What do you think?
Rate this book
The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine
In 1984, Dorothy Cann Hamilton founded The French Culinary Institute with a singular She wanted to create a culinary school that combined classic French techniques with American inventiveness in a fast-paced curriculum. Since then, the FCI has gone on to become one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, boasting a list of alumni that includes the likes of Matthew Kenney and Bobby Flay and a faculty of such luminaries as Jacques Pepin, Andrea Immer, and Jacques Torres. But perhaps the greatest achievement of the FCI is its Total Immersionsm curriculum, in which the classes prepare a student to cook in any type of kitchen for any kind of cuisine.
Now, for the first time ever, all the best that the FCI has to offer can be found in a single sumptuous volume. The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine presents the six- and nine-week courses taught at the FCI that cover all 250 basic techniques of French cooking. Along with more than 650 full-color photographs, the book features more than 200 classic recipes as well as new recipes developed by some of the school's most famous graduates. Complete with insider tips and invaluable advice from the FCI, this will be an indispensable addition to the library of serious home cooks everywhere.
Now, for the first time ever, all the best that the FCI has to offer can be found in a single sumptuous volume. The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine presents the six- and nine-week courses taught at the FCI that cover all 250 basic techniques of French cooking. Along with more than 650 full-color photographs, the book features more than 200 classic recipes as well as new recipes developed by some of the school's most famous graduates. Complete with insider tips and invaluable advice from the FCI, this will be an indispensable addition to the library of serious home cooks everywhere.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 24, 2009
My husband got this for me for Christmas. I was little worried there would be duplication because most of what I cook is Italian or French inspired.
However, this is an OUTSTANDING book for the techniques. It really has enormous value in any serious home cook's kitchen. I used to think the CIA book was the go-to book for serious stuff, but this book is so much more approachable and easy to follow. Not a recipe has failed out of this one.
However, this is an OUTSTANDING book for the techniques. It really has enormous value in any serious home cook's kitchen. I used to think the CIA book was the go-to book for serious stuff, but this book is so much more approachable and easy to follow. Not a recipe has failed out of this one.
September 2, 2016
A very in-depth book about French classic cooking techniques, and very professionally presented.
Neat for anyone interested in classic cooking, and with a good vocabulary and photos.
Excellent: spilling tips and secrets from professional kitchens and cooks, showing you clearly the techniques from scratch.
Great for showing a variety of meats and how to cook them too. A lovely, big cookbook.
A bit less excellent: yet there are so many old-fashioned recipes here (with curiously just French onion soup missing. What I meant by old-fashioned is the shuffles etc from the era when baked alaskas were presented in all the cookbooks, and before), and so many rouges and buttery-floury sauces and with meat and bacon in everything (yes, in vegetable soups and other dishes one would wish would remain meat-free) that I feel a bit uneasy. If you don't eat meat(s), or have to look for non-wheat alternatives for flours, not so great.
A lovely book to browse and to try recipes from, yet there was not a single recipe that would have made me wish to try it out of the book. (Is it just me? A similar book, The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià by Ferran Adrià, also shows all sorts of classic, not only French techniques and classic dishes, yet from Adrià's book I've tried and loved several. Many of those can easily be modified to have a different flour as wheat is not the main ingredient in about any dish, and there were plenty of dishes for those of us not so enthusiasts in butchering)
3.5 *
Neat for anyone interested in classic cooking, and with a good vocabulary and photos.
Excellent: spilling tips and secrets from professional kitchens and cooks, showing you clearly the techniques from scratch.
Great for showing a variety of meats and how to cook them too. A lovely, big cookbook.
A bit less excellent: yet there are so many old-fashioned recipes here (with curiously just French onion soup missing. What I meant by old-fashioned is the shuffles etc from the era when baked alaskas were presented in all the cookbooks, and before), and so many rouges and buttery-floury sauces and with meat and bacon in everything (yes, in vegetable soups and other dishes one would wish would remain meat-free) that I feel a bit uneasy. If you don't eat meat(s), or have to look for non-wheat alternatives for flours, not so great.
A lovely book to browse and to try recipes from, yet there was not a single recipe that would have made me wish to try it out of the book. (Is it just me? A similar book, The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià by Ferran Adrià, also shows all sorts of classic, not only French techniques and classic dishes, yet from Adrià's book I've tried and loved several. Many of those can easily be modified to have a different flour as wheat is not the main ingredient in about any dish, and there were plenty of dishes for those of us not so enthusiasts in butchering)
3.5 *
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews