Chef's Secrets: Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters

Well I do not work as a chef, I just love to cook and one day I would love to cook for a living and potentially own my own restraunt. I am currently just teaching myself to cook and prepare food because I am not going to culinary school because I don't want to cook in a 5 star restraunt. I want to cook for down to earth hardworking people and make them some good old homemade comfort food. So I am looking for some tips on how to get the most out of every ingredient and every meal. I want to know the tips and tricks that you would only learn by cooking next to a great pro chef and this book teachs me all I need to know about the "tricks" of the trade.

`Chef's Secrets' is a cleverly edited book by caterer and writer Francine Maroukian, subtitled `Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters' which has much to offer, some old chestnuts, and a few misguided suggestions. The most important aspect of the book is how much you can take away from it upon a single cover to cover reading. I say this because like similar question and answer books, the text is not well organized for hunting down the answer to a particular question, as all sections are more anecdotal than they are systematic in content. Thus, the greatest advantage is gained by reading the book from cover to cover, from front to back, and absorbing a few new, useful techniques. In doing this, I found much that was interesting in a `by the way' fashion. The first thing that struck me was the large number of contributors who have graduated from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and Johnson and Wales. I believe over half graduated from an American culinary educational program, with these two institutions leading the list. I am certain this is a really major change in the culinary scene over the last 50 years. The second interesting observation was the number of times Wolfgang Puck was mentioned as a model of American culinary innovation and inspiration. This may come as quite a blow to the egos of Jeremiah Tower and the opinions of Jim Villas who tend to minimize Puck's serious contribution to the American culinary scene. That Alice Waters is mentioned once is no surprise. That Wolfgang is mentioned twice, more than any other living chef, is notable. The third interesting observation is the number of people who seem to have apprenticed with either Ducasse or Boulud. These two staging sponsors lead the list by a wide margin. All of this makes reading the contributors' thumbnail biographies and `More Secrets' sidebars interesting, but this is not the main show. The primary point of the book is the eighty-two chapters, contain 82 culinary `tips' from 82 recognized experts among the American culinary elite. While the seven (7) `culinary masters' named on the cover are well known, the remaining 75 contributors are no slouches. All are serious master chefs or thoroughly vetted writers active today. And, it appears that all of these tips were solicited from the contributors directly by the editor. They are not extracted from the contributors' printed works. The tips are also laid out in great detail. Many are supported by illustrations; however, several of illustrations in these storyboards are less revealing than they might be. One of the first problems I found with the book is that many of the `insider techniques' are pretty common knowledge to any foodie who has read a few good cookbooks and who dotes on the better Food Network shows such as `Good Eats', `Molto Mario', and `Sara's Secrets' by contributor Sara Moulton. Some good examples of this are the tips on how to peel ginger with a teaspoon, how to defrost meat, how to joint a c