Customer Reviews

New Making Of A Cook

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ms Kamman's book is an exhaustive tome to be sure. She covers nearly every aspect of European cooking and a few forays into other cuisines as well. You also have to appreciate the way her personality comes through. It's not hard to hear her voice guiding you in the kitchen.

The recipes are generally clear and the ones I've tested work well.

So why only 4 stars? Mainly it is the indexing. It is sometimes hard to navigate the book to find what you want. Unlike the Joy of Cooking which seems designed to be an immediate reference work, Making of a Cook takes more work to find what you're looking for.

Also, there are some surprising ommissions for a book intended primarily for an American readership. There's virtually nothing on roasting a turkey other than one somewhat odd recipe, and some commentary following the discussion of roasting a chicken. There's considerable difference between roasting a 4 lb. bird and a 14 lb. one.

But, the good stuff is definitely worth the investment of time. The explanations of why certain techniques matter and the recipes themselves make this a must have.

Better then nearly most of the classes I have taken.

This is the best cooking resource I have used in the 25 years I have been cooking. For New Years I made Chateaubriand for six for the first time ever, and it was perfect. This book does not just give you recipes, but also gives you step by step instructions on preparation.

Very imposing treatise on life! Everything and more that I hoped to ever learn. I just wish I had ten days to read the whole thing. No matter how I tried, I could not find the appeal of the book. It is a classic, but don't be surprised if it disappoints you. If so, pass it along to someone else. Invaluable but dry.

Your spouse is gone for the weekend with your children. How do you spend your time? If it is drinking a little too much wine and looking through cookbooks, this is the book for you. Kamman is a little self important, but she really loves to cook. Her love of food is infectuous and inspiring. I was bored with following cookbooks that telll you how to do things (any idiot can follow instructions). Kamman tells you WHY you need do things. I was looking for a book that would take me to the "next step" of cooking, and this is it. This book goes into a little too much detail, even for me. But I love it. I would rather have the information and not need it, than need the information and not have it. Please take notice that I am a little weird.

Perhaps the best cooking guide I have read! The wealth of information on technique and cooking science is presented in such a manner that the book is easily readable cover-to-cover. Madeleine Kamman certainly has given as much importance to writing this volume as she gives to her cooking and in doing so, has produced an extraordinary teaching source. She introduces concepts of sauces by presenting a very insightful history of saucemaking citing such masters as Escoffier and Careme. The bibliography itself is worth a great deal as it presents numerous sources which can be used for further study. This is definitely a required book for anyone who is serious about cooking!

If you only want to buy one cookbook, you must buy this one. It's got absolutely everything you could ever want to know about cooking. The really great thing is that it goes from very simple to amazingly complex, so you don't necessarily have to jump straight into making a veloute sauce from scratch right away. You can sort of adjust for complexity. Also, I really like the wine recommendations that come alongside most of the recipes. They're dead on.
It's a great book for the money. Just try comparing it to any of the other really exhaustive cookbooks out there.

This is an essential book if you are a well-disciplined cook who loves to read, and to understand the hows & whys of cooking. It's a hefty book to say the least. People who absorbed and enjoyed Julia Child will probably find this book as beneficial, and somewhat more up to date. Not for casual cooks, but for those "with attitude", not to mention a cooking passion, it's a tremendous value.

This invaluable reference spends most of it's time on the end table beside my recliner so I can read a page or two between commercials! My wife says if I say to her, "Honey, listen to this..." one more time, she's going to hide the book!! If you don't own it, buy it now!

This is simply the perfect book for any serious amateur or starting professional chef. This hefty volume may look imposing at first, but I promise you that it's well worth every second you spend reading it. The reader is taught classic French techniques, as well as how to adapt them to a myriad of other cooking styles. As instructional books go, you will be hard pressed to find a better one.