Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am amazed to see how many people had the nerve to review this book on advance copy without even using the book or viewing the DVD! It is making me very suspicious of the Amazon Vine program and now all reviews on Amazon. I received this book as a gift, I did not intend to buy it. I didn't intend to buy it because I have Pepin's Complete Techniques, Fast Food My Way, Sweet Simplicity, his memoir and I don't know what else in my collection of over 450 cookbooks. I mean, do I need another one? I didn't think so. Well, I was wrong, wrong, wrong! For starters, the book is made to be abused. A thick plastic cover that isn't destroyed when you wipe it clean. And every page is solidly stocked with recipes interspersed with sweet watercolor/drawings like cookbooks used to have. The complaints here over the lack of photos just don't apply as these dishes are so simple that any way they look when you finish them is probably exactly what they look like for everyone else. What happened to the time when people liked good food to look like it was made in an auberge and not a 5-star restaurant? What happened to the time when Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was just fine with no photos? As for the DVD, it is PURE GOLD even if you never use a recipe. You want to know what it looks like to do basic things right, like truss a chicken with or without a needle, shuck an oyster or clam with minimal trouble, use up artichokes that are spoiling, make a caramel cage or angel hair nest for a dessert? Just watch the magnificent videos of a chef with rare confidence in every technique he demonstrates, as if it were as easy as folding a napkin. Finally, the recipes -- everything from basic fish and chicken recipes to eggplant fritters or grilled rabbit to duck liver pate to escargot to blanquette de veau to dacquoise to cherry bread pudding. Tons of soups and vegetable dishes as well. Here I must mention that it has been on my mind for years that he had a Potagerie in midtown Manhattan but hadn't really revealed those recipes. I believe he has here. Yet nothing prepared with a million steps, nothing explained in a complicated way, or even a pompous way (e.g., Cook's Illustrated) from a clear thinker who understands the big picture, as though he is the culmination of what Escoffier intended. To give you an idea, when I read Cook's Illustrated recipes I get the impression they are in a lab and they never get the room dirty. When I read this book, I can't wait to get to work and make a big mess! In other words, a humble book by a great chef and teacher. Who doesn't need anyone to write a positive review, really, but look how many people can't resist -- it's just that good.