Title:	The Essential Cook's Kitchen: Traditional culinary skills, from breadmaking and dairy to preserving and curing
	Author:	Alison Walker
	Published:	May 17, 2018, Jacqui Small
	No. of Pages:	192
	Cover Price:	$29.99 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle

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With trends gravitating toward simplifying our lives and back to basics, comes this excellent cookbook teaching modern cooks to do just that. The Essential Cook's Kitchen: Traditional culinary skills, from breadmaking and dairy to preserving and curing is an excellent book that teaches forgotten kitchen skills and includes mouthwatering recipes that almost everyone will want to make.

Although many use auto bread machines and mixers to make bread, this book teaches us to make bread anywhere by hand. It includes step-by-step instructions, so even beginning cooks can master this skill. The bread recipes included are excellent, and most importantly, the finished product turns out picture perfect.

The Essential Cook's Kitchen: Traditional culinary skills, from breadmaking and dairy to preserving and curing is a British cookbook, and so has dozens of traditional British recipes, such as marmalades, puddings, potted meats, pâtés and terrines, scones and crumpets, cordials, cakes, and sweets. There are also ice creams and sorbets flavored with lavender, honey, and other unexpected ingredients. Who knew that fresh cheeses such as ricotta and soft goat cheese, as well as clotted cream can be made in the home kitchen, and the taste is fabulous.

All told, this excellent cookbook is one that is perfect for anyone who loves to cook and wants to go back to basics. It will teach forgotten skills that are becoming trendy as food tastes go from chemical-laden convenience foods to organic and fresh, as well as healthy and delicious. The Essential Cook's Kitchen: Traditional culinary skills, from breadmaking and dairy to preserving and curing makes an excellent gift for a new bride or young person getting a taste of the joy of cooking from scratch. Highly recommended, this cookbook will hold a special place on any cookbook shelf.

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