Culinary Institute of Americas Gourmet Meals in Minutes or Kitchen Mysteries

Culinary Institute of America's Gourmet Meals in Minutes: Elegantly Simple Menus and Recipes from the World's Premier Culinary Institute

Author: Culinary Institute of America

We live in a hectic world where there isn't a lot of time to spend on meal preparation, but we still want to enjoy the food we eat. Gourmet Meals in Minutes will show you how to create a wide variety of mouth-watering, nutritious meals without spending all day in the kitchen.

Publishers Weekly

Having trained thousands of professional chefs, the CIA addresses home cooks here in an effort to "cultivate a passion for cooking" despite today's hectic pace. With an emphasis on a multiplicity of ethnic flavors, the recipes are largely familiar and manageable. In fact, many of the simpler ones (Vichyssoise, Romaine and Grapefruit Salad with Walnuts and Stilton; Ratatouille; and Tiramisu) may be found in scores of other cookbooks. However, such dishes as Lobster and Roasted Red Pepper Salad, and Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Tomato Relish seem rather ambitious when described as "meals in minutes." And suggesting the use of premade phyllo dough as a prime ingredient in Fennel and Chorizo Strudels, or packaged puff pastry dough in Fresh Fruit Galette, undercuts the book's premise. Oddly for home cooking, nearly every recipe serves eight. Still, there are dozens of quick and easy recipes, such as Nicoise-Style Grilled Tuna and Cider-Braised Pork Medallions. Presentation is often a key aspect, as in Haricots Verts with Prosciutto and Gruy re, in which prosciutto slices are twisted into spirals to resemble roses. CIA fans, who include viewers of PBS's Cooking Secrets from the CIA, will turn to this book. Others may find that it does not entirely fulfill its promise. 125 color photos. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Interesting book: Economists Handbook or Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism

Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking

Author: Herve This

An international celebrity and founder of molecular gastronomy, or the scientific investigation of culinary practice, Hervé This is known for his ground-breaking research into the chemistry and physics behind everyday cooking. His work is consulted widely by amateur cooks and professional chefs and has changed the way food is approached and prepared all over the world.

In Kitchen Mysteries, Hervé This offers a second helping of his world-renowned insight into the science of cooking, answering such fundamental questions as what causes vegetables to change color when cooked and how to keep a soufflé from falling. He illuminates abstract concepts with practical advice and concrete examples—for instance, how sautéing in butter chemically alters the molecules of mushrooms—so that cooks of every stripe can thoroughly comprehend the scientific principles of food.

Kitchen Mysteries begins with a brief overview of molecular gastronomy and the importance of understanding the physiology of taste. A successful meal depends as much on a cook's skilled orchestration of taste, odors, colors, consistencies, and other sensations as on the delicate balance of ingredients. Hervé then dives into the main course, discussing the science behind many meals' basic components: eggs, milk, bread, sugar, fruit, yogurt, alcohol, and cheese, among other items. He also unravels the mystery of tenderizing enzymes and gelatins and the preparation of soups and stews, salads and sauces, sorbet, cakes, and pastries. Hervé explores the effects of boiling, steaming, braising, roasting, deep-frying, sautéing, grilling, salting, andmicrowaving, and devotes a chapter to kitchen utensils, recommending the best way to refurbish silverware and use copper.

By sharing the empirical principles chefs have valued for generations, Hervé This adds another dimension to the suggestions of cookbook authors. He shows how to adapt recipes to available ingredients and how to modify proposed methods to the utensils at hand. His revelations make difficult recipes easier to attempt and allow for even more creativity and experimentation. Promising to answer your most compelling kitchen questions, Hervé This continues to make the complex science of food digestible to the cook.