Kitchen Fundamentals

What better way to learn basic food preparation techniques than from a professional chef demonstrating from his own home? Chef Dave Christopherson adopts a friendly, conversational style as he presents this thorough primer for achieving success in the kitchen. Divided into two parts, Kitchen Fundamentals covers proper hand washing, types of cutting boards and knives, the safe and classic way to cut food (“the claw” technique), and other common methods (such as julienne, slice, chop, and dice), as well as additional ways of preparing ingredients (grating and whipping, for example), along with the most frequently used stovetop skills (including sautéing, deglazing, simmering, and steaming). Christopherson performs demonstrations in real time, making the steps and methods easy to follow, while also peppering his instructions with plenty of practical tips, such as how to keep a cutting board from slipping or how to do that cool food-in-the-pan-flipping thing when sautéing. Topping it all off are copious dollops of onscreen graphics highlighting terminology, definitions, and key information. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (E. Gieschen)