The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Become a Great Cook Author: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen | Language: English | ISBN:
B00FEIQ93K | Format: EPUB
The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Become a Great Cook Description
At America’s Test Kitchen, our kitchen experts are not just test cooks, editors, and writers—we are first and foremost educators. Behind every “best” version of a recipe that our team has developed over the past 20 years is a simple fact: Good cooking is based on a foundation of objective techniques. There is a best way to beat egg whites or pan-sear a steak, and your cooking will be more successful—and more enjoyable—if you understand these fundamental principles.
Our magazines, books, television shows, and websites have been effective tools for teaching millions of home cooks. Two years ago, we launched an interactive video-based online cooking school that brings all our best practices into one place and gives students direct access to experts in our test kitchen. The America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook shares the same goal as our online school—to teach you the essential skills that will make you a better, more confident cook.
So how do we do this? There’s no better way to learn than seeing an expert in action, and across the 18 chapters in this book you’ll find thousands of photographs that demonstrate exactly what you need to do. You’ll walk through more than 100 fundamental Core Techniques that every cook should know, such as making an omelet, frosting a cake, and carving a chicken. The detailed photo captions explain each step so you can really understand—and master—these core techniques.
In many cases, you will learn revolutionary techniques—ones you won’t find anywhere else—that make recipes simpler and better. Want to make the perfect vinaigrette that won’t separate into oily and vinegary droplets? Add a dab of mayonnaise. How about a pie dough that anyone can roll out? Replace some of the ice water with chilled vodka. Tired of brown rice that cooks up sticky or, worse, scorched? We’ll walk you through our recipe that moves the cooking from the stovetop to the oven, guaranteeing fluffy, flawless results. We also show you the essentials like how to crack eggs (on the counter, not the edge of a bowl).
With our step-by-step Recipe Tutorials as your guide, you will gain the confidence to tackle more complicated recipes. Photographed from start to finish, dishes like Eggs Benedict, Memphis-Style Barbecued Ribs, and Classic Fresh Fruit Tart become approachable and doable. Not sure exactly how to flip the delicate fillets over for Fish Meunière? We’ll show you how we do it (two spatulas is key). And because we know from experience there’s nothing worse than diving into a recipe only to be caught off guard that you are missing an ingredient or an essential piece of equipment, we provide tools and ingredient lists plus stats summing up how long a recipe will take.
From years of answering readers’ questions and working with our online students, we know where home cooks are likely to get tripped up. Throughout this book we share these insights, and we tell you—and show you—how to avoid making mistakes in the first place.
Rounding out this indispensable cookbook is an exhaustive Cooking Basics chapter, which explains how to stock your kitchen with the right equipment and the best ingredients. You’ll learn a wide variety of knife skills, plus basic food safety, and our best tricks for repairing what might seem like a failed dish.
Reading The America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook is like having an expert by your side as you cook, giving you pointers that will make a lasting impression. It’s time to cook with confidence.
- File Size: 212515 KB
- Print Length: 822 pages
- Publisher: America's Test Kitchen (October 15, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00FEIQ93K
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,555 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #19
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Meals
- #19
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Meals
The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook is my favorite cookbook of the fall so far. It is chock full of culinary know how and is an absolute pleasure to leaf through on these autumn evenings. It has something to offer everyone whether they are a beginning cook or an advanced cook.
This is one heavy, well-made book. They didn't skimp on binding it either. This 822 page beauty should stand up to years of heavy use in the kitchen. Toss it on the counter and use it as a reference as you cook--it will stay open on its own.
The chapters are as follows: cooking basics; how to cook: eggs; vegetables; pasta; rice, grains, and beans; meat; poultry; seafood; grill; stocks and soups; salads; quick breads; yeast breads and pizza; cookies; cakes; fruit desserts; pies and tarts; custards, puddings, and frozen desserts; appendix; and index.
I'm going to answer a question that many of you have. Those of you familiar with America's Test Kitchen are wondering about the recycling of recipes from book to book. The answer is yes, they did recycle recipes. I own the America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2010 as well as ATK Family Cookbook. The first item I compared in the index is "eggs". I came up with repetitions from one book or the other for eggs benedict, some deviled egg recipes, several frittata recipes, huevos rancheros, omelets, quiches, a salad, and scrambled. Next I cross referenced "sauces" between the three books as came up with as generous an amount of overlap and then got modest overlap once more when I searched "potatoes, mashed" in the index. So why am I giving this book 5 stars?
I'm giving this book 5 stars because I feel that it offers something not many other books do.
Wow, do I wish I had this in college when I was trying to teach myself to cook - I could have saved myself literally years of frustration and trial and error. This is technically a cookbook, but honestly it's a reference manual and a textbook for the home cook who wants to get serious about doing the best job they can. The recipes seem like they are there to demonstrate techniques or set a standard.
The arrangement of the book is unusual for a cookbook, too. It starts with a whole chapter of just egg techniques. That's an odd place for a regular general-interest cookbook to start, they tend to start with appetizers, salads, or soups. But it makes sense for a manual, because egg cookery has long been a starting point for professional cooks, and that gives the reader a good sense of what this book is and where it is going.
I won't say this book is perfect. My 13-year old daughter, who has been working her way through Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything: the Basics for the last several months, was at first interested, but quickly got overwhelmed. I don't know that I'd want to give this to an absolute beginner, there is SOOOO much here that it could be intimidating. And it does seem a little heavy on the 'buy buy buy' - for instance, it lists a stainless steel kitchen ruler as a 'must-have'. I've been home cooking for 3 decades now, and I don't think I've ever run into a situation where I thought, gee, I really need a ruler. Even for pie crusts or cinnamon rolls, it's really not that hard to fit things to the pan and adjust. And if you really needed a ruler, I'm not sure why I need a dedicated $7 ruler when I could borrow a plastic one from my kids & just wash it before and after use.
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