Customer Reviews

Basic Cooking: All You Need to Cook Well Quickly (Basic Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this cookbook. I have had it for 5 years, and it is still my favorite. The best thing about it is that it teaches you everything you need to know about stocking your kitchen with essentials, how to cook all different types of foods, and even how to cook for company. The recipes are simple, and taste delicious. I could never get tired of it. Most of the meat dishes are now my staples.

I am actually an accomplished cook, but I bought this book because I used to be a vegetarian, so I did not know how to cook meats. It makes everything simple, and doesn't use crazy ingredients, which makes it a staple for everyday cooking. Also, it tells you how long it takes for prep time and cooking each dish so you can judge if you have time to make it.

I highly recommend this book to beginners and anyone looking for easy fast recipes that will have everyone thinking you are the best hostess ever.

I've been cooking for a long time so I really didn't need to know the basics. In fact, as a graphic designer, I only bought the book originally because of its beautiful yet trendy book design. But EVERY single recipe I've made out of that book (about 12 so far) has been incredible! They have everything from sushi, creme brulee, to the BEST guacamole. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone looking for a wide range of easy to follow yet great quality recipes!

This is the book I should have had twenty years ago when I was just starting out. It tells you everything about what you need in your kitchen. Not just the usual items that every other book tells you about. This book tells you how to shop so that you don't spend everything you have on food and still come away with the very best ingredients just to name one example.

It is clear that it was written by a culinary professional, however, it does not intimidate the person just setting up their first apartment. The recipes use basic ingredients and the instructions are easy to follow. Though the cook will end up with some very special culinary dishes and will have used complex techniques, they will assume they have not because it was so easy for them to do. Isn't this the way all of us want to learn?

Congratualations on a job very well done. Now I'll be ording my second copy for my daughter as I can't seem to part with the first.

Often, a cookbook is pretty or it's a textbook. This one has taught me more in 30 minutes of perusal than many others have in days of reading dull recipes. It is large and lays flat for easy consultation during cooking. The prep times have been pretty accurate even for a cooking klutz like me and the recipes are simple enough to allow plenty of room for experimentation. This book has given me the confidence I lacked (and lost more of when looking through other books of "basic cooking"). Love it. Have sent copies to other kitchenphobes in my circle.

I mistakenly thought this book would teach me the basics of cooking, not really. Like every other cookbook I read through it without understanding the meaning of the technical cooking terms. Plus you gain little insight into the fundamentals of proper cooking technique.

The problem with this book is that if you can use Amazon then you don't need a basic cookbook. The internet is full of free recipes, most much better than the ones in this book. The writing is translated from German so its a little weird. At times it sounds like it was translated by a teenage girl. "Dont's at a barbeque, enemies attending!" Bizarre.

Anyway, I was pretty dissapointed with the content. But the photos and layout are very good.

This book is much more than a bunch of recipes, it teaches process. I've recently found a passion for cooking. This book has been extremely helpful in allowing me to become a better cook. The other cookbooks I have didn't help nearly as much.

I also like that it is large and lays flat without me having to put something on it. It means I can check the recipe without having to hold the book open at the same time. The vibrant pictures really inspire you to want to try out a recipe. I find that inspiration is often the hardest thing.

In addition to all this, the recipes are great. I wasn't a huge fan of the pumpkin soup, but everything else has turned out wonderful.

This is a must have for anybody who wants to start cooking good meals for themselves.

Not only is this book lovely to look it, it's completely easy to understand. It goes beyond the typical cookbook by providing advice on staples to keep in kitchen, essential cooking tools, and even how and where to store food in the refrigerator. The color photography makes you want to start cooking right away -- and with these great basic recipes, even a novice cook succeeds.

Lots of color pictures (who doesn't want to see what they're trying to make) that remind me a bit of a certain European furniture catalog....The food is really good and easy, and the lists of M (must-haves), L (luxury) and XL (extra-luxury) ingredients are handy, so you don't buy lots of stuff that looks interesting, and sits on the shelf for years. There's a good mix of healthy and not-healthy stuff for carnivores and vegetarians, so everyone will be happy, and most recipes don't have huge lists of things to slice and dice-great when you're starving and just want to eat. The Chicken Saltimbocca is mighty tasty.

I recently moved out into my own apartment, and I've been looking all over for a book like this. Finally a cookbook that's unpretentious, extremely simple, and has nice big pictures. I'm just as literate as the next cat at my university (actually, probably more so), but I really like to have pictures with recipes - it's the easiest way to tell whether or not I'm going to like something before cooking it. I respect that there are classic cookbooks which probably have better recipes, but since I never got basic kitchen 101, I'm not at that level yet, and this book is a great stepping stone. Hopefully, after a few years of cooking with this, I can actually understand the Joy of Cooking!

This book is a great supplement to a few other "basics"... maybe Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for the Food" for a basic understanding of food science, maybe Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat" to instill passion for cooking. And while the book has a very specific European perspective and is by no means complete, it is fun to read, and would make a nice gift for someone truly in need of a basic introduction.

Particularly helpful sections of the book include: A chart of vegetables, fruits and nuts in season, a section about where to keep things in the refrigerator, sections on several different basic cooking methods ("Rapid Boiling", "Roasting and Braising", etc.), a really helpful, easy, non-scary section on sauces, and a quick section of useful measurements. There are little recipe ideas almost everywhere (pesto cream cheese, lemon sugar), which is great for inspiring out-of-the box thinking.
Slightly less helpful are the lists of high-impact food items and necessary kitchen utensils. Lots of cookbooks have these, but they're usually just there because celebrity cookbook writers like to indulge themselves. Which, of course, can be fun, but not terribly useful. The lists in this book are MUCH more basic than usual.
The recipes are (mostly) not anything earth shattering, are solid and simple and swell. The first recipe in the book is spaghetti alla bolognese, and it is confidence inspiringly delicious. The collection is more continental than a "basic" American cookbook would probably be - Indonesian nasi goreng, Greek pilau, and Spanish-style tortilla are all in the first chapter. But pages 56 and 57 are boiled potatoes, baked potatoes, fried potatoes, and potato gratin, all swell and basic almost anywhere. Anyway, if you don't mind some quirky wording, this is a really great book.

Oh! And almost every recipe has a picture... just the thing for an aspiring cook!