Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a self-taught home chef. Despite learning much on my own over the years, I wanted slightly more information on technique and skill than can often be seen in cooking videos and TV shows. In comes "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute of America, or CIA. Since this book also serves as the CIA's text book, be warned, it is 1200 pages long. It is heavy and you'll definitely get a work out carrying it around. That aside, it is a stunningly beautiful book. It is filled with pages of incredibly useful information, such as various cooking methods, different proteins and their cuts, how to identify grains and spices, how to cook what, and so much more - really, everything you need to know. There are gorgeous illustrations to go along with the charts given, which makes it very easy to follow along and keep it all straight. Additionally, the back half of the book gives you recipe after recipe on basics all the way to complicated dishes. Keep in mind, since this is a text book, the recipes are scaled for 10 servings or more. So, if you are using this to cook for large parties, it's GREAT. If you don't need to cook for more than yourself and one other person, be prepared to learn how to scale down (learning is never a bad thing). I absolutely love this book and can't recommend it enough. Considering the amount of information and the size of the book, the price really can't be beat. Perfect for the chef-in-training or someone, like me, just looking to hone and enhance their knowledge.