The Fear of Cooking: The Absolutely Foolproof Cookbook for Beginners (and Everyone Else)

by Bob Scher and Robert Scher

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395322162
• ISBN13: 9780395322161
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 397 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

All About Cooking

I'm not sure the title of this book represents its richness and usefulness. It's not really a beginner's book, either. What I have found is a terrific read and a wealth of information about cooking- food, temperature, ambience. The book is beautifully written to be engaging, informative and entertaining. The author's certain use of language imparts a vibrant understanding of the information. An example, butter tastes "rounder and closer than oil." It is information rather than education; I know better how to select what oil or butter I might use in my cooking. Or, whether I might instead choose a "dry" method of cooking. I have done a lot of cooking in my time. This book inspires and informs me to go out and do a lot more. P.S. I have found overnight guests actually taking this book off to bed with them!

terrific intro cookbook

This book is a great introduction to cooking --- it does not bore the reader with intricate details about equipment and technique and recipes, but helps them feel comfortable with basic concepts in cooking and encourages them to improvise a bit. It quickly gets too elaborate to be of much use, since a few chapters in it covers recipes that most beginners wouldn't be interested in. Because of the book's small size and conversational tone, it is a more approachable introduction than most (e.g., How to Cook Everything), and a beginning cook can soon move onto a larger book which teaches them specific recipes they're interested in. I bought it for a roommate, and soon my entire house was reading it, and learning from it. I read the book about seven years ago, and I still use the fried egg recipe at the beginning: melt a pat of butter in a small frying pan. Crack a few eggs into the pan and quickly add salt, pepper, and an herb such as marjoram, and cover the pan. Cook for a few minutes until the tops of the eggs have set, or until they have reached your desired level of doneness. It's easy, but innovative and seems sophisticated.