Customer Reviews

Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is outstanding! A must-have for every kitchen regardless of how experienced a cook you are. I attended the full time 6-month culinary program at the FCI a few years ago and this is almost verbatim our first quarter (6 week) curriculum. We then spent the next 3 quarters refining and practicing and expanding on all these techniques. If you don't want to sacrifice 6 months and $50,000 (an endless cuts and burns and bad hair days) to attend cooking school, then buy this book and cook every recipe over and over and you will become an excellent cook. If you master all the skills and techniques in the book, you can walk into any kitchen and hold your own as this is the foundation of classic cooking and the language of the kitchen.

Hints and tips from the Deans and Chef Instructors pepper the book for every technique with tidbits such as "...cook beans at a constant low temperature and cool them in their cooking liquid. ~ Dean Alain Sailhac" or "Do not cover a chicken after roasting or it will steam and make the meat taste reheated." ~Dean Jacques Pepin". It's like getting a personal cooking lesson from the greatest chefs of our time. The book teaches the 250 foundation techniques including stocks, sauces, soups, salads, eggs, potatoes, poultry, beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, shellfish, marinades, stuffings, organ meats (my least favorite day in cooking school!), pastry dough, creams & custards, crepes, brioche, frozen desserts, meringues, mousses, and soufflés (my favorite day in cooking school! :)

It also explains in great detail terms in a kitchen, names of equipment and pots and pans, food safety, knifes and knife skills, and professional kitchen management. If you want to become an outstanding home cook or are considering or about to attend cooking school, I strongly recommend devouring (pun intended) this book. If you learn this book, or at least become familiar with all the techniques, then you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the game. Bon courage et bon appetit!

1ST off, this is not a cookbook, but a textbook. Should you be interested in vastly improving your skills in the kitchen, buy this instead of wasting time watching "celebrity" cooking shows. Following the information provided in this book will not make you a professional chef, but will allow you to create and serve dishes that will make you the envy of the "foodie" group.

This is a great book with lots of good content but the book itself is constructed poorly. The binding broke within minutes of opening and it feels like a few pages may fall out. Until it does completely fall apart though I will use it to learn french cooking technique.

A textbook of classic French cooking techniques. It is written in a clear and very engaging way. What I really appreciate is that they explain why things are done the way they are. This gives a much better understanding. I hate following steps, without understanding them. Highly recommended to amateurs who like cooking. I cannot evaluate it as a textbook, because I'm not a culinary professional myself. The intro states that the book covers 25% of what the French Culinary Institute covers in its foundation classes. I will they would publish part 2.

Even though it is a hands-on book, this book cannot be used in the kitchen because the binding is very poor. I guess this is the worst kind of textbook publisher around. Charges USD 50 and makes the book in such poor quality so students cannot resell it.

If you can't attend FCI this book must be the next best thing. Home cooks should not be put off, however, this is a treasure chest of wonderful ideas,techniques, information and recipes. Oh to have the time to cook the recipes from front to back!

Please F.C.I. put together a volumn 2 the world will be a better place for it.

It took me a long while to get this book and it's definitely worth it! It's a good book for someone who's looking to learn the fundamental and basic techniques as a start without paying a lot of money to attend the culinary school.

This book is a must for anyone wanting to learn how the pros do it, or simply brush up on a few techniques. As for the recipes in the book, they're pretty good, but they're to illustrate the use of the techniques, so if you don't have the techniques down correctly, the results of the recipes will probably turn out less than spectacular. I was so angry when I saw this on Amazon for almost half of what I paid at Barnes & Noble... grr.

I love this book. It's a must have for any serious cook.

And about the bad reviews for the construction of the book. I believe the problem is not with the construction, but with the shipping and packing. This is a heavy book and must be packed securely or the binding can be weakened or damaged.

This publication is excellent in providing the reader with an abundant amount of information on french cooking techniques. With bright illustrations easy to read text and great recipes this book is a must in every kitchen. The downside of the publication is it's poor binding construction. The pages started coming apart when I first opened the book.

An excellent guide for both those who know how to cook and those who don't. In a step-by-step series of courses, the learner is shown all of the basic techniques needed to become a proficient cook, from choosing utensils to how to cut vegetables to making a decent stock. And that's just the beginning. With practice anyone can learn these techniques. I've been looking for a decent step-by-step cooking course-in-a-book for some time, and with this, I believe I've found it.