Product Description

Written by three Michelin-starred chefs: Charlie Trotter, Marcus Wareing, and Shaun Hill, this book covers every cutting technique-chopping, slicing, dicing, carving, filleting-for every relevant ingredient: meat, fish, shellfish, vegetables, herbs, and fruit. As more and more men are taking up cooking as a hobby-and they are particularly intent on perfecting their knife skills-and knife skills classes become more and more popular at cooking schools, this is the perfect time for a book geared for the layman (and laywoman) cook at home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109536 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-17
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent On Basic Knife Skills
This book is well designed and executed. It covers almost the full range of applications: vegetables; fish and shellfish; meat poultry and game; doughs and desserts; and fruit. And it provides plenty of colored photos to illustrate the cuts. It also addresses 'cutting-edge technology': Types of knives and other cutting tools are discussed as well as how to maintain them. There are references for other resources and some useful information on the subject of safety and first aid. But there isn't much on garnish cuts - only a couple of examples. All-in-all it's quite useful: Practical, accessible and attractive enough to grab your attention. It's a fine resource.

Not the Sharpest Blade in the Rack; but an Effective Primer
This is a good basic book on how to handle kitchen knives and other culinary blades. It covers a lot of ground competently. A little sharpening, a little honing, some carving, plenty of kitchen prep work and even some nice technique. Even the experienced kitchen worker will find a few plums, so to speak. For example, I have cut a thousand string beans, and never look forward to taking the ends off two pounds of them. Use kitchen scissors! Or for you adventure seekers, spatchcocking birds such as poussins and game birds. Something for everybody.
- learn the tools
- learn to keep knives in proper working trim (much more fun to use)
- lots of vegetable preparation
- plenty of fish and shellfish
- most common meats including some organs
- fun with fruit
- a bit of bread and dessert

I was going to take off a star for covering so much ground in only about two hundred pages, but it is actually a good thing to have so much in one little book, especially for newbies. I have a dozen books covering this ground in detail; but this points you in the right direction for specializing later. For example, "The Professional Chef's Knife Kit" is on of that dozen special books, but it is referenced here under "further reading" (sic).

I do object to using the star roster on the cover with NO notable or signature contributions by any of them. I assert this claim because they have each copyrighted bits. Hall copyrighted the hardware section, which comprise the first fifty pages, but without expertise, just photos. Charlie trotter has a couple of fine books which I love and rate more highly, but here is nothing of his own true stamp. It seems things like photos of hands are a big deal, but these are barely instructive and not of the technical utility and brilliance of "La Methode" of Pepin. It all smacks of cashing in rather than doing the hard work of the real workhorse, Dorling Kindersley.

The other reasons it does not loose a second star: the publisher, Dorling Kindersley, has chosen high quality paper and binding. It patiently lays flat before your otherwise engaged hands; and finally, it accomplishes an important goal; this book shows you to do better work faster and more effectively, enabling you to be more ambitious in your cooking.

Tool Skills in the Kitchen
This book is mis-named as indicated in the title of this review.

The book talks about all kitchen tools with a sharp edge. That includes knives, scissors, mandolins, graters, garnishing tools, etc. It is broken down into the "best way" to prepare a particular type of food using various tools, not just knives.

Although it was not what I expected, I think there is very good information in this book. The authors offer tips throughout the book on how to get the most out of an item. I would've liked to have seen alternate ways of handling a particular type of food, however it may not have been the safest way to go about it.