Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks: 5,000 Ingenious Kitchen Hints, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Solutions

by David Joachim

Now in paperback: the most comprehensive home-cooking reference book ever-with 5,000 fabulous insider kitchen tips and over 900 great-tasting recipes from food experts across the country.

Whether you cook a little or a lot, plain or fancy, healthy or hearty, for your family or just for fun, this is the one book that does it all-faster and easier than you ever dreamed. Find out how to choose the juiciest oranges, perk up limp asparagus, rescue any over-salted dish, and crack an egg with one hand. Get down-to-earth answers to the cooking questions that you face every day. Or, if you're simply tired of the same old meals night after night, discover hundreds of easy recipes that put great-tasting food on your table in a jiffy.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Reference, Nonfiction, Food

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dan Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

What makes it useful? It's definitely a valuable resource for new cooks. Personally, when I was starting out in my new kitchen, I hadn't the slightest clue what a reduction sauce was, and a friend sent me a recipe calling for one without explaining exactly how I was supposed to go about making it. I was saved by this book, which has a simple explanation of reduction sauces that was very easy to find. This book provides simple explanations of the cooking terms and techniques that a lot of recipe books (and friends) assume you already understand.
It's also handy when it comes to creating the last-minute menu. Murphy's Law states that you'll only have last-minute supper guests when your refrigerator is mostly empty. (Okay, so it doesn't exactly say that, but humor me.) But if I'm going to have last-minute guests and I find that I have plenty of pasta on hand, the pasta entry in this book can give me ideas on how to make a meal out of it. There is a chart listing the best types of sauces to use for each pasta shape, as well as recipes for artichoke pasta sauce, fettuccine alfredo, macaroni and beef, shell pasta with lentils, and so on and so on.
My misgiving about the book is that, as I've gotten better and better at cooking, I use it less and less often. If simple and quick homestyle cooking is your forte, you'll probably like the recipes, but they didn't work too well with my fancier tastes. All in all, I find myself picking up this book when I need to whip up something easy at the last minute, and I would highly recommend it if that's your goal

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting concept is at the base of this book. It provides hundreds of recipes--as a part of what is described as 5,000 "ingenious kitchen hints, secrets, shortcuts, and solutions."

Coverage is from A to Z. Some examples of helpful hints. On page 3, substitutes for alcohol in recipes are noted. Instead of one tablespoon of sherry or Madeira, use one tablespoon of apple juice. Another item under A is the choice of the right apple for the right purpose. For example, Golden Delicious apples can be used for sauce, baking, salads, and eating; McIntosh apples are best for eating and sauce; and so on. And immediately after these hints, there is a nice recipe for spicy applesauce (using McIntosh apples). On page 75, for those readers addicted to Buffalo Chicken Wings, there is a recipe for Buffalo Hot Sauce. While I would prefer old-fashioned Tabasco Sauce, the recipe calls for somewhat milder hot pepper sauces, for palates that aren't as willing to burn. In addition, there are a couple recipes for using the sauce other than on chicken wings. What about making Mango Salsa? Page 268 features a simple, easy to make recipe. Polenta? Pages 377-378 provide a veritable "how to do it" mini-manual, including what to do if you err in making it (such as burning the bottom of the polenta). On Page 531, you can read how to prepare vegetables for grilling. For asparagus, snap off the tough ends and use direct heat to grill the vegetable. And so on and so on. A to Z? What about getting the zest from oranges to use in recipes? Here is one of the few places that I have run across this "how you do it" tidbit.

All in all, a very nice and useful volume.

[I Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book. On reading the title I didn't hold out much hope, thinking it would be one of these publications that have short, one sentence suggestions which are either already known or something one simply wouldn't bother doing (with a few useful tips interspersed amongst the chaff), however how wrong I was! The suggestions are genuinely useful - ALL of them!

It might help to have a basic knowledge of cooking to understand terms, reasons for doing things and ways to apply techniques, but really it's very easy to understand and I should think everyone will benefit from reading it - even advance cooks could no doubt find a handy tip in there somewhere!

[Elyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for all cooks, but especially for non-experienced cooks who need a quick reference guide. This book is presented in alphabetical order by food subject. For instance, if you look up broccoli, you will learn how the basics (i.e. how to select it, store it, and cook it) as well as several recipes. There is also a handy conversion and substituion guide in the front and back covers.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overviews of how to select, prep, wash, store, etc., all sorts of foods, and also information on types of cooking and preparing, such as sections on blenders, grilling, and high-altitude cooking. Nice feature boxes--"Four ways to use an avocado", "The Stages of Whipped Egg Whites", various recipes, illustrations.

[Jayme · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent reference book in a dictionary format from "acidity" to "zucchini". It's a nice complement to Chef Todd Mohr's coarse cooking podcast.

[Rhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A handy reference guide for basic food questions/tips - I've somewhat outgrown it, but I do occasionally dip into it for quick help.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference for inexperienced cooks.

[Melissa Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good and practical tips and tricks that I will be using. I just have to go back through the book and find the tips to write them down.