Cookbooks are a dime a dozen. There are plenty of books out there that are filled with their fair share of mouth-watering recipes. What is rare is a book that tackles cooking from a conceptual and technical angle. Books like The Joy of Cooking or How to Cook Everything try to go beyond the typical cookbook and try to be kitchen manuals. But what those books are is cookbooks first, and books about how to cook second. The Professional Chef is culinary textbook akin to what you'd expect from an academic text for teaching a vocation.

As you might guess, the book approaches cooking as a profession. Culinary students will benefit from ample discussion not only of technique and cooking procedures, but also of the various other roles and skills demanded of chefs. For example, the book discusses the various systems and conventions of dividing labor in the kitchen, and describes the differences between an executive chef and a saucier chef. For those in culinary school or thinking about pursuing a culinary career or education, this book is perfect.

But for home cooks and cooking enthusiasts, don't assume that this book is not for you. If you're serious about cooking, even just as a hobby, there's something to be said about the comprehensive approach of learning techniques, terms, ingredients, and procedures in a structured way that proceeds from the simple to the complex--which is exactly what this book presents. It discusses and introduces the reader to nearly ever major ingredient and nearly every major cuisine. It's encyclopedic in the depth and breadth of the information within--much more so than the Joy of Cooking or similar books--and it gives the kind of technical training that one really needs in order to read, follow, alter, and otherwise truly understand recipes in the first place.

The recipes that are included--and there are many--include just about every major dish from every major cuisine. Goulash? Check. Béarnaise sauce? Check. Are dolmades your thing? It's in there. What about an authentic pad thai or summer roll? You'll find those too. What's great is that the text relates dishes so that similar dishes can be seen as progressions or alterations to basic techniques that are being covered. You learn how to braise, then you get various applications of that procedure from around the world. The text presents cooking from a truly global perspective, so students and readers won't find it difficult to tell how a single concept transcends dishes such as pilaf, risotto, cous cous, paella, pilua, or jambalaya and how the minor variations in technique and the focus on particular ingredients, flavors, and textures, makes these individual dishes what they are.

In short, you'll learn things in this book that you might not learn well or at all in any other book. The seriousness with which the text approaches cooking will benefit the home cook and help him or her to excel beyond the Rachel Rays and Paula Dean's of the world, while those aspiring to a future in the culinary arts will gain a solid introduction to the foundations of their chosen craft, discussing both the artform and the science and underlying mechanics of that artform. Everything from choosing equipment to the proper application of heat and a basic understanding of the physics behind it, will be found within these pages. The difference between this book and those aimed at home cooks is the difference between a college-level text on Spanish and a pocket guide of Spanish phrases. You might be able to quickly say "hello, my name is Pablo" or ask where the bathroom is, but you'll never really know the beauty of the language, nor ever really be able to understand it nor be able to say anything that hasn't already been laid out for you in that pocket guide if you lack a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals. Similarly, cooking is about more than recipes and incomplete knowledge... it's about methods, procedures, applications, techniques, ingredients, and the creative and artistic freedom to navigate within that framework in accordance with one's own style and flare.

Excellent resource for anyone interested in cooking. Techniques are clear, perfectly explained and illustrated.

This book was my first text book in culinary school. It is a very informative and an easy guide for anybody that interested in professional and non-professional cooking. I often find myself going back to this book as a reference on certain recipes, cooking method, and information. With the exception of baking, you should use this book as a guide in cooking because professional cooks don't usually measure everything to the "T". I find the recipes in this book are quite accurate and quite happy with the results.

The only bad thing about this book is the weight, but it's worth all the knowledge. I am very satisfied with this book and fully recommend it. If anybody would like to own just 1 cookbook, this is the one.

I bought the book to learn more about culinary arts and after beginning the book I couldn't put it down! I love food and this book explains the basics of how to cook; get different flavors and preparing foods correctly. Also offers extensive origins of what foods came from where! Great reference!

This is "the professional chef book." I you ever want to know the how's to and the what's, look no where else... is therein where you learn ...

This is the chef's bible. It has just about everything you could ever want to know about food and cooking! I would highly recommend for new culinary students!

I am a culinary student and we dont use this book but we should!! lots of great information for anyone who is learning to cook or who wants to tone up thier skills!!

This is not a cookbook, altho there are recipes. This is a "how to" book, and is very detailed. It goes over the different types of cuisines and elements there in, the different types of meats/seafood, how to properly cut things(explaining what a chiffonade is for example), store things, how to make your basic sauces, roast meats etc. The recipes at the end of every chapter are for 10 servings, and the ingredients are measured by weight generally (and liquids in volume). So this is really more a textbook, and to be used by the chef, and not a family cookbook. It is well written, and beautiful photos illustrate the book.

I am pleased to say that I found Amazon easy to work with. The book was sent quickly and arrived in excellent condition. It is a great sorce of information for anyone with a passion for cooking. I love it.

Thank You Amazon.com

for the food and baverege sector it si a plaesur to have týs kýnd of book

The Professional Chef is an indispensable kitchen reference for anyone serious about cooking. It covers the basics for many different world cuisines as well as different cooking techniques. It is no wonder that this is one of the CIA's best texts.

Excellent book. I don't get to cook often, but I love it and the science behind it. This book is everything and more you would every need to know for any cooking endeavor. Yes, it is very technically oriented, and the measurements are in awkward amounts, but the awe-inspiring content and recipes makes it a worth-while investment.

This cookbook is amazing. Really. I ordered this for my boyfriend's birthday, and he is the pickiest person I know. He said it's what he's always wanted. This book is great for beginners or someone who has been cooking for years. It has great photographs and easy to understand steps. It is divided into cuisine for different parts of the world, and also is divided into various groups of food (including photographs) such as greens, legumes, meats, fruits, vegetabels...with information about how to store, cut, simmer---anything you want. It's all in here. (My boyfriend was excited about the cuts of meat that were shown...I was more interested in the vegetarian aspects of it.) Nothing can top this.

The cover is also beautiful :)

Great recipes, very specific cooking and baking methods and explanations. For the professional--or the "wannabe", I recommend this one to everyone.

I have been looking for a book to help me make the leap from a so-so cook to a so-so chef, to be able to create my own dishes and free myself from recipes sometimes. My wife got me this book for Christmas, and while it has some good information on cooking techniques and other basics, it does not really live up to its reputation.

As other reviewers have noted, it is geared towards beginner chefs. This means: 1) people who have almost no knowledge about how cooked food arrives on their plate, 2) those interested in pursuing a career in restaurants. I thought the large scale recipes (gallons of stock; ten servings) wouldn't be a big problem, but it is much harder to scale down to family size than I thought. The "how-to" info is way too basic; if you watch Alton Brown's Good Eats on the Food Network regularly, you probably already know most of what is in the book, and Alton gives much more in depth knowledge, I think.

The book is more useful as an encyclopedia of food: sections on world cuisines and their central ingredients; breakdowns of meat cuts, fish varieties, grains, pastas, etc. and their properties and best uses. Stock and sauce making are particularly good sections also. For $44 I would say it is okay, but I don't think it is worth the full cover price. For that, get Good Eats on DVD.

I was uncertain if I should spend this much money on a cook book, eventhough it was half off the regular price, and it was well worth the investment! It will be a cook book that I will have for ever. It not only has fantastic receipe's but it also teaches you techniques and about certain foods. You will be thankful if you purchase it too.

Excellent online purchase experience! Easy to order, great cutomer Service. I got it when they said I would get it, I got what I ordered and I could not be happier with the product. I will recommend Amazon.com to all my friends. Thanks Amazon

As a recent graduate of the CIA's Career Discovery program, I look to this culinary "bible" all the time for recipes and ideas for menus. Using this book always reinforces the use of great techniques and the use of fresh ingredients in cooking.

Anyone who has the slightest interest in becoming a chef or wants to improve their techniques should get this book. It covers everything from actual pictures of "how to" prep most dishes to foods of different cultures. The book goes into great details about the rules of the kitchen, the type of tools a chef would need and has a easy "to go" index in the back to refer to specific foods and dishes. All inspiring chefs will enjoy this. Bon Appeitte!

The Professional Chef is a well-organized, fairly complete cooking text and a very beautiful book. It deserves its great reviews. However, On Cooking by Labensky and Hause is somewhat longer (and thus more complete) and contains much more detailed exposition and recipes than The Professional Chef. It is not as flashy as The Professional Chef: If you were in a book store trying to choose between the two in a short amount of time, The Professional Chef would probably command your purchase; however, I own both and every single time I look for information or recipes, On Cooking has much more complete information.

Some examples: In On Cooking, there is a whole chapter on knife skills, as compared to sections in The Professional Chef. On Cooking's recipes include nutrition information and generally consume one or more pages. In The Professional Chef, each recipe consists of a quarter-page worth of information, though many of them are (beautifully) typeset to fill an entire page, so many of the book's pages consist mostly of blank space. The Professional Chef's section on anatomy of eggs and identification of quality and freshness is a very brief affair while On Cooking has tables of information, charts, and illustrative drawings. Furthermore, in On Cooking, the information about eggs in general is located in the same chapter as everything else on eggs, whereas The Professional Chef is organized like a culinary curriculum: one learns about how to select eggs long before learning how to cook them, so the section on eggs themselves occurs toward the beginning of the book, while the chapter on how to cook them occurs at toward the end of the book.

On Cooking is the more expensive and less flashy (but by no means less well-illustrated) of the two but it really is a superior informational resource.

Excellent book not only gives procedure and formula but also has some excellent recipes. The professional chef is written for the professional or very advanced cook. Covers all aspects of the profession. Precisely written with beautiful photographs. The Culinary Institute of America has once again produced a wonderful reference tool.

Every serious cook should have this book in their kitchen. It is a major 'how to' reference.

If your a pro or just someone that cooks at home, this book will open up a new world.

It has great pictures, detail information and wonderful content. Every person who study to be a chef should have one. It is a luxury
to have this book

This books is worth buying online instead of purchasing it online.Its cheaper but its ahs the same content

This is a wonderfully informational book for aspiring chefs or "foodies" who enjoy cooking. I gives you basic knowledge and information to help you understand the cooking process and food selection. I would highly recommend this book!

Every cook should have this available. No recipe will be too difficult with this book to decipher it.

As a self-taught amateur "chef", I have been very pleased with this useful reference volume from CIA. While professionals may find this a bit rudimentary in its coverage, there is much of value for "the rest of us" who would love to go to culinary school but can't.

The first portion of the book is strictly for food-service professionals, with information on how to operate a restaurant kitchen. There is also a brief segment on the basic science of food preparation. The next portion discusses major cultural influences and cuisines from all areas of the world, including charts that summarize the key ingredients to be found in each culinary "dialect." The third portion, which I found extremely helpful as one without formal training, was an extensive photographic reference of nearly every type of ingredient you might run across in the kitchen, grouped by category.

The remaining two-thirds or so of the book is the recipe section, but it's more than just that. First, there is a detailed teaching segment on how to make stocks and sauces, "les fondes de cuisine," complete with step-by-step photos. This is of great importance since a very large number of the recipes to follow will use the stocks and sauces you make at this stage. From there, the recipes are categorized by the type of food or cooking method, such as meats & seafood, vegetables, braising and stewing, immersion cooking, etc. Each section opens with some helpful illustrated instruction relevant to that type of food or method.

In a nutshell, this book is both an excellent teaching tool for the uninitiated, and a handy reference for the professional. I would add only one caveat: all the recipe sizes assume restaurant use, with 10 servings being typical, so you'll need to adjust accordingly for smaller settings.

This book is wonderful for the person who wants to learn cooking techniques, and is not looking for another receipe book. The pictures and instructions are excellent; more along the line of what you would learn in culinary school. As for the receipes included, they are in large quantities, so unless you are able to reduce them (something the book teaches), they are not appropriate for the average family.

If you are unable to attend culinary school, but have the desire to learn what is taught in them, this book is perfect!

If you are a beginer cook, this book is perfect for you. It provides broad topics such as regional/international ingredients down to detailed recipes.
If you already have some cooking experience and are familiar with the basic ingredients in international dishes, a third of this book can be skipped. I bought this book mainly to improve my food preparation, organization, and cooking skills, however, I've found that information to these are just a notch or two more than what I already know.
If you are expecting to get lots of recipes for dishes that you know of but haven't tried, then there are plenty covered. For me, I already can use the internet, many celeb cook books that I have, and family/friends for recipes, so other than the basic recipes such as sauces, stocks, etc, this book would be last for me to reach for when I need a recipe for certain dishes.
The book is physically big and heavy. I don't exactly know how heavy but let's put it this way: it arrived with a nicked corner and broken delivery box. If use as a kitchen reference, you would want to find a kitchen counter spot for it to rest. The cover print is like sanded copper pots and looks great on my shelve.

good service, prompt international delivery,but arrived slightly damaged, dogeared,a bit torn on bottom and upper line of the back,due to light packaging and long journey

For any serious professional established or just starting this is a must have.

good service, prompt international delivery,but arrived slightly damaged, dogeared,a bit torn on bottom and upper line of the back,due to light packaging and long journey

This book is a great reference for anyone who loves cooking; not just the student. It deserves a place in any collection of cookbooks. The topics it covers are wide ranging: from the sort of utensils and how to use them to preparation methods to recipes from a variety of cultures around the world. It's a welcome and thorough compilation. For those that remember the old Joy of Cooking, with it's complete coverage of a variety of topics, this one trumps it (with the exception of such recipes as "fried squirrel").

LOVE THIS BOOK! My favorite Chef had Ed 7 (from training at the CIA), wanted to suprise him so I got Ed 8 and so far, he hasn't had much time to look at it since I am always using it! I have no "training" (I am a geophysicist) but I have found all of the information on techniques helpful and have been able to pull off a few things that impressed Chef to the point he ate the entire recipe. I guess I will have to get him a new one to replace the one I can't seem to let go of!

Todos que querem se dedicar a gastronomia deveriam ter este livro em casa. Altíssima qualidade.

LOVE THIS BOOK! My favorite Chef had Ed 7 (from training at the CIA), wanted to suprise him so I got Ed 8 and so far, he hasn't had much time to look at it since I am always using it! I have no "training" (I am a geophysicist) but I have found all of the information on techniques helpful and have been able to pull off a few things that impressed Chef to the point he ate the entire recipe. I guess I will have to get him a new one to replace the one I can't seem to let go of!

The book is easy reading and gives a good overview of the principles of cooking. For a more detail book you may would to consider Professional Cooking. I bought both and enjoyed both. Professional Cooking tends to be more "Dick and Jane" while The Professional Chef assumes you bring some cooking intelligences with you.

The Professional Chef, 8th Ed is a comprehensive compellation of basic cooking acumen. I would recommend this text book be in any serious chef's library.

`The Professional Chef, 8th Edition' by the faculty and staff of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), generally thought to be the best culinary school in the country, is truly a great textbook for, exactly as the title states, anyone who wishes to be a PROFESSIONAL chef, sous chef, line chef, garde-manger chef, catering chefs or even charity soup kitchen cook. It is NOT that good for people who may wish to simply be personal chefs, pastry chefs, bread bakers, or simply better home cooks. This is because every aspect of the book, starting with the recipes and including everything else, is oriented towards preparation for large groups of people. Virtually all recipes, even the bread baking recipes, are written to serve a minimum of 8, and generally between 12 and 20 people.

The other side of the coin is that this book contains literally reams (144 pages per ream) of information which you will not find in practically any other book. Much of this, such as the cost of serving calculations and other business considerations are not likely to be very interesting to the majority of amateur cooks (unless you happen to be managing a charity food service). But there are also lots that should be interesting to the average cook. Topping this list is the chapter on food safety. Most of us who read a cookbook now and then and watch our share of Food Network cooking shows (especially Alton Brown's Good Eats) will have a passing knowledge of food safety, but the material here will give one the confidence to know they are following the `professional' approach to food safety.

Even though virtually all recipes are written for larger than `home' serving counts, every serious amateur cook, even if they are cooking for only one or two, will be amply rewarded by reading large sections of this book and using it as a reference for many, many techniques.

To look at one of my favorite subjects, eggs, for example, I find several things I either never knew or have forgotten. For example, this is one of the few places where I've seen instructions on how to vary cooking time for hard boiling eggs based on the egg size. This variation, from 12 minutes for small eggs to 15 minutes for extra large eggs explains why I have seen cooking times everywhere from 8 to 20 minutes. The great thing is that in the amateur volunteer kitchen, one has it on GOOD AUTHORITY that we only really need 12 minutes cooking time, as long as we follow the other recommendations such as leaving two inches of water above the top of the cooking eggs. Staying with the egg section, one may be surprised at how few different major recipes there are. There are only 16 main recipes; however each main recipe, like the `rolled omelet', may have up to 14 variations. But there are still things missing. While we get a recipe for French toast, there is no recipe for any classic Italian or Spanish egg dishes such as the frittata or the tortilla Espagnole. There is not even a mention of `frittata' in either of the two indices.

The egg section reveals one annoyance I find with the book. It begins each major section, as in the Chapter 29 on eggs, with six `master recipe' multi-page presentations on important techniques. In this case, it has sections on `Cooking Eggs in the Shell', `Poaching Eggs', `Frying Eggs', `Scrambling Eggs', `Making Omelets', and `Savory Souffles'. Then, the chapter goes on to give specific recipes, repeating the same subjects, with overlapping and with additional information. And yet, there seem to still be little details left out. On the sections on scrambled eggs, there is nothing about cooking eggs in a bain marie (water bath), which is certainly tedious, but which by some of the very best authorities (James Beard, for example) is the very best way to achieve the pillowy moistness which distinguishes the best scrambled eggs. This two part approach to technique presentation (most of the best pics are used in the introductory section) makes the book a bit more interesting to read for ideas outside the kitchen, but it makes it less useful as a reference where the objective is to find everything you need in one place.

Those of you who happen to own earlier editions of this tome may be interested in whether the $70 you need to acquire this latest edition is really necessary. In a word, I believe the answer is `NO'. This edition has 1215 pages, compared to 869 pages in my 5th edition, but many of those extra 346 pages do not yield genuinely useful culinary training. For example, there are 106 pages in a new `World Cuisines' chapter that has much good to say about France, Italy, China, Japan, and other culinary hot spots, but it has not a single word, for example, on the United Kingdom or Ireland. On the other hand, 8th edition has 7 pages on health and safety while 5th edition has 20 pages, with much better graphics on things like the pH scale and on food cooling techniques. The 5th edition also does not have the noisome bifurcation of master technique and detailed recipe cited above. Therefore, you get much more information per page in the earlier edition. The 5th edition also includes the frittata and more detailed information on more different omelet techniques. I also think the pictures of techniques are better in the older edition. Last but not least, I think the presentations of English versus metric measurements are much better done in the older edition.

I think the bottom line is that if you do not already own an earlier edition, this $70 book is easily worth three or four other cookbooks as a reference and as an AUTHORITY, if you are a professional. But, if you own an earlier edition, don't bother buying the new one.

This is a wonderful book. It provides all the information I can think of that any serious cook might need, and does it in a clear and concise manner. I love it!

I am a home cook, but wish I had chosen a career in culinary arts. I am not interested in starting in such a grueling field at this point in my life, but I am interested in developing my culinary skills. That's why I chose this book. From this book, I have been learning about foods of different regions and basic cooking techniques. Some of what they offer is not that applicable for the home cook, such as how to inspect a giant hunk of meat when it's delievered to your place of business, and the recipes are designed for food service; for example, most soup and stock recipes prepare 5 gallons. I have had success with scaling some of the recipes down, but other recipes don't scale down as well, especially if you're making just one or two portions. But I didn't get this book for the recipes as much as for the techniques. With that in mind, I am very pleased with this book and imagine it will become an important part of my home designed culinary education.

This book very informative, and a must for ALL who are interested in the culinary art.

I'm a reasonably good "amateur gourmet" and, based on the reviews, ordered this book with a hope of expanding my knowledge. Frankly, if I'd had a chance to see it in a book store, I would have passed it up - at least at full price. Might have bought it at a deep discount, but probably not.

Why? It is probably an okay book for a young student with little "world experience" and not a lot of cooking background but for anyone who has been seriously active in the kitchen for a while it contains a lot of material that I felt was not all that useful. For example:

There is a lengthy section on the cuisines of the world: characteristics, how they developed, primary ingredients, etc. I felt that the descriptions were too brief to be really useful but took up an awfully lot of pages. For anyone who has been reading "Gourmet" or other such magazines for a while, we've seen better writing in more depth with associate recipies we could try.

There was also an illustration section showing great photos of ingredients and describing their use. I guess I really wasn't looking for a page of apple photos, or onion photos, or rice photos, etc. etc.

This seems to be aimed as a text for professional chefs. That part is okay and it does do a good job of explaining techniques in detail and with good illustrations. However, most of the recipies are for 10 servings and the basic stocks, sauces, etc. all make a gallon.

I have a huge Sub-Zero freezer and I have five adult "children" still at home wolfing down meals. Even under my circumstances, this would be a bit much.

Frankly, I get more from my "Cook's Illustrated" magazine plus their on-line resources. Same depth, good explainations about how things work, reasonable portions, and associated recipies that I can actually use.

I bought this book after purchasing a book for my son who is learning to cook. It was so informative and user friendly I had to have a copy for myself. It begins with the basics and is extremely informative. This book will be a family heirloom going from one generation to another. The greatest reference book for the kitchen I have ever purchased.

My husband is a chef, and i bought this for him for X-Mas, he loves the book and reads it all the time. Its everything you need. The price is also excellent. It usually retails at any bookstore for $70.00, so getting it for under $45.00 was such a bargain. I recommend it for all chefs or just anyone who truly loves to cook.

I'm a big foodie and have been for many years. This is my cooking bible along with "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee.

If you want a foundation in cooking that will allow your skills to spread like wildfire than this is the book you want. Part cookbook, part text - it teaches you the essentials then let's you spread your wings a bit with a variety of recipes from all over the world. Not the definitive source for every recipe, but the definitive source for techniques and application of those techniques to produce amazing food. Endorsed by the likes of Thomas Keller, Anthony Bourdain, and The Two Hot Tamales.

Does take some time and dedication on your part though. I spent a year reading and working through it (with previous editions). The newest offering is cleaned up, a few errors were fixed, more recipes, and includes a greatly expanded introductory section.

I first got on board with a tag-sale copy of the 6th edition. Wish I would have found it when I first became interested in cooking! I would easily pay $500 for it.

I recently purchased the Professional Chef, 8th Edition which I had intended to by for some time. It is exceptional. I just returned from a trip to St. Helena, CA were I actually visited the C.I.A. at Greystone and I would recommend this trip to everyone interested in fine cuisine.

Lots of recipes, hints and information. Well worth the price.

Great for people who love to cook and great for the up and coming chef.