Customer Reviews

Williams-Sonoma Tools & Techniques

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

 

 

Tools & Techniques.

If anyone has read my blog or any of my equipment reviews here, you know I'm a kitchen gadget junkie. I also have a number of cookbooks. Would Tools & Techniques be worth it? You betcha.

This book is wonderful! You can find beautiful food photography throughout the book. It is truly a reference worth adding to your kitchen library. You can use it to replace whatever general cookbook you're using, like the Betty Crocker Cookbook or the Better Homes & Garden's Cookbook. Trust me.

Tools

While not quite exhaustive, this book is quite comprehensive. There about 50 pages dedicated to tools. The book provides a brief description of each tool and, in some cases, instructions for use. Everything is well-written and easy to understand. This book doesn't go into the same level of detail about the "how" something works like Alton Brown's Gear. Additionally, Gear is Brown's philosophy about exactly what you need in your kitchen. Tools & Techniques makes no such recommendation. It's understood that you should buy it all (it is a Williams-Sonoma book.)

The sections are:

-Bakeware: baking sheets; pie & tart pans; cake pans; and other bakeware

-Bakeware Materials

-Baking Tools: pie & pastry tools and cake-baking tools

-Cook's Tools: general tools; bowls; graters & shredders; strainers; fish & shellfish tools; meat & poultry tools; fruit & vegetable tools; and specialty tools

-Cookware: basic cookware & specialty cookware

-Cookware Materials

-Cutlery & Accessories: basic knives; specialty tools; cutting tools; sharpeners & honing devices; and other cutlery and accessories

-Knife Construction

-Electrics: blenders, mixers & food processors and specialty electrics

-Grilling Tools: basic grilling tools and grilling accessories

-Measuring Tools & Timers: measuring tools and thermometers

-Pasta & Bread Equipment: pasta equipment and bread & pizza equipment

Techniques

The majority of the book is spent on techniques. There are 312 different techniques and recipes. These range from the basic like whipping cream to the advanced like puff pastry. I found the fish and pasta section to be robust. I would have liked to see an herb guide (pairing herbs with foods) and the meat maps that show where the various cuts are on the animals.

The sections are:

-Baking & Pastry Basics

-Breads & Batters

-Cakes

-Cookies & Bars

-Cooking Basics

-Egg Cookery

-Fish

-Fruit

-Grains & Legumes

-Grilling Basics

-Herbs & Spices

-Knife Skills

-Meat

-Pasta

-Pies & Tarts

-Poultry

-Sauces

-Shellfish

-Stocks

-Vegetables

I recommend this book to almost everyone. If you have only one cookbook, get this one. If you are a beginning cook, get this one. If you are an intermediate cook, get this one. If you're advanced and already know how to make puff pastry, French lamb and make choux pastry, you don't need this book.

If you like to cook, you will LOVE this book!!! It is perfect for the beginner to advanced home cook or aspiring chef. The beautiful photographs accurately depict the clearly written instructions for an extremely wide array of techniques. It is the book I have been searching for - I highly recommend it :)

Tools & Techniques is a very well written book. The area on tools is very informative and the techniques areas are very helpful. The authors even provide a few receipes throught which I found helpful and have already tried. It is also a well made book with glossy pages and ample photos. Highly recommended.

A friend and I shopped in Charlotte, NC this past Fall and stopped in our favorite store. Which happened to be the main reason we went to Charlotte in the first place. She came across this book that had just about everything a great Chef wanna-be would want to know. Ideas, techniques and presentations of all kinds of great cooking and entertaining. From making fantastic meringues,simple dough recipes and anything else you could think of and even things you would'nt think of.I highly recommend this book. We found it MUCH cheaper at Amazon.com than in the store. I bought her And myself one. And than she ordered one for a future gift to someone else. GREAT buy! I highly recommend this book!

I thought this book would give tips and techniques for some tricky or complicated dishes, but it was more of a "cooking for dummies" kind of thing. I give it 4 stars though because it is still very helpful. A lot of things in the book I wouldn't have thought of, but it turned out to be a good book to have in my kitchen.

Loved this book. It has all the answers you need and quite beautiful to just browse through. I would recommend as a gift for any avid cook.

This book is a great reference tool when looking to improve on your basics of cooking. If you want to have a cookbook in a stand on your counter this should be the one. Read through this book and use it as a guide on how to explore new techniques. The stuff that you always wondered how to do but just didn't know how is in this book.

Exactly what I was looking for, a wonderfully informative book that lives up to the title. The first half is filled with photos and descriptions of kitchen tools both simple and complex and everything in between. The second half of the book details several techniques accompianed by photos and recipes that I found to be be very helpful. I made the roast chicken yesterday and it was as succulent in real life as it appeared in the photo. Definitely a great book to own!

I just received this book from Amazon and I can't get over how much I love it! If this book is anything, it is a confidence builder. You know how recipes will often say: cream the butter, knead the dough, etc. and just assume you know how? Well this book finally teaches you how to do all of those little steps which recipes never fully explain. This book is essentially a codebook for cooking and baking! I'm convinced that learning techniques is one of the keys to successfully start cooking and baking.

I'm a visual learner and this book is filled to the brim with photos. Not only are the photos absolutely beautiful, they are extremely useful. There are hundreds of techniques and every single one of them shows several large, beautiful step by step photos. Every single page is glossy with full color. It is fun just to browse through because it is such a beautiful book! Definitely would make a lovely gift for someone.

There are tons of techniques about how to properly cut food, including different types of meats, fruits, herbs, veggies, and even frozen pies. It also demonstrates how to cream butter, knead dough, use a pastry bag, make fresh soup stocks, peel and pit fruits, etc. There are also a few basic recipes scattered throughout the book (sauces, dough, gravy).

The book also includes an overview of kitchen tools, which I'll be honest was not overly helpful. The explanation for each tool was obvious and kind of "no duh". Here's an example describing an electronic kitchen timer: "These timers feature a digital display that beeps when the time is up...some sit on the counter, while others use a magnetic strip to stick to appliances." Ok, come on, that's kind of a no brainer, even for me. But I did find the section describing the different types of knives useful.

Also, some of these techniques I will never use, like making handmade pasta. But I admit it was still fascinating to read about it. I've always wondered how people make pasta by hand.

If you are a curious person in general you will love this book. This is one of my most favorite books ever, cooking or otherwise! This book solved so many little mysteries for me. I'd just about given up on cooking, thinking it wasn't for me, but this book has given me so much more confidence in the kitchen. In fact, today I'm going to the grocery store to stock up on supplies and give a few recipes a try!

This book is excellent for information for any at home cook or chef. I am a culinary student and really like the information it provides and answers questions that I am looking for answers.