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Francine Maroukian
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Chef's Secrets: Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters Paperback – September 1, 2004

by Francine Maroukian Harry Bates (Illustrator)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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Chef’s Secrets—Revealed!
 
In Chef’s Secrets, more than 80 renowned chefs share the tricks, timesaving techniques, and kitchen wisdom they’ve learned through years of experience.
 
     •  Steven Raichlen on Building a Three-Zone Fire on a Charcoal Grill
     •  Charlie Palmer on Roasting a Perfect Turkey
     •  Bruce Aidells on the Secret to Flavorful Pork
     •  Gary Guitard on Tempering Chocolate
     •  Plus techniques from Sara Moulton, Marcus Samuelsson, Norman Van Aken, Roxanne Klein, James Peterson, Emily Luchetti, and dozens of other top-notch chefs!
 
Each technique is explained in the chef’s own words, along with a short, revealing interview and a detailed profile of the chef’s accomplishments. With tips stretching from the basics (how to peel ginger with a teaspoon) to the extreme (how to peel a tomato with a blow-torch), Chef’s Secrets is an essential reference for any food lover’s bookshelf!
Previous page
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Quirk Books
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1594740054
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1594740053
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Tricks of the Trade
Finally, a book that tells you how to tenderize octopus with wine corks! You don't find that useful? I guess you have a better way of tenderizing octopus. For the rest of us, there's Chef's Secrets: Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters (Quirk), by food writer and former caterer Francine Maroukian. Actually, most pages of this pocket-size book are filled with more prosaic, infinitely more helpful tips, like how to fold a burrito, how to roast a chicken perfectly, how to ripen fruit quickly, and how to boost the flavor of pasta. The people dispensing the advice are renowned chefs among them Charlie Palmer, Roxanne Klein, and Norman Van Aken and following each of the kitchen hints is a short Q&A with them. So now we know: The three foods that Scott Conant, chef at Manhattan's L'Impero, will never get bored with are mortadella (a.k.a. bologna), Skippy extra-chunky peanut butter, and sea urchin -O Magazine

About the Author

Francine Maroukian is a freelance writer whose work frequently appears in Town & Country, Esquire, and Travel + Leisure.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quirk Books (September 1, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594740054
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594740053
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

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Francine Maroukian

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
24 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

jfrost
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book.
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2011
Verified Purchase
As a former chef, I was forced to retire from a disability but I still want to learn for my own satisfaction. I love to cook at home and this book has tons of good tips. I really do find it helpful. I wish that I would have found it while I was still working. I would have given me some new ideas.
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B. Marold
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Foodie Read. Uneven suggestions. Lots Great Some dumb
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2004
Verified Purchase
`Chef's Secrets' is a cleverly edited book by caterer and writer Francine Maroukian, subtitled `Insider Techniques from Today's Culinary Masters' which has much to offer, some old chestnuts, and a few misguided suggestions.

The most important aspect of the book is how much you can take away from it upon a single cover to cover reading. I say this because like similar question and answer books, the text is not well organized for hunting down the answer to a particular question, as all sections are more anecdotal than they are systematic in content. Thus, the greatest advantage is gained by reading the book from cover to cover, from front to back, and absorbing a few new, useful techniques.

In doing this, I found much that was interesting in a `by the way' fashion. The first thing that struck me was the large number of contributors who have graduated from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and Johnson and Wales. I believe over half graduated from an American culinary educational program, with these two institutions leading the list. I am certain this is a really major change in the culinary scene over the last 50 years. The second interesting observation was the number of times Wolfgang Puck was mentioned as a model of American culinary innovation and inspiration. This may come as quite a blow to the egos of Jeremiah Tower and the opinions of Jim Villas who tend to minimize Puck's serious contribution to the American culinary scene. That Alice Waters is mentioned once is no surprise. That Wolfgang is mentioned twice, more than any other living chef, is notable. The third interesting observation is the number of people who seem to have apprenticed with either Ducasse or Boulud. These two staging sponsors lead the list by a wide margin. All of this makes reading the contributors' thumbnail biographies and `More Secrets' sidebars interesting, but this is not the main show.

The primary point of the book is the eighty-two chapters, contain 82 culinary `tips' from 82 recognized experts among the American culinary elite. While the seven (7) `culinary masters' named on the cover are well known, the remaining 75 contributors are no slouches. All are serious master chefs or thoroughly vetted writers active today. And, it appears that all of these tips were solicited from the contributors directly by the editor. They are not extracted from the contributors' printed works. The tips are also laid out in great detail. Many are supported by illustrations; however, several of illustrations in these storyboards are less revealing than they might be.

One of the first problems I found with the book is that many of the `insider techniques' are pretty common knowledge to any foodie who has read a few good cookbooks and who dotes on the better Food Network shows such as `Good Eats', `Molto Mario', and `Sara's Secrets' by contributor Sara Moulton. Some good examples of this are the tips on how to peel ginger with a teaspoon, how to defrost meat, how to joint a chicken, how to crisp greens, and how to quickly ripen fruit. Some other tips are just a bit too specialized to be useful to a lot of people. One misleadingly titled example is a tip on how to perfectly roast a chicken that has relatively little to do with what everyone thinks of as `roast chicken'. What the author actually shows us is the classic Italian technique of roasting a deboned chicken under a weight. The following tip by Charlie Palmer on how to roast fowl comes much closer to what the average cook would expect from instructions on roasting birds. Another misguided suggestion is a technique for making an omelet by finishing it in a broiler, in much the same way as you may finish a frittata. I have read at least twenty different techniques for making an omelet, and not one of them finishes the dish in the broiler! This tip is one for the professional short order cook who has a constantly hot salamander at eye level. It is simply a waste of time and gas or electricity to start an omelet on the range and fire up the broiler to finish, especially since every expert on the face of the earth, from Julia Child to Elizabeth David to Jacques Pepin does their omelet on the range from start to finish.

This still leaves a lot of good tips to go around. Out of the 82 sections, I suggest that at least twenty will be of some value to the average foodie amateur. A professional cook may find more useful material, but they may also be already familiar with most of the tips. My favorite sections are on creating dried shrimp flakes to use as a seasoning; how to check the salinity of a curing solution; how to sear a fish in a stainless steel pan; how to turn out tender shrimp; how to use bacon to its best advantage while cooking beans; and how to re-establish a non-stick surface on a stainless steel or aluminum pan.

Just as I am especially fond of single subject cookbooks such as those dedicated to eggs or potatoes or biscuits or cupcakes or salmon, I especially enjoy these `tip' books; however, I find them less useful than the single subject books or the general giants such as `The Joy of Cooking' or `James Beard's American Cookery'. This book is fun, but it is not quite as good as Perla Meyers' `How to Peel a Peach' or Raymond Sokolov's `How to Cook'. Neither of these two books is perfect, but they are more sound as day to day counselors on important techniques.

Recommended as a foodie fun read for a weekend, with some good tips along the way.
56 people found this helpful
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C. Harrell
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Beginners!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
I bought this book with the thought that it might have information that I did not know! Actually I am a former Sous Chef with professional kitchen experience and I have found that 90% of this information I already knew! Although I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to cook in the kitchen!
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Consuelo
3.0 out of 5 stars would not recommend.
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014
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This book is okay. would not recommend.
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Pat K
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting!!
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2013
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I saw this at my dentist office and loved reading about the 'hints and tips' from different chefs. Will be trying their tricks when preparing foods or cleaning my wok the right way.
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Avion Harnarine
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, But not totally secrets revealed
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book is excellent for the novice to gain some knowledge in the culinary arts but is lacking some vital info but not so much that I don't like It. It doesn't really cover everything that one expects, also some of the secrets are well known techniques and not so much a secret.
Still I'll recommend it to beginners. Should compliment this book with say The Culinary arts book.
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bernhard trivalos
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2015
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great secrets.....
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on November 3, 2016
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great product and quality service.
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