Cooking by James Peterson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Cooking
Book Review: Just the facts, man
Summary: 5 Stars
A perfect tool for mastering the essentials of home gourmet cooking. Not for the meatloaf maker, but if you want the perfect homemade eggs benedict--this is your book.Book Review: Just what the Chef ordered!
Summary: 5 Stars
James Peterson is a master chef and in his book gives the foodie the chance to learn from his experiences and gain some of his wisdom and insights in the kitchen. I am a cooking school grad (and former pastry chef) and as a "pro" in the field I found his explanations to be clear and concise. The book could be read by someone new to cooking and someone experienced and EACH would take away something of value! I recommend this to any foodie who LOVES to cook and wants to learn how to do it right!Book Review: Not for everyday use
Summary: 2 Stars
The biggest failure of this book is that the recipes do not cover many common practices, and require too much time and kitchen equipment.
For example, in the pork section, one of the most common meats to buy in a store is pork loin chops. This is commonly put in the oven to be cooked in bulk, and there are very many great recipes for this method of cooking. However, Peterson only recommends sauteeing loin chops and tenderloin chops/noisettes. Cooking loin chops for a large crowd by sauteeing can be very cumbersome and impractical...The only pork product he puts in an oven is a giant fresh/cured ham, a giant loin, or a giant whole shoulder. No where in the book does he at least tell you how long to cook loin chops in an oven to get that perfect tenderness...
Not only does he skip these fundamentals, but all of his recipes insist that you cook things from scratch. Making things from scratch is important, but he should at least mention that there are 'already-prepared'' products to save some time and get to the 'heart' of his recipes. For example in his 'thai green curry chicken', his recipe asks you to toast coriander seeds, cumin, etc. slice poblano/serrano peppers and cilantro and blend them all together (this takes about 1 hr). You do all this and realize that you have prepared a curry paste that could have been spooned in from a jar. As a matter of fact, if you go to the store and get the 'thai' brand green curry paste, this lasts you several dishes and actually tastes better than his recipe. All you needed to do after that was add chicken fish sauce coconut milk and simmer it for a little bit. The latter is the true heart of the chicken curry recipe... not the paste. If someone really wanted to make the paste from scratch he does provide it in the 'sauces' section, but he failed to link these two recipes together.
His lack of linking his sauces to certain meats and recipes also inhibits you from being creative. Instead, it just encourages you to buy fresh, expensive ingredients you never buy and equipment you might only use once to do his specific recipe that isn't always the best option. This sucks, because chances are, your kitchen does NOT have an ingredient he calls for, even though that ingredient could be substituted by something in your kitchen.
I agree with the post that this is only for people that spend some SERIOUS time cooking. i.e. its like a mediocre chef's cookbook with no 'average joe' applicability.
Book Review: On second thought
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm actually very glad I did not review this one right away, as it took a second chance for me to appreciate it. I'd initially purchased it at the behest of a friend, whom I'd directed to Peterson's Sauces (which was and still is my favorite cooking reference); on first reading I was simply not impressed.
However, on going back recently, I have realized that I definitely missed something the first time around. Sauces is a truly remarkable reference; this is far less grand in scale, but considering the ubiquity of diagrams and illustrative photos, it is immensely more reader-friendly -- which would be absolutely invaluable to someone new to the culinary arts. Combined with Peterson's depth of knowledge and powers of expression, this book should be the first or second stop for aspiring home cooks.
Many common processes are mapped out photographically, from trimming various cuts of meat to preparing many sauces and the various ways to cut vegetables. The book presents many great recipes, but its true strength -- as it seems to be with all of this author's work -- lies in the clear and consistent description of what exactly you're doing, why it needs to be done and how else you might do it if you were so inclined.
I am not new to the kitchen, and I still get excited to try new things (or revisit old ones) based on this book; a very advanced student of cooking would not get much utility out of it, but I am confident that the vast majority of casual cooks will find many hours of giddiness in these pages.
Book Review: One of a distinguised few comprehensive kitchen guides
Summary: 5 Stars
This was our Kitchen Basics text at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and after spending some time with a our chef-instructor and the author, it was easy to see why. Peterson spends just enough time on each subject to give the interested, studious reader real insight as to not only how, but *why* we do the things we do in the kitchen. His instructional photos, side-by-side with the techniques he describes, gave us an excellent reference tool for the various processes we learned, and even when I would read ahead, and try some of the things we'd not yet covered, I found Peterson to be an excellent teacher in his own right.
His insight and knowledge are on par with the best, and I highly recommend his book for anyone who wants to move above the level of "accomplished kitchen amateur" and start moving into the realm of "serious culinary artist".