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Book ReviewsLe Cordon Bleu at Home |
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Book: Le Cordon Bleu at Home
Written by: Le Cordon Bleu |
Publisher: Morrow Cookbooks
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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A grea introduction to French cooking
Rating:
5 / 5
I would echo another reviewer who suggested that Julia Child's "The Way To Cook" is the ultimat learn-to-cook book, but this is an excellent way to learn French cooking. I've been using this cookbook for about 10 years. I'd also recommend getting the Cordon Bleu Practicial Techniques Book, which is excellent and has step-by-step photos of a lot of the techniques talked about in this book. I've made about half of the recipes; if you follow the directions carefully, they always turn out and usually, you learn somthing new.
Technique Technique Technique
Rating:
5 / 5
Many think of cuisine as a creative art.
They see their favorite chefs tossing in a bit of this, a bit of that, and voila! A magnificent masterpiece!
Anyone who has put in the hours to learn an art of any kind, be it playing the piano, painting, or yes, cooking, knows: technique comes first.
What is technique? It is the efficient coordination of movements/actions, applied in a consistent way, to produce a desired effect. In cooking, it is trussing a chicken, chopping in various ways, creating a stock, simmering a sauce. It is creating your mise en place, understanding how long each step of a recipe takes.
As an avid home cook (a pure amateur), I heartily recommend this title from The Cordon Bleu. Using a progressive program of instruction, based on their own diploma program, it incorporates technique into a set of classic recipes. Techniques are developed and elaborated where necessary, and in graded steps. For example, a basic white (Bechamel) sauce can be embellished with cheese (Mornay).
The Cordon Bleu is known as a conservative bastion in the world of cooking. As such, I felt that some of the recipes are for dishes better placed in a museum than served at home, much less a restaurant. (A summer salad made with tomatoes, boiled carrots and cauliflower. Not my choice to serve at a dinner party. But the accompanying fresh mayonnaise recipe is fantastic!) And yet, even these add to the charm of the collection as a whole.
Le Cordon Bleu at Home is a one stop volume for classic French cooking, and is a great stepping stone for more advanced cookbooks, many of which assume a thorough knowledge of French techniques (e.g. the Charlie Trotter series).
fab fab fab
Rating:
5 / 5
The recipes in this book are amazing. I've been going thru each recipe one by one. Even the recipes that I thought I wouldn't like turned out to be a fab surprise. I've learnt so much abt cooking since I started the lessons. The book goes from easy to difficult recipes. This is definitely a good buy.
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