COOKBOOK: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine ~The French Culinary Institute

I could have saved $40,000 and 6 months, endless cuts and burns, bad hair days, bruised egos, fashion disasters, gas that could peel the paint off the side of a barn, and having cats follow me home because I smelled like a mackerel!

As y'all know, I attended the full time 6-month culinary program at the FCI a few years ago (and yes I experienced all of the above... in abundance!) so when I saw this book come out, I had to buy it. Like James Peterson's Sauces, this book too could ballast a boat - all 500 pages! - but it is also a veritable treasure chest, a culinary Fort Knox if you will, of all things cooking. If Techniques is the only cookbook you ever purchase, you'd be set.

Techniques is almost verbatim our first quarter (6 week) curriculum. Really! Word for word, gram for gram, ingredient for ingredient. I even pulled out my notebook and compared the Sauces section. Exactly the same. Our first quarter was spent learning these 250 techniques. (Before I went to cooking school I burned water! I still do, just less often...) We then spent the next 3 quarters refining and practicing and expanding on all these techniques. So if you don't want to sacrifice 6 months and $40,000 and the above mentioned humiliations to attend cooking school, then buy this book and cook every recipe over and over and you will become an excellent cook. If you master all the skills and techniques in the book, you can walk into any kitchen (even in France!) and hold your own as this is the foundation of classic cooking and the language of the kitchen.

Hints and tips from the Deans and Chef Instructors pepper the book in every technique with tidbits such as "...cook beans at a constant low temperature and cool them in their cooking liquid. ~ Dean Alain Sailhac" or "Do not cover a chicken after roasting or it will steam and make the meat taste reheated." ~Dean Jacques Pepin". It's like getting a personal cooking lesson from some of the world's the greatest chefs. A few that I'm not sure made it into the book that will I will never for include, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean ~Chef Henri Viain" and "What you put in the pot, you get out of the pot. ~Chef Pascal Beric" and God love them both for their dedication to their students.

Techniques teaches the 250 classic foundation techniques including stocks, sauces, soups, salads, eggs, potatoes, poultry, beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, shellfish, marinades, stuffings, organ meats (my least favorite day in cooking school!), pastry dough, creams & custards, crepes, brioche, frozen desserts, meringues, mousses, and soufflés (my favorite day in cooking school! :) As I browsed through the book, 6 months of my life flashed before my eyes, intermittently cringing while remembering slicing off the tip of my thumb on the mandoline or burning my wrist on the convection oven and laughing out loud picturing the over-whipped genoise, splattered pommes anna, and over salted poulet roti grandmere dubbed "inedible" by the chefs.

Many if not all of the recipes in my humble little blog, such as the ones here and here, are based on the foundation I learned in cooking school. Techniques also explains in great detail terms in a kitchen, names of equipment and pots and pans (and the difference between stainless steel and aluminum, cast iron, non-stick and the benefits and pit falls of each), food safety, knifes and knife skills, and professional kitchen management.

If you want to become an great home chef or are considering or about to attend cooking school, I implore you to devour (pun intended) this book. If you learn all the techniques, or at least become familiar with them, then you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the game. Bon courage et bon appetit!

Comments

[Cassoulet Cafe]

Merci beaucoup for the info on the book! I am going to get this! By the way, thank you so much for visiting my blog and for emailing me. I'm so sorry I took so long responding. Hoping to catch up soon....
Sincerely,
Cassoulet Cafe
PS. To answer your question, we are back in the USA (PacNW area) but are going to Toulouse, France for a month in March.

[Lil]

right, so another book to go onto my shopping list... if i ever find the time to do anything anymore nowadays, that is...

hope you are well :D

[MissMeliss]

This book looks fascinating. I'm adding to my wishlist, for when I can take time to make food more complicated than chili instead of spending all my time writing.

Although, I finally learned how to roast a chicken. :)

[laura]

Meliss - that’s no small feat cherie. In the book it says: “It is said that a great chef is measured by the ability to roast a perfect chicken — a seemingly easy task that is just the opposite....” :) just made chili today for superbowl - i could eat it every day in the winter! bon appetit! :) L

[laura]

hey lil! forget the rest, this is the only one you'll ever need! :)

bonjour cassoulet! great to hear from you. have a great trip and say "bonjour" to france for me! bon voyage!

[janelle]

lol! Oh man, and I am about to begin culinary school. Such timing to read your post:). I will have to look into the book!

[Jann Mumford]

I will try to find this book and save 40,000$ Thanks for the referral~

[Michele]

I went through the program at the FCI, too. I have to say, my reaction to this book was a little less charitable than yours. It felt like I'd apprenticed myself to a magician who'd gone on to publish a book on how to saw women in half.

[Jann Mumford]

I am still looking for this book~

[Niall Harbison]

Hi there

I just found your blog and must say it is a good read with excellent design. The pics are what make it so good, always love seeing good food pics! I started as a blogger myself and have just started www.ifoods.tv which is a place for us foodies to swap photos, recipes and cooking videos. I just found that when I was blogging that not enough people were seeing my posts and i wanted to make a place where everybody could find all our great content easily! Check it out and let me know what you think! Make sure to keep up the good work here, have just bookmarked you! Cheers!

[Johnna Knows Good Food]

Good idea...new techniques make things so much easier in cooking..

[justfoodnow]

I must have this book - must must must must. I pray that it is available here in Cape Town.

You have a really good blog so thanks so much for it. Been reading it for so long but this article on this book niggled me. Apart from Food & wine, books are my other weakness (I have three weaknesses only ..... errrr four). My children & granddaughter, Food & Wine, Books and art. I need nothing else in my life - those things I need.

[justfoodnow]

I adore your posts, I love this book review ..... frankly I think I just love this site. Thanks for it - it helps so much having something that I can just read and read and read .....

Keep it up .... so from Cape Town, South Africa - all the best wishes

[justfoodnow]

Your blog is not "humble" in the manner you intend! It is a celebration of food and I would give a lot to have a meal that you cooked!

Thanks for this book - unfortunately to find it here in Cape Town will be a mammoth task, made all the more difficult by my current situation, but I will move heaven and earth to try and get it since I have come to value your opinion on these matters.

Thanks again.