How to Cook Potatoes [Hardcover]

Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Author), Jack Bishop (Editor), John Burgoyne (Illustrator), Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Potato cookery is deceptively exacting. Recognizing this, How to Cook Potatoes provides succinctly valuable council. In fewer than 100 pages it offers illustrated, step-by-step instructions for preparing potatoes in the most commonly enjoyed ways--recipes, tips, and information that all cooks can use.

Beginning with an enumeration of potato types and the preparation methods appropriate to each, the book then explores potato-cooking methods--baking, roasting, mashing and frying, among them--with recipes for basic variations like Mashed Potatoes with Pesto. Included also are chapters on potato salad, hash browns, latkes, and potato gratin, all of which offer definitive techniques for producing best results. Throughout, underlying techniques are explored and illustrated (french fry slicing is one), and sensible tips abound (for example, boil unskinned potatoes for fluffy mashed potatoes).

A true primer, the book is part of the Cook's Illustrated Library series. Like the magazine, the books are dedicated to presenting tried-and-perfected recipes and cooking techniques in a concise, approachable way. --Arthur Boehm

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Boston Common Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936184426
• ISBN-13: 978-0936184425
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,570,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tiny book with a ton of information!, April 3, 2000

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Cook Potatoes (Hardcover)

If you have ever tried to make a potato salad or french fries you will find that the process may sound simple, yet without a few tried and true methods you may end up with less than desirable results.

This is the beauty of Christopher Kimball's books. He not only tells you which potatoes work best in each recipe, he explains the proper method for cooking and storing them. You will find a great secret on page 50 when making potato salad.

You will also enjoy the descriptive writing these tiny treasures are so famous for. The only thing I would add to this book is the idea of serving the baked sweet potato with butter and maple syrup. If you are tired of boring baked potatoes, this is the book for you. I also recommend The Best Recipe by the same author.

~The Rebecca Review

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Book Too Tiny, August 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Cook Potatoes (Hardcover)

I normally am an advocate of any book or magazine published by Cook's Illustrated magazine. Unfortunately, this series of books are too small and the print too tiny to be practical. You have to hold it very close to your eyes to read it which makes it totally impractical for putting in your cookbook holder to refer to while cooking. Since the pages are so small, the recipes span several pages which isn't great for the cookbook holder either! I find it ironic that the subtitle says " An illustrated step-by-step guide to perfect potatoes every time.". There are only 8 illustrations in this particular book.