Every cook or home chef reaches that defining moment when he or she puts away the cookbook and begins to experiment ‘off the page’ with flavors and ingredients. But without a full understanding of the rudiments of cooking, these explorations can be leaps of faith at best, and dishes from the simplest to most complex and ambitious risk failure. Beginning with a chapter on techniques, The Basics explains and illustrates, with gorgeous photographs, essential cooking techniques, such as how to bard, marinate, poach, caramelize, and lard. Following chapters explain cutting techniques and both savory and sweet recipes for stocks, thickeners, light and hearty soups, potato preparations, rice preparations, cold, hot and sweet sauce preparations, mousses, pastries, spreads, sweet egg dishes and ice creams. And an Ingredients Index makes cross-referencing a snap. Each page in The Basics is like a homily on the principles of great food. Learn the difference between a brunoise, julienne and a chiffonade cut. Follow simple instructions for preparing chicken, white, dark and game stocks. Make more than 30 of your own sauces, including mayonnaise, garlic butter, vinaigrette, pesto, white wine, and hollandaise. Prepare dazzling soups, breads, breakfasts, and desserts, using your own creative imagination and The Basics at your fingertips.