Customer Reviews

Kitchen Sense: More than 600 Recipes to Make You a Great Home Cook

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`Kitchen Sense' by James Beard Foundation Vice President, Mitchell Davis comes closer to my ideal cookbook than any other book I have reviewed. It is not perfect, and it is certainly not the only cookbook you will want, but it attains that happy medium of just enough of the right information for an excellent selection of both classic and interesting recipes to make it the first cookbook you reach for when trying to decide on what to make for dinner.

If you have this book, you will still need an encyclopedic book such as `The Joy of Cooking' and a good reference such as the `Larousse Gastronomique'. If you are especially fond of ethnic cuisines, you will also still need Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking', Marcella Hazan's `Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking', Rick Bayless' `Authentic Mexican' and David Thompson's `Thai Food'. If you like baking bread or cakes or pies, you will still need good books from Rose Levy Beranbaum, Nick Malgieri, or Maida Heatter. And, you will probably want to hang on to your specialized books on cooking fish, vegetables, meats, poultry, and eggs. Last but not least, you will still want your copy of Jacques Pepin's `Complete Techniques'. But, these are for reading when you want to plan ahead. On the day of..., you will always be able to rely on Davis book to come through with something interesting, presented in a way which is superior to almost every other general, non-professional cookbook I have seen including the tomes from `Gourmet', `Bon Appetit', Mark Bittman and `The New York Times' / Craig Claiborne.

One way in which Davis seems to almost everything right is in the amount of detail he includes with each recipe. I always avoid even the thought of compiling my own cookbook because I'm sure I would include too much. Davis does not, for example, include nutritional analyses or wine selections. I think nutritional analyses in cookbooks are largely a gimmick, unless it is a cookbook for diabetics. And, I think that if wine selection is that important to you, you will bone up on what you need to know to make that decision for yourself. Like the famous early line in `The Hustler', I paraphrase `... this is the kitchen man. No gambling, no booze, and no billiards. We just cook.'

Not only does Mitchell Davis include what seems like all the right stuff, and nothing extra, he even goes so far as to explain what you are to get from the various parts of a recipe. This is something I have never seen anywhere else, including from that supernerd of the kitchen, Alton Brown. This attention to detail does not stop with Davis' talking about his recipes. It extends to how each recipe is lovingly written, to a level of detail that may not have been seen since Julia Child's better recipes.

Davis covers makeahead suggestions, which are done by many other cookbooks, but I think that combined with everything else he does well, his `makeahead' instructions are doubly valuable. He especially does not give any false hopes about holding dishes in advance of serving them, as when he chides us to serve guacamole immediately upon preparation, as it simply does not keep. This brings us to leftovers, something practically no other cookbook author treats in a systematic manner. And, he brings up a major truth about leftovers. They generally simply do not taste the same the next day. Now for lots of dishes, such as soups and stews, this is a very good thing. But, for thinks such as steamed or boiled rice, gratins, or salads, what you find the next day may range from unappetizing to simply inedible. One of my major lessons in cooking for only two people is in teaching myself how to perk up leftovers, such as in making day-old macaroni and cheese as creamy delish as it was 10 minutes after it came out of the oven. Davis covers this skill for many, many recipes.

One of my greatest pleasures in reading through this book is in the number of classic dishes presented here. And, they are presented in a way that is equal to or superior to any other treatment. One prime example is his recipe for the famous Spanish tapas dish, `Tortilla Espagnole'. I have read whole books on Tapas with up to 10 recipes for this potato `frittata', and none of the recipes are quite as well written as Davis presentation. That is not to say these other recipes will produce poorer quality dishes. In fact, part of my admiration for Davis treatment of the recipe is the way in which he remains true to the classic Spanish dish, without trying to `improve' it or make it more interesting. The same is true of many other classics. I was especially pleased in Davis' headnote to my favorite dish, Potato Gratin, when warns about undercooking the dish.

Yet another symptom of the book's quality is the fact that I agree with virtually every book the author cites in his bibliography. His four restaurant cookbooks by Thomas Keller, Judy Rodgers, Tom Colicchio, and Alfred Portale are among my top 10. His citations for ethnic cuisines are also excellent.

There are only three minor aspects of the book to which I would suggest the author address. First, Davis stresses that one of his objects is to make you want to cook, or at least to make you hungry. In spite of the superb recipes, there is not quite as much `joie de vivre' in the writing you find from the Brits such as Jamie Oliver. Second, I think the author's definitions of knife cuts are not standard, so his `chop' and `dice' and `mince' instructions may be a bit confusing Third, these general cooking instructions are in the back of the book, and not in the front, so you read them before you get to the recipes!

Kitchen Sense is an amazingly comprehensive book that offers an excellent combination of tips and recipes. The recipes themselves are extremely clearly written, detailed and informational without being pedantic, and complemented by Davis' often witty observations and suggestions. And the dishes they describe are far more interesting and sophisticated than the Joy of Cooking or any other general cookbook, covering a full range of ethnic cuisines as well as American classics with a modern twist. It's such a cliche to say that this is the only book you'd need to take to a deserted island (one with a full kitchen...), but in this case it's really true!

I bought this based on the great reviews here. I was looking for a one-stop shopping type of cookbook and I hit the jackpot here. When it arrived I sat down and began highlighting recipes I wanted to try first and an hour later I still wasn't done. Everything I've cooked thus far has come out fabulously.

I really like this cookbook. Even as a chef, I still pull this cookbook out frequently. It's not massive nor encyclopedic. It's not going to teach you everything you could ever want to know about cooking. But the recipes are creative and unique, and they aren't all that hard. This is the perfect cookbook to buy friends or family who enjoy cooking at home. It will show you new ways of doing things or prompt you to cook in ways you normally wouldn't.

This cookbook is genius! I use it all the time. It is easy to follow, and I have never had a problem with a single recipe. I get great praise from guests when I use the book for dinner parties. It also makes a great gift - people love it. Who are these people making comments about there not being pictures? I've never even noticed because the book is so incredibly useful.

I bought this book after previewing it from a library. I knew what I was getting and I'm very pleased with my purchase. The book came used from a library so it was already covered to preserve the jacket.

The jacket cover for this book begins: "Imagine if everything you needed to know to be a great home cook were contained between the covers of a single volume." Well, stop imagining. This is not that book. The author is apparently not a professional chef, but a Ph.D. student in food. Huh?

Be warned that there is not a single photo or illustration in all the 516 pages, except for the one of the smiling author. Lacking any visual guide to be found, one imagines the author's advice for cutting a raw chicken into 10 pieces to be the perfect premise for a classic Lucile Ball kitchen sketch, with poor Lucy going through the totally inadequate directions, repeating every sentence aloud, whacking away over and over until the poor bird is not just cut into pieces, but autopsied.

I'm sorry to have to disagree with the earlier reviewers here, but I simply have to. This is the first review of any kind that I've posted on the Web, but this book and its pretentiousness justly deserve a rap.

After reading recipe after disappointing recipe, I concentrated on the few interesting bits of knowledge. The most common preservative used on scallops is--did you guess?--tripolyphosphate. Golly. Must be the same stuff Doctors of Philosophy are preserved with.

In sum, the book does not live up to its billing in any way. If you are looking to get started in the kitchen and making good, everyday meals for loved ones, I suggest the bound annual editions of "Cook's Illustrated", "The Gourmet Cookbook" by Ruth Reichl, or, needless to say, "The Joy of Cooking".