Bonus Material
Kitchen on Fire Mastering the Art of Cooking in 12 Weeks (Or Less)
By Olivier Said and Chef MikeC.
Most of us depend on recipes to create meals for entertaining, or even just to prepare dinner for our families. We would never think about straying from the recipe’s directions or making any substitutions—like using sour cream instead of yogurt—for fear of disaster. Think again. Kitchen on Fire! will have readers cooking—and thinking—like professional chefs in time for the holiday season.
Kitchen on Fire!—written by Chefs Olivier Said and MikeC., the founders and instructors of the acclaimed Berkeley cooking school of the same name—prepares readers to take on any recipe in any cookbook, or even invent new recipes themselves. According to Olivier and Mike, once readers understand some basic cooking principles they’ll be able to put that knowledge into practice when making a meal, easily adjusting as needed. Arranged in the same way as the school’s popular “12-Week Basics of Cooking” course, Kitchen on Fire! divides each chapter into a cooking lesson, with recipes—like Mediterranean Seafood Stew, Citrus-Grilled Skirt Steak, and Vegetable Fajitas—included at the end of every section so readers have a chance to practice what they’ve learned. The book is intended for readers with a wide range of experience, and includes 500 step-by-step photos, a measurement conversion chart, a master list of tools that describes their purpose in the kitchen, and even a list of common ingredients with notes on taste and preparation.
“Said and MikeC…have extensive West Coast culinary credits, a strong visual sensibility and an impressive knowledge of the science behind their art…“ —Publishers Weekly
With this “boot camp version of professional culinary school,” readers can become master chefs in the comfort of their own home. They’ll discover the proper way to slice food and the proper blade to use, find out why local and seasonal foods will always produce the best-tasting results, learn a little about food science and how different molecules interact with each other while cooking, become acquainted with the best technique for braising meat and the easiest method for rounding dough, and find out why eggs are one of the most indispensable ingredients in the kitchen. Throughout, Kitchen on Fire! encourages readers to throw their old recipes out the window, and gives them the confidence they need to make a meal from scratch. After reading the book and practicing a little, even new chefs will feel ready to tackle that Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham—not to mention all the side dishes.
Chef Olivier Said is one of the most respected culinary personalities in the Bay Area, where he is the former co-owner of César Tapas Bar and author of their award-winning cookbook. Chef MikeC. is an honors graduate from the California Culinary Academy and was the most recent host of the long-running TV series Organic Living with the Hippy Gourmet. They are co-founders of the Kitchen on Fire! culinary school in Berkeley, California.
December 1, 2011 Hardcover $35.00 442 Pages ISBN: 978-0-7382-1453-5 Cooking
“A step-by-step guide for those who learn best by reading, and safe harbor for those who prefer not to be taught knife skills in person…A fascinating section on cooking chemistry explores everything from the polarity of water to the properties of starch.” —Publishers Weekly
