I bought this book on the recommendation of Chef Alton Brown, when I asked for a good book to teach a learning chef the basics of cooking. I paid an outrageous $0.30 + shipping for the book.
It is 2inches thick X 8inches wide X 13inches tall. The book is intimidating. It came without a dust cover and had actually very few marks. On first glance, the book has a lot of both useful & not so useful info. There are a lot of techniques for beginners like poaching, sauteing, proper meat and fish cleaning; things that any at home cook should want to know. Then there are things like olives rabbits, tomato flowers, mushroom designs and many other presentation techniques that right now, I'm not really worried about.
There are some random things in there, that to me aren't basic, but are still good to know: cleaning a squid, gutting a fish without cutting it open, so on and so forth.
There are also a lot of great recipes for cooking & baking. One I want to try is "Trout Amadine" or "Almond Trout", you have to gut the fish without cutting it open, then debone the fish (leaving it whole), stuff the tail through the mouth and out the mouth then sautee it in butter and almonds. It look just as hard as it sounds.
The book is broken down by sections: Meats, veggies, fish, garnish, baking. Each technique is described "step by step" with a picture joining each step. A problem is, though, the steps aren't always in detail. I used the book and tried cleaning a fresh squid. The book told me about peeling the skin membrane, separating the head and legs from the body, a plastic like bone on the inside and turning it inside out to clean it as well. It, however, made no mention of how to remove the intestine and ink sack without busting either, nor did it mention the best way to peel the skin with your hands covered in the ick from the squid.
I ended up getting it done, maybe not properly, but done none the less. And the resulting calamari was super good.
Overall, "Le Technique" has some Really good lessons to teach. For a total price of just under $6, how could I be anything less then pleased; I mean I would not have attempted squid if not for this book.
I give it a 4 out of 5
It is 2inches thick X 8inches wide X 13inches tall. The book is intimidating. It came without a dust cover and had actually very few marks. On first glance, the book has a lot of both useful & not so useful info. There are a lot of techniques for beginners like poaching, sauteing, proper meat and fish cleaning; things that any at home cook should want to know. Then there are things like olives rabbits, tomato flowers, mushroom designs and many other presentation techniques that right now, I'm not really worried about.
There are some random things in there, that to me aren't basic, but are still good to know: cleaning a squid, gutting a fish without cutting it open, so on and so forth.
There are also a lot of great recipes for cooking & baking. One I want to try is "Trout Amadine" or "Almond Trout", you have to gut the fish without cutting it open, then debone the fish (leaving it whole), stuff the tail through the mouth and out the mouth then sautee it in butter and almonds. It look just as hard as it sounds.
The book is broken down by sections: Meats, veggies, fish, garnish, baking. Each technique is described "step by step" with a picture joining each step. A problem is, though, the steps aren't always in detail. I used the book and tried cleaning a fresh squid. The book told me about peeling the skin membrane, separating the head and legs from the body, a plastic like bone on the inside and turning it inside out to clean it as well. It, however, made no mention of how to remove the intestine and ink sack without busting either, nor did it mention the best way to peel the skin with your hands covered in the ick from the squid.
I ended up getting it done, maybe not properly, but done none the less. And the resulting calamari was super good.
Overall, "Le Technique" has some Really good lessons to teach. For a total price of just under $6, how could I be anything less then pleased; I mean I would not have attempted squid if not for this book.
I give it a 4 out of 5
