Six Basic Cooking Techniques

Jennifer Clair has made the perfect technique book for home cooks to learn or refresh their kitchen skills without having to leave their home! The photos are excellent and very helpful, with dazzling pics of ingredients, techniques, and finished recipes. The finished products are a useful range- from fancy dinner level to basic comfort food.

This is a lovely book! Surprisingly complex for such a simple idea (six basic techniques after all) and only 114 pages. It is loaded with very clear and crisp photos and lots of delicious looking recipes that are great for beginners or just those who want a basic guide for their kitchen. I really like how it combines lessons with applicable recipes and not just random things, so it actually works as a teaching aide. Overall this is a great book and I totally recommend it for a good kitchen foundation.

Really wonderful book for beginners. The instructions are very well written and the formatting of the book is really nice. (I love the tips and aside notes!) The recipes that come with it sound awesome. Would definitely recommend as a household book.

This wonderful little book, if anything, undersells itself on just how much information it has to share with home cooks who wants to work on a few of their fundamentals. The first chapter on knife work alone makes this an excellent addition to any cookbook collection.

Six Basic cooking techniques is ideal for people who just start out cooking and for all who want to bring their cooking skills to the next level. With "only" 122 pages this book is packed with valuable information for the home cook.
I learned so much just from reading the Knife Skills chapter at the beginning of the book. Without any formal training it took me a few years to figure out how to best take care of my kitchen knives and I am still not chopping my vegetables the way I should. If I only had a book like this when I was 20! If you want to choose the right knives and use them correctly right from the beginning, buy this book.
For each skill that is taught you will find detailed instructions which are accompanied by easy to understand step-by-step photographs. The instructions are followed by recipes for practicing the skills. The recipes can be combined to a whole meal and because of their high quality they can be used for entertaining guests once the skills are mastered. Alone the picture of Hanger Steak with Fresh Green Herb Sauce at the beginning of the book makes my mouth water. If you combine this with roasted vegetables you are set for success.
Throughout the book you will find many great tips from chefs that will make a huge difference once you apply them. There are even tips on how to minimize clean up after cooking.
The book also lists the basic kitchen equipment no kitchen should be without. This is very helpful for people who stock up their first kitchen from scratch. Each item is functional and of good quality. If you follow this list you will save a lot of money in the long run and you will refrain from buying many useless kitchen gadgets that only clutter up kitchen drawers. Even if you already have a fully stocked kitchen, you can benefit from this chapter by paring down your kitchen to the items you really need.
I wish I could take one of the cooking classes offered in New York. Reading this book and cooking all its recipes comes very close to that and I hope there will be more books to come from Jennifer Clair.

Although I’ve been cooking for many years, sometime I lack the confidence to branch out of my regular recipes. So reading Six Basic Cooking Techniques was a good review of basic skills and was also full of tips and tricks that I previously didn’t know. The cookbook is from Home Cooking New York (HCNY) where the precepts of this book are taught as a class there (the most popular one nonetheless). The topics studied in the book are knife skills, meats and pan sauces, roasted vegetables, blanched green vegetables, and leafy greens. Each section goes through a thorough explanation of how to prepare that type of food and then lists several recipes that showcase the skills taught in that section. Additionally, the book contains a lot of interesting information including answers to questions previously asked by students at the classes at HCNY, ideas on how to substitute ingredients, detailed explanation of ingredient preparation, equipment needed and its maintenance. This would be great book for beginning cooks and a good gift idea for new graduates or first-time homeowners.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

I really enjoy this book and will definitely use as a reference in the future. I've been cooking for many years, but still learned a lot, enjoyed the great pictures and student questions. Time well spent!

Get this book--quick! Whether you're a beginning cook or experienced chef--here is a valuable resource for your kitchen library. With clear explanations and vivid color photos, you'll never have to wonder how to prepare the most basic dishes. The premise is simple--as the title suggests, the focus is on six basic concepts. Contents: how to use your chef's knife, cooking meat to perfection, making pan sauces, roasting veggies, blanching green vegetables, and cooking leafy greens. With lots of tasty recipes and helpful Q's and A's from students, this book has everything you need to begin creating culinary delights in your home kitchen. Five stars.

It’s amazing how such a small book as Six Basic Cooking Techniques: Culinary Essentials for the Home Cook can contain so much valuable information for anyone who cooks – beginners to experienced. Jennifer Clair has outdone herself in this excellent must-have cookbook.

The six chapters are Making Friends with your Chef’s Knife, Cooking Meat to Perfection, Making Pan Sauces, Roasting Vegetables, Blanching Green Vegetables, and Cooking Leafy Greens. Believe it or not, those six chapters cover almost everything we need to know when cooking, and the information contained in them is invaluable. There is also a chapter on Recommended Kitchen Equipment.

Although this book doesn’t have dozens of recipes, the recipes featured are new, fairly innovative, and most importantly, very good. We loved the Pan-Roasted Lemon-Rosemary Chicken (it is now an easy, go-to for busy nights), and the Pork Chops with Grape-Rosemary Reduction also makes good use of the rosemary in the garden. There are several recipes for vegetables that make them exciting, like the String Beans with Lemon Gremolata, Garlicky Broccoli Rabe, and her recipe for Tuscan Kale with Almonds and Raisins takes the trendy kale to an ethereal level. The book is worth purchasing for the information on cooking vegetables and leafy greens alone.

Meredith Heuer’s photographs are absolutely phenomenal, and leave no doubt as to what things should look like. They especially are great in the chapter on using a chef’s knife, which anyone who cooks should read and study.

All told, this is a book that should be on every cookbook shelf, and one that will (or should be) used constantly. It makes a perfect wedding gift for a young bride, and is also a good gift for anyone who wants to become a better cook. Sometimes simple is best, and this one has enough good, simple information to help everyone.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.