Title:	Six Basic Cooking Techniques: Culinary Essentials for the Home Cook
	Author:	Jennifer Clair
	Published:	March 6, 2018, HCNY Press
	No. of Pages:	112
	Cover Price:	$19.95 Paperback, $7.99 Kindle

---

It's amazing how such a small book as Six Basic Cooking Techniques: Culinary Essentials for the Home Cook can contain so much valuable information for anyone who cooks - beginners to experienced. Jennifer Clair has outdone herself in this excellent must-have cookbook.

The six chapters are Making Friends with your Chef's Knife, Cooking Meat to Perfection, Making Pan Sauces, Roasting Vegetables, Blanching Green Vegetables, and Cooking Leafy Greens. Believe it or not, those six chapters cover almost everything we need to know when cooking, and the information contained in them is invaluable. There is also a chapter on Recommended Kitchen Equipment.

Although this book doesn't have dozens of recipes, the recipes featured are new, fairly innovative, and most importantly, very good. We loved the Pan-Roasted Lemon-Rosemary Chicken (it is now an easy, go-to for busy nights), and the Pork Chops with Grape-Rosemary Reduction also makes good use of the rosemary in the garden. There are several recipes for vegetables that make them exciting, like the String Beans with Lemon Gremolata, Garlicky Broccoli Rabe, and her recipe for Tuscan Kale with Almonds and Raisins takes the trendy kale to an ethereal level. The book is worth purchasing for the information on cooking vegetables and leafy greens alone.

Meredith Heuer's photographs are absolutely phenomenal, and leave no doubt as to what things should look like. They especially are great in the chapter on using a chef's knife, which anyone who cooks should read and study.

All told, this is a book that should be on every cookbook shelf, and one that will (or should be) used constantly. It makes a perfect wedding gift for a young bride, and is also a good gift for anyone who wants to become a better cook. Sometimes simple is best, and this one has enough good, simple information to help everyone.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.