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Summary: Learn How to Cook, not just follow recipies
Review: Excellent book for those who want to really learn how to cook. Focuses on how and techniques more that perscriptive recipies. The best parts of the book are that it is written on a level for cooks not chefs, principles are explained, it is fun to read. The section on roasting is a must for any cook and dispells many popular but backwards notions
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Summary: Worth the time
Review: Excellent book, really explains why to do various things, so you know what you can change and what you shouldn't. Alton's show is excellent too "Good Eats" on FoodTV
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Summary: Alton+Food=Good Eats
Review: In this long-awaited volume, the guru of "Good Eats," Alton Brown, trots out his unique, highly illuminating philosophy on various methods of cooking.
From roasting to frying to everything-but-baking, if it involves applying heat to food, it's in here.
Do NOT think this is a mere cookbook. Rather, this is a textual toolkit which will leave the reader well-equipped to enter the kitchen and create from scratch, which as any cook will tell you is the greatest culinary joy.
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Summary: The science of cooking made practical
Review: Brown's "Good Eats" on cable's "Food Network" is possibly the most entertaining and informative show on TV. On the heels of his show comes "I'm Just Here for the Food", one of the most practical cookbooks I have ever seen.The genius behind the book lies in the old "If You Teach a Man to Fish" saw. Brown takes this apporach, explaining in detail why and how different approaches to heating food bring success or failure in recipes. And though the book does include recipes, they are second to understanding why - for example - braising works better or worse in a given cooking situation. Brown's writing and the book's graphic style have a sort of Fifties "boomerang Formica" feel that keep the reading light as a soufflé, yet as helpful as a pinch of salt in a bland dish. I feel this book (and any of its followups) is essential reading for anyone not classically trained as a chef, but who desires to be master of his own kitchen. "I'm Just Here for the Food" is the best thing to happen to us average guy cooks since the invention of the combo thermometer/BBQ fork.
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Summary: Explains the why of cooking
Review: If you've seen "Good Eats", you've got a good idea of what to expect in the book based on Alton Brown's style. The book is organized on cooking methods (mostly on ways to cook meat), and explains the background of how the method works, how it compares to other methods, what foods it works best on, and has several recipies. Although the science isn't too deep, I found it very useful to learn the why behind different ways of cooking. All of the recipies I've tried so far have turned out well, and I felt I had a much better idea of why I was doing things in the recipie. As mentioned above, the book is mostly focused on different ways to cook meat, so you probably wouldn't be very interested if you are a vegatarian. I'm hoping more books follow!
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Summary: Essential Book For Your Kitchen
Review: Yes, this book does contain recipes, but this book is much more than a cookbook. "I'm Just Here For The Food" focuses on the why and how of different methods of heating -- and it's anything but dry (no pun intended). Even if you are just SOMEWHAT interested, this book will have you reading cover to cover with the facinating facts, quirky drawings and offbeat humor. And when you're done, you'll realize you've learned quite a lot! Buy the book, you won't regret it!
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Summary: Simple book for beginning cooks
Review: I am surprised by the effusive comments about this book. Now, I Tivo Good Eats and enjoy it as much as anyone ... but unlike Alton's shows which go into reasonable depth on narrow (and often unconventional) topics, this book is too basic to be helpful to an experienced cook, and too shallow to be interesting to the cooking wonk. Now, if you do not know the difference between braising and boiling or the difference between conduction and convection, then you might find the book marginally useful, however there are other books -- some of which Alton himself cites -- which provide more meaningful discussions of the technique or science of cooking. As far as included recipes go, they are few and uninspired, apparently intended primarily to illustrate techniques.
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Summary: Great book
Review: This book is awsome. Alton takes you through step by step through many different cooking methods including: searing, grilling, boiling, saute, braising, and many others. The talks in understandable terms for anyone looking to understand cooking and may not be familiar with all the lingo. He has done a great book in organizing and providing recipes for each cooking method for you to try the method out. Great Job!
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Summary: Must have for all
Review: This book is a must for all cooks. Everyone who has attended professional cooking school knows that science is the key to good cooking. AB explains the science behind various cooking methods and lets the reader know how all of the various factors affect your cooking. If you really want to learn how to cook and not just how to blindly follow a recipe, you need this book. As AB explains it: He is giving you a map to find your own way and not just directions to go the way someone else wants you to go.
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Summary: The Un-Cook Book
Review: Almost every other cookbook I've seen has a bunch of pretty pictures and recipes, but nothing on how to cook the food well or why that is the way you cook. It's about the only cookbook that tells you NOT to follow the recipes verbatim. And, as a plus, you sound really smart at dinner parties telling people the difference between kosher (yum) and table (yuck) salt, or the origin of charcoal, the sandwich, or why meats should be brined. Everyone who cooks should read this book.
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