Good Cook, The: 70 Essential Techniques, 250 Step-by-Step Photographs, 350 Easy Recipes

by Anne Willan, Alison Harris (Photographer)

A veteran cooking teacher and cookbook author offers a complete set of recipes useful for both novice and veteran chefs, and even more importantly, an important primer on the skills every chef needs to know, all lavishly illustrated to make the cooking as easy as possible. 17,500 first printing.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Gavin Overebeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you struggle to cook mouth watering meals or just do not know what to cook, and are scavenging for different ways to spice up your food palate, then this book is for you. As a person who loves to cook delightful and ambrosia like foods as much as he can, I highly recommend The book The Good Cook by Anne Willan. It made cooking more flavorful and adventurous with the abundant savory recipes. With step by step instructions it makes cooking or baking a delight and an easy guide for those who struggle with the culinary arts. The pages also hold images of what the food should turnout to look like or roughly the same as that image. After reading this book you will turn from an amateur chef into a head chef of a top tier five star restaurant. (Maybe not that good but pretty damn good). However, something you should keep in mind before just going head first into the book is that cooking takes patience and practice. Yes, this is a good beginners book but, that does not mean your meal will be flawless on your first attempt and that is perfectly acceptable. This book is a fantastic start for those who have little to no experience and are looking to start somewhere to begin their new life as a food connoisseur. With all being said, I give the book a five star rating for the simplicity and helpfulness of cooks at all different levels.

[Elisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

again, I expected more from this book. It is huge, offering advice on every step of food preparation along the way. In theory, that is great. But in reality, I felt that how to crush garlic was not as essential to explain as how to bone a chicken. Obscure knowledge and tricks were not given the explanation that I think they warrant. Plus, the recipes aren't that enticing. I only found 3 or 4 in the entire book that looked like something I might want to cook. Many ingredients were expensive. I think also that more authentic regional recipes could be found by looking in specific culture cookbooks. Overall, just not impressed.