La Technique

One of the most ambitious and helpful cookbooks of the season is “La Technique” by the chef and food columnist, Jacques Pepin. It is, as its subtitle promises, an illustrated guide to the fundamental techniques of cooking. All basic techniques and recipes are illustrated with step‐ by ‐step photographic close ‐ ups of operations in progress, and though the pictures themselves are lacklustre, they are minutely explicit.

Techniques as simple as separating egg yolks from whites or as elaborate as preparing a galantine or cream puff swans are represented in careful detail, and the menu range includes everything from canapés to chocolate cigarettes. The repertory is classic French, including such budget dishes as stuffed, braised flank steak (bavette farcis) and a number of excellent chicken dishes. It is a cooking course between covers, and anyone who can't master a technique from these pages should probably not be allowed to handle sharp knives.

Mimi Sheraton is food critic of The New York Times.

The Fundamental Techniques of Cooking: An Illustrated Guide. By Jacques Pepin. Quandrangte/The New York Times. $20.