On Cooking: Techniques From Expert Chefs, Trade Version (3rd Edition)

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Summary: 1 Word Wow!
Review: Amazing, insightful book, a culinary bible I hold dear to me at school. A Must have for future chefs and home cooks. Five Stars.

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Summary: Lots of techniques I never heard of before
Review: Excellent book, a lot in there but nothing unnecessary. Is more broadbased then the leading book in the field. Draws upon more than just French style cooking and includes the view points of other chefs and their food.

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Summary: Broadbased and excellent
Review: Excellent book, a lot in there but nothing unnecessary. Is more broadbased then the leading book in the field. Draws upon more than just French style cooking and includes the view points of other chefs and their food.

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Summary: This is the book for keen amateurs
Review: I cook to relax and I love food. There is nothing I prefer more than making stock and smelling it through the house. I like to experiment, but I stick to the classics. This book was not written for me. It is a textbook for American professionals, and has quantities to match. I am an Australian amateur. But I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone who already loves to cook. It is not for beginners. But if you are sick of endless recipes and cookbooks which concentrate on graphics and photography, this is for you. This book is incredibly detailed, and wonderful to read. You will never cook everything in this book. But you will learn from everything that you read in it.

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Summary: my favorite cookbook
Review: I go to culinary school and this book is indespensible to me. I love the detailed pics. and instructions. It's a wonderful buy for both the professional and the serious ammateur.

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Summary: Great book, Pros will find themselves going back to it
Review: I have been in the restaurant business for over 20 years. Since it is impossible to remember every aspect, I use it for reference quite often, as well as send my cooks to it when I can't answer there questions. easy to follow and the steps are not over complicated for a beginner to follow. And to be honest the book blows away the CIA book and I went there.

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Summary: On Cooking has become the first book I reach for these days.
Review: I have found this book to be a great resourse for anyone who loves to cook. It answers any and all questions regarding techniques and fundementals of cooking. I am a student at the Culinary Arts Institute at Mississippi University for Women where Chef Labensky is on staff. I have had the opportunity to take a class with her and it was like having a chapter of her book come to life. This book not only relates techniques but tells the hows and whys of food. I feel this book is a wonderful addition to the library of anyone who loves to cook or who just loves food. Sarah, Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

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Summary: Just Love to Cook
Review: I received the book today and haven't been able to put it down. I've loved to cook for over 30 years and I've never found one book filled with so much good information. I wish I had this book years ago. I told my wife it takes the place of at least 10 cookbooks. If you love, or even like to cook and want to improve your technique and knowledge, I don't see how you could beat this book! It's wonderful!

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Summary: For future chefs and instructors
Review: I use this book as a guide in my cooking school. This is a book with a professional focus, not for the home cook. Most of the recipes are made in large quantities. Great for chefs, culinary arts students, caterers or anyone running a food operation looking for excellent reference and techniques.

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Summary: Great resource
Review: I view this book as one of the essential resource books any serious cook should have. If I had named it, I would have called the book "On Food" because it is not just about cooking food, it actually gives you encyclopedia type entries to describe an enormous number of items in each chapter (e.g. fish, vegetables, meats). It will tell you where your food came from, in which seasons it is freshest, how best to prepare it and will follow each of these up with a number of recipes. Do not look to this book to be a cookbook, though. Is is more important to view the book as a resource to help you figure out the best types of preparations for that item you found at the market but have never used before. It is a great tool to just sit down and learn about cuts of beef and why some parts of the animal are great for one type of preparation versus another. That said, there are recipes and they are good, but to focus on them would be to overlook all of the education you can get from this book. This is used as a textbook in cooking schools, and the set-up is like a textbook, but a lot more interesting than the ones you had in college or high school because you can eat after you learn.