Professional Cooking

I must admit, this is the first cooking school textbook I've purchased. I see no need in purchasing another as this one pretty much covers all bases. I got the idea after watching "The Freshman Class" on the Cooking Channel. I'm not sure, but this looks like the textbook they use at the Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge (where the show is taped).Use it just as you would any textbook. It's for learning, and yes, I take notes. Every page is choked full of useful information which will take you from an "okay" cook to one who truly knows his way around the kitchen. There are a few very classic recipes to help you achieve certain cooking concepts, but do not buy it for the recipes. Buy it to learn how to understand what true cooking and baking is all about. It WILL elevate your cooking abilities to a new level!

I bought this book as a gift for my friend, who's working as a butcher in a 5* hotels kitchen and is responsible for everything related to meat: planing the meat menus, ordering the meats, seasoning, preparing it in all the ways necessary. He's also very passionate about cooking. This book is like nothing we saw before. It contains everything you could think of (and even what you wouldn't), about a professional kitchen. So complete, well organized and explaining everything clearly. Is a great book for those working in kitchens and also for those who just simply love cooking. I checked the book before giving it to my friend, to make shore is the right thing, and I was amazed. So many things, questions I had, recipes I was looking for everywhere to find the right one, there were just there, all in one book. I can only say one thing: buy it, it worth every penny. If you like to cook, you will fall in love with this book.

This is a fantastic compilation of knowledge! I used this book in culinary arts school as the text for 2 separate courses. It is filled with information and should be on the shelves of any chef, aspiring chef and serious self-taught home cook that wants to LEARN. If you are looking for recipes and for a "witty" dialogue with a not so bright or overly cheery housewife author, shop around - this isn't that book. If you are looking for a college text (10th grade reading level...) teeming with information....ding ding ding you picked a winner. The recipes are basic, but suffice to say there is a chapter or more of information leading up to the recipe, if your dish doesn't turn out, you can only blame yourself :) Bon Appetit!

Like many others, I had to buy this book for the text in my Culinary classes this Fall. I like the book itself, lots of recipes, but be aware this is not a home cook book, it is intended for a chef working in a restaurant or other establishment where you are preparing large amounts. The recipes can be difficult to scale down to smaller portions.My problem with this book is with the software, the "CulinarE Companion". Getting to the point: it's awful. It takes up HUGE amounts of space on your computer (over a GB), and it uses an odd browser-based interface. Takes for-ev-er to load, too. Occasionally mine will fail during loading, something about an "IP stack error". I decided to get this more expensive version of the book so I'd have the software (my instructor left it up to us, she didn't require it), on the premise that I'd be able to start loading up my own recipes, have everything in one place instead of this pile of various papers that we have at home now. What a joke, this DOES NOT WORK. I'm convinced it's pretty much not possible to add your own recipes, it screws them up so badly. It randomly changes ingredients and amounts, I gave up.So my advice is to NOT buy this version, go for the cheaper one that doesn't include this terrible software, you're not missing anything, and you'll save $30-35 as well.

I am in culinary school and this is the required text for our classes. After hours of researching online, and even taking the time to call the publisher, I finally decided to take a risk by buying this "Trade" version rather than the "College Version," offered here on Amazon and in our school's bookstore. Rest assured! This book is EXACTLY the same as the "College Version," but it doesn't include the CulinarE Companion CD (which our school does not utilize anyway)! I even had the instructors at school ask the publisher about the differences, and they admitted that there are none! All of the recipes and page numbers match up identically. Save yourself the $36+ dollars and buy this version instead of getting ripped off by a marketing scam to get more money out of students by calling a book the "College Version" - I'm glad I did!We are just getting into the book, so I can't offer too much of an opinion, but from what I've seen so far, I'm impressed! I just wanted to add my review so that hopefully another student like myself can save some money. I hope it helps!

In simple and clear English prose (which seems to befuddle the food industry in general), Wayne Gisslen provides an excellent overview of and introduction to the food industry. I had to use this textbook for the culinary skills course I was taking, and it supplemented well my cooking labs. Because it's such a big book and it's almost encyclopediac in nature I would have never considered buying it if I were not taking a culinary skills course.

This is my text book for a class I am taking in culinary called Basic Prep. I thought I knew a lot about cooking, boy was I wrong. If you want to learn how to be a professional chef this is the book you need. Not only does it teaches you all the in's and out's of culinary cooking but also has lots of recipes to try it on. I highly recommend it.