Customer Reviews

Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

`Knife Skills Illustrated' by cooking instructor, Peter Hertzmann, is eminently subtitled, `A User's Manual', as one could wish that such a book actually accompanied your one thousand dollar plus set of French, German, or Japanese knife sets, except that Professor Hertzmann makes the excellent case, along with almost everyone else who covers the subject, that you only really need three knife styles, the chef's knife, a pruning knife, and a serrated slicing knife.
Before buying this book, one must consider another volume, `The Professional Chef's Knife Kit' prepared by The Culinary Institute of America. The book has only 3/5 the pages of Hertzmann's volume, and costs five more dollars, list price, but it actually covers far more ground and may actually be preferable to Hertzmann if you already know your way around a chef's knife and cutting board.
Hertzmann's book is truly for the inexperienced amateur, in that he covers only the most basic techniques; however, he does this very, very well. Two aspects of the book may leave the professional or skilled amateur a bit impatient. The first is that all techniques are fully illustrated from the point of view of both a right-handed and a left-handed person. Thus, a lion's share of the book's 256 pages duplicate information. The second is that the sections on preparing vegetables often repeat the same techniques for produce where the methods are very similar, as with an onion and a shallot or a turnip and a potato.
This said, all the instruction Hertzmann gives us is very, very good. Coverage includes all the usual subjects, such as how to hone a knife, how to wash and store knives, how to use, wash, and care for cutting boards, and how to hold and handle knives safely. I may have been just a bit disappointed that the author did not cover knife sharpening in more detail, but I firmly agree with the author (and many others as well) that with expensive knives, this task is best done by a good professional. I am also just a bit surprised that Hertzmann does not give just a bit more attention to use of the Santoku design knife and the Chinese and Japanese style vegetable cleavers, especially as the author points out that his first real training was with Martin Yan, and that he used the Oriental style cleaver for many years before switching over to the European style chef's knife.
Even though much of the material is familiar to an experienced cook, I found a few tips which were so good to virtually be worth the cost of the book. High on that list is the better method for finding the best point on asparagus to cut off the woody ends. As I have often thought, the test snap method really wastes much good vegetable. Another rare and valuable piece of advice is the three different methods for dicing an onion, one of which is especially useful if you don't need to dice the entire vegetable.
In contrast, the CIA Knife Kit book goes far beyond Hertzmann in dealing with both far more different types of cuts such as rondelles, ripple cuts, gaufrettes, ribbons, Paysanne, Tourne, Fermiere and decorative cuts. The book also covers using a mandoline in great detail and gives far more detailed descriptions and photographs on techniques for washing, storing, and honing knives. And, most importantly, if you are willing to do it, precise information on how to sharpen knives using a whetstone. There is a fair amount of information in this book which an amateur may never use, but all of it is useful to both a professional and an amateur who is simply interested in how the professional does things. It is also important to point out that the material in this book does not appear in the big CIA book `The New Professional Chef'.
This book is perfect for the person who simply wants to be able to make Rachael Ray recipes in almost 30 minutes (Rachael can do it simply because she has all these skills). It is also a boon to people who like to cook efficiently, but don't know where to find these basic skills (and doesn't have the time to watch the collected 256 episodes of Alton Brown's `Good Eats' show. If you already have good knife skills, consider the CIA book instead.

If you want to know the proper Frenchy way to cut a given food item, this book is for you. Do be aware however that there are other disciplines of knife use out there, and the French way isn't necessarily always the best way for everyone. It's probably better than the Rachael Ray way, but what isn't?

My chief complaint about this book is its organization. Left handed instructions are interspersed with the right handed instructions, and while this may be the socially conscious thing to do so as to make lefties feel they're part of the family, it's really, really annoying when you're trying to find a specific section. Say you're flipping through looking up shallot dicing; you'll see the pictures of the shallots, then you'll see the section on dicing, and you'll start reading, and then half a paragraph through you'll realize you're reading the version for the wrong hand. Then you'll have to flip back and forth looking for the same set of instructions for the other hand. What would have made infinitely more sense would be to divide the book into two clear sections so no one would be confused.

My second complaint is that the illustrations seldom show any hands. Hands are difficult to draw accurately and including them probably would have delayed publication significantly, but come on, they're important. If you're going to be encouraging people to take horizontal swipes at a peeled onion with an extremely sharp knife, you need to show them where their hands need to be. Not tell, SHOW.

I found this book quite by accident in Las Vegas. It is extremely well illustrated with step by step demonstrations of professional culinary knife skills. I have reccomended it as a "Must Have" for culinary students. It serves an an excellent resource for the best and proper ways to peel, carve, trim, and accomplishcut the standard professional knife cuts for most any food item. It would be a daily use reference for any cook

I enjoyed this book and continue to refer back to it. The author wrote the book so that people who attend his classes or workshops could have a reference book to return to when their memories failed them. After twenty-five years of instruction with Asian knives, he discovered the qualities of the French Chef knife and didn't look back. Typically, people in the West travel in the other direction, so I think the approach by this author really helps those of us trying to improve our basic knife skills in the kitchen, without getting caught up in the current, popular fads of unnecessary knife sets and much wasted expense. Though, I thought the book's illustrations to be well done, I did find the "two-color" illustrations referred to in the book description, somewhat misleading, and should have read "two-tone" illustrations, instead. The quality of the book (printing and binding) is excellent, and something to keep on the shelf or share with others for a long-time.

The book has 235 pages of information, approximately 100 of which are unnecessary. Call out to Maria Guaranaschelli, editor: "Dominant hand" and "Non-dominant hand"

You did not need to repeat every paragraph, every page, word for word, just so that you could write 'right hand' in one and 'left hand' in the other.

I teach cooking on a professional level and use this type of book in class to reinforce what we are learning in the kitchen. Since this title uses "Illustrated", I was surprised to find such small photos/drawings. Information is standard, but I wish it had been set up differently. I feel you need to "see" these cuts and skills clearly, rather than just read about them (even for the home cook).

Contains useful tips and basic principles with wide application to different items that may find their way onto your cutting board. Many of the entries, however, rely more on description than illustration. I've found the photographs in James Peterson's "Cooking" more helpful.

First you get a picture of a right-handed hand slicing an avocado. Then you get a mirror image showing it for a left-handed person. What on earth was the author thinking? Cutting and slicing isn't exactly like tieing a bow tie or making a complicated knot with 20 steps. The whole book is duplicated in this manner! The cutting skills illustrated are of the more basic kind; cutting an avocado or a chicken. There certainly isn't material for a whole book; maybe a small booklet. There are some intro pages on different knifes, but again very simple. Nothing about different types of steel, sharpening, etc.

So if you find yourself buying many cookbooks, really think twice before you buy this book. Do you really need it? If you are a novice, buy a book of general cooking techniques instead. They will all have 20-30 pages of knife skills.

This book has saved me alot of money! The author lets you know the knives that you really need, and how to use them safely. Following his advice: I started with the basics and bought as needed.

The students in Peter Hertzmann's knife skills classes all entered his kitchen with two things in common: a lack of knowledge on how to use knives, and the desire to learn. His three-hour class led to their newfound appreciation of new knife-wielding habits - a class represented in KNIFE SKILLS ILLUSTRATED: A USER'S MANUAL for his students and for any who would properly use kitchen knives in the home. Chapters survey different kinds of knives for different tasks, their proper handling and care, and how to employ specific techniques for vegetables, meats, and other foods. Any collection strong in cooking will find this a handy, popular reference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch