The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks

As someone who always takes a gander at what other people are purchasing at the grocery store, I was pretty much hooked from the kindle sample where the author stalks and accosts a woman at the store because her cart is full of packaged processed foods that, while being less healthy, would end up being much more expensive than making the same foods from real ingredients. She shows the woman how buying a whole chicken and butchering it is less expensive than buying just the breast meat and helps her swap out some items, giving her some simple recipes to follow.I think the book may have been more colorful and entertaining if Kathleen Flinn continued on in this appalled way with a fair amount of hectoring factored in, but she's way too nice and gentle for that. I didn't find her judgmental or condescending at all. Still, the book did not disappoint and I thought it was a page turner oddly enough in that she selects 9 other women to help and you really want these women to do well. In terms of the cooking school, their progress and their bland comments kind of blend into one another, but the introductions for most of them are interesting in that they represent a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds as well as cooking aspirations. One woman is perfectly happy with McDonald's and powder cheese on an English muffin but has been coerced into the project for health reasons, while others purchase lovely produce from farmers' markets, which they let wither in the fridge, not knowing what to do with it. Some cook for large families on a budget and some find it hard to be motivated to cook for one. If you want to cook more than you do, you are going to relate to one or another of the issues that Flinn brings to light.The cooking lessons are well thought out and each culminates with a classic recipe that can be tweaked to your tastes. All these basic recipes--the ratio for vinaigrettes, roast chicken, no-knead bread, fish baked in parchment paper--can be found online dozens of times over, but it's nice to have it all in one place in its most simple form, plus she provides optional flavor combinations that I found useful, promoting the idea that cooking ought to be a free-ranging expression of skill, habit, and what happens to be in your pantry, not some painstaking endeavor where you have to measure everything out and constantly refer to a detailed recipe out of fear of getting one step wrong--which is usually how I cook. This book opens you up to experimentation and failure on a small scale. After all, if you cook every day, one mediocre meal is not going to make or break you.It also inspired me to use everything I buy. So much is wasted out of misguided aspiration or just bad organization. She espouses purchasing better quality ingredients at a higher cost, but if you aren't wasting anything, it probably evens out. There is a fair amount of food politics and if you're aware of Michael Pollan and every other food persona who writes of sourcing your food, there is nothing new here. But thankfully, she keeps those parts short and credits everyone suitably. I also thought, like another reviewer, that she needn't have gone into a narrative about her Mediterranean cruise--it made it seem like the book was a chronological narrative about this time in her life when I think the better book is a more tightly focused one on these women she decided to help--and the homes they keep (so voyeuristic!). Too bad the lone man dropped out.

I have been cooking for many, many years. I have children, grandchildren and now a great grandchild! I have cooked for everyone and I thought I knew a lot about cooking.However, as I went through this book, I learned so many things I have done wrong all my life - such as keeping too much food in the refrigerator and pantry. There is only two of us now and we do have a busy life so I guess as Kathleen says, "I buy for the life I inspire to have rather than my real life."I used to end up with wilted romaine, yellow broccoli with flowers, and limp celery too often. After reading the book, I have changed my buying habits - I shop more often and buy less produce at a time. So far I have wasted nothing and I feel so proud.I even put a photo at the back of my fridge which I can always see - so my fridge isn't stuffed any more. Sometimes it looks even a little bare but there is no waste.I also learned to taste all kinds of canned goods - what a difference in canned beans when I was making chili. I even threw out one can - it was that bad. Some store brands are better than others but sometimes you have to go with the name brand for taste and texture.I have been practicing my knife skills too and I chop things so much faster now. I like showing that off to my hubby (who doesn't cook at all by the way).My pantry is getting bare but that's okay - I know everything I have and I am sure nothing is out of date.The bonus is I have saved a lot of money at the grocery store and I like that. I make all my own salad dressings now and that is great fun and a real saving.You're never too old to learn new tricks in the kitchen.This book is not only a great read - it is life changing! I loved it.

I had read Kathleen Flinn's other book, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, and found her to be a delightful writer. I was thrilled to see that she had released a new title.This book begins after Flinn and her husband return from Paris. They are now living in Seattle. Flinn happens to follow a woman around the local grocery store, noting that the woman loaded her cart with mostly prepackaged items and few fresh items. She approached the woman and asked her why she was only purchasing boxed mixes. The woman talked about being a working mother with little time or knowledge to cook. Flinn took her through the grocery store and showed her how much cheaper it was to purchase a whole chicken rather than one pre-cut. She also wrote down easy recipes.Flinn realized that she was on to something and found some local volunteers to join her and other cooking specialists for cooking lessons. They practiced knife skills, butchery, and flavor profiles.At the end of each chapter, Flinn includes some of the recipes she taught her volunteers. This is one of those books that I will probably end up purchasing twice - I've already purchased it on my Kindle and I will probably purchase a hard copy for reference for the recipes.Here are some interesting tidbits from the book:*Recipes in magazines may be incomplete as the editor cut them for space*Recipes in magazines may also be incomplete because the seasons have changed and one of the ingredients wasn't as readily available*About 70% of all the antibiotics produced in the US are fed to healthy livestock, including pigs, chickens, and cows.*Most of the boxed recipes you purchase that ask for you to add eggs, oil, and/or water? They really don't need them. They just want you to feel like you're cooking.*People often shop for the life they aspire to, not their real one.Highly recommend.

As someone who knows how to cook but avoided it for many years, I recently decided to get back into it. This book showed up just at the right time for me. I particularly like that, although it does contain some recipes, it focuses more on cooking principles that can be adapted to any recipe. My ambition is to cook without recipes, and this book will help me do that.

I have been cooking for myself and my family for 20 plus years now. I have long placed importance on taking the time to cook from scratch with unprocessed products as much as possible and I love to cook. I had a Mom who cooked home made meals for us regularly and I took an interest in cooking early on. Having said that, I still gleaned an astonishing amount of knowledge from this book, as well as inspiration and enlightenment. I love how the writer ties food to our emotional lives. I had never before considered how closely our relationship with food is intertwined with our emotions and how our early experiences shapes how we deal with it as we grow up. But it makes so much sense, when you consider food is necessary sustenance for life. I also found the book to be a fun, engaging read and the writer just simplifies cooking so very, very well. I tend to be the kind of cook who needs a recipe to get started, but through this book I've found the tools and the confidence to start simply putting things together on my own, which is so liberating! I highly recommend this book for ANYONE ~ young/old, non cook, beginner, old pro ~ whatever! I will have both of my children read it at some point.

I had read the previous book and enoyed it as a good story but I found this book to be very informational and very useful. First time I read it I made a homemade carrot soup and a stew on a Sunday and the family fell on it like ravening wolves. I came to understand cooking better and stopped buying prepackaged as it is not necessary. Right now have a beef barley soup in the crockpot and baked the book's artisan bread recipe without difficulty. First time I made that bread, everyone sat down and ate it hot with butter right from the oven. I am buying three copies for Xmas gifts for people I know. So yes, an excellent purchase as a story and a cookbook all in one. It belongs in the kitchen for sure. I hope to see more.

This book read more like a TV show that was desperately trying to get more viewers by making people appear more stupid than they might be. A book format of this kind does not appeal to me. I don't want to read a book about some random women who don't know what to do with raw vegetables or how to handle a knife. The book has been written in a very boring manner. Not recommended.

I always knew how to 'cook' basic meals and follow a recipe but now, after reading Kitchen Counter Cooking School, I have the confidence and enthusiasm to "COOK". I experiment and substitute and embellish with abandon and great success, if I do say so myself. I bake my own bread exclusively (haven't bought a loaf in months), I no longer by jars of sauces or virtually anything processed, and I actually had to replenish some of my herbs and spices because - for the first time - I'd used them up!If you have any hesitation or uncertainty in the kitchen, this is the book for you. I cook healthier, heartier, cheaper, and with more variety all because of this book.