The Professional Chef by The Culinary Institute of America Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Professional Chef
Book Review: It was a gift recommended by a graduate of the C.I.A.
Summary: 5 Stars
Our son has a passion for cooking, he's rather proficient at it but most all of his knowledge is homegrown by assisting me (his father) who in turn had come under the tutorship of my father who was a renowned pastry chef and all around great cook.
In WWII he was the private chef for Gen. Omar Bradley stateside with the rank of T5. Upon hearing of a new unit comprised of elite Canadian and U.S. troops which was being developed to blanket Norway to disassemble the infrastructure of the country in order to cripple the Nazi mobility and communications post invasion. Much to the dismay of Gen. Bradley, (my father being a first generation Franco-American) volunteered to this Special Forces Unit which trained in every aspect of invasion from cold weather skiing to para-trooping behind enemy lines and the disciplined art of hand to hand combat. This unit was to be known by the Germans as the "Black Devils" or as it was knows in the States and Canada; the "First Special Service Forces" (FSSF).
To discourage him from transferring out, the General indicated to him that he would have to relinquish his stripes an return to being a buck private if he were to leave and join the FSSF. Without hesitation, my father agreed and went on to be not only the field mess Sergeant but also instrumental in due to his fluency of French and Italian which had him being the default interpreter for Colonel Fredericks who would later attain the rank of General. He performed both of these duties for the unit where he kept the troops well fed in some of the most battled locations such as the Aleutian Islands, Anzio Beachhead, Monte La Defensa, Monte Casino, Rome, Paris, Monte Carlo and eventually to Norway where he and his comrades in arms received each a personal commendation from the King of Norway for liberating the country of the German war machine. This elite unit would go on to suffer casualties of better than 80% of the troops assigned to it and birthed the programs we know today as the "Rangers", "Green Berets", "Navy Seals" and so forth, all special forces in the US Military were conceived and patented after this bunch of elite ragtags with one vision in mind and that was to succeed in every mission assigned to them without regard for their personal well being and in which they were 100% successful in accomplishing.
Okay, yes, I digress to a subject which you may conceive as not fully pertinent to the subject of the book, but it's not only my pride which percolates whenever I think of cooking and my father, you see, it goes much deeper than simply cooking. The preface of this review not only deals with cooking but with the character of an individual of which his grandson, my son; the recipient of this book, follows in his footsteps in giving of himself and his time by volunteering every week at a homeless shelter where he prepares fantastic dishes from some of the most menial ingredients afforded him, Spam may be King in Hawaii, but it has been reborn into a New England delicacy by careful preparation under some of the master chefs who authored this book.
In order to be able to prepare fine cuisine for people who otherwise would never have the opportunity to partake in some of these dishes, he requested this book from us for Christmas in order to enrich his God given talent in the better art of food preparation and presentation. Along with gift certificates he received from us, friends and other family members, he was able to procure the 'Pro-Model' Kitchen-Aid stand mixer and has been quite successful in wowing his 'client base' with dishes which are now being passed on to some of the other shelters where he has shared his recipes and preparation techniques.
A friend and long acquaintance of our son, D.D. a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America recommended this book as: "if you were to get one and only one book on food preparation, it has to be "The Professional Chef", the ultimate text book for the CIA. With my son being a successful person in his own right, it is always quite tough to give him a gift which he would really want, need and use, and thanks to Amazon's next day shipping, and discounted prices, we were able to get this book for him on 12/23 and subsequently have it in our home the next day at a price point which was still less than regular retail at two large brick & mortar large book stores in our area which did not have this book in stock.
Book Review: It's All in there
Summary: 4 Stars
Everything you need is in this book, very easy to follow and food comes out perfectly.Book Review: Lack of Video and Recipes from the description, great Picture and instructions
Summary: 3 Stars
This book cover from the very basic of cooking which is the ingredients, utensils and herbs. Although they presented vividly, their organization of the ingredients is pretty messy especially in vegetables and meat part (unless for someone who knows ingredients and looks for something new). The recipes was good but lack the essential recipes from the descriptions. For instance, the beef brisket/flank steak can be cook for London broil, but they did not tell anything about it which for me is very annoying. Although it contains a lot of recipes, this book lacks some of the traditional cooking like aglio e olio (although it seems easy, not many people can extract all the garlic flavor and fused it with olive oil), or opera cake which not many people know, but a classic french desserts. It also forgot to cover on how to clean fish properly (like an Asian style); they just presented by cutting the entire head and fillet it.
I give only 3 because 1 star for video - it is better to use video to explain on how to clean like fish/meat/etc, and 1 more star for basic information - as this book becomes a reference to any chef, it would be best to have all the basic nail down so that they can invent other variation recipes from the basics.
Advantage of this book: cover pretty a lot, but not complete basic skills and recipes. many pictures
disadvantage: Too many open space it will not be useful for comments or ideas; it is better for the recipes to be reorganize so that can put more basic recipes with quick instructions like "The best recipes" collection
Book Review: Love this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
LOVE THIS BOOK! My favorite Chef had Ed 7 (from training at the CIA), wanted to suprise him so I got Ed 8 and so far, he hasn't had much time to look at it since I am always using it! I have no "training" (I am a geophysicist) but I have found all of the information on techniques helpful and have been able to pull off a few things that impressed Chef to the point he ate the entire recipe. I guess I will have to get him a new one to replace the one I can't seem to let go of!Book Review: Maybe not for experienced cooks
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a reasonably good "amateur gourmet" and, based on the reviews, ordered this book with a hope of expanding my knowledge. Frankly, if I'd had a chance to see it in a book store, I would have passed it up - at least at full price. Might have bought it at a deep discount, but probably not.
Why? It is probably an okay book for a young student with little "world experience" and not a lot of cooking background but for anyone who has been seriously active in the kitchen for a while it contains a lot of material that I felt was not all that useful. For example:
There is a lengthy section on the cuisines of the world: characteristics, how they developed, primary ingredients, etc. I felt that the descriptions were too brief to be really useful but took up an awfully lot of pages. For anyone who has been reading "Gourmet" or other such magazines for a while, we've seen better writing in more depth with associate recipies we could try.
There was also an illustration section showing great photos of ingredients and describing their use. I guess I really wasn't looking for a page of apple photos, or onion photos, or rice photos, etc. etc.
This seems to be aimed as a text for professional chefs. That part is okay and it does do a good job of explaining techniques in detail and with good illustrations. However, most of the recipies are for 10 servings and the basic stocks, sauces, etc. all make a gallon.
I have a huge Sub-Zero freezer and I have five adult "children" still at home wolfing down meals. Even under my circumstances, this would be a bit much.
Frankly, I get more from my "Cook's Illustrated" magazine plus their on-line resources. Same depth, good explainations about how things work, reasonable portions, and associated recipies that I can actually use.