Anne Willan's Cook It Right (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

British cook Willan may be the most persistent teacher in the cooking world. Her latest effort is an exhaustive, well-illustrated volume specifically tailored to the American market. Through carefully worded text and color photographs, she explains how to make foods turn out right every time. The book's photographs not only show the perfect kitchen product, but also help identify problems caused by undercooking or overcooking. Tips for rescuing these failures are also noted. The recipes themselves function as roadmaps, leaving it up to the imagination and technical skill of the cook to produce from their own personalized variations. Willan's latest assumes less knowledge on the cook's part and is decidedly less Francocentric than her earlier comprehensive instruction manual, La Varenne Pratique (1989). Mark Knoblauch

Product Description

An internationally acclaimed culinary expert with 30 years of experience, celebrated author and founder/president of the La Varenne cooking schools shares her secrets and demonstrates how to both achieve and recognize the perfect state of doneness in everything one cooks. 450 color photos.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest (April 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895779323
• ISBN-13: 978-0895779328
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,864 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good gift for a new cook...or old cook.., May 11, 2000

By	Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

I used to cook a lot, but got away from it for many years -- eating out in restaurants while I pursued a career. I read an article about Anne Willan in our local paper, and had to try one of her books. I'm not ready to make the fancy French dishes (although I would like to eat them) so I decided to buy a simple book and practice the basics again.

Ms. Willan explains many basic recipes in this volume. This is a nice cook book to give a new cook, or it might be a housewarming or bridal gift. I gave it to myself. I especially like the photos that show how things should look. There are photos of how things shouldn't look too, with explanations about why you got the results you did. I recommend this book if you're beginning for the first time, or beginning again.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cooking school in a book, July 8, 1998

By A Customer

This book is unique in that the pictures show different states of properly cooked, under or over cooked foods. Also gives tips how to salvage any mistakes that have been made. I have been cooking for years, and learned alot just from flipping through the pages.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big and Heavy, but One Heck of a Neato-Jet Cookbook, December 30, 2005

By	Katie Osborne (Portland, Oregon and the sunny Caribbean) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is big, heavy and loaded with not only delicious recepies, but tons of information about food preparation as well and it is chucky jammed full of gorgeous color photographs so good you're mouth waters just looking at the pages. The hot and sour soup on page 23 is to die for and the Coffee and rum raisin parfait in the dessert section is a dessert just to impressive to describe and I can't praise the pecan truffles enough. This is just one heck of a neato-jet cookbook.

Not only do you get receipes with ingrediants and instructions, but many of the receipes include promlems you might encounter while preparing the dish, for example the "Grilled Pork Chops with Classic Barbecue Sauce" on page 83 explains under the problems section why your effort may have come out dry or overcooked, why it may be tough, tasteless or too salty. I know, if you're a person who has been cooking forever, loves a good receipe and owns a zillion cookbooks, as I do, then this will be self evident, but for a beginner, it's nice information to have.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne