Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook
by: Linda Carucci
Enjoyable
I borrowed Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook from the library and now I am considering buying my own copy. I would consider this more of a teaching/reference manual rather then an everyday cookbook. Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook offers a huge amount of information from food science, cooking techniques, and of course many delicious recipes too. I Especially enjoyed the info on improving knife skills, understanding your palate (such as the role of acid and umami). Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook is full of information on how to be a better cook, assuming you are not already a professional chef. There is no substitute for practice but if you can't go to cooking school this is also helpful. Overall I found Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook easy to read, thoughtful, and an excellent reference I would refer to often.
Carucci's Secrets - a useful addition
I don't buy many cookbooks anymore as many sit on the shelf and never get used - except perhaps my 1950's version of the Joy of Cooking - but Carucci's Secrets is one of the few others I find a useful addition - not only for basic recipes but also for techniques and variations on a recipe - I most often use it as a quick reference for tips on how to make things even better - she often has a succinct tip on something simple but impactful that makes Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook worth checking out before I try something new or sometimes if I want to find an improvement on an old recipe.
As an aside, I first met Linda at a friend's party, where she had brought a dish that was excellent, but seemed quite simple - many people were raving about it and later ... Read More
One of my favorites
I love cookbooks. I have dozens and would have hundreds if I had more space. But there are only a few that I pull out when I need a really good recipe; the books that I trust to deliver a delicious result. "Cooking School Secrets", "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison and "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer are the three that come out when I'm having people over and I'm not sure what to make. I pull this one off the shelf for other reasons too. For instance, I can finally hard boil and egg to perfection due to the insructions and explanations in Cooking School Secrets for Real-World Cooks: Tips, Techniques, Shortcuts, Sources, Hints, and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Plus 100 Sure-Fire Recipes to Make You a Better Cook. The introduction is full of information that has made me a better cook, just as the title suggests.
As for the recipes, I've made the "Chicken Soup ... Read More
Good, but not what I was expecting
The information is fairly helpful, but all spread out. You have to go through and look at every recipe to get the tips. I like the background of the recipes Linda gives, and the sources information in the back is pretty helpful. Might have been better if not written as a cookbook with extras.
A great resource for cooks wanting to take their "game" to the next level
Permit me a brief digression that will later bear on the review. I once attended a massage therapy school in a city with three competing schools, and I was continually amazed at how limited the competing graduates from the other schools were in basic anatomy, assessment, and palpation skills compared to what I learned. On the other hand, those graduates were way ahead in actual "salon/day spa" cosmetic techniques, so they tended to land positions more easily. They couldn't find a trigger point, balance a meridian flow, or treat a muscle tear, but they could select the best aromatherapy oils for various emotional stresses. Which set of skills were more valid, or "better"? It all depends on what you think is important in massage therapy.
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