Reviews (6)

meat head
the books i order was just the thing i was looking far. thank you.

Indeed a field book
This is a pocket book, it was smaller than I expected, but it is probably better that way.The color photographs are in the center pages with descriptions in the rest of the book, referencing the photos.It has useful information on most of the meat cuts available in the market.It even has equivalent names in Spanish, French, Italian and German for some of the entries.

Major misleading information on page one
The author claims antibiotics are prohibited for use as growth promotors. However, from:
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Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Specific Ingredients - Meat    4. Food & Drink / Cookery    5. Non-Classifiable   

Subjects:  1. American Regional Cookery    2. Cookery, American    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Meat Cookery    6. Regional & Ethnic - American - General    7. Specific Ingredients - Meat    8. Specific Ingredients - Seafood    9. Cooking / Meat   

Reviews (11)

Saucier's best friend
I first was introduced to this book at culinary school in the early 1990s.This is a modern look at the classic techniques of the 19th century Escoffier, the foremost authority on French cookery as established by Careme.Escoffier brought order to the professional kitchen, and maintained the high standards of the French palate.The recipes included in this book, however antiquated, are the basic principles of cooking all professional chefs, and serious "foodies" alike, should use in their cooking every day.With a little imagination, every cook can create his or her own signature dishes by using delicious sauces to accompany their fresh and perfectly cooked meat, fish or vegetable.Even more delightful, the historian in me is fascinated with the historical accounts of the development of French cookery; and the comic in me so enjoys the wit used in the author's address to such a serious subject of many a cook's discipline and heart.

Absolutely the greatest sauce book for traditional French sauces
I have browsed through many sauce books in the past several years, and found two to be indispensable:Raymond Sokolov's THE SAUCIER'S APPRENTICE and Michel Roux's SAUCES.Both books accomplish their goals impeccably.Roux wishes to present readers with a faster way to produce restaurant quality sauces, providing readers with beautiful appetizing photos for each sauce in the process.It is a book meant not to scare off amateur chefs who are inclined to choose a "Betty Crocker" book rather than a real top notch text on traditional French cooking.Sokolov, on the other hand, appeals to the already converted French gourmet/gourmand.There are no photos, nor are they necessary, since his language is so descriptive and precise, it really creates a photo in your mind.
Saucier's Apprentice
This book was recommended to me by a professional chef I was taking lessons with, while I have not been through the entire book it looks great and takes the mystery out of sauces.Nothing like a great sauce to make an every day meal special...Go for it ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery, French    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Courses & Dishes - Sauces & Dressings    5. Reference    6. Regional & Ethnic - European    7. Regional & Ethnic - French    8. Sauces    9. Cooking / French    10. General cookery   

Reviews (5)

He LOVES it!
Not only was the book cheaper on Amazon than the bookstores but I ordered this book for my boyfriend from here and I got it earlier than expected so that was great! He says it has great step-by-step images and that's a positive for him since he learns more from visuals. Also, it has instructions that he's able to follow and understand.
Easy and Elegant
I am a caterer "wannabe" who has been doing food art for family and friends for some time and found this book to be a great launching tool for ideas.The carvings I enjoy the most are the potato flowers (very easy), tomato roses, & carrot tulips.Also, the photos of vegetable and cheese and cracker trays have been indispensible and well accepted when I imitated these in my displays.I would definitely recommend this book to both beginner and professional alike.

unrealistic and over the top
If you were the chef on a cruise ship, these techniques might be useful, but if you're setting out a buffet at home or as a caterer, you'd be insane to bother with this garish and elaborate nonsense. If you want people to actually eat your food, make it approachable; Nobody's going to go near it if they're afraid to ruin your work of "art".Even the photos on the cover of this book look overdone and artificial... not at all appetizing. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. Fruit carving    4. Garnishes (Cookery)    5. Methods - Garnishing    6. Vegetable carving    7. General cookery   

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. General    4. Specific Ingredients - Fruit    5. Vegetable Cookery    6. Cookery by ingredient    7. Cooking / General   

Subjects:  1. Cereals, Prepared    2. Cookery (Cereals)    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Courses & Dishes - General    6. Methods - General    7. Specific Ingredients - Rice & Grains    8. Food & drink / cookery: general interest    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Cooking   

Subjects:  1. Cassia (Spice)    2. Cinnamon    3. Food Science    4. Life Sciences - Biology - General    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments    8. Technology & Industrial Arts    9. Therapeutic use    10. Botany & plant sciences    11. Science / Botany   

Editorial Review

Making sausage at home is simple and pain free. Once you've learned the basics, experimentation and sausage innovation are bound to take over. Then before you know it, you will be making gourmet sausages that are better than anything you can buy in the market, and at half the cost! Charles Reavis's Read more

Reviews (7)

Underwhelming
While the book is informative and provides good instruction about some of the basics of sausage making, it is nonetheless lacking in many respects. First, most of the book's recipes that I've made come out under-salted and under-spiced. While this is something that you can test for and adjust during production, it would have been better for the authors to simply provide quantities that produced sufficiently seasoned sausages. In short, most of the sausages end up bland, tasting more like plain ground meat than sausage.
I agree: Good Coaching, weak sausage
Two days ago I made about 9 pounds of sausage using 3 different recipes in this book and 3 different meats.
Excellent book for hands on advice. Buy It.
`Home Sausage Making' by Susan Mahnke Peery and Charles G. Reavis is a great small book in its third edition since it was originally published in 1981 by the very small publishing house, Storey, which specializes in culinary titles. Reading this book shows up the dangers to a reviewer in reviewing the very first book one encounters on a specialized subject such as home sausage making. Just three days ago, I reviewed `Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book' by meat and sausage experts Aidells and Denis Kelly, published by cookbook behemoth, 10 Speed Press. Naturally, with Aidells' reputation and my liking the previous two books this pair have done, I gave the book a very complementary review.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery (Sausages)    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Reference    5. Sausages    6. Specific Ingredients - Meat    7. COOKING / Reference    8. Cookery by ingredient    9. Cooking / Meat   

Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Specific Ingredients - Dairy    5. BG-JUVENILE PROP - BG-JUVY ACTIVITY    6. Cooking / Dairy    7. Food & Drink / Cookery   

Reviews (2)

His expertise lends to a survey of the spices based on his world travels and in-depth knowledge of culinary history and lore
Tony Hill's Spice Lover's Guide To Herbs & Spices is an IACP Cookbook Award finalist and goes way beyond similar-named herb and spice guides. Tony Hill owns Seattle's World Merchants Spice, Herb & Teahouse: here his expertise lends to a survey of the spices based on his world travels and in-depth knowledge of culinary history and lore. Definitions of spice characteristics, color photos of spices and herbs, and recipes provide plenty of explanation on spice or herb characteristics and why they work in particular dishes. It's these extensive explanations which set Spice Lover's Guide To Herbs & Spices apart from all others.

a wealth of info!
As a chef I am always looking for info on the things we eat!I have been thrilled with all the facts, uses and descriptionspacked into this book.Well organized from A to Z, with a listing of herbs and spices you will recognize as well as things new and different even to a well "seasoned" chef.I love the fact that along with the name, alternate names, origin, part of the plant used, and uses, Tony Hill gives a little story for each item.Sometimes he tells you how he came to discover the spice or maybe a story about the first time he tasted it.Overall a great read packed with a lot of facts! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery (Herbs)    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Herbs    5. Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments    6. Cookery by ingredient    7. Cooking / Herbs, Spices, Condiments   

Reviews (1)

Interesting Variety of Sauces.........
............of which I have already enjoyed several! DH and I have had this cookbook for a couple of years now and have made many delicious sauces: Tomatoes and White Wine/ Eggs with Pecorino and Black Pepper/ Scallops and Tomatoes/ Clams with Garlic and Parsley/ Salami, Mozzarella and Tomatoes/ Tomatoes and Bacon/ Chicken with Eggplant and Button Mushrooms/ and Bacon and Provolone. There are sections in the beginning that show readers how to make fresh pasta and that review the basics of sauce-making. The photos in this book are also really lovely, and that alone will make you hungry.Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery (Pasta)    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Courses & Dishes - Sauces & Dressings    5. Sauces    6. Specific Ingredients - Pasta   

Editorial Review

Charlie Trotter's eponymous Chicago restaurant is one of America'sfinest. Awarded Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 1999, Trotterhas also published a number of cookbooks celebrating his unique cuisine.Read more

Reviews (6)

Amazing
If you live in Chicago and love to cook... this is an amazing book. A lot of the ingredients may seem hard to find but it seems that Treasure Island has all of the items..... Give this to your hunter
He/she won't be able to pull off the recipes by him/herself, but you can put them onto some small task .... say, making a plum sauce to dribble over the final product ... to keep them out of your hair while you do the heavy work. In fact, think of these recipes as team projects ... that's probably the only way to get everything to the table at serving temperatures. Your hunter will beam with pleasure. You will be a god/dess in his/her eyes.

Don't try this at home!
Have you ever traveled cross-country to Chicago just to dine at Charlie Trotter's? I have, and it was one of the best meals of my life. This book and the others in the series are great at giving you a feel of what the real thing is like. The pictures are outstanding and the combinations just wow you. But if you think for a moment that any cookbook would allow you to duplicate what Charlie does, you are mistaken. Some cookbooks are for those who want to follow a recipe and duplicate it. This is not one of those. This is for people who want to understand the Chef's unique cuisine and appreciate it for the art that it is. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery (Game)    2. Cookery (Meat)    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Specific Ingredients - Game    6. Specific Ingredients - Meat    7. Cookery by ingredient   

Reviews (6)

In reponse to the review...
I would like to respond to the person suggesting the key to success for these recipes is to substitute Splenda for Stevia.Hello??!!!The whole point of Stevia is that it is a natural sweetener, not a chemical who's long-term effects ARE untested and will likely end up the way of toxic aspartame.This review did not help me decide at all whether this book is worth purchasing.

So Disappointing
I was so excited to find this cookbook as I am trying to eliminate harmful chemicals from my diet.I tried more than half of these recipes, each of them a total disaster.I thought it was the quality of stevia, so I bought several different kinds.Still, each concoction had a san turn out.

Flavor Enhancer Bible
I keep this cookbook in the drawer next to the stove.It has been a god send.I love the last chapter on flavor enhancers.The Sweet and Spicy Texas Rub goes in all the grill meats, and the traditional barbecue sauce makes killer barbecue wings, I would put these in competition with any sugar loaded barbecue wings.My key secret is that I replace the stevia with splenda and follow the packet requirements in the recipes.The only recipe I didn't like was a recipe for Peanut Butter balls.No-Bake Cheesecake recipe I have memorized (not intentionally).I have several Lo-Carb cookbooks this is my favorite. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cookery (Natural foods)    2. Cookery (Stevia)    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Health & Healing - Diabetic & Sugar Free    6. Health & Healing - Weight Control    7. Low-carbohydrate diet    8. Recipes    9. Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments    10. Stevia rebaudiana   

Reviews (2)

aww pumpkin love
I love all fall fruits and vegetables, and I had to have this little book when I saw it.
Wunderbar! (a review in English)
Where I live, butternut squash will be coming into the produce section. I'm eagerly waiting for it. Why? So I can roast seeds and toss them in a brown paper bag with homemade curry powder for that fourth Thursday in November.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery (Pumpkin)    2. Cookery (Squash)    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Specific Ingredients - Fruit    6. Specific Ingredients - Vegetables   

Reviews (3)

Piquant Passion
Simply put this book is our house Bible.We're Anglos with a hunger for hot & spicy food.We have our local library to thank for showing us this tremendous guide.Originally borrowed, it soon became apparent that we must own the book to truly benefit from it.It's both a pleasure to read about the history and science behind these spicy foods and to learn how to prepare them.
My 'book of the month'.......period!
It might even be my book of the year. This is the book for spice lovers and 'chile-heads' who want a truly GLOBAL appreciation of their passion. The recipes I've tried are superb and easy to follow. More importantly, the anecdotes, sidebars, historical notes, and especially the internet listings are indispensible to fully appreciating the beauty of spiced cuisine. I never dreamed I would be making my own HARISA (it's fairly easy) and applying it to homemade Algerian dishes.
Great Read and Hot Recipes. Buy It!
`Some Like It Hot' by noted culinary writer, Clifford A. Wright is a real gem. I was surprised to find such a book written by Wright, who is one of the leading scholarly experts on food of the Mediterranean, and, as he so elegantly illustrates himself, the Mediterranean is hot a hotbed of spicy foods.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery (Spices)    2. Cookery, International    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. International And Ethnic Cookery    6. Methods - Hot & Spicy    7. Regional & Ethnic - International    8. Specific Ingredients - Herbs, Spices, Condiments    9. Spices   

Editorial Review

While many readers are familiar with John McPhee's masterful pieces on a large scale (the geological history of North America, or the nature of Alaska), McPhee is equally remarkable when he considers the seemingly inconsequential. Read more

Reviews (18)

Great writing is never outdated.
"Oranges" was the first of John McPhee's books I ever read. I found a copy at a thrift store about ten years ago, and was absolutely blown away by it. Since then, I've probably read it another six or eight times. There is so much fascinating information in it, covered in such a beautiful way, that I could probably read it once a month and still find it entertaining. I'm here to buy yet another copy, as I tend to loan out McPhee's books to my friends, whether they ask for them or not. Unlike other books I loan out, my friends eventually return the McPhees, if only in hopes that I'll loan them another one. I always do. Oranges has been away for about a year this time, and I'm feeling a powerful urge to read it again.
Orange you glad he started it all?
It's forty years now since this brilliant little mandarin of a book appeared. Early reviewers (and readers of McPhee in the New Yorker) were amused and even a bit ill-at-ease at the entertainment that the author squeezed from a subject as apparently banal as oranges.
Oranges
First published in the 1960s, Oranges by twice Pulitzer winning journalist, John McPhee got a limited lease of life back in 2000 when Penguin reissued it as a modern classic. And while it's an interesting little book covering pretty much everything to do with oranges, the reportage within doesn't so much as ground the book in its time than date it
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Subjects:  1. Essays    2. Nature    3. Nature/Ecology    4. Orange    5. Specific Ingredients - Fruit   

Reviews (1)

For Anyone That is Tired Of Eating Bland Meat....
This book has good recipes for the beginner and advanced cook alike. It has dishes as simple as: "Grilled Rib Steaks with Asparagus" to more advanced dishes such as: "Roast Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom-Madeira Stuffing". All of them are good and well explained.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery (Meat)    2. Cooking    3. Cooking / Wine    4. Specific Ingredients - Meat    5. Cooking / General   

Reviews (6)

A home cook's go-to book
Quite frankly, having no more than 30-45 min. after work to fix dinner for a family everyday, I will invariably go for the dish with the least amount of work.As such, roasting, quick sauteeing, grilling, etc. are what meats, poulty and seafood are subjected to nightly in my kitchen.
Highly RecommenedTime-Saver!
This gem threw itself at me in my local cooking store and I have been very happily "saucing!"Sure, there are many wonderful books on sauces already, some very sophisticated and some not.This book is a mix of both worlds.It is like someone has gone through all my cookbooks (and there are many...) and pulled out most of the sauces, from classic to fusion.It is well organized, directions are clear, ingredients are easily obtained (and if you are a card-carrying foodie like me, you already have almost ALL the ingredients already...) and it has a great pairing section for easy, no-brainer combinations of sauces for salads, pork, fish, beef, desserts, etc.This book helps spiff up whatever you are serving from salad to dessert.
very thorough collection, inviting and approachable
I've been a subscriber to Food and Wine magazine for years and have really come
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Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Courses & Dishes - Sauces & Dressings    3. Methods - Quick & Easy    4. Nonfiction    5. Sauces    6. Cooking / Courses & Dishes / Sauces & Dressings    7. Food & Drink / Cookery   

Editorial Review

Rebecca Wood grew up on a family farm near Ogden, Utah. As a college graduate in the '60s, she landed in San Francisco and studied cooking with macrobiotic masters Michio and Aveline Kushi. Read more

Reviews (6)

A kitchen library essential
Wood's book is a must have for any cook serious about understanding how to cook with whole grains.

These recipes are consistently excellent, and wholesome too.
I knew nothing about this book when I checked it out of the library, except that it had recipes for some of the more unusual grains.It is onlynow that I looked it up on Amazon that I discovered that it won the James Beard award.I am not the least bit surprised, however, because all the recipes I have tried have been consistently delicious, wholesome, and creative.You will find very few run-of-the-mill recipes in this cookbook.
A Healthy Little Gem
This book is layed out by grain, making it easy to navigate, and has a good range of recipe-types (main dishes, breads, desserts, breakfasts).The recipes are healthy in a very holistic and balanced way.
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Subjects:  1. Cereals    2. Cookery (Cereals)    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Methods - General    6. Specific Ingredients - Rice & Grains    7. Cookery by ingredient    8. Cooking / Culinary Arts & Techniques   

Subjects:  1. Cooking    2. Cooking / Wine    3. General    4. Specific Ingredients - Seafood    5. Cooking / Seafood