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Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen
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| Part No: | 1584796960 |
| Manufacturer: | Stewart, Tabori & Chang |
| MFG Part: | |
| Customer Rating: | 4.5 / 5.0 |
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"I think cooking is a lot of fun and I hate to see people not having fun doing it just because they don't have the right tools--which is not to say they need the prettiest, best, most expensive tools. They just need the tools that are right for them." Such is the organizing principle of
Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen by the selfsame Alton Brown, star of Food Network's
Good Eats as well as award-winning author of
I'm Just Here for the Food. It's an interesting, effective principle. It comes from a guy who serves pie with a four-dollar mortar trowel he picked up at the hardware store.
Brown's opening challenge is a 60-day, four phase process of ridding your kitchen of all things unused and insignificant--easy on the surface, but tough in the doing. That leaves room for essential gear. And to help make those choices, Brown looks at pots and pans, sharp things (not just knives, but graters, mandolins, and cheese slicers, too), small things with plugs (as in small appliances--from food processors to coffee makers to deep fat fryers), kitchen tools unplugged (those items that fill drawers), storage and containment, and safety and sanitation.
If this were just an encyclopedia, what an unwholesome bore it would be. But Brown turns this relevant information into a romp. He's talking about the tools he uses, after all, and has no fear of naming likes and dislikes--based on his own experience. He also includes unending side chatter about cutting corners, saving money, and actually putting good tools to work. You'll find recipes throughout, and techniques, too. Like, how to bake a chicken in a flower pot. If you wonder why you would even want to attempt it in the first place, Brown clues you in. Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen is about as guilt free as pleasure will ever get. --Schuyler Ingle
Dedicated viewers of Alton Brown’s acclaimed Food Network show Good Eats know of his penchant for using unusual equipment. He has smoked a salmon in a cardboard box, roasted prime rib in a flowerpot, and used a C-clamp as a nutcracker. Brown isn’t interested in novelty, he’s just devoted to using the best—and simplest—tool for the job.
Alton Brown’s Gear For Your Kitchen offers honest, practical advice on what’s needed and what isn’t, what works and what doesn’t. For instance: You only need three knives, but they are a lifetime investment. And don’t bother with that famous countertop grill—it doesn’t get hot enough to properly sear. In his signature science-guy style, Brown begins with advice on kitchen layout and organization, then gets to the lowdown on these cooking elements: Big Things with Plugs; Pots and Pans; Sharp Things; The Tool Box; Small Things with Plugs; Storage and Containment; and Safety and Sanitation.
Gear For Your Kitchen is essential for all of Brown’s fans as well as anyone who wants a good guide to great kitchen gear. With more than 125,000 hardcover copies in print, this indispensable—and highly entertaining—book is now offered in a paperback edition that every home cook can afford.
| Helpful for Beginner/Intermediates in the Kitchen | 2010-07-28 | 4 / 5 |
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| I am a long time Alton Brown fan and I ordered this book because I am engaged and am trying to learn what's what in the kitchen. I have been trying to put together a registry and wasnt sure what I needed, so I figured this would be a great starting place. The introduction was a little tedious, but informative. When you get to the meat of the book, it is very useful and I will be happy to have this as a part of my kitchen library. It is thoughtfully put together and will be a valuable reference over the years. I bought it used for $8 or $9 and it came in great condition. I feel the price was fair. |
| Don't waste your money on this exact reprint of the hardback | 2010-06-28 | 2 / 5 |
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This is a good book, and I recommend it.
However, this paperback edition with ISBN of 1584796960 is identical in every respect to the widely available (in good used condition) hardback (which has an ISBN of 1584792965). The only changes that were made (between the hardcover edition and this paperback reprint) were the cover design and the copyright page.
So you can SAVE YOUR MONEY and buy a used hardback copy (for considerably less than this paperback version) at:
Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen |
| Great book for a tool junkie | 2010-06-26 | 5 / 5 |
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I am what you would call a "tool Junkie". I have tools for carpentry, electrical, plumbing, masonry. I have tools to fix small engines, build and fix computers and electronics, Lawn tools, musical tools (tuners, winders, adapters etc...). I believe I qualify for Tool collectors anonymous...
All fun aside. This book does an excellent job of explaining the various gear you will find in the kitchen (one of the more mysterious and less ventured areas of the house for me).
I picked up this book as well as Alton's book "I'm just here for the food: v.2" so that my family won't secretly wish for a pizza to be delivered, everytime it is my turn to make dinner. If you ever wondered why one pan is better than another due to it's shape or taper or material it is made from, or what features to look for in a small appliance, or twenty different ways to make coffee (I think there is really just six listed), then this is the book for you.
I was hoping there would be mention of the new "sous vide" type gear but I guess it's not common at all (way too exotic at this point). Maybe he'll add it in version 3. |
| Good General Info | 2010-06-24 | 4 / 5 |
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| This book included a little bit of information on a wide variety of kitchen tools. I wish there was more info on some items and am not interested in others that he did include. Alton Brown did a good job of writing a book that a novice or an experienced home chef could learn something from. He approaches the book with his usual raw no-nonsense approach. |
| Perfect Guide! | 2010-06-04 | 5 / 5 |
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| I am brand new to cooking and am living in my 1st apartment, so I was starting with nothing. Gear helped me figure out exactly what I needed and helped me every step of the way. I would bring the book in with me to BB&B and Costco and refer to it while I was browsing. Couldn't have asked for a better kitchen gear guide!! Alton is the man! (I bought all his other books too :) |
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