Product Description
Use this powerful primer on transforming foods to utilize the ingredients you have on hand and create unique, perfectly balanced, impeccably seasoned dishes. Designed for those who want to study cooking more deeply than what is typically offered in ordinary cookbooks, you'lllearn the art of whole food preparation using "The Language of Cooking," which teaches you to rely on your intutition and connection with food, rather than a recipe.Soon you'll be able to engage your imagination, stimulate your senses, and explore tha nature and nuances of food in a new way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The most useful cooking tool I own
I bought this book after taking a cooking class based on curriculum developed by the Natural School Cookery in Boulder.The class was phenomenal; it provided a solid foundation for cooking with whole foods, health-consciously, simply, holistically, intuitively, and even cooking for healing purposes. Since I bypassed acquiring any culinary/kitchen skills growing up, coming up with healthful, fulfilling meals that work for my own individual needs has always been a challenge.The Natural School of Cookery in Boulder and their cooking philosophies and techniques have served to provide the missing link in the kitchen for me.This book, Intuitive Cooking, is the full course curriculum for the cooking class mentioned above.It goes over everything from which cooking oils to use and store, to the usage of herbs and spice, to the various cooking methods available; covering whole grains, vegetables, and beans.The underlying concepts focus on cooking holistically and with intuition (i.e. forget about following overwhelming, 15+ ingredient, time-consuming recipes, the underlying philosophies emphasize a simplified approach to cooking).The content of this book has helped me prepare healthful, satisfying, tasty, time-friendly, simple meals.I recommend this book in a heartbeat, as well as their cooking classes if they are offered in your area (in Seattle they are offered through PCC Cooks, called the Main Course Series).

A course in natural foods cooking
Joanne Saltzman (author of "Amazing Grains" and "Romancing the Bean") is the founder of the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder, Colorado. If you are not lucky enough to be able to attend the school, her new book "Intuitive Cooking" is the next best thing. This book is a complete course in using your senses to create a dish rather than relying on a recipe.

This is not an easy read. There are no pictures. This book is really like taking a cooking course and requires attention and study. As Saltzman says in the introduction, "This book is designed for those who want to study cooking more deeply than what is typically offered in culinary cookbooks."

I have studied natural foods cooking and I found this book an excellent review - reminding me of why I do things in the order I do and what I acheive by certain processes. I learned the reasons for things I do naturally and found some new techniques that I am eager to try, like steeping vegetables.

The book is divided into 3 sections.

Chapter One talks about the language of cooking. Saltzman has her own language and uses many terms I haven't heard before but they really describe perfectly what she is trying to say. She explains how to design a dish and compose a meal. Vegetable cutting techniques are also illustrated.

Chapter Two goes through the cooking methods. This is the crucial part of the book because if you can master these, you can make anything. She talks about pretreatments like soaking and dry-roasting, first stage cooking methods like boiling, baking, roasting, steeping, fermenting, steaming, braising pickling, stir-frying, etc.; and second stage methods like refrying.

Chapter Three gives almost 400 recipe sketches for vegetables, grains, and proteins (all vegan). They may seem a bit daunting until you are comfortable with the cooking methods from Chapter Two - but once you get them down, you will find that these sketches give you lots of room to be creative and free you from the confines of traditional recipes.

A welcome addition to any kitchen cookbook collection
More than just another collection of recipes, Joanne Saltzman (Founder and Director of the Natural School of Cookery, Boulder, Colorado) wants the readers of Intuitive Cooking to learn about the underlying principles of flavor and texture that underpin successful improvisational cooking. Readers will learn the basics necessary to cook and season a variety of foods without precise measuring and complicated instructions. The almost four hundred reicpe 'sketches' of vegetables, grains, and plant-based proteins help to illustrate and demonstrate that with a few basic techniques and ratios, even the most novice of kitchen cooks can increase their culinary versatility and the meal-time success of their personal recipe innovations. With specific chapters dedicated to 'The Alphabet and Grammar of Cooking', 'Cooking Methods', and 'Primary Elements and Recipe Sketches', and enhanced with the inclusion of a glossary and a number of culinary preparation tables, "Intuitive Cooking" is a welcome addition to any kitchen cookbook collection -- and a recommended acquisition for inclusion in a school's cooking class curriculum reference and instructional materials collections. ... Read more

Product Description
Medical doctors and scientists are just now discovering a wealth of new facts about a fruit- and vegetable-based diet. This unique cookbook contains over 170 vegetarian recipes. ... Read more

Product Description
Take a trip to the kitchens of Provence without taking a plane! This unique cookbook shows how you can create the spirit of Provence in your own home. As you follow a week-long course, you will learn new skills each day as you look over the shoulder of the Provencal chef-teacher just like one of his students!AUTHOR BIO: Guy Gedda is a chef-teacher of Provencal cooking at the Chateau de Berne cooking school in the Var region of Provence. Since he retired from his restaurant in Bormes-les-Mimosas, he spends his time as an informal ambassador to the region.Marie-Pierre Moine has 20 years experience as a food writer. Her works have been featured in various magazines and books. She won the Prix Gourmand Award 2004 for her book, La Cuisine des Brasseries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Reality Cooking and Eating.
Visually delightful the emphasis is on the personality of the food.Clear instructions both verbally and photographically empower the reader to create the tastes of the dishes of Provence.While the practical/usefullness of the book is outstanding it's also a feast for the eyes and a delightful browse.

Cooking School Provence
There are several good books available in English, about the food of Provence. This book, as far as I know, is the only book available that is written by a Chef de Provence. I think this book sets the standard by which all current books related to Provencal Cuisine, should be judged. For someone who truly loves to cook, and who loves the food of Provence, they need not look any farther.

Delicious!
This book is a delectable introduction to Provencal cuisine. Not only does it give simple and elegant versions of all the Provencal favorites (ratatouille, soupe au pistou, sauce remoulade, among others) it tells you how to serve and prepare an authentic meal from apertif to dessert. There are also many gorgeous pictures of beautiful Provence and its glorious food.This book will bring a lovely bit of Provencale sunlight into your kitchen (and onto your tastebuds!) Exquisite. ... Read more

Product Description
Irelandis most famous chef, Darina Allen, owns, manages, and teaches at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork. She is also presenter for the British television series Simply Delicious. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Time to throw out some of the rubbish - this is the real thing!
I spend a lot of money on cookbooks, and a lot of time cooking - usually for my wife and myself but I can cope with up to 10 guests if absolutely necessary. A long time ago, I realised that a lot of so-called professional chefs are little more than confidence tricksters, able to present hugely complex meals generally finished off (by which I mean ruined) with a blow-lamp, but totally lacking in basic skills. For example, I could cite one famous cookery school that presents a recipe for a simple biscuit that literally could never work. Another school advises a method for fried eggs that can only be described as cremation! Yet another Michelin-starred chef fries an egg so slowly that it has no structure and the texture of leather. How do I know? I like to try methods to destruction, and always give the benefit of the doubt.

Darina Allen's book gives excellent methods for both fried eggs and Anzac biscuits, plus hundreds of other recipes that so far have worked equally well! But that's not all. It's also packed with information and advice that can only make you a better cook. Better not only in the sense of presenting more enjoyable food, but more self-confident and better able to think for yourself about what works and what doesn't. If you are at all like me, this will save you a lot of money in useless cookbooks and, at last, give you the courage to throw out the dross you've already accumulated. But it won't all be saving - Darina is still writing!

GREAT BASIC FOR EVERY KITCHEN
PURCHASED AFTER SEEING JAMIE OLIVER FOOD SHOW ON IRELAND. HE SHOWED THE COOKING SCHOOL AND I WAS INSTANTLY INTERESTED. BEING OF IRISH DESCENT BUT WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF IRISH CULINARY SKILLS WHEN THE FIRST THING I MADE WAS FABULOUS I KNEW I HAD HIT IT BIG.

Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cooking School Cookbook
I attended the Ballymaloe Cookery School and thought Darina Allen's recipes and presentation was "spot on!!" I came home and ordered her cookbook immediately. The bread recipes (especially the grainy, wheaty breads) are terrific. Her recipe measurements are perfect. Her ethnic recipes are also wonderful.

ONE OF THE BEST BASIC COOKBOOKS
I am a professional cook and a cookbook collector and have been to the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I got this book for myself because I was so pleased with the school and felt it was a good basic source book. I ended up giving it away at a bridal shower to a young American on her way to Sweden to marry. It was then I realized what a great cookbook this is for beginning cooks/ for Americans living abroad and for Europeans living here in the US because of the measurement equivalents as well as the very global recipes. Great down to earth and humorous writing as well as clear and concise instructions.I'm ordering another for myself.
Marcia Dunsmore

Ballymaloe Cookbook
This cookbook is great and contains a plethora of easy to follow recipes from appetizers to desserts. A must-have for your kitchen library. ... Read more

Product Description

Have you ever read a recipe that called for artichokes and wondered just how to trim them, or wanted to learn the proper way to use a pastry bag? While most cookbooks provide home cooks with only recipes, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook provides recipes and detailed cooking techniques -- it's like going to cooking school without ever leaving your home. With more than 250 delicious yet approachable recipes and countless techniques, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook enables readers to become familiar with the basics of cooking and then encourages them to improvise. Because the recipes have been tested in the San Francisco kitchens of Tante Marie's by hundreds of students, home cooks can be assured that they are virtually foolproof.

Having guided thousands of students through the world of French cooking for the past thirty years, renowned cooking teacher Mary Risley is well aware of common mistakes made in the kitchen. Risley troubleshoots a multitude of problem areas for cooks (such as what to do if your soup is too thick, or not thick enough), allowing home cooks to avoid common pitfalls. With variations provided for many dishes and instructions on how to cook without recipes, more advanced home cooks can start to create dishes on their own.

From delicious hors d'oeuvres like Fava Bean Crostini with Pecorino and Miniature Shrimp Quiches and Asparagus-Fontina Pizza with Truffle Oil, to enticing entrees like Roast Chicken with New Potatoes and Olives, Halibut Baked with Warm Shallot Compote, and Herbed Rack of Lamb with Béarnaise Sauce, Risley presents an impressive array of French-inspired recipes for contemporary American tastes. Classic recipes are updated with modern twists in dishes such as Fresh Pea Soup with Cilantro and Meyer Lemon Crème Brûlée. Delectable dessert recipes include Grand Marnier Soufflé, Gingerbread Napoleon with Poached Pears and Caramel Sauce, Compote of Fresh Berries with Lemon Verbena Ice Cream, and classic Tiramisù.

Additional chapters on first courses, soups, salads, pasta and risotto, fish and shellfish, vegetables, breads, cookies, chocolates, cakes, and pastries offer the home cook a recipe for every occasion. Risley also provides in-depth discussions on ingredients such as cheese, chocolate, truffles, and planned leftovers. A section of Suggested Seasonal Menus as well as a chapter of foundation recipes for accomplished cooks complete this wonderful volume.

Illustrated with gorgeous black-and-white drawings, The Tante Marie's Cooking School Cookbook will become the cookbook you can't live without. It's the next best thing to having a cooking instructor cook right beside you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

One of my go-to cookbooks
I have stacks of cookbooks that I use, but this is one of my all-time favorites.Here is why I am such a huge fan.First, the ingredients are relatively easy to find in your local grocers market.Many of the items I can find in my pantry.Second, the majority of the recipes I can make for an elegant weekday meal or a special dinner for guests. Finally, EVERYTHING I have made in this book tastes absolutely wonderful.And let me clarify "wonderful."It's not deep-fried wonderful, or condensed-soup enchilada wonderful (if anyone actually considers the latter wonderful), it is fresh vegetable wonderful, olive, shallot, red wine and pine nut wonderful.Tons of fresh, clean tastes that appeal to my palette.I have yet to find a dud!Thanks so much for a fabulous cookbook - mine is well worn-in!

Fun to use, fun to read
The first time I saw this book was in the public library. I was just browsing through the cookbook section and the attractive spine and then the title caught my eye. I pulled it off the shelf, wondering if it was just going to be another boring cookbook with a pretty cover and a catchy title -- I'm so happy I was wrong! This is a pretty book with a catchy title AND it's great!

First, I sat down and read it, which was a pleasure in itself. Then my two teenage daughters and I started choosing recipes to prepare, improving our technique and expanding our knowledge.

We learned a lot from this beautiful book. It is a keeper. I could barely bring myself to return it to the library, so I ordered one of my very own. I foresee that this will be a cookbook that sports lovingly stained pages with penciled notes in the margins - one I'll use for years to come.

A Genuine Learning Experience
I selected five recipes more or less randomly from the book and made them in preparation for this review.Over the course of a couple of months I made the roasted almonds, paella, boned leg of lamb with tapenade stuffing, vegetable charlotte, and tiramisu.Normally I take recipes as guidance (which Ms. Risley recommends), but for this exercise I followed them as closely as possible (except that I used blanched almonds, and I barbecued the lamb).I loved all of the dishes and my guests did, too.My learning curve was very steep, and I extended my culinary technique considerably.For instance, I'd never considered butterflying a leg of lamb before.Now?No problem!Ms. Risley composes her chapters and recipes very like Julia Child, by which I mean that she interposes considerable guidance on culinary technique among her recipes.It works for Julia and it works for Mary, too.I have one regular houseguest who now pulls this book from the bookshelf in the kitchen and requests me to make anything from it.I figure there are enough excellent recipes in this book to make me look good for years to come.

Not just recipes, but how to cook!
If Mary Risley had stopped after training some of my favorite San Francisco chefs, she would earn my undying gratitude. But what she's done with this book is invaluable. It's so much more than a book of recipes. She really teaches you how to cook -- with a recipe or off the cuff.

Tante Marie's Cookbook sits on our kitchen counter as a constant checkpoint, no matter where we get recipes from. I always use it as a cross-reference against other books. I'll open a recipe in the Silver Palate, but I'll check Mary's techniques for cooking that kind of meat, fish or vegetable. When I incorporate her suggestions, it always comes out better - and I understand more thoroughly the principle behind the recipes. So this is a cookbook that will enhance every other cookbook you own.

We are passionate cooks, but this book has taught us what we've never been able to do before -- cook without a recipe. In fact, at the beginning of every chapter Mary tells you how to select the discussed meat, fish or vegetable, what cooking methods are best for it, and how to cook it without a recipe. Mary straddles the difficult divide of providing a resource that teaches the experienced cook but is accessible enough to the beginner. In fact, if you own only one cookbook, this is the one to get.

In addition to wonderful recipes, tricks, techniques and the how-tos that change okay to fabulous, this book is filled with great anecdotes and recipes from some of the Bay Area's best restaurants. All made accessible by Tante Marie herself, patiently explaining the difficult, offering alternatives for when you can't find some exotic ingredients, but firmly telling you when you simply can't compromise. (Mary declares "seared tuna has no place in Salad Nicoise!")

We have a new vocabulary in our kitchen: "What does Mary say?" and "Mary says. . ." I promise you, if you let Tante Marie guide you, you'll never eat another so-so meal at home.

Wonderful gift
I bought this cookbook on a caterer's recommendation as a high school gift for a young man who is living with my family and hopes to become a chef. It was perfecto! I'm grateful he leaves it in my kitchen so I can make use of it, too. I've been cooking for 40 years, but I learned many new tricks and absorbed into my DNA several new recipes from just leafing thru these pages while sipping a latte in the morning.
A must-buy for the serious but casual cook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Oldie but goodie
This is a small but useful collection of some great recipes that have stood the test of time.Dealing with this seller is easy with prompt shipping.

step by step mistake proof recipes
Recently our daughter, now married with her own family, visited for a few days, and spent part of it copying recipes from our copy of the MacCall's Cook School cookbook.We've had it for years, and loved it from the first!The recipes are clear and simple, and with pictures of each step that take you thru the process of preparing the dish.
Karen asked if we could find her a copy, and I was delighted to find these available on Amazon.
Whether you are experienced or a 'newbie', you'll enjoy these 'mistake proof recipes'.
Hal

The BEST!
Many moons ago, as a young bride, I discovered the McCall's Cooking School magazine in my local grocery store.Produced once a year, it contained fabulous recipes with step-by-step photographs and explicit directions.When a hard cover compilation came out a few years after my original purchase, I immediately acquired the book.My best recipes still come from this source and many, such has the Blintzes recipe, have become not only family favorites but also traditions.

I have given this book numerous times as a bridal gift and am always thanked profusely afterwards.Although now out of print, I am delighted to be able to find used copies through Amazon.I gave a copy to my son for his birthday and my mother and sister were so excited I had discovered a source for the publication that I ordered copies for their birthdays as well.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. If anyone at McCall's or Random House is reading this, may I suggest a revised version of the book that would include some of the recipes that were featured in subsequent magazine editions?

The greatest for clear and simple!
This recipe book is the easiest for people who want good food without a lot of work. It is clear and simple. I don't like to stand over the stove and cook this book allows me to serve good food without the hassle. ... Read more

Product Description
18 chapters of full-color photos and recipes in the following categories: Appetizers; Breads; Cakes, Cookies; Chicken, Poultry; Desserts; Eggs, Cheese; Fish, Seafood; Holiday Delights; Main Dishes; Meat; Pasta, Rice; Pies, Pastry; Salads; Sauces; Soups; Vegetables; plus Contents, Index. Housed in 3-3 ring binders. ... Read more

Product Description
A detailed guide to cooking and wine courses in the British Isles, as well as shorter courses for the food and wine lover visiting Italy, France, Turkey, and other European and Asian countries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helpful Mostly for the U.K.
I found this book most helpful if you are looking for cookery courses, shops and resources in the U.K. The section on other countries is worth a look, but not detailed enough and does not include many opportunities in other countries. I know of at least one school in Europe that was not listed. The book's smaller pocket size is handy, but does not make for scads of info. Make sure it is what you need! ... Read more

Product Description
Leather boards and spine. Gilt pge edges. Satin book mark. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderfull Keepsake
If you love Fannie Farmer Cook Books, this is a great find.It is a wonderful addition to any cook book collector's collection! ... Read more