The Culinary Institute of America Cookbook: A Collection of Our Favorite Recipes for the Home Chef

Love this book. Written by CIA staff. Great recipes.

Got this book recently and I love it. Some of the recipes are so basic and simple, that it helps to understand how technique and basic ingredients create flavor. I usually like to buy specialty books for variety, like books on soups, and another book for meat, another one for fish. I'm not a big fan for books that cover various styles, but this book is excellent in all the areas. Highly recommend.

It's really a good reference cookbook for home chef or even professional. You can find the right recipes for light meals or for formal occacions. I highly recommend to have one in the kitchen.

Pictures to show certain techniques. This book is great to read through. I used it to get a better feel for different styles of food. Book is organized by course not style so I had fun flipping through thinking about ideas. Tons of easy recipes, good book if you're only going to have a few cookbooks around.

My husband is a professional chef, and he attended the CIA, so we have just about every book that they have published. I always have a hard time with their cookbooks, as they are geared more towards a professional chef, and not a "normal" cook. I LOVE this book though, as it is geared towards cooking at home in a professional manner. The buttermilk pancakes are the best pancakes that I have ever had! I have pulled this book off the shelf several times over the past few weeks, and every recipe has been perfect. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, no matter what level you cook at.

The Culinary Institute of America is one of America's premier cooking schools. Their most recent cookbook has some exceptional recipes and techniques, all practiced and perfected by both students and instructors at the school. Aimed at the home chef, this book has almost 400 recipes of varying complexity, but the clear instructions should keep them usable by most readers. There is a short (maybe too short) chapter on pre-cooking preparation and eight chapters of different courses or types of dishes. Most of the book are recipes with single color illustrations, with full-color finished dish photography inserted every 70 pages or so. There are a number of comfort foods (Beer Can Chicken) in addition to more complex, multi-step dishes (Berbere Grilled Leg of Lamb). There are some great techniques and extra information inserted into the relevant recipes and explanations of the ingredients or regional influences. This book isn't a day-to-day cookbook, but can be used regularly, and one you will look forward to using for years to come.