Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen by Alton Brown
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Book Reviews of Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen
Book Review: Great Book. Worth the read.
Summary: 5 Stars
I love that Alton talks about what you really need versus what we need. He takes a real hard look at keeping you kitchen simple and functional.Book Review: Alton Rocks!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Alton is awesome. This book is great for when you are going to buy a new kitchen appliance and want the inside skinny on what to look for.Book Review: Fun Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Very fun informative read. Lays out every type of gear you could need and gives honest reviews of different designs. VERY HELPFUL!Book Review: The love hate relationship continues
Summary: 4 Stars
In the interest of full disclosure I have always hated Alton Brown. I think sometimes he just plain, ruins food by making it too scientific. For the record baking is a science, cooking is an art. While I still hold that to be true I have come around on Alton Brown. On his show he is not afraid to say when he has changed his mind on a cooking process. Usually due to further experimentation. This is an excellent book.
Pots, pans, utensils and other kitchen gear needs to be looked at from a keen scientific prospective. And no one does that better than Alton Brown.
The first section of the book is house cleaning. Go through all your kitchen gear. Anything you have not used in a year, get rid of it. Anything you have not used in 6 months, Label and put away. Check again in a month to see if you have used it. Label again. Check again in another month. If you have not used it, get rid of it. The book is almost worth it alone just for this advice. When you hold on to things you don't need/use you can't find the things that you want to use to make better meals.
Alton is a fan of multi-tasker tools/devices. He does not like uni-tasker tools/devices, unless they do something much, much better than the alternative or there is no real alternative (very rare).
He dispels myths about cutlery. Shows some inexpensive alternatives to some of the pricier kitchen gadgets. He goes through every single kind of pot. Tells you which are essential, which are nice to have, and which are a waste of money. The pros and cons of the various cooking materials are discussed; cast iron, aluminum, anodized aluminum, stainless steal ceramic. He covers all types of electric appliances, and other small tools. It is the most comprehensive book of it's kind.
The only downside to this book and the reason I did not give it 5 stars is that was written in 2003. The paperback is published in 2008 but none of the content was changed. Alton has changed his mind on a few items (I am basing this on what he says on his tv show), so it would have been nice for everyone to get the updated information. It would not have taken the publisher more than 15 page edits to do it. Maybe you can't make changes from the hard cover to the paperback unless you call it "revised" or "updated" version, and perhaps they did not want to do that.
So I continue to watch the show and enjoy shows such as the "greens" show, the pies show, the ribs show, two shows dedicated to pasta, the show dedicated to proper frying technique to keep foods from becoming of course shake my head and ask what on earth is he doing when he does a show on Buffalo wings and tells the viewers to steam the wings first, then refrigerate them for an hour then bake them for 40 minutes. Oh Alton if you have to do all of this you need to skip the wings. Wings are supposed to be quick food. Once you make a quick food slow it loses it's appeal. And I could get the same results from one of the lovely deep fryers that you recommended to me in this book.
Book Review: Helpful for Beginner/Intermediates in the Kitchen
Summary: 4 Stars
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.