Rating: 
Summary: Inspiration and insight abound if nothing else.
Review: Culinary Artistry is a book some may passover or leaf through in the bookstore for the likes of the Joy of Cooking or a Martha Stewart volume 20 cookbook. But look closer, the charts and the what-goes-well-with-what sections of this book alone are worth the price if only to give the food lover an inspired moment to create a dish with ingredients he or she may love. If you find yourself saying, "gee, I'd really love to have salmon tonight but I don't know what to put with it", pick up this book, find Salmon and refer to the extensive list of items that the interviewed chefs prefer with it and an idea is born. After that, all it takes is a little know-how in the kitchen and you've created your very own gourmet meal. If you choose to read from front to back you'll also discover page after page of insightful information from some of the nation's top chef's. Take your time, it's not a novel but it can be read like one and used as reference even after you've reached the last page. For the money, this is a book that will stay on your shelf for years to come and still manage to provide a new idea each time. So put down the Martha Stewart Haloween cookie issue and give Culinary Artistry a try, "It's a good thing". Sorry about that last one, she's infectious.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference guide
Review: Want to know when a particular food item is in season or what goes well with what, then this book is the tool that should be in every cooks kitchen.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant book.
Review: "Culinary Artistry" came to my attention as an Amazon.com recommendation which mentioned that if I enjoyed the authors' book "The New American Chef" (which I did, very much), that I might also enjoy this book. Amazon got it right in spades: "Culinary Artistry" is yet another breakthrough approach to thinking about food by these authors. Cuisines, menus, dishes and flavors are both constructed and deconstructed, providing the experienced cook with a blueprint for successful experimentation. This book is an invaluable resource to anyone confident enough in the kitchen to want to innovate, yet smart enough to know that it's important to know the "rules" before you try to break them successfully. This is an absolutely brilliant book, one that I have referred to almost daily since it's been in my possession.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best culinary reference books EVER.
Review: "CULINARY ARTISTRY receives Honorable Mention as one of the year's best culinary reference books...[It] offers insights into creative cooking."
--THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE"Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page go where no culinary writers have gone before, exploring what inspires great chefs to create new flavor combinations, dishes and menus."
--INTERNATIONAL COOKBOOK REVIEW "CULINARY ARTISTRY chronicles the creative process of culinary composition and explores the architecture of flavors, dishes and menus."
--NATIONAL CULINARY REVIEW "One of the best culinary books of the year."
--TIME OUT: NEW YORK "A great achievement."
--Chef Daniel Boulud "Fascinating...A philosophy book on the culinary arts."
--Arthur Schwartz, "Food Talk" on WOR RADIO "A wealth of information."
--Lindsey Shere, pastry chef, Chez Panisse "Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have set me free...The sequel to 1995's BECOMING A CHEF, this fat volume offers limitless ways to compose dishes using the idea of food matches and menu plans from 30 of America's top chefs."
--Patty Stearns, THE DETROIT FREE PRESS "I unconditionally recommend the book CULINARY ARTISTRY. One afternoon won't cut it with this book -- this is a definite buy. It tells when different fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. are in season, and how to make them taste good without the expense of a culinary school education. It will save your family a load of money, and greatly improve your own creativity with food and flavors."
--Liz Tarditi, chef and columnist, TODAY'S GOURMET
Rating:
Summary: "Inspiring"..."A godsend."
Review: "FLAVOR MATCHMAKING: Some cooks look to books not for precise ingredients and specific instructions, but for inspiration. I've got a book for those cooks. It's the loftily named CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (1996), also the authors of the better known BECOMING A CHEF. It's not a cookbook per se. Nor is it a treatise on the techniques every cook ought to know. And it's certainly not a collection of culinary prose. It's more a style manual for those who need to find out if a certain something will go with another certain something. The most relevant information is found in the aptly named section 'Matches Made In Heaven.' Arranged alphabetically, the list comprises about 328 ingredients and seasonings and, for each ingredient listed, the authors provide several complementary flavors. It may not come as any surprise that the entries under beef ribs read ginger, horseradish, mustard, potatoes, tomatoes. But it is incredibly liberating, when in a chicken rut, to alight on the appropriate page and find 57 compatible ingredients for a plain old hen. When the vegetable bin is overflowing with leafy greens or I'm flummoxed over a side dish for a dinner party, I consider it a godsend to flip through the pages and decide on mustard with the greens and walnuts with the watercress. And it's inspiring to be reminded in the midst of Thanksgiving chaos that perhaps that pear dish needs a sprinkling of black pepper rather than a drizzle of honey. As with any reference work, it's not the entire book I value so much as a particular page or two in a desperate moment. The balance of the book's 426 pages are chapters on composing a dish and a menu, complete with advice from restaurant chefs. I confess I haven't read the book cover to cover. And I doubt I ever will. But it's nevertheless the one book that regularly makes the commute from office desk to kitchen counter." ...
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Reference Material
Review: I am a self-taught home cook who enjoys the activities of the kitchen. I entered the cooking arena one of the standard ways, using cookbooks. Collections of recipes familarized me with the techniques and ethnic cooking styles. Gradually, my cookbook collection included reference books that provided some of the theory behind tastes and preparation styles. Gold's 1-2-3 series, Peterson's Sauces, and others introduced to me the philosophies that allow a cook to go beyond mimicking a recipe to improvising and even creating a dish. Culinary Artistry is perhaps the best available reference for learning about the traditions of combining flavors and food groups. It contains vital information that I suspect is taught only in some of the culinary schools. It provides valuable charts of information about cooking and menu planning. The book contains sections on Menus, including a seasonality chart and a chart explaining successful seasoning combinations. There is a section for Composing Flavors, the highlight of which is a chart showing successful food contrasts. Another section involves Composing A Dish. Here there is a chart showing great food matches and one showing seasoning matches. The Composing A Menu section offers a chart showing frequent accompaniments to meats and paragraphs presenting theories about Hors Douevres, Cheeses, and Desserts. This was a sparse and incomplete passage in an otherwise comprehensive book. Finally, there was a fun section addressing the Evolution of Chef's Styles. Here the authors provide sample menus comparing chef's offerings from earlier decades to their present day productions. The volume offers multiple anecdotes, quotes, and side bars concerning the views of popular chefs. Various recipes are interspersed to illustrate the principles. My one criticism was that the book was laid out like a college textbook. Photos, captions, quotes, highlighted lines, sidebars, and other areas compete on the same page, magazine style. The book serves as reference, frequently glanced at rather than read straight through as a narrative.
Rating:
Summary: Culinary Artistry deserves 10 STARS!
Review: Culinary Artistry deserves 10 stars for being the most important book in my kitchen!! When I'm stumped to make a new dish, I can open to any page of this book and come up with a new idea for any season, any occasion. This book fosters creativity like no other book I've ever read. Every other professional chef I know considers Culinary Artistry their secret weapon at the restaurant when coming up with a special menu or just a special for the night. I can't say enough about what a revolutionary book this is for people who know the fundamentals of cooking but are always striving to develop their knowledge, technique and cuisine. I learn something new every time I open this incredible book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference for culinary students
Review: I used this book as a reference for my hot foods classes in culinary school. It is well written and gives you many, many hints on how fully cultivate your talents in the kitchen. This book is a must buy for any culinary student. I also used the following for my baking classes in culinary school:
Study Guide for Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman
Study Guide for Advanced Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman These last two books helped me to prepare for the types of questions seen on my baking and advanced baking classes. With the help of these two books, I got a 94 average. Some of my friends in other culinary schools told me about these last two books and how it helped them to reduce their study time and get excellent grades. The first book Culinary Artistry is an awesome book no culinary student should be without. I recommend these 3 books as must buys.
Rating:
Summary: If there's a better culinary reference book, I want to know!
Review: "Culinary Artistry" is the best culinary reference book I've ever read. If there's a better one out there, I want to know!! But "Culinary Artistry" seems to have it all. Whether I'm looking for information on which ingredients are in season when, what to pair with ingredients of all kinds (including meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc.), or how to compose a menu, "Culinary Artistry" is the book I reach for time and time again. All this knowledge is based on in-depth interviews with America's very best chefs, including Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Terrance Brennan, Gary Danko, Susan Feniger, George Germon & Johanne Killeen, Joyce Goldstein, Hubert Keller, Gray Kunz, Mary Sue Milliken, Wayne Nish, Patrick O'Connell, Bradley Ogden, Jean-Louis Palladin, Charlie Palmer, Francois Payard, Mark Peel, Michael Romano, Anne Rosenzweig, Chris Schlesinger, Jimmy Schmidt, Dieter Schorner, Lindsey Shere, Lydia Shire, Nancy Silverton, Joachim Splichal, Jeremiah Tower, Norman Van Aken, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Alice Waters. "Culinary Artistry" is an absolutely brilliant book that will teach you how to think and cook like America's best chefs.
Rating:
Summary: Great book on techniques
Review: If you are a professional chef or want to become one, this book will help you alot on techniques. I did not think it was very good on baking, so I purchased the study guide for baking: key review questions and answers with explanations and found it to be more helpful. I bought the study guide for advanced baking too. Two books that will definitely help you whether you are a professional or a student starting out.
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