Learning to Cook with Jp: Vol II

As we try to cook clean food and move away from adulterated processed food, Jacques Pepin's secrets come in handy! He tells you how to easily make better for cheaper, and all of it as clean as you wish.

This work was split by the publisher into two separately bound parts, due to size: Volume I: Stocks, soups, eggs, shellfish and fish, poultry, game and meat. Volume II: Charcuterie and salads, breads, pastries, cakes, and other desserts. The combined work is widely considered to be Jacques Pepin's culinary masterwork. This is a rock solid instructional book (published in 2 parts due to size) that's lavishly photographed with full color procedural photos demonstrating a wide assortment of classical culinary techniques. There's something in these books for cooks of every level of experience ... both for elite professional chefs for whom classic sauces and dramatic garnishes are vital pips to have on one's lapel, as well as for rustic home-cooks like me who wish to expand their repertoire of skills. That aside, let me jump right into the book's strengths, along with a few mixed marks and personal nits. Strengths: ¨ Encyclopedic Scope: There's a broad wealth of expert techniques in just about every category of the culinary arts ... meat, fish, poultry, charcuterie, vegetables, baking, basic butchery, even infused sprits, and cleaning game birds and rabbits. The core culinary ethnicity of this work is primarily Classic French, followed in descending order of focus, by American, British, and Italian. ¨ Procedural photos: The principal focus of this book was instructional, and the author's commitment to that shines though, as both volumes together include roughly 1,300 helpful color photos. I'd have liked to see some better proportional sizing of some of the photos covering more visually complicated steps (which aren't done adequate justice in small photos), but overall this book is a substantial leap beyond nearly all comparable books. I've seen too many books relying on clueless hand models & food photographers, and having a book in which a master chef does ALL the procedural photo work is a welcome change. ¨ Section indices: I'm glad to see that the author included recipe indexes at the front of each chapter. Minor Nit: Their right margin is pulled in too far, causing many of the titles to wrap around ... which makes it harder to read at a glance. ¨ Rear index: Each column of the index in the back has top-level continuations up top (ex: "Oysters {cont'd}"), so that you don't have to waste time scrolling back and forth to figure out what sub-item you opened to. Mixed Marks: ¨ Cooking Time/Temp: I am very grateful that the author shares my disdain for the dreadfully overprotective USDA doneness charts for red meat, and I am in awe of how consistently all the meat in his photos is always perfectly rosy rare and perfectly rested for maximum juiciness. However, the author is very inconsistent in mentioning what the correct target doneness temperatures actually are - he clearly knows them, but his books often neglect to mention them. All too often, his recipes only mention how long to cook something, and at what temperature, and how lo