On Cooking: A Textbook Of Culinary Fundamentals

I love this book. I couldn't afford culinary school but friends of mine told me this was the textbook they learned with. I feel like I learned A LOT and there are tons of recipes. There are special symbols that designate recipes healthy and vegetarian which help. I ordered this textbook and The Professional Chef by the C.I.A and found this one much more accessible. This is a textbook so it's really meant for people who want comprehensive knowledge of cooking. It's too dense for people who just want a few home cooking tips.It also came with a practice CD ROM so you can practice your skills! I was pleasantly surprised by the CD when I got it. It also has videos of the skills being performed.

I have been wanting the full edition of this book for several years, but couldn't justify the price. I was delighted to find this abbreviated paperback version at a very reasonable price. The end-of-chapter recipes have been omitted, but are available on-line. And who needs another recipe cook book anyway? I wanted the book for the technical information and instruction--like WHY the oven should be preheated (I'll never cheat again), how to make Ricotta cheese (So easy, all my lasagnas will have home made ricotta from now on), how to caramelize, what to do with moldy cheese, and did you know that cooking a starch before adding liquid prevents gelatinization, and therefore more brown roux (than white roux) is required to thicken a given amount of liquid. I just cook for two people and an occasional party, but this is a valuable, fascinating reference volume. I LOVE THIS BOOK!

Unfortunately my copy was mostly filled with writing, scribbles, and highlighter which is pretty annoying. I knew it wouldn't be new but I hoped it would at least be in readable condition. There were a good amount of conversions, numbers, and entire lines struck through and there were several conversion and data pages missing from my copy. Disappointing quality control.

The recipes are awesome inside that will not only produce fantastic meals, but you can take the recipe apart and use it in many ways. Truly you will learn to be a great chef.

Great book for anyone!! My son used it in his Culinary Arts class many years ago and we've always wanted a copy of it. Good for beginner or sous chef!! Highly recommended!

Having no background and just wanting to learn from scratch, this book provides a lot of great detail on techniques, types of food and applications.I have a greater understanding now which will help me as long as the very specific detailed instructions they provide for the techniques.

Bought this as a textbook for my son's culinary classes and it is wonderful. I've actually read through parts of it and found some wonderful information that I've used. It's a great fundamental book, with a wealth of information, pictures and explanations. He will be using it throughout his year-long culinary certificate program but I know I will be "borrowing" from it as well.

My friends have this cookbook and after I saw it I trotted right home to order from Amazon. It is a tome - with oodles of great information.Delivery was quick and the book was in great shape.

Gave the book for a gift.