Kitchen Secrets

Rating:
Summary: Quite useful for beginner to intermediate cooks
Review: I had flipped through a great many "cooking secrets and techniques" books at the library before selecting some to purchase. This was one that struck me as having an excellent balance of info and recipes. This is a great resource for the intermediate cook who wants to sharpen their skills and learn the "right way" to perform a recipe. The book covers an exceptionally wide range of food types and yet never feels "weighty" or "dense" with information as some other "cooking technique" books do. The book is filled with color which also adds to the light and fun tone the book is so successful at conveying.

Rating:
Summary: My most favorite book in the kitchen
Review: My Mother gave me this book for Christmas two years ago and you can already see the wear in it. I have a tremendous collection of cookbooks and this one is the one I reach for the most. It is clear and concise and best of all I have never had a failure with any of the recipes. I had always had a difficult time cooking liver and onions and this is by far the best recipe and guidelines to follow. So many wonderful dishes and varieties. This would make an excellent gift for a beginner cook or someone who really enjoys cooking and trying new recipes!!

Rating:
Summary: My most favorite book in the kitchen
Review: My Mother gave me this book for Christmas two years ago and you can already see the wear in it. I have a tremendous collection of cookbooks and this one is the one I reach for the most. It is clear and concise and best of all I have never had a failure with any of the recipes. I had always had a difficult time cooking liver and onions and this is by far the best recipe and guidelines to follow. So many wonderful dishes and varieties. This would make an excellent gift for a beginner cook or someone who really enjoys cooking and trying new recipes!!

Rating:
Summary: A big surprise, but a really good book!
Review: My Wife's Grandmother gave us this book for Christmas one year. I'm into gourmet cooking, ethnic cuisine and lots of herbs and spices, and originally I was very skeptical of this book. Let me tell you, it's a really great book! I think it would be perfect for someone who was just learning how to cook, but I've been a serious cook for years and I STILL pull this one off the shelf on a regulat basis. I have "The Joy of Cooking" "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook" and the "Larouse Gastronomique" that I use for reference, but this book is often more useful to me. It focuses on the basics, things we come to know as "comfort food," but my guess is that few typical American cooks regularly make food as good as the recipes listed herein. I find that this is a great cookbook for parties when I'm trying to do more basic fare that a large range of guests will eat; escargot, gazpacho and a rack of lamb is fine for some guests, but what do you do when you want to make a really good pot roast with scalloped potatoes and an interesting but not overbearing veggie side for your in-laws? This is where this book helps me tremendously. But lest you think it's all low-brow, they have some great entries on the finer points of American barbeque, the relative merits of the different varieties of potatoes, and how to make just about any kind of soup, for example. I initially regarded this book condescendingly, but don't make my mistake. If you don't want to buy it yourself, fine. But I would have really appreciated this book as a gift when I decided I wanted to teach myself how to cook. I think it's a great ballance of many factors, not the least of which being that between blue-collar, "blue plate special" dinners and "high and mighty," "haute cuisine." Maybe it's less on the gourmet side, but the techniques it teaches are classics and the dishes it provides recipes for are American favorites that someone with Epicurean tendencies could easily transform into something that would please a more demanding crowd.

Rating:
Summary: A big surprise, but a really good book!
Review: My Wife's Grandmother gave us this book for Christmas one year. I'm into gourmet cooking, ethnic cuisine and lots of herbs and spices, and originally I was very skeptical of this book. Let me tell you, it's a really great book! I think it would be perfect for someone who was just learning how to cook, but I've been a serious cook for years and I STILL pull this one off the shelf on a regulat basis. I have "The Joy of Cooking" "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook" and the "Larouse Gastronomique" that I use for reference, but this book is often more useful to me. It focuses on the basics, things we come to know as "comfort food," but my guess is that few typical American cooks regularly make food as good as the recipes listed herein. I find that this is a great cookbook for parties when I'm trying to do more basic fare that a large range of guests will eat; escargot, gazpacho and a rack of lamb is fine for some guests, but what do you do when you want to make a really good pot roast with scalloped potatoes and an interesting but not overbearing veggie side for your in-laws? This is where this book helps me tremendously. But lest you think it's all low-brow, they have some great entries on the finer points of American barbeque, the relative merits of the different varieties of potatoes, and how to make just about any kind of soup, for example. I initially regarded this book condescendingly, but don't make my mistake. If you don't want to buy it yourself, fine. But I would have really appreciated this book as a gift when I decided I wanted to teach myself how to cook. I think it's a great ballance of many factors, not the least of which being that between blue-collar, "blue plate special" dinners and "high and mighty," "haute cuisine." Maybe it's less on the gourmet side, but the techniques it teaches are classics and the dishes it provides recipes for are American favorites that someone with Epicurean tendencies could easily transform into something that would please a more demanding crowd.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for new cooks!
Review: The recipes come out exactly as they look on the pictures, easy to find ingredients, flexible variations, very important general principles per dish and advice on how to choose and treat ingredients. For the quality eaters, you will never need to buy ready-made dough, crust, pasta etc if you don't want to.

Rating:
Summary: Cooking for Idiots
Review: This is a general, family oriented cookbook from Reader's Digest. I find it to be reliable and very well done, and worthwhile for those looking for a simple cookbook suitable for someone who is not an amateur chef. It is certainly one of the better cookbooks of its kind.

The physical layout makes this book a pleasure to use. It has plenty of pictures and drawings. The pages are color coded. On the right side of the pages is a recipe, and on the left side are plenty of related hints, explanations, and tips so that even the uninitiated can prepare the recipe successfully. Even those who are experienced will learn a few new things, such as how to make your own paper frills for lamb chops, or what causes some chickens to have white skin, and others yellow.

The recipes themselves are very well done. They appear to have all been thoroughly tested, and people of all skill levels will be able to make the recipes. The recipes are very good and mostly have good flavor. There are very recipes that are unappealing, such as creamed turkey or various casseroles.

I also found very problems. The pictures at the top of page 312 are backwards. The section on apple pie says that granny smiths are both good and not good for pies. I found only a couple of hints that do not work, such as using ice cubes to de-fat chicken stock.

The most valuable part of the book is the suggested list of kitchen equipment and pantry items. If you follow them, you will have a very well supplied kitchen, and it is the most complete list I can recall seeing anywhere.