William Morrow Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques: The Indispensable Reference Demonstrates Over 700 Illustrated Techniques with 2,000 Photos and 200 Recipes

Oh my gosh. i bought a used one. It came crystally new with a very affordable price of $30 for a great book. Love it.

I've been cooking for a long time--it's my hobby and how I unwind. It's also the reason I need to diet constantly. That said, I thought my technique, spicing, presentation and meal combinations were mostly really good. A lot of them are, however, there have always been things I've seen in high-end cooking magazines or been served in restaurants and I have to ask myself, "How the heck did they do that?" Then there's the whole issue of stocks, meat, fish, shellfish and vegetable selections, as well as exotic fruits and how to prepare them that you find piecemeal in lots of books and when you need that information you have to see if you can remember which book it's in. Well, Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques solves all that. In one thoughtfully arranged book, loaded with color photos and descriptions of how to do all the essential techniques and create interesting, appealing meals. In the three weeks I've had it, I've learned more than in months and years of slogging around to figure it out on my own. I've been in my kitchen more than anywhere else since it arrived and just love working with it. The most difficult thing about the book is not selecting too many recipes at once and overloading yourself, the refrigerator, and storage space in your kitchen. In fairness, I've got to say I've had some surprisingly successful results and I've also got to admit some dramatic, not-so-tasty outcomes as well. When I look back on the latter outcomes I go back to the book and sure enough can figure out what I missed, did wrong, out of sequence and so on. If you're a serious cook you know that cooking can be a humbling experience at times. This book will certainly lessen the frequency of those experiences. Every essential technique is here as are tons of sidebar tips you'd never think of. Really, it's wonderful. Yes, it's a large book, yes it's a bit pricey and it's really fair to say the value is packed from cover to cover. If you're a new cook, this is a wonderful book to start and stay with. You won't really need another book for a long time. If you master or simply become decent at what's presented here you'll quickly outperform your friends in the kitchen. If you've been cooking a long time this book will for sure have things you didn't know or could have done differently in a shorter amount of time. And for the long time cook, it won't be long before you start to integrate multiple techniques and ideas from all over the book into some amazing dishes. I cannot say enough about this book, so I'll just say if you don't have a copy it's like driving a car with two flat tires.

英語読めないんですが、 この本は絵が多くてそれだけでも大方内容がわかる。しかも裁き方から作りかたまで丁寧に書いてる。若干あちらの表現に?なところはあるが、それでも十分すぎるレシピ半分基礎だらけと言う感もするが、バスタから全て仕込むというのは凄い!

Excellent book - I'm an experienced cook yet use this book frequently as a reference.

This book is like a textbook for all the cooking techniques, complete with photos and suggestions for improving the presentation. I highly recommend it