The Professional Chef
by Culinary Institute of America
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Book Reviews of The Professional Chef
Book Review: No Pro, but Learned Much
Summary: 4 Stars
Billed as a textbook favored by The Culinary Institute of America and recognizing that attending cooking school is not likely in my future, I wanted an idea of what I was missing.
On the one hand, I learned I'm missing nothing. The roles of saucier, grillardin, garde-manger and demi-chef de rang? I'm all those, and charwoman, dishwasher and grocery shopper, too. It's the way it is for most of us, I suspect.
I didn't know diddly-squat about identifying fish and shellfish, though, and find this highly valuable. I live within ten miles of one of the few universities offering an advanced degree in aquaculture, and the farm-raised fish offered there are among the few reliable sources of fresh fish these days. A new year's resolution is going to be to pay the university a visit and buy their fish, as well apply the learning.
What was most helpful was the chapter titled "Mise en Place for Stocks, Sauces and Soups." It spells out making a standard spice sachet that flavors vegetable, chicken and beef stock that we use over and over, seldom giving it any thought, although we should. After all, these stocks are often the holy trinity of main-course dishes.
If you are a hobbyist and recipe collector, you might want to pass this one up. It's on the pricey side, and chances are excellent that you already have many of the recipes. If you are more serious, however, and it's the learning from the text that you're after, this one makes sense to own.
Book Review: For the creative gourmet, as well as the pro
Summary: 5 Stars
If cooking is a creative process for you (as opposed to just following instructions), or you would like it to be, you'll love this textbook. The Professional Chef will help you expand your cooking fundamentals and teach you things that you'll use even when you're not cooking from it.What I love about this book is that it's not just recipes. My boyfriend's mother hates it for the same reason. Its chapters are structured by type of food and/or meal courses, and each one highlights general techniques for cooking and prepration, going through one recipe in detail and listing a bunch of others at the end. There's priceless info on general techniques (What are the different ways you can thicken a sauce or soup, and how do they differ?) and great reference info (What does spice x look like in its whole form?).
As mentioned in other reviews, this is intended as a textbook for professionals in training at the Culinary Institute of America (a.k.a. "the Harvard of cooking schools"). So in addition to techniques and recipies, it contains info about food safety, nutrition, restaurant budgets, and other areas which are not necessarily applicable to the average home chef. But the slightly obsessed or very serious home chef will love reading about all of it.
The bottom line is that it's a well done book, and if the title appeals to you, you'll enjoy it. The amazon price is an added bonus ...
Book Review: WOW! This is some whopping book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got this, but I'm so excited about it! I feel like I'm entering the professional chef's world, but learning plenty I can use right at home. The book is HUGE and packed with a tremendous, tremendously instructional amount of information with tons of pictures to show how to do things. Judging from what I've read so far--about things like "mise en place"--there's a lot about how to cook like a chef that's new to me--it seems like learning a foreign language! It shows the proper way use and sharpen a chef's knife, identifies all the different cuts of meat, shows the difference between a "batonette" or "brunoise" cut of vegetables. But I've already tried holding my knife differently, like the book tells you to, and it's definitely an improvement. There's also tons of recipes that sound great, and I like the fact the book teaches you the steps to make "major" recipes (for example, for risotto), so then if you learn it and get the hang of it, you can make a whole slew of different recipes (ex. mushroom risotto, risotto with asparagus tips, saffron risotto with shrimp, etc.) I can't wait to get through it all!
Book Review: The best cooking basis book out there
Summary: 5 Stars
When you want to learn to cook in a style that will amaze your friends, turn to the professional chef. This book whick lays out the basics for all forms of cooking and food preparation will not turn you into a chef. Being a chef is all about creating good looking, well prepared and presented food with your own tastes. This book gives you all the basics in order to accomplish that and goes farther it gives you recipes in order to practice the skills that it teaches you.Simply amazing photography shows you visually steps of different styles of cooking and gives you information on all sorts of cooking including converting from european measurements to U.S. Most people know the high standard that the Culinary Institue of America (CIA) shows and the high quality of graduate they turn out. This book, used at at the CIA, is an invaluable asset to those aspiring to be chef and those looking to turn out a perfectly cooked pleasing meal.
Try this book. There is no one I know who would be displeased at either recieving this book as a gift or purchasing it for oneself. The cost is truley small compared to the insight and wisdom that it gives you.
Book Review: Ah, the Bible for every avid gourmand or cook!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is it! The one book that EVERY cook or gourmand must have! This text book, written by the world's premier culinary school, of which I am a student, is issued to every incoming student at the CIA. Time and time again I have turned to this book, and not just for my classes. As a chef, I often turn to this book to refresh my memory about an obscure technique, or even to remind myself about a fundamentally basic cooking method. This is BY FAR the best edition of Professional Chef that the CIA has put out to date! Writen by the staff and educators of the Culinary Institute of American, including Certified Master Chefs, this book is complete with BEAUTIFUL full page photographs, insightful advice and tips, product identification charts and photographs, detailed explanations about the "mysteries" of cooking or sauce making, complete and easy to understand recipes, fully detailed conversion charts, and more! What else could a chef want in a cookbook?!
Once again, this book a must for anyone who loves food, loves to cook food, or loves to eat food!