The New Professional Chef (TM) this question feed

asked by porsche on November 16, 2006 10:06 PM
Produced by the Culinary Institute of America as a textbook for chefs-to-be, The New Professional Chef, Sixth Edition, is a book for all who love to cook, as well as students of the craft. It's a cooking school between covers, a teaching and reference work of extraordinary breadth.

In the first two of four parts, arranged in a progressive, logical sequence, the book provides a brief historical overview of the chef's role and discusses matters of interest to all cooks: the identification and purchasing of ingredients, nutrition, food safety, and sanitation, among other matters. The third part explores the techniques that underlie all cooking, from mise en place (readying ingredients), through sauces and soups and the dry- and moist-heat cooking methods, to charcuterie, baking, and pastry. This section, illustrated as elsewhere in the book by step-by-step color photos, line drawings, tables, and charts, is an unendingly informative book in itself. The book concludes with the recipes, arranged as a professional would want them, in chapters devoted to food categories such as sauces and entrees; breakfast and pasta dishes; and breads, cakes and pastries, among others. The hundreds of recipes (500 new to this edition) are designed for 10 or more servings; though reducible, their outstanding usefulness lies in revealing dish anatomy--the way recipes work. Updated with a 50-page chapter on international fare, and containing cooking trucs throughout, material on dietary substitutions, historical and anecdotal information, and serving suggestions, The New Professional Chef is an A to Z resource no culinary library should lack. --Arthur Boehm


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Great book that I used in culinary school. It is easy to follow and found it quite helpful with many of my culinary classes. If you want a great study guide for nutrition class, I recommend:
Nutritional Study Guide for Food Service and Culinary Professionals: Key Review Questions and Answers, isbn is 1933023058. This study guide has similar kind of questions that I experienced on my nutrition exams in culinary school. The New Professional Chef will be also a great reference for years to come.
reviewed by anexpert on November 21, 2006 5:35 AM

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As a professional chef myself and a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, I keep 2 copies of this incredibly wonderful cookbook.
It is an absolute necessity in anybodies kitchen from the novice to the Professional.
After spending 2 years at chefs school in the early 70's and opening a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, I got into a rut and lost not only my imagination but also forgot from lack of use many of my culinary skills.
This book is more than just a cookbook, it is an encyclopedia of knowledge. While most of the recipes are scaled for large quantities, they are easy to scale down due to the use of weight as a measure rather than volume.
If you were to buy only one cookbook to last a lifetime this would be the one. While it is pricey, you must realize the amount of time that has gone into the preparation of such a tome.
I highly recommend this book for you. If you are intersted in the buffet table the book called the garde manger, also a CIA book, is an excellent training manual.
reviewed by lauren on November 23, 2006 9:06 PM

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Not being a professional chef, this book was quite intimidating. The info regarding ingredients was great, and the recipes so far have not let me down. This is a great aid in helping a normal guy like me prepare a very nice meal for company the RIGHT way. A great appreciation for fine cooking is developed after studying this book. The ingredient measurements in weight were a bit of a stumbling block for me at first - if you don't have a scale, you had better be an excellent guesser. Overestimating and buying too much veal loin can be pretty expensive. This is THE book for basics and, of course, a fine meal for that special occasion when company is planned (most meals here require several steps and multiple sub-recipes, and are not fast, Betty Crocker projects). Well worth the price for the smile on your guests' faces.
reviewed by vern on November 28, 2006 11:03 PM

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