Herings Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery [Hardcover]

Walter Bickel (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 852 pages
• Publisher: Culinary & Hospitality Industry Publication Services; 13th edition (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3805703880
• ISBN-13: 978-3805703888
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #522,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disorganized Delight for Culinary Ferrets!, March 2, 2006

By 

I. Seligman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Herings Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery (Hardcover)

I find Louis Saulnier's Le Repertoire de La Cuisine to be a classic text that is too much for a novice to wade through, and Hering's Dictionary has upped it a notch, in quantity and in chaos! (Mine is the 10th Ed 1987, I'm told the newer editions are not terribly better organized.)

I enjoy both books as I like to learn about classic (Usually French) preparations and terms. There are no typical "recipes" with carefully measured ingredients and steps to produce the final product in either of these books to cook by, instead just the pertinent ingredients are listed, without quantities, to remind professional level chefs and caterers of what needs to be present.

Herrings "outdoes" Le Repertoire's Escoffier cuisine in that it has these "recipes", and additionally has recipes from other countries to generously flesh out it's pages.

Chaotic...oh yes! I looked up "Duck" in the index, and got pages 409-413. Had I also looked up "Canvasback Duck", I'd have gotten a few more recipes on p. 309...and same for "Wild Duck on p. 551, and "Rouenese Duck" on p. 508, for more recipes!

Look up "liver" and find no entries, however "Calves liver" is the ticket!

Want "eggplant"? There's no entry in the English Index for "eggplant" or "aubergine", however a wise cooks goes to the French Index, and finds "aubergines" at two sites, and still it misses a third site of "eggplant" recipes on p. 87.

If you look up "Shrimp" there's 9 recipes on p. 231, however if you are wise to "Caramote", a giant prawn of the Adriatic, one gets the 13 additional recipes on p. 174!

If the price is right, and you are a curious ferret, get both Le Repertoire and Hering's. If faced with a choice, I'd prefer Herring's for the 853 pages, over better organized Repertoire's 239 pages.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The good book of chef dum!!, July 10, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Herings Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery (Hardcover)

This is the top shelf of all cookbooks,please note this is not for the beginner.This book is more the professional.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Classical Chef's Reference, August 31, 2011

By 

Robert W. Macdermid "chef bob" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Herings Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery (Hardcover)

Herrings is not a cookbook for the novice. It is from an era when haute cuisine ruled the kitchen and all chefs followed classical French preparations. The book assumes that the reader has a working knowledge of classical cookery. It won't tell you how to prepare what you saw on Food TV, but if you are looking for one of the finest chef's reminders ever written, grab a copy!