For both the serious home cook and budding professional, this comprehensive work offers a well-rounded culinary education in a single user-friendly volume. Basic ingredients, techniques, procedures, terminologies and recipes are communicated by clear prose and excellent photographs. Seldom have the science and art of food been so well integrated in a manual of instruction that makes learning a joy." — Betty Fussell, food historian and author of My Kitchen Wars and The Story of Corn
"On Cooking has everything a culinary student or young chef needs—from clear photos to basic butchery, to principles of the bake shop, even marvelous recipes and insights from famous, super-successful chefs. ....It makes you a master of the nitty-gritty problems....Best of all, On Cooking provides all of this pricelessinformation in one single book. I predict that it won't take long for your copy to get that battered, grease-stained, much-used look." — Shirley O. Corriher, CCP, cooking teacher and author of CookWise
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
New edition of a hefty text/reference providing a culinary education with coverage of topics necessary to the professional chef (and the sophisticated home chef), among them: food safety and sanitation, nutrition, tools and equipment, knife skills, and butchering techniques. Some 750 recipes--representing many types of cuisine and coming from important contemporary chefs--are arranged in food- type categories (e.g. beef, poultry, seafood, vegetables, potatoes- grains-pasta, baked goods) with substantial information about preparation techniques in each category. Illustrations are clear: informative photos and diagrams, arranged attractively on the page and sized to complement rather than dominate the text. Each section includes discussion questions. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Art & Photography
Book Info
