Customer Reviews

Master Recipes: A New Approach to the Fundamentals of Good Cooking

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As a long time cook, I discovered this book about five years ago. Now I use the master recipes for almost everything I make. The recipes are well explained, the procedures tried and true and they all work wonderfully. Having experimented with many souffle recipes over the years, I tried the master recipe contained here. It produces a consistently perfect souffle - the only one I use.

I have learned many techniques from this book and with a bookshelf full of recipe books - this is the first one I reach for reference.

I have not found this book's contemporary equal in clarity, authenticity, practicality and simplicity. The author's research and testing of his recipes is meticulous, and the master recipe format (which has been widely copied since the first publication of this book) is an excellent teaching tool -- one can acquire delicious skills just cooking one's way through Master Recipes. Here is the best angel food cake recipe I've found outside of my grandmother's kitchen. Mr. Schmidt taught me how to make creme caramel, and if I need to review how to make a perfectly hard-boiled egg, I can find that here, too.

This is my favorite cook book. Aside from the "master recipe" concept, it is very helpful that he always tells you where you can break off work so you don't have to do everything the same day.

Cooking has been my hobby since I was 8-years old. I own (and use) over 35 different cookbooks, all of which are specialty books by cuisine or food category. A compulsive recipe clipper, I really needed a basic cookbook for times when recipes seemed incorrect (especially those from the Los Angeles Times Food Section!). This is it. Clear, concise and well organized. A beginner could teach herself how to cook using just this book, yet an advanced chef would find it helpful when brushing up on "rusty" techniques or trying something new to him/her.

It's up-to-date but not one of those horrid "take one box of cake mix" type of books. Loads of practical info -- I especially like the weight & measurement conversion charts inside the front and back covers, which come in handy when you're doubling or splitting a recipe or translating foreign measurements.

Of the dozens of cookbooks I use, this is the one that I continually return to, after owning it for over 10 years. Its recipes extend to all aspects of the meal, from salads and soup to wonderful desserts, and cover many different techniques. Its real strength is in the approach: solid, well-tested, basic master recipes are presented, followed by a range of variations to them. We end up knowing how, for example, to prepare 32 kinds of cream soup, and a dozen kinds of quiche. The author alerts the cook to pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as giving advise on how to rescue the situation when things go wrong. For cooks at all levels. My favorite cookbook.

I bought the first printing of this book when I was living on my own as a single guy in 1990. I was a terrible cook and, though I loved food, things I cooked from other cookbooks never turned out right. Indeed I didn't know the fundamentals of cooking. From this book, I learned to cook. I surprised many people in my family when I'd return home each year having mastered some new technique or recipe. The thing is, I just followed Stephen's easy-to-understand techniques to the letter. The idea of using a master recipe helped even a neophyte like me understand the basics. Later on it gave me a basis for experimenting and mastery of several cooking techniques. 20 years later, my worn and torn book was still sitting in our kitchen. I recently bought the book again because my old one was falling apart. I was grateful to see that I could still get it. My wife now uses it and agrees it is the best cook book on our shelf. Today, I love cooking. My wife has accumulated several other cookbooks. They are good too. But this book is the one I keep coming back to. This book simply is the BEST ever.

A wonderful, RELIABLE cookbook. Organized beautifully, recipes are excellent. This book, along with Joy of Cooking ( 1975 or earlier edition), and the original New York Times Cookbook are on my shelf of honor. They are all you really need.

Stephen Schmidt's book, Master Recipes, is just that ... a master.

His recipes are clear, readable, and most importantly, doable. I especially love the multiple variations offered along the way.

This is my second copy as I wanted my son, the chef, to have this classic.