The New Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman

"The New Making of a Cook" is a handbook for good, hands-on cooking, offering a variety of styles. Madeleine explains each and every preparation and cooking technique worth knowing in today's kitchen, from julienning vegetables to roasting meats, from microwaving whole fish to baking bread, from deglazing a pan to boning a chicken, complete with step-by-step line drawings. For Madeleine, hand techniques still reign supreme over the machine; nothing can beat a cook's touch for determining when a cake is ready or when a steak is done, or a sharp eye to perceive when a sauce has achieved the perfect consistency. Madeleine takes the time to provide all the descriptive cues necessary for the cook to use his or her own determination as to whether it's time to move on to the next step or whether the dish is done. Understanding ingredients and how they react in combination or when subjected to heat is a big part of becoming an experienced cook. The New Making of a Cook tells the important whats and whys of cooking: What's the difference between mono- and polyunsaturated fats? What happens when fruits ripen? Why do egg whites stiffen when they are beaten? Knowing the answers to these and other questions will help the cook develop culinary judgment and the ability to troubleshoot a recipe.

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