Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I realize I'm going to be raked across the coals for daring to review this book negatively, because it seems like everybody else loved it. Well. I didn't, and I'll explain my opinion. This is only my opinion. The book teaches you how to memorize basic cooking techniques by using cute, catchy mnemonic rhymes. For sauteing: "Add butter or oil, swirl it around, add spiced meat, cook until browned" -- stuff like that (not an exact quote, but you get the idea). It's not a bad idea, but it's obviously for beginners. If you didn't know how to put some oil in a pan, add a piece of meat, and leave it there until it browns, then you're a beginner. There's no question there, right? So it can be assumed that this book is aimed at beginning cooks. That's fine, and that's not my problem. My problem is that a lot of the other stuff in the book is totally worthless for a beginner. Actually, I ran across a bunch of information that's worthless for me -- and I've been cooking for fifteen years. I won't go over it chapter by chapter, but here's one example of what I mean. There's a recipe for making a quick cheese quesadilla. The instructions begin by stating to put a skillet onto high heat and wait until it begins to smoke. I don't know about you, but my skillets generally do not smoke when they're empty. I'd be pretty worried if an empty skillet suddenly began emitting puffs of smoke when placed onto the burner. I honestly don't understand what the author means here -- either she omitted the part about putting some oil or butter into the pan, or she intends for you to use a heavily seasoned cast iron skillet that hasn't been cleaned very well (which almost no beginner is going to own). Since she doesn't state either of those qualifiers, I really don't know how she expects an empty skillet to smoke. I do know that anyone unfamiliar with cooking is going to be waiting an awfully long time staring at a skillet on the burner, waiting for smoke that doesn't come, and assuming that they've done something wrong. Assuming that you own a magic skillet which begins smoking after a few moments, the recipe next states to place the flour tortilla into the skillet, quickly pile shredded cheese and other ingredients onto it, and cook until the bottom of the tortilla begins to brown nicely. That would be the bottom of the tortilla that's in the skillet, yes. You know, the one that's currently piled with cheese. Maybe your magic smoking skillet is also made of translucent glass so that you can tell when the bottom of the tortilla has begun to brown. For someone who ran a test kitchen for so long, "until the bottom begins to brown" is an incredibly poor way to instruct how long to cook something in a skillet! The entire book is full of similar examples. I can tell from reading the recipes that the author is an excellent cook, but she's very bad at explaining her techniques in a way that would allow somebody to follow along. I think she could benefit from taking an inexperienced cook into her test kitchen, giving them this book, and watching as they attempt to follow recipes that make no sense or instruct things that are physically impossible (gauging the browning of a tortilla whose bottom surface you can't see, etc). That way she'd realize when something needs to be explained in a different manner. It can be really tough to view a recipe from the eyes of someone who DOESN'T have the experience you do, who doesn't take certain techniques for granted. As I said, the recipes in here are excellent. It's the instructions and explanations that pull the book down. If you need a sing-song rhyme to remember how to dress a green salad, then you're not going to be able to follow 50% of what the book instructs. And it's a shame because you'll be missing out on some of the great foods this book has to offer.