Book Description
When it comes to food, Linda Carucci is at the top of her class. As a cooking instructor with more than 20 years of food industry experience, no one is more qualified than Linda to reveal the indispensable everyday secrets and shortcuts that professional chefs use constantly in their cooking. Each of the more than 100 sensational recipes—soups and salads, pasta and risotto, main courses and side dishes, plus indulgent desserts—offers truly useful guidelines and tips. What is a chinois and why will this make homemade chicken stock better? Why are Turkish bay leaves preferable to the California variety? What cut of meat will ensure the most flavorful pork chop? Why is a marinade essential when grilling a flank steak? Why should granita be frozen in a square, rather than round, pan? The recipes go from down-home good and simple-to-prepare favorites (Tomato Cheddar Soup, Spaghetti and Meatballs) to guest-worthy, look-what-I-can-do feasts (Double-Crusted Timpano, Rack of Lamb). Clear illustrations show techniques such as how to cut the skin from a salmon fillet and slice basil into a chiffonade (and what is a chiffonade anyway?). Add to that a myriad of user-friendly charts (recommended temperatures for meat doneness; typical cuts of poultry, meat, and pork), menus, and resources, and any new cook—as well as the not-so-new ones—will quickly find that going back to school is way more fun (and delicious) than they ever remembered. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Enjoyable
I borrowed this book from the library and now I am considering buying my own copy. I would consider this more of a teaching/reference manual rather then an everyday cookbook. This book offers a huge amount of information from food science, cooking techniques, and of course many delicious recipes too. I Especially enjoyed the info on improving knife skills, understanding your palate (such as the role of acid and umami). This book is full of information on how to be a better cook, assuming you are not already a professional chef. There is no substitute for practice but if you can't go to cooking school this is also helpful. Overall I found this book easy to read, thoughtful, and an excellent reference I would refer to often.

Carucci's Secrets - a useful addition
I don't buy many cookbooks anymore as many sit on the shelf and never get used -except perhaps my 1950's version of the Joy of Cooking - but Carucci's Secrets is one of the few others I find a useful addition- not only for basic recipes but also for techniques and variations on a recipe - I most often use it as a quick reference for tips on how to make things even better - she often has a succinct tip on something simple but impactful that makes this book worth checking out before I try something new or sometimes if I want to find an improvement on an old recipe.
As an aside, I first met Linda at afriend's party, where she had brought a dish that was excellent, but seemed quite simple - many people were raving about it and later I saw her signing cookbooks and realized she was an expert in our midst - and reading her cookbook is like having a brief conversation with a down to earth friend or a next door neighbor - seems like casual advice - not overwhelming in details or overly technical - it's "just right."

One of my favorites
I love cookbooks.I have dozens and would have hundreds if I had more space.But there are only a few that I pull out when I need a really good recipe; the books that I trust to deliver a delicious result."Cooking School Secrets", "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison and "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer are the three that come out when I'm having people over and I'm not sure what to make.I pull this one off the shelf for other reasons too.For instance, I can finally hard boil and egg to perfection due to the insructions and explanations in this book.The introduction is full of information that has made me a better cook, just as the title suggests.

As for the recipes, I've made the "Chicken Soup with Glass Noodles", the "LInguine Aglio e Olio", and the "Fresh Fava Beans with Pecorino and Meyer Lemon Olive Oil", all good. But it was the Thanksgiving dinner that I made from the recipes in this book that really made me a convert.My husband, who complains loudly every Thanksgiving that he doesn't like turkey, ate seconds. My mother insisted it was the best Thanksgiving meal she'd ever had. I loved the fact that the recipes for roasting the turkey, making the stuffing and preparing the gravy were clear and presented in a step by step fashion. I can say with confidence that this book is filled with really well tested recipes that turn out deliciously every time.

Good, but not what I was expecting
The information is fairly helpful, but all spread out. You have to go through and look at every recipe to get the tips. I like the background of the recipes Linda gives, and the sources information in the back is pretty helpful. Might have been better if not written as a cookbook with extras.

A great resource for cooks wanting to take their "game" to the next level
Permit me a brief digression that will later bear on the review. I once attended a massage therapy school in a city with three competing schools, and I was continually amazed at how limited the competing graduates from the other schools were in basic anatomy, assessment, and palpation skills compared to what I learned. On the other hand, those graduates were way ahead in actual "salon/day spa" cosmetic techniques, so they tended to land positions more easily. They couldn't find a trigger point, balance a meridian flow, or treat a muscle tear, but they could select the best aromatherapy oils for various emotional stresses. Which set of skills were more valid, or "better"? It all depends on what you think is important in massage therapy.

Any course of education and training from a particular institution will have its prejudices, limitations, and standards. Other, competing training schools (and schools of thought) may well differ from the curriculum taught here and may well criticize and castigate these shortcomings. The important thing, you need to understand the rules and conventions of a craft or an art before you can successfully experiment with them or break them for effect (something that people like Alton Brown, Mark Bittman, and Mario Batali do all the time). And Carucci's book does an amazingly thorough and accessible job setting forth those conventions, heuristics and "secrets" in one place, in an easily absorbed format. And she offers them AS conventions and secrets, which implies that other, alternate techniques may well exists. (I didn't even know that the ratios of the ingredients in "mire poix" were an issue, for instance). So to me, this book really is a cooking school between two covers, with all the advantages and limitations that would imply. Mastering the contents of this book will give the aspiring cook/chef a useful set of tools and protocols for "serious" cooking...but other cooks and chefs, trained in other ways of thought may well disagree with many of the "secrets" presented here. The important thing is to understand that the issues exists and that no "secret" is any better than the understanding and perception of the person trying to use it.

So to me, the most important (and useful) part of Carucci's book are the parts were she emphasizes the actual use of the senses and intuition as part of the cooking process. That takes this book to the next level as far as I am concerned and makes it a valuable resource in the education of would be cooks. I've learned a ton of stuff in the three short weeks that I've had it, and more important, I understand the extent and depth of my ignorance, in ways I never did before from working with these pages.

This is a great book to have. The only cookbooks in my collection that I like better are Alton Brown's (and I know that many people consider his recipes hit-or-miss See how personal perceptions enter into it, no matter what you do in subjects like cooking?) I'm delighted that I found this on the stands and decided to give it a chance.



... Read more

Book Description
Take a trip to the kitchens of Provence without taking a plane! This unique cookbook shows how you can create the spirit of Provence in your own home. As you follow a week-long course, you will learn new skills each day as you look over the shoulder of the Provencal chef-teacher just like one of his students! AUTHOR BIO: Guy Gedda is a chef-teacher of Provencal cooking at the Chateau de Berne cooking school in the Var region of Provence. Since he retired from his restaurant in Bormes-les-Mimosas, he spends his time as an informal ambassador to the region. Marie-Pierre Moine has 20 years experience as a food writer. Her works have been featured in various magazines and books. She won the Prix Gourmand Award 2004 for her book, La Cuisine des Brasseries. ... Read more

Book Description
This is a facsimile edition of the original Fannie Farmer Cookbook—a perennial bestseller first published in 1896.A pioneering work in the culinary field, it was the first cookbook to provide level measurements and easy-to-follow directions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The recipes from the Betsy-Tacy books
My favorite Maud Hart Lovelace book is Betsy's Wedding and I was very happy to find a recipe for Lady Baltimore Cake.I don't think that I will be making any of these recipes and I am not sure it was worth ten dollars but it's nice to know that pre-gadgetry, cakes were being churned out; that eases my baking anxiety.

A trusted friend in the kitchen
I clearly remember the day about 40 years ago when I talked my mother into buying a bottle of Final Touch fabric softener, a product she didn't even use, simply because it came with this free cookbook. I was 10 then, and dozens of cookbooks later, this is the one I turn to most often. The pages are brown and brittle, and began falling out years ago. I kept the book together with a rubber band, and now use a Ziploc bag. I want to make sure our family's favorite recipes are available to my 3 sons, so I'm buying this edition now. But I won't throw out my original copy with all its happy memories. Beyond all that nostalgia, the cookbook is phenomenal for all its practical, thorough explanations of food selection and cooking techniques. Outstanding value for the new or experienced cook/baker.

SAVEACORNER PIECEWITHFROSTING,PLEASE !
Fannie Farmer was a favored ikon during my growing-up years in Ithaca. Later, I inherited her revered & well-worn cookbook, and after copying a few choice recipes such as my brother's favorite Snow Pudding, passed it on to an interested daughter.

Now there are other editions to choose from: Penguin published a mini version you might be able to locate on e-bay. It has the chocolate cake of my childhood that must have been concocted in Fannie Farmer's kitchen but I am still not sure if the directions in this 'mini' sampler match my mother's celebrated dessert. Of course, the great treat then was to lick the spoon - - nowadays that fun is spoiled by warnings that even a smidgen of raw egg will bring on an early death. Well! Whichever version of Fannie Farmer's cookbook you explore, you will have great fun reading how things were 'in the good old days'.

REVIEWER mcHAIKU urges you to read Deborah Hopkinson's amusing story "Fannie in the Kitchen" (isbn: 068981965x). These two books could be paired for a memorable shower OR holiday gift. Don't miss either one!

A Family Heirloom
I LOVE THIS COOKBOOK! My Grandmother owned this book and bought my mom a copy when she was married in 1937. When my grandmother died i got her copy.Now my daughter is 19 and moving away from home.I am buying myself a new copy as I am passing on my grandmothers original book to her.It provides all the basic down to earth information that a new cook needs and is not found in most modern day cookbooks.

Nana to Mom to Daughter to Daughter and now to Grands.
My original copy of Fanny Farmer's Cookbook has no cover, pages behave as falling leaves unless handled with care, but I would not give it up for a new one, never never. What would I do without my years of scribbled notesin the margins? The copies I am buying now are for two granddaughters whoare college frosh this year.They will get Fanny, Miss Manners, NewCollege dictionary, etc. to start their own home libraries. Every homeneed Fanny Farmer because it is basic, easy to read and understand andcalls for ingredients readily available - if not on the home shelf then atany grocery.FYI, when the grandson goes off to college he will also get acopy of Fanny to take with him, along with his microwave and a coveredfrying pan. ... Read more

Book Description
Includes beautiful recipes for southwestern cuisine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

The Next Best Thing to Taking a Class There
As a New Mexican, it's difficult to not be biased but I will say this, if there is only room for one Southwestern cookbook on your shelf then this one is it!

Susan Curtis, the author and owner of the school, does an magnificent job of presenting a variety of delicious recipes which give an excellent overview of the diversity of the cuisine of the region.The recipes range from simple and traditional New Mexican fare such as Green Chile Stew to more contemporary Southwestern cuisine like Lime Marinated Grilled Salmon (a personal favorite that I serve for company regularly.)

Susan has produced a book that contains recipes which are clear, concise and very easy to follow.In addition to excellent recipes, she includes descriptions of all of the ingredients and tips on using them. There are also many stories which convey the history and development of the foods of the area.It's truly a cookbook that you can just enjoy reading since there is so much more than just recipes between it's covers.

Many of the recipes are from the classes taught at the school.If you're fortunate enough to visit Santa Fe then a class at the school should be on your "must do" list.If you can't, then this book is the next best thing!

Great Cookbook
This is a wonderful book!I bought a copy when I attended a class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking but someone was "helping" me in the kitchen and spilled something on it. Most of the pages were stuck together before I found out about it.It has some of my very favorite recipes in it so I was glad to finally replace it with a new copy.Try the cookbook and if you are in Santa Fe, be sure to sign up for a great class at the School.

So So
Disappointed that this cookbook did not have more hints for cooking a high elevations with hispanic flavor.

An Essential Cookbook for Southwest Food Lovers
We consider this cookbook as one of the best southwest cookbooks available.Not only that, but we've been to the school in Santa Fe.It was a great experience to just be there.This cookbook is written by those living the culture of the foods.It's real stuff!

Collectible Santa Fe Cookbook
"The heart and soul of the School is the agriculture upon which the food is based. Many of the traditional methods of growing and processing regional foods - posole, atole, chicos - are almost lost arts. The Cooking School serves as a vehicle to expose and sustain traditional lifestyles." ~Introduction

The Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook is filled with pictures from the school and some of them are rather amusing, like the picture of the goats next to the recipe for Open-faced Quesadillas with Goat Cheese and Roast Peppers. Pictures of peppers roasting over an open grill and blue corn being crushed in a molcajete gives this cookbook a warm sunny personality.

I was especially appreciative of the section on the types of chiles. De Arbol, Serrano and Jalapeño are familiar, but Pasilla and Moritas are definitely new to me.

Delicious Recipes Include:

Blue Corn Pancakes
Guacamole
Black Bean Soup
Wild Mint and Lamb Soup
Jicama Salad with Watercress, Radishes, and Chiles
Chicken Enchiladas
Grilled Shrimp in Achiote Marinade
Sopaipillas
Spiced Winter Pears with Ginger Crème Sauce

The Indian Fry Bread is easy to make and makes you feel a different connection to the earth and culture. It is different to fry bread and makes you feel like you are participating in some ancient breadmaking ritual as you pat out the dough by hand (Or you can roll it out, but I learned how to make it that way from my father's sister).

The recipes for Fresh Tortillas will take your cooking to new levels or homemade bliss and there is also a recipe for Green Chile Sauce and the smoky dipping sauce called Chipotle. Spiced Bananas with Rum and a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake make this truly collectible. Each recipe has a story and there are cooks notes and plenty of pictures that will make you wish you were gathering the produce and walking through sunny fields of corn. I've walked barefoot in New Mexico and fell in love with the Sopaipillas and the warm earth and even survived a hailstorm in my "just purchased" car. Fortunately we found shelter fast.

This cookbook brought back so many memories! It might inspire a vacation to New Mexico.

~The Rebecca Review
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A mediocre classic, worth reading for historic reasons.
This original 1896 edition was one of the most popular cookbooks in America, as it was directed to those who already know how to cook (many people back then!). It assumes the reader knows what heat to cookand bake at, and how to tell when something is kneaded enough, or otherwise ready for the next step.

Compare this tersely written book for cooking school students with the older, 1845 "Modern Cookery" by Elizabeth Acton, and see what an even more well written and popular book offers. Acton's "Modern Cookery" is written for the beginner as well as the experienced cook.

Nevertheless, read both books, as each is a classic cookbook, to learn about different cookbook styles and texts in the nineteenth century.

Few realize that the Boston cooking school text was just that, a concise set or codificationof cooking instructions, often in a "shorthand", to be followed in classrooms, where an instructor could fill in the missing details in her lecture. For example how many cooks today would read and fully understand Fannie Farmer'stypical instructions, to "Dress, clean, lard, and truss a quail. Bake...20-25 minutes in a hot oven, basting 3 times. Arrange on a platter...You get the picture!Farmer's fried chicken starts with the bird covered with boiling water, and cooked slowly til tender, before it is later fried, not how it's done today, however I feel it'sgood to read and know for historical reasons.

This is a decent book for a cookbook collector, for an experienced cook, and not for a beginner to cook from!

(Note: do not confuse the recipes (and my low rating) of this original version, with the MUCH better written recipes of the numerous later editions, whose recipes I enjoy!)

Hands down, after you read from both books, I think we'll agree which is the one to readand savor for interest at night, and which will have a place in your kitchen. ... Read more

Book Description
A fun, hands-on, exploration of Middle Eastern cuisine during Bible times.Milk and Honey Cooking aids teachers in transforming their rooms into Bible-times dining experiences.Teachers and participants can prepare foods from Bible times and discuss how they relate to the culture of that time.This book contains complete recipes for biblical foods, as well as lots of facts about Middle Eastern cuisine during Bible times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must for every church
This book brings the Bible to everyone not through their eyes, but through their stomachs!It was a great tool to plan our own "cooking school" and our church congregation had a ball.In fact, they are wondering when we are going to do it over again! ... Read more

Product Description
Jeff and Mia Farrell, a California couple in their late forties, risk everything to launch a cooking school in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. But problems soon threaten their dream. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Read the cooking school @ Z on the beach in Z
I heard about the book from friends who picked their copy up while in Z who really enjoyed reading it.I got copy just prior to heading off to Z for week.Read the book in a couple of days while laying under a palapa on La Ropa.Loved the characters, twists & turns in the plot and detailed the detailed descriptions of places in and around Z.I have recommended the book to a number of friends and am lending it to a couple who are heading off to Z at the end of Mar.Would love to see a follow-up book on how things have progressed.

The Perfect Zihua Beach-Read
Strongly suggest you don't start your read on the plane.Save it for reading on Playa LaRopa itself in Z to get a real feel for the story in the novel's actual setting.This is a fantasy story for either a man or a woman who loves life's experiences, romance, great food and Zihuatanejo.There are no complex story-lines or complicated plots.This is a breezy read as gentle as the waves lapping onto LaRopa and must be read right on the beach for the full effect.After returning to the cold north country re-read it to relive the wonderful experience that is Zihuatanejo.

The Cooking School at Z
The book jacket was the first thing to make me pick up the book. Interesting, great colors.By the 2nd chapter I found myself sneaking off to corners, eating lunch in the car, reading at stop lights just to get to another page.I have always traveled with bags packed in my mind only.This book makes me want to see Zihuatanejo and the people.I liked the way the receipts sort of sneaked into the story.It is dream of everyone to find their paradise.What a great read.Thank you for a wonderful story.

Loved Cooking School at Z
I thoroughly enjoyed The Cooking School at Z.The story captured my imagination and the story telling inspired my "inner-foodie".It's a great read.

A great summer read.
The Cooking School at Z is a great summer read.No beach bag should be without it.Tantalizing foods.Exotic locales.Dan Kennedy truly captures the essence of Zihuantanejo.I was checking airfares by Chapter 4. ... Read more

Book Description
SALSAS offers a mouthwatering look at a selection of tried-and-true, marvelously edible salsas that serve as appetizers along with fresh tortilla chips and assorted vegetables and fruits; as relishes and garnishes for savory meat, poultry, fish, and seafood; or as perfectly delicious additions to hearty sandwiches, eggs, pastas, salads, soups, and pancakes (blue corn, of course). From rustic salsas to Caribbean-style delights, these salsas will be the talk of many a party.

Please visit the Santa Fe School of Cooking for more on this wonderful book. ... Read more

Book Description
Use this powerful primer on transforming foods to utilize the ingredients you have on hand and create unique, perfectly balanced, impeccably seasoned dishes. Designed for those who want to study cooking more deeply than what is typically offered in ordinary cookbooks, you'lllearn the art of whole food preparation using "The Language of Cooking," which teaches you to rely on your intutition and connection with food, rather than a recipe.Soon you'll be able to engage your imagination, stimulate your senses, and explore tha nature and nuances of food in a new way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A course in natural foods cooking
Joanne Saltzman (author of "Amazing Grains" and "Romancing the Bean") is the founder of the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder, Colorado. If you are not lucky enough to be able to attend the school, her new book "Intuitive Cooking" is the next best thing. This book is a complete course in using your senses to create a dish rather than relying on a recipe.

This is not an easy read. There are no pictures. This book is really like taking a cooking course and requires attention and study. As Saltzman says in the introduction, "This book is designed for those who want to study cooking more deeply than what is typically offered in culinary cookbooks."

I have studied natural foods cooking and I found this book an excellent review - reminding me of why I do things in the order I do and what I acheive by certain processes. I learned the reasons for things I do naturally and found some new techniques that I am eager to try, like steeping vegetables.

The book is divided into 3 sections.

Chapter One talks about the language of cooking. Saltzman has her own language and uses many terms I haven't heard before but they really describe perfectly what she is trying to say. She explains how to design a dish and compose a meal. Vegetable cutting techniques are also illustrated.

Chapter Two goes through the cooking methods. This is the crucial part of the book because if you can master these, you can make anything. She talks about pretreatments like soaking and dry-roasting, first stage cooking methods like boiling, baking, roasting, steeping, fermenting, steaming, braising pickling, stir-frying, etc.; and second stage methods like refrying.

Chapter Three gives almost 400 recipe sketches for vegetables, grains, and proteins (all vegan). They may seem a bit daunting until you are comfortable with the cooking methods from Chapter Two - but once you get them down, you will find that these sketches give you lots of room to be creative and free you from the confines of traditional recipes.

A welcome addition to any kitchen cookbook collection
More than just another collection of recipes, Joanne Saltzman (Founder and Director of the Natural School of Cookery, Boulder, Colorado) wants the readers of Intuitive Cooking to learn about the underlying principles of flavor and texture that underpin successful improvisational cooking. Readers will learn the basics necessary to cook and season a variety of foods without precise measuring and complicated instructions. The almost four hundred reicpe 'sketches' of vegetables, grains, and plant-based proteins help to illustrate and demonstrate that with a few basic techniques and ratios, even the most novice of kitchen cooks can increase their culinary versatility and the meal-time success of their personal recipe innovations. With specific chapters dedicated to 'The Alphabet and Grammar of Cooking', 'Cooking Methods', and 'Primary Elements and Recipe Sketches', and enhanced with the inclusion of a glossary and a number of culinary preparation tables, "Intuitive Cooking" is a welcome addition to any kitchen cookbook collection -- and a recommended acquisition for inclusion in a school's cooking class curriculum reference and instructional materials collections. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

The real Fannie Farmer was fascinating
I've always loved Fannie Farmer's straightforward instructions. Recently I found a children's book, FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN, that tells how Fannie Merritt Farmer may have gotten started in cooking as a mother's helper.I never realized Farmer suffered from polio or a stroke as a teenager, which made her "unmarriageble" in those days. It's fascinating to look back at how roles for women opened up during and after the Civil War, and Fannie is no exception.

A reprint of a classic cook book that was plegarized.
Although we have grown up believing that Fannie Farmer was the pioneer of standardized measurements, her classic "Original" Boston Cooking-School Cook book was in fact a re-editing of the "BostonCooking School Cook Book" by Mary Lincoln. Mary Lincoln founded theBoston Cooking School and later hired Fannie Farmer to be its principal.Those interested in the history of cook books and recipies should get bothof these reprints to compare. Either one are great to get a window on howit was done in days of wood stoves and early ideas of nutrition. ... Read more

Product Description
3-Ring Binder Cookbook with 18 Tabbed sections including index. ... Read more

Book Description
The only comprehensive, international resource of its kind, published annually and recommended by leading food and wine publications and organizations. Contains detailed descriptions of more than 1,000 schools, colleges, culinary apprenticeships, cooking vacations, wine programs, and food and wine organizations worldwide. Programs for both career and home cooks. ... Read more

Product Description
A BEAUTIFULLY illustrated cookbook with tons of great recipes and cooking tips. Pages are glossy-coated cardboard so they can be wiped off if necessary. Categories in THIS volume are: Pasta/Rice, Pies/Pastry, Salads, Sauces, Soups, and Vegetables ... Read more