This is a comprehensive and straight-forward guide to cooking in the "classic" method. Photographs with each step make it very clear. I bought it thinking it would help me improve my knife technique, but it really didn't show me anything I don't know, I simply can't seem to make my fingers of my hand bend/work like that. Oh well, I don't really need to be a whiz bang speed demon with a knife. I loved the chapter on seafood and how to prepare it from shelling bivalves to filleting a fish, I just wish I had access to fresh seafood so I could practice them. The chapters on preparing and carving meat are also useful, and the one on desserts is fun to read, whether I will ever do it or not. There are many techniques I'm afraid I won't ever use. Aspic and any of its cousins are not my friends. I don't eat or cook in the classic manner, however, I found it very interesting to read about how it is all done. ( )

Most of the techniques in here are for decoration rather than cooking. The black and white pictures are unclear. ( )

This is the book that opened my culinary window. ( )

Serious series of black and white photos showing (what else?) - "la technique".

The fast knife work you see in a chef reminds me of my father's equal facility at cards and with knives. It is an old masculine skill set in some circles. I have to say that I don't seem to have inherited these abilities, so I take it slower. But one thing remains: a sharp knife is essential. And don't be scared of life: don't fear the lobster or the striploin, and remember that your ancestors gutted fish and (if not Jewish) hung pigs to drain, after gutting them. I happen to remember deer on a swingset, and chickens on a clothesline, so I have some living memory (reinforced by a visit to Old Sturbridge Village, where I saw my first pig hanging - my rancher neighbors as a child kept more kosher - they were Seventh day Adventists, so I never saw a pig in their realm). Just realize that this is part of life, and get on with it.

But he also has technique for cutting up vegetables.

Comprehensive guide to cookery techniques by a famous French chef. Lavish B&W photographic illustrations of step-by-step instructions. Very useful reference book. ( )