Culinary Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at The Culinary Institute of America Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. I purchased this book to see what the Culinary boot camp at the CIA was all about since I was thinking of taking the course. I am glad that I bought the book and didn't spend thousands on the course.
If you are considering the boot camp at Hyde Park the book is informative. However, the book did not encourage me to take the course, it had the opposite effect. The recipes and tips that the author covers were nothing. I felt as though I was reading the experience from the perspective of a kitchen novice. The techniques and methods that are discussed are basic kitchen ideas used by skills home cooks everyday. If you own any good cookbook you will know or have read about all the techniques before. If you are looking for an in depth discussion on cooking techniques buy "The Professional Chef" by the CIA instead. It is a much better book.
This book is subdivided as follows:
Day One: Into the Kitchen: Stocks and Sauces
Day Two: Soup Production and Frying Techniques
Day Three: Dry Heat Cooking Methods
Day Four: Moist Heat Cooking Methods
Day Five: The Final Exam
Mise en Place and Knife Skills
Additional Recipes
The book is 242 pages in length and the "additional recipe" section begins on page 140. The recipes that are included are okay, but nothing to rave about. The only recipe that I found to be exceptional was the Fresh Spinach Spaetzle.
Bottom line, if you are new to cooking or don't own many cookbooks this would be a reasonable choice. If you were thinking about taking the CIA course at Hyde Park purchasing this book would also make sense. However, if you own many cookbooks, or having been seriously cooking for 5 or 10 years then pass on this book. There isn't much that you will learn from this book.


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