CIA Professional Chef 7th Ed..

[cakerookie]

Just got this not to long ago.What I was wondering was it a good book for acquiring the basics of a good culinary foundation or is there something that I should use hand in hand with this book.

[cape chef]

What do you mean?

[phatch]

It actually assumes you have some basic skills and background. It's not a rank beginners book.

More of an intermediate book and alone, it won't provide what it sounds like you're looking forl.

Phil

[cakerookie]

Yeah thats what I was assuming but I wanted a different take on it. Book is good but I do not care for some of the measurement terms like "splash" what in the heck is a splash?

[Suzanne]

A review that I wrote for another food discussion board

The quick precis is: it's a textbook for which an instructor should be around to answer questions, and not great as a DIY book.

[Mezzaluna]

Suzanne- are you a Jane Austen fan??

By the way, brilliant review. I have a 1996 edition of the book myself. I use it for explanations of methods and to understand what the heck my good friends mean when they say things like "brunoise".

[cakerookie]

Suzanne,excellent review of the book. But I myself do not have trouble understanding the book. Matter fact I love the book.But you are right its not mean't to be a stand alone and an instructor to go along with it would make it easier. But thus far I am doing fine with it. I go along the same lines as Mezzaluna when it come to the book.Though I have only made one recipe from it.

[Pete]

Great review Suzanne! Besides being a great review, it also speaks to a topic that drives me nuts. There are way too many people out there that think cooking, at a professional level, is easy. Just read a few books, practice a few recipes and, voilia, you're a chef! While cooking can be pretty easy (humankind has been doing for tens of thousands of years), cooking at a professional level is a whole other matter. It can't be achieved by just reading cookbooks. It takes disclipline, practice, and a guiding hand to teach you. No book can adequately describe the sound properly searing mushrooms make, it can't tell you exactly how a steak should feel for a certain doneness (sure there are guidelines, but they can't cover all steaks), nor can it tell the precise moment to pull your pan of caramel off of the heat before it goes from that perfect bittersweet caramel to burnt sugar.

[cakerookie]

Pete I agree 100%. I come from a long line of cooks especially on my fathers side.I have an uncle that owns and operates a restaurant that specializes in barbecue. My fathers side of the family has been making and grinding their own sausage for has long as I can remember. I have been a short order cook and do know that cooking is something that is practiced and not something that a person is born with an innate knowledge of doing.