On Cooking, Volume 1: Techniques from Expert Chefs (2nd Edition) [Hardcover]

Sarah R. Labensky (Author), Alan M. Hause (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0139241019 | ISBN-13: 978-0139241017 | Publication Date: July 15, 1998 | Edition: 2nd

This book brings together all the fundamentals of good cooking -- clearly explained by top chefs and food writers, with plenty of detailed techniques, professional tips, and celebrated recipes. Its 750+ proven recipes cover everything from soups to meats and salads to desserts, and reflect a wide range of cooking styles from Classic French to New American. More than 1400 lavish full-color photographs identify ingredients and tools, demonstrate techniques, and demonstrate plate and buffet presentation. This new edition focuses extensively on healthy cooking techniques, with updated nutrition advice and a nutritional analysis accompanying every recipe. New chapters on Hors d'Oeuvre, canapes, sandwiches and eggs help you perfect the basics or prepare a party. Short essays and notes on food history, food science and food preparation techniques (many contributed by prominent chefs and food writers) make On Cooking far more than an ordinary cooking book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On Cooking is a celebration of the culinary arts that will benefit anyone considering cooking as a profession, as well as serious amateur cooks who want to improve their skills--particularly in butchering and charcuterie. Wolfgang Puck, Mark Miller, and Alfred Portale are just 3 of the 30 chefs who share with us their combined wisdom and know-how.

This mighty encyclopedia covers a wealth of subjects, including nutrition, food safety, and standardizing a recipe. The book does assume a fair amount of culinary knowledge and expertise when it comes to proper textures, cooking times, and accurately judging "doneness." There are recipes for more than 700 dishes, including classics such as Turnedos Rossini and Crabcakes Benedict--as well as the basics for making great sauces, stocks, soups, pastry, and so forth. New-style cooking also features prominently, with a delicious recipe for Duck Prosciutto with Fresh Mango being a fine example. On Cooking: Techniques from Expert Chefs is quite an achievement.

From Library Journal

Similar in scope and approach to the Culinary Institute's The New Professional Chef (LJ 8/91), this textbook/reference was put together by Phoenix cookbook author Labensky and caterer Hause. Like The New Professional Chef, it begins with an introduction to the food service industry, then covers equipment and kitchen staples, with the bulk of the book devoted to all aspects of professional cooking and baking. This volume includes 1250 color photographs and 5500 recipes, in contrast to Chef's 700 recipes and 900 color photographs plus illustrations. Many of the recipes in Labensky and Hause's work come from a variety of professional chefs, and it shows. While one should expect that yields for stocks and other basic preparations be large in a text of this sort, home cooks attempting to use the recipes may be frustrated by serving sizes that vary from recipe to recipe, serving from one or two people to ten to 16 or more. The color photographs and step-by-step technique shots give this value as a reference, so special collections may want to consider; those that already have The New Professional Chef, however, can skip it.
Judith C. Sutton, Sutton's Place Cuisine, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1125 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2nd edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0139241019
• ISBN-13: 978-0139241017
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,913,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply blown away by how much info is in this book!, October 13, 2002

By 

JoAnna (TN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On Cooking: Techniques From Expert Chefs, Trade Version (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)

I'm a culinary arts student at the Art Institute of California, and total foodie, and I take my cooking very seriously. This book goes into explicit detail for each and every ingredient and cooking method. I'm not kidding when I tell you that there are three paragraphs and a chart to tell you how to boil water. That may seem like overkill, but now that I've been following the various guidelines of food preparation, I notice a subtle improvement in everything I make. If you're the kind of person who walks down the spice aisle of the grocery store for fun (like me!), or if you can't get enough kitchen gadgets (like me!) then you'll enjoy this book. Caution: don't read this one on an empty stomach!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource, January 3, 2001

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"mmharrin" - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Cooking, Volume 1: Techniques from Expert Chefs (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

I view this book as one of the essential resource books any serious cook should have. If I had named it, I would have called the book "On Food" because it is not just about cooking food, it actually gives you encyclopedia type entries to describe an enormous number of items in each chapter (e.g. fish, vegetables, meats). It will tell you where your food came from, in which seasons it is freshest, how best to prepare it and will follow each of these up with a number of recipes. Do not look to this book to be a cookbook, though. Is is more important to view the book as a resource to help you figure out the best types of preparations for that item you found at the market but have never used before. It is a great tool to just sit down and learn about cuts of beef and why some parts of the animal are great for one type of preparation versus another. That said, there are recipes and they are good, but to focus on them would be to overlook all of the education you can get from this book. This is used as a textbook in cooking schools, and the set-up is like a textbook, but a lot more interesting than the ones you had in college or high school because you can eat after you learn.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Love to Cook, March 3, 2000

By 

Terry - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Cooking, Volume 1: Techniques from Expert Chefs (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

I received the book today and haven't been able to put it down. I've loved to cook for over 30 years and I've never found one book filled with so much good information. I wish I had this book years ago. I told my wife it takes the place of at least 10 cookbooks. If you love, or even like to cook and want to improve your technique and knowledge, I don't see how you could beat this book! It's wonderful!