Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
Book Description
When you watch a professional magic act, you may find yourself awed by the trick. You are a willing believer in the illusion created by the magician. If, however, you are a magician, you are no longer in awe of the trick itself. You are astonished by the skill and finesse of the magician–the ease, the apparent effortlessness of motion. Chefs are a great deal like magicians. To the novice, the transformation of a carrot to a pile of perfectly even julienne is almost miraculous. To the seasoned chef, the miracle is the skill, the coordination, and rhythm of the right tool in an accomplished hand.
Founded in 1946, THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelors and associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. Courses for foodservice professionals are offered at the colleges main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and at its additional campus for continuing education, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California.
Back Cover Copy
When you watch a professional magic act, you may find yourself awed by the trick. You are a willing believer in the illusion created by the magician. If, however, you are a magician, you are no longer in awe of the trick itself. You are astonished by the skill and finesse of the magician–the ease, the apparent effortlessness of motion.
Chefs are a great deal like magicians. To the novice, the transformation of a carrot to a pile of perfectly even julienne is almost miraculous. To the seasoned chef, the miracle is the skill, the coordination, and rhythm of the right tool in an accomplished hand.
Founded in 1946, THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelors and associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. Courses for foodservice professionals are offered at the colleges main campus in Hyde Park, New York, and at its additional campus for continuing education, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, in St. Helena, California.
Reader Reviews
`The Professional Chef's Knife Kit' by `The Culinary Institute of America' contains absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about things in the kitchen with sharp edges and things that maintain those sharp edges. The book actually goes far beyond the care and honing of knives, as it is also an advanced course on knife skills. The chapters are: Knife Basics covering history and the range of kitchen tools for cutting. Knife Care, or how to keep the knife sharp without shedding any blood. Basic Cuts, possibly the most important and interesting chapter in the book. Vegetables and Fruits, or how to wrangle onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and other veggies to the pot. Meat and Poultry Fish and Shellfish Summary Glossary As a former Boy Scout who took his knife skills very seriously and knew all about Arkansas stones and the proper angle with which to hone a knife, I am really impressed by the level of detail in this book. The Basic Cuts chapter is a wonderful example of how valuable this book can be. Hundreds of hours on the Food Network will cover most of this stuff eventually, but this brings it all together and adds things Emeril never even mentions. Section of this chapter is `Preliminary Cuts', which is roughly comparable to removing the bark from a tree and squaring it off before cutting it into marketable lumber. `Shredding and Grating' shows you how to do the same operation with either a knife or a box grater. The sections on `Slicing Cuts' gives equal time to the chef's knife, the paring knife, and the mandoline, covering both the simple and the exquisite such as the crinkle cut done with a mandoline and the roll cut done on cylindrical veggies done with a knife. Of great value is the instruction on how to do the most basic of cuts such as the Julienne, the Batonnet, and the various dices. You probably have no real sense of the level of detail to which French cooking doctrine goes until you have read the section on decorative cuts of potatoes. This book is an excellent supplement to Jacques Pepin's `Complete Techniques'. Pepin describes a dozen or so different cuts of a potato, the CIA tells you how to do them. This book is hands down the best argument I can think of for relegating your food processor to making doughs and bread crumbs and laying out the cash for a really sharp knife and a few hours of practice. This book is a must for serious amateur and professional cooks.
