Tuesday, March 2, 2010 The Cooking Book Posted by juphelia at 08:35

I found another "treasure" yesterday! After I saw this cookbook of all cookbooks at a friend's place, I have been wanting to get my hands on it. This is the absolute bible for cooking beginners. Every recipe is illustrated, ie there is a picture of every ingredient used, how the dishes turn out, and it comes equipped with a shopping list stating how many servings in how much quantity of ingredients, as well as a DVD on cooking demonstration!

What can be better than that - a cookbook with practical instructions and detailed pictures so you can never get the overall output wrong? I cannot wait to try out the French Onion Soup recipe and compare it to that one in the Le Cordon Bleu cookbook I have!

Here are some samples of recipes from the pages.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Le Cordon Bleu At Home Posted by juphelia at 11:37

I have not done a book review for quite some time. I have said I would like to catch up on my reading, so in order to really get it done, I may be doing more book reviews henceforth. Anyway, this is not exactly a normal story book, but a cookbook, and my first attempt actually reviewing a cookbook.

I have been trying to whip up a full meal for ages, instead of various dishes here and there. So I referred to the cookbook of all cookbooks - Le Cordon Bleu At Home, written by the chefs and trainers of Le Cordon Bleu Paris itself and published by them too.

The book is divided into three sections - Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. Every section has about a hundred recipes or so, and every receipe is a full meal, starting from the appetizer to the main course, ending with dessert. For instance, there is a Peach Mixed Fruit Salad, Duck Confit and Poached Pear in one recipe.

As expected, the famous Beouf Bugignon is under the Intermediate section. Although the beginners section looks to be a bit too advanced for me too! The prologue to the book includes kitchen skills, the different utensils, the different measurements, and every section also touches on how to bone poultry and how to remove all the innards of a fish.

In short, this is a chef's bible. If there is a cookbook you must have on fine dining, this should be the book. Afterall, every recipe lets you whip up a full meal, what can be better than that?