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Professional Cooking

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Key features of this new Sixth Edition
* Over 100 new, fully tested recipes
* A brand new chapter on vegetarian cuisine, featuring different types of vegetarian diets
* Expanded and updated information, such as a con-temporary look at presenting and garnishing food and a detailed history of modern food service
* Nearly 1,200 illustrations-including over 100 new photographs-highlight ingredients, step-by-step techniques, and plated dishes in splendid visual detail
* Completely revised, updated, and expanded vegetable chapters feature additional product identification and cooking techniques, as well as new recipes
* Revised and expanded Nutrition chapter features the new USDA nutritional guidelines
* Stunning new design-helpful sidebars and dedicated chapters on menus, recipes, and cost management; cooking with legumes, grains, and pastas; breakfast preparation; dairy; and beverages
* New culinarE-Companion recipe management software features user-friendly navigation and robust content

1088 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

85 people are currently reading
1668 people want to read

About the author

Wayne Gisslen

443 books36 followers

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5 stars
320 (58%)
4 stars
140 (25%)
3 stars
59 (10%)
2 stars
15 (2%)
1 star
12 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
92 reviews2 followers
June 23, 2023
The ULTIMATE cookbook. If you want to become a "real chef", going through this book from start to finish would be a fine replacement for what you'd learn in culinary school (as this was the book used in Culinary school), without the critical French teacher telling you "more salt" under severe time constraints.
1 review
Want to read
December 3, 2019
great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ezgi.
1 review2 followers
February 3, 2021
yemek yapma tutkusu olanlar için harika bir başucu kitabı.
17 reviews
October 3, 2021
Loved this book...explains the most basic of cooking methods, why, how, and what is this thingy. It was fantastic.
1 review
June 23, 2024
Excellent cookbook

Easy to follow. Great for professionals and amateurs. Expensive but worth it. It provides many variations on many of the recipes.
Profile Image for Syahira .
665 reviews71 followers
December 18, 2012

Professional Cooking is one of the textbook I use while I was at the Food Institute and part of it include the lectures that I have gone through like the Introduction of Sanitation (condensed version of Microbiology) and Fundamentals of Food. But as a whole, the book does contain helpful guides for those who are interested in the culinary industry and some parts that includes hundreds of recipes and preparation methods.

I am not fully a culinary student, I just took several diploma classes with the diploma students. For starters, this book is very basic even for those who never enter a kitchen before. There are multiple of chapters that discuss food science, microbiology of food handling and techniques including vegetable cutting, stock making and etc. The content is wealth about food from preparation to definition and although it is an academic textbook, the application is endless.

But it doesn't mean the book is one shot over everything in the kitchen by just reading this book. Being a chef involved a lot of practical skills and practice. But if you are interested in furthering the career, this book would help you know terms that involve in food preparation.
11 reviews
October 10, 2009
Now in its 6th edition, I've been reading Mr. Gisslen's first version of the famous "Professional Cooking." While it lacks the impressive visuals, extensive recipes and pretty tables of its more modern counterparts, I've found that this version of the text is significantly more useful to me as a novice chef. It does a fairly good job of teaching *why* a dish is cooked in a particular way (and not, for example, at 75 degrees warmer) as well as a thorough job of explaining basic techniques (for example, how to clean a chicken).

Over all, one of the best "technique" books I've ever run across. Don't miss it!
Profile Image for Sandra.
865 reviews7 followers
February 5, 2010
Do not read this book for recipes, unless you are cooking for 50. But the chemistry behind the recipes, especially in baking, are good reminders for all of us. What does gluten need to make it work? Why you NEED shortening and salt. And why we shouldn't mess with cakes, breads and pastry recipes, unless you have been educated to do so. Not a book to own, but definitely worthy reviewing, if your library owns a copy. I truly enjoyed perusing and reading sauces, breads and cakes. Even meats and poultry offered some new insights.
Profile Image for Kierstin.
33 reviews
June 4, 2009
Wonderful reference for the culinary student but not for the home user. All recipes are given in commercial quantities and in weights (not measurements). The food science portion of every chapter is incredibly interesting however, especially if one wanted to know (and see pictured) every kind of potato (or fill in the blank as you choose) grown on earth, its unique granular structure, and the seventeen ways you can mess it up.
Profile Image for Cory Van Horn.
47 reviews3 followers
October 19, 2007
The book was actually a textbook for one of my hospitality classes in college. I used to get a kick out of studying the cuts of beef at a local Steak and Shake. This always scared the servers to the point they refused to come to the table until the book was closed. I’ve been out of college for several years now, and I still use this book as my culinary bible for all of the classic techniques.
Profile Image for Rick Hunter.
503 reviews48 followers
August 28, 2015
This book was one of two books that we had for my Principles of Cooking class. It had some cool recipes in it and a lot of general stuff about each cooking type & each major food group. Some of the information was a little elementary for me, but I've been in food service for years. This should really help someone that is just starting out though.
1 review1 follower
November 30, 2011
As I study culinary, this has been one of the greatest books to have around to reference. A friend gifted it to me, and It has always had the go to material that I'd been looking for. A definite must have for the aspiring professional chef.
Profile Image for Niratisaya.
Author 3 books45 followers
December 5, 2011
Buku lengkap mengenai memasak dan profesi seorang chef. Benar2 lengkap! Dan seperti judulnya, ditulis dengan profesional untuk mereka yang ingin menjadi seorang profesional di bidang kulineri. Me? Well, I enjoy cooking and eating, but never intend to be a professional :)
Profile Image for De.
134 reviews4 followers
January 9, 2011
Many great things were made from this textbook, but especially oxtail soup. Very nice intro to cooking.
Profile Image for David.
1 review5 followers
March 28, 2012
Encyclopedic in scope. Dense and somewhat impenetrable. I recommend this books as part of a class only. Not an easy to use reference.
Profile Image for Camille.
161 reviews1 follower
Read
February 5, 2013
mostly I'm just ogling the illustrations of how to form bread properly.
Profile Image for Shannon.
57 reviews1 follower
December 18, 2013
best text book ever used this when I was doing my apprenticeship at NAIT and I still use it
Profile Image for Janine.
173 reviews4 followers
May 13, 2014
Read this for a college class. Great resource for anyone interested in cooking and learning proper techniques.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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