Cooking School Secrets For Real World Cooks

Tips, techniques, shortcuts, sources, inspiration, and answers to frequently asked questions, plus one hundred triple-tested recipes to make you a better cook. Theres no one more qualified than Linda Carucci to reveal the insider secrets and shortcuts that professional chefs use every day. More than just a cookbook, in the ten years since the first edition of Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks has made its way into the hands of forty thousand cooks across the United States, this has become an indispensable go-to guide for internal doneness temperatures, what to look for in cooking equipment, and which cooking methods bring out the best in which foods. Each of the one-hundred-plus recipes was tested at least three times, each time by a different cook unprecedented for a cookbook. Recipe testers comments and feedback inspired the books widely praised Sidebars and Recipe Secrets scattered throughout: Whats that green tinge on my potatoes? (Solanine . . . and its toxic.) How can I prepare risotto for company without being held hostage in the kitchen? (Learn restaurant chefs tips and techniques in Secrets to Successful Risotto.) Whats the fuss about all these different salts? (Join Linda as she takes you on a guided tasting of todays most commonly used cooking saltsand spills the beans about why chefs have certain favorites.) Youll appreciate the authors warmth and expertise as a teacher as she takes you step by step through the preparation of classics like Roasted Stuffed Turkey with Pan Gravy, My Grandmothers Baked Stuffed Manicotti with Twenty-Minute Tomato Sauce, and Apple Crisp with Bourbon and SpIce Cream. And then its on to sensational show-stoppers such as Paella with Shellfish, Sausage, and Chicken; Double-Crusted Timpano with Fusilli, Ricotta, and Tender Little Meatballs; and White Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Crust and Raspberry Coulis.

When it comes to food, Linda Carucci is at the top of her class. As a cooking instructor with more than 20 years of food industry experience, no one is more qualified than Linda to reveal the indispensable everyday secrets and shortcuts that professional chefs use constantly in their cooking. Each of the more than 100 sensational recipessoups and salads, pasta and risotto, main courses and side dishes, plus indulgent dessertsoffers truly useful guidelines and tips. What is a chinois and why will this make homemade chicken stock better? Why are Turkish bay leaves preferable to the California variety? What cut of meat will ensure the most flavorful pork chop? Why is a marinade essential when grilling a flank steak? Why should granita be frozen in a square, rather than round, pan? The recipes go from down-home good and simple-to-prepare favorites (Tomato Cheddar Soup, Spaghetti and Meatballs) to guest-worthy, look-what-I-can-do feasts (Double-Crusted Timpano, Rack of Lamb). Clear illustrations show techniques such as how to cut the skin from a salmon fillet and slice basil into a chiffonade (and what is a chiffonade anyway?). Add to that a myriad of user-friendly charts (recommended temperatures for meat doneness; typical cuts of poultry, meat, and pork), menus, and resources, and any new cookas well as the not-so-new oneswill quickly find that going back to school is way more fun (and delicious) than they ever remembered.

How does one become an Iron Chef and a Chopped judge on Food Network—and what does she really cook at home? Alex Guarnaschelli grew up in a home suffused with a love of cooking, where soufflés and cheeseburgers were equally revered. The daughter of a respected cookbook editor and a Chinese cooking enthusiast, Alex developed a passion for food at a young age, sealing her professional fate. Old-School Comfort Food shares her journey from waist-high taste-tester to trained chef who now adores spending time in the kitchen with her daughter, along with the 100 recipes for how she learned to cook—and the way she still loves to eat. Here are Alex’s secrets to great home cooking, where humble ingredients and familiar preparations combine with excellent technique and care to create memorable meals. Alex brings her recipes to life with reminiscences of everything from stealing tomatoes from her aunt’s garden and her first bite of her mother’s pâté to being one of the few women in the kitchen of a renowned Parisian restaurant and serving celebrity clientele in her own successful New York City establishments. With 75 color photographs and ephemera, Old-School Comfort Food is Alex’s love letter to deliciousness.

Attend your personal culinary grad school and learn to cook your best, with 100 advanced courses full of 400+ recipes and new-school techniques given by 20 expert test-kitchen instructors. Finally, a cookbook written for confident home cooks ready to explore new territory and learn by cooking spectacular recipes. Travel beyond the basics into 100 engaging themed courses such as Stuffed Pasta, Pho, Grilled Salad, Koji Magic, and Soufflés. Enhance your skills and satisfy your curiosity by whipping up creamy ice cream and gelato, frying crunchy chicken, rolling out and shaping gnocchi (and gnudi) with ease, fermenting vegetables, and perfecting pastry cream to fill choux au craquelin, Boston cream pie, and bolo bao. Within the course structure, recipes are supplemented by illustrated core techniques, food science sidebars, and infographic resource pages packed with valuable behind-the-recipe information. You will confidently learn to: • make your own cheese • be your own butcher • fearlessly fry • bake challah, baguettes, and croissants • put the icing on all kinds of cakes.

A little girl prepares to make her grandmother’s favorite meal in Matt Stine's and Elisabeth Weinberg's Little Chef, an energetic picture book illustrated by Paige Kaiser... "Making excellent use of white space, Keiser employs what looks like watercolor and pen and ink to portray Lizzie in perpetual motion as she demonstrates her culinary prowess. With amazing curly hair that sometimes appears almost as big as she is, Lizzie could be a biracial child given her dad's brown skin and her mom's lighter complexion. The recipe in the backmatter will inspire young readers to follow Lizzie's fearless lead."--Kirkus, starred review

A landmark book from the test kitchen that has been teaching America how to cook for 20 years. We launched the America's Test Kitchen Cooking School two years ago to teach home cooks how to cook the test kitchen way, and since then thousands of students have taken our interactive video-based online courses. The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook shares the same goal as our online school and brings all our best practices—along with 600 all-time favorite recipes—into one place so that you can become a better, more confident cook. There is no better way to learn than seeing an expert in action, so we've included over 2,500 color photos that bring you into the test kitchen so you can see how to prepare recipes step-by-step. The book starts off with an exhaustive 46-page Cooking Basics chapter that covers everything from what equipment you need (and how to care for it) to test-kitchen tricks for how to make food taste better. Then we move on to cover all the major cooking and baking categories, from meat, poultry, and pasta to breads, cakes, and pies. Illustrated Core Techniques, like how to whip egg whites, roast a chicken, or bake flawless pie dough, focus on the building block recipes everyone should know. Recipe Tutorials that each feature 20-35 color photos then walk readers through recipes that are either more complicated or simply benefit from the visual clues of step photography, like Extra-Crunchy Fried Chicken, Sticky Buns with Pecans, and Deep-Dish Apple Pie. Every chapter ends with a library of the test kitchen's all-time favorite recipes, such as Pan-Seared Steaks with Red Wine Pan Sauce, Meatballs and Marinara, Best Vegetarian Chili, Memphis-Style Barbecued Ribs, and New York-Style Cheesecake—more than 600 in total—that will allow home cooks to expand their repertoire. The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook is a how-to-cook book that also explains why recipes succeed or fail, which makes it the ideal book for anyone looking to cook better.

The Absolute Best Way to Do Almost Anything in the Kitchen The first book on technique from America's Test Kitchen showcases 100 groundbreaking techniques that will transform your cooking life, paired with more than 200 creative, modern recipes that put the techniques into real-world, home-kitchen practice. From making the most tender burger patties to grill-roasting a leg of lamb, from making pan sauces for cutlets to simmering homemade duck confit, from griddling the fluffiest pancakes to tempering chocolate, making caramel, and baking French pastry, the test cooks of ATK shine their spotlight on simpler, smarter, foolproof strategies. The first section, Essentials Every Home Cook Should Know, covers core techniques. Learn why it's crucial to season with salt properly before and during cooking for the best Roasted Bone-In Chicken Breasts and Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Cook any piece of salmon to silky perfection through our high-low roasting technique. The middle section, Techniques You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without, includes techniques we developed from an unexpected angle of discovery. Bake crusty, golden, bubbly-topped pizza by using a skillet. Fry easy, restaurant-quality homemade French fries by starting the potatoes in room-temperature oil. The final section, The Bucket List, gives you the know-how to make dreamed-about projects come true. Barbecue true Texas beef ribs in a standard kettle grill. Cure your own bacon or gravlax in your refrigerator. Bake, assemble, and decorate a show-stopping layer cake for any special occasion.

In this follow-up to her spectacular bestselling debut Cook Like a Rock Star, Food Network chef and host Anne Burrell shows you not just how to keep rocking in the kitchen, but how to cook like you own it with 100 recipes to get you comfortable with dozens of essential techniques. Taking control in the kitchen means mastering flavors and constantly keeping an eye on what Anne calls "QC" (quality control). It starts with learning the power of great ingredients (how quality olive oil and salt can transform an everyday dish), understanding the tools in your kitchen, and getting your mise en place ready before diving into a recipe. Anne shows you how to apply these skills to a slew of delicious, high-brow/low-stress recipes that get you out of a cooking rut, so you can keep surprising yourself in the kitchen. POC (piece of cake)! Try out your new skills with classic bistro fare, such as Grilled Hanger Steak, Fish and Chips, or simple dishes, like Mushroom Soup with Bacon, and Shrimp in Garlic Oil and Chiles. Master roasting with a Hawaiian pork dish, have fun with spices making chicken roti, for a casual bite there’s her Sicilian Tuna, Caponata, Provolone & Arugula Panino. Each dish—whether firsts, seconds, sides, brunch, sandwiches or desserts—is accessible yet teaches a range of techniques and embraces tantalizing flavors. And they all share Anne’s secrets to great home cooking. Here is Anne at her most personal—complete with her enthusiastic, sassy approach to how to get the most out of ingredients and whip up irresistibly delicious dishes that she likes to cook at home. So cook these recipes, master them, and then you will OWN YOUR KITCHEN!