French Cookbook Reviews: Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques
Reviews of Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques: the indispensable reference demonstrates over 700 illustrated techniques with 2,000 photos and 200 recipes
I picked up this book when I could barely boil an egg and this book taught me most of what I needed to know (although I still can't make a good chocolate mousse, despite the claim that this is the simplest desert possible).
Review #2
Falls short of expectations - a "Coffee Table Cookbook"
This isn't a terrible book, in fact, in some ways it is a nice book. But I was a very disappointed in the level of the material. Based on the title, I expected an Escoffier, Larousse, or perhaps something on the level of James Peterson's "Sauces". What I got was strictly Time-Life or Reader's Digest. Don't misunderstand, it is a lovely book. And perhaps a few years ago I would have been pleased to have it. But it is long on nice pictures and recipes, and very short on the sort of advanced level teaching I expect of a book that claims to be the "complete techniques" of the prestigious Cordon Bleu. If you are a good home cook who is just getting started in broadening your horizons, you will probably like this book. If you have already begun to broaden them, I think you will find this to be a watered down pretense of what it claims to be, only slightly more than an Americanized coffee table book, intended more as a "gift book" to impress the uninitiated, than as a comprehensive treatise to educate serious cooks in the techniques the title purports to offer. It is really too bad, I would very much like to have a book which actually contains what the title of this book promises, but which its' contents fail to deliver. If the title were more honest, perhaps "Illustrated Cordon Bleu recipes for the American Kitchen" or some such, I would rate the book more highly. Instead, they chose to over promise, and under deliver, hence the low rating.
Review #3
I finally found the most amazing cookbook, with photos and techniques
I am beyond thrilled with this book. I started cooking shortly after I got married (had tons of new Le Crueset pots that needed to be used). I have purchased 5 or 10 cookbooks and I wish that i had started with this one instead. You will not need another!
My only complaint (and it is small) is that the descriptions do not always match up with the photos in the first section of the book. This was particularly apparent in the discussion about knives (there are so many, I wish their were photo references for each one).
Overall - excellent. An incredibly useful book. And I have made both the English custard and the Coq Au Vin - both were phenomenal!
Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques: the indispensable reference demonstrates over 700 illustrated techniques with 2,000 photos and 200 recipes
