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• by:
• Larsen, Linda

The Starter Cook is the perfect quick culinary reference, a learner’s manual to that sometimes intimidating room in one’s home: the kitchen. With its plethora of helpful tips and a step-by-step guide to every major technique, it helps the beginner home cook connect the dots as he learns his way around the kitchen.

Linda Johnson Larsen covers all the basics--from understanding food storage and preparation to perfecting knife skills to learning to poach chicken--and then some, like covering all special preparations needed for select ethnic dishes. Peppered throughout are quick tips to make life in the kitchen a little bit easier. With The Starter Cook, the good home cook--or even a beginner, whether a recent college grad or a newlywed--can become a great one.

Linda Johnson Larsen is the author of many cookbooks, including Knack Quick & Easy Cooking (Globe Pequot Press) and The Joyce Lamont Cookbook, and she is the Guide for Busy Cooks at About.com. Linda has created and tested recipes for major food companies since 1987. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.