Chef on Fire: The Five Techniques for Using Heat Like a Pro

Carey (Creole Nouvelle), founder of the Memphis Culinary Academy, offers a far-reaching look at the craft of cooking. Although he provides a wealth of varied recipes from Thai Chicken Satay to Arroz con Pollo to Blanquette de Veau, he is careful to point out that this is not a recipe book. Instead, it’s a handbook focusing on the five distinct cooking techniques: cooking with dry heat, boiling, cooking with fat, cooking with fat and liquid combined, and extraction. Carey contends that mastering these five techniques allows the cook to produce any savory dish perfectly. He provides step-by-step instructions on everything home cooks need to know to produce professional-quality dishes, from the classic mother sauces to clarifying consommé to grilling fish. Recipes range from the complex (Coquilles St. Jacques à la Parisienne) to the easy (Mashed Potatoes), and even include instructions for a three-hour Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, dressing, cornbread, cranberry sauce, pie, gravy, stock and haricots verts. Instructive illustrations and helpful tips are provided throughout. This book is an excellent addition to any cook’s library.– “Publishers Weekly”

Chef Joseph Carey has done it again! In his latest book, Chef on Fire, he combines careful attention to classic culinary techniques with his creative flair and acute sensory intelligence. He lets readers in on the ways that the classic methods of food preparation are the basis of fine cooking and shows beginners to seasoned cooks how to turn out food as good as any professional. This book reveals the chefs’ secrets for creating exciting and flavorful dishes in the home kitchen.–Denis Kelly, Author of Barbecuing & Grilling: Food and Fire in American Regional Cooking, and co-author of The Complete Meat Cookboo

Definitely more than just a recipe book, [Chef on Fire] it packs a remarkable amount of information into a food reference volume that may just change the way you look at cooking.– “Wine Lovers’ Page”

This is a rare creature: A technical book with a lively soul! Culinary school in print, with a charismatic teacher who has made a clever division of material, appealing to novice and seasoned cooks alike. Groundbreaking!–David Rosengarten, Editor-in-Chief, The Rosengarten Report