- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (Oct 1 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316493716
- ISBN-13: 978-0316493710
- Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 2.9 x 26 cm
- Shipping Weight: 980 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #191,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
What Gideon is to the hotel room, Kimball will soon be to the kitchen: inspirational, informative and probably ubiquitous. In this compendium of facts and firm opinions, the founding editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine details the research that informs his positions on the best pots, thermometers and knives and the value of pasta machines, microwaves and ice-cream makers. This evaluative approach extends to the 400 intensively tested recipes that advocate preferred methods for cooking rice, grains, fish, meat, poultry, sweets and more. Kimball dispels many widely held misconceptions as he asserts that an overnight soaking of dried beans is "vastly preferable" to a quick-soak and that a tightly trussed bird will roast unevenly. It took 33 tries in Kimball's count before he achieved the perfect pie crust; following his progress is like solving a delicious mystery. Some bread bakers may question the author's praise for rapid-rise yeast and his declaration that saltless bread is "inedible" (thereby dismissing a tradition of Tuscan bread-making), but these are quibbles about a highly personal book that tells not only how to prepare specific foods but why. For many, Kimball, who comes across as a purist's Martha Stewart, will be the ultimate source for such kitchen basics as the best method for roasting beef (a speedy 400 degrees for tenderloin; a more leisurely bout at 250 for tough bottom round). Kimball's experiments demonstrate that even experienced cooks don't know all the answers, although everyone will know more after reading this impressive compilation. 200 halftone illustrations not seen by PW. 40,000 first printing; BOMC/Good Cook selection; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Kimball was the founding editor of the original, much-loved Cook's magazine, which he revived several years ago as Cook's Illustrated. Here he offers his culinary knowledge in 50 chapters, from What To Buy for the Kitchen to Baked Fruit Desserts, with dozens of photographs and step-by-step line drawings. The approach follows that of the magazine, where, for example, chicken may be roasted 15 different ways to determine "the best" way to cook it, or 40 batches of chocolate chip cookies are baked to find "the best" recipe. Some readers will find the detailed accounts of all the retesting and experimenting fascinating, while others will probably prefer just the recipes that resulted and less of the background. Sometimes the emphasis seems a bit odd?for example, there's a chapter on pasta sauces and another on how to make ravioli, but none on making basic pasta dough and using it for different shapes. Kimball is a man of strong opinions ("very few home cooks have a salt box, but everyone needs one"), and his very personal book will not be for everyone. Recommended for larger collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointing,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Cook's Bible: The Best of American Home Cooking (Hardcover)
This is a book that just doesn't deliver. It reads well and gives the impression that everything will work - well everything doesn't. Things that do work are mediocre and things that don't work, really don't work, just try the pie crust and you'll see what I mean. A good concept, interesting to read, just don't cook from it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good...,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Cook's Bible: The Best of American Home Cooking (Hardcover)
I have the version of "The Cook's Bible" that came as one book together with "The Dessert Bible." If you are at all familiar with Cook's Illustrated Magazine, the format and style will be familiar to you. As for recipes, you will find it all in here -- product tests, exhaustively researched recipes for the food your mom and grandma used to make, etc. Some of the product testing is a little dated, but frankly, I don't base my purchases on Christopher Kimball's opinions anyway. I rely on an amalgam of information from many different sources to determine the best kitchen equipment, ingredients etc. It's a great kitchen resource, but be warned -- if you own this, there's no need for you to buy "The Best Recipe," "The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook," or basically anything else Cook's Illustrated puts out, because the recipes are the same. This book is basically an expanded version of the non-dessert recipes in "The Best Recipe," which I also own. Cook's Illustrated is famous for recycling their recipes over and over and just putting new titles and covers on the cookbooks. If you buy this, don't buy another CI book until you're absolutely positive (through side-by-side comparison) that you need both. The only other criticism I have of this book -- and all the Cook's Illustrated books, really -- is there's not a lot of diversity of cuisines involved. The magazine and cookbooks stick to tried-and-true staples of American (actually Northeastern American) food, and occasionally step a just a little over into ethnic cuisine. But if you're looking for explosive new tastes, interesting fusions of different cuisines, daring flavor combinations, new twists on old standards etc., these are not the cookbooks you're looking for. This would be a great gift for nervous new cook who's interested in learning the fundamentals and needs the reassurance of extensively tested recipes, but there's not a lot of excitement or intrigue here for a cook who's more or less mastered the basics of American cuisine and is now branching out into cooking the food of other parts of the world. A very nice basic "resource" cookbook to have, but definitely not the be-all end-all "bible" of cooking Kimball purports it to be.
3.0 out of 5 stars
If You Suscribe to Cooks's, You May Want to Reconsider,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Cook's Bible: The Best of American Home Cooking (Hardcover)
... If you suscribe to either Cook's Illustrated magazine or receive the hardbound annual editions, you may want to think twice about buying this book. I couldn't pass up the combined Cook's Bible and Dessert Bible at Sam's Club today (which, I might add, doesn't accept book returns). When I arrived home and began to peruse my purchase I realized that I had many similar articles in hardbound Cook's annuals, sitting on my kitchen bookshelf. Fortunately, I only spent [money] for the three inch thick, hardback tome (Sam's Club Members, alert!). It may sit under a bed until next Christmas and transform itself into the perfect gift for a culinarily-challenged family member. I must also concur with Norman OK's assesment of dated comments and advice. Frankly, I've never found Christopher Kimball dull. With so much haphazard cookbook writing and editing out there, I appreciate his painstaking prose. No, he's not Jamie Oliver, but not all of us like the off-the-cuff approach. If one is looking for a good culinary textbook, instead of a recipe book, this is certainly a strong contender.
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