I partnered with Artisan Books to share The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School book by Alison Cayne, an incredible new cookbook that’s so much more than just a collection of recipes. If, like me, you lack confidence in the kitchen, this is THE book you need! Read on for details, and don’t miss the fabulous giveaway at the end!
If you’re a regular reader, by now you know I’m not exactly oozing with confidence in the kitchen. Sure, I can handle some super simple recipes (and I can make coffee drinks of all sorts like no one’s business), but beyond that I get super intimidated by ingredient lists and cooking terms. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a paring knife and a bread knife to save my life. Chopping vs. slicing vs. dicing? They’re all the same to me! Forget about all the different pots, pans and utensils. I actually use a pie crust cutting thingy as a whisk! The fact that I just said “thingy” should clue you in to just how clueless I am in the kitchen!
Yeah, I definitely need to go to cooking school! Of course, that would require time and energy that I don’t have. No problem! The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook brings class right to me! It’s rare that you find a cookbook that actually tells you HOW to make something rather than just assuming you already have all the basic skills necessary to pull off a complicated recipe. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had one that does that, and I have a lot of cookbooks (I’m oddly obsessed with them).
Learn to Cook with The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School book
The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School is way more than a recipe book. While you’ll definitely find some truly inspired recipes in it, the main point of the book is to give you the confidence you need to come up with your own recipes.
Discover how to do everything from choose the right knife to what to keep in your pantry! A few of the skills you’ll learn include:
- How to Pick & Cut Herbs
- How to Make Stock
- How to Boil Eggs
- How to Make an Omelet
- How to Make Dressing
- How to Make & Store Sauces
- How to Assemble a Galette (and what a galette is, for people like me who have no idea!)
- Knife Cuts: Slice, Dice, Julienne, Oblique, Brunoise, Chiffonade, Supreme
- How to Cook Vegetables: Blanche, Braise, Sautée, Roast & Grill
- How to Cook Proteins: Poach, Roast, Steam, Broil, & Stew
See, pretty much everything you could ever need to know so you can cook with confidence! I absolutely love the format of the book, too. Rather than structuring it so that the lessons are in the front and recipes in the back, Cayne made it so that you learn and make at the same time. While she does cover some basics in the front of the book, you learn the most by doing with her Teaching Recipes.
Each of the 100 recipes in the book were carefully picked by Cayne and her expert staff with food inspired by cuisines from all over the world. The nine chapters and recipes within each chapter each revolve around a key lesson. By the end of the book, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to cook. This isn’t a “memorize the recipe” type of book. You’ll use the skills that you learn to branch out on your own and come up with new meals your family will love.
After finishing this book, I’m really looking forward to making my own hummus! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try. Of course, there are countless other things I want to make, but that seems like a good starting point, right?
Excerpt from The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School book
Check out the introduction for a peek in The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School book!
[pdf-embedder url=”http://www.prettyopinionated.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HavensKitchen_Introduction.pdf”]
“Excerpted from The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School by Alison Cayne (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2017. Photographs by Con Poulos.”
This truly is an amazing resource for building confidence in the kitchen, not just for novices like me but for pros, too! I bet you’ll find something new to try among the pages even if you’re already a rock star chef!
Connect on Social Media
- Follow Haven’s Kitchen: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
- Follow Artisan Books: Twitter | Instagram
- Follow hashtags #HavensKitchenCookbook | #CookWithConfidence to keep up with conversation
About the Author
Alison Cayne is the owner of Haven’s Kitchen, a cooking school, café, and event space in New York City. Cayne started Haven’s Kitchen as a place to inspire and educate people about food and sustainability issues. She serves on the boards of Edible Schoolyard NYC and the Food and Environment Reporting Network and has been featured in such publications as the New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Domino, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, and Goop. She has a master’s in food studies from New York University, where she is now an adjunct professor. Cayne lives in New York City with her five children. Find her on Instagram @havenskitchen.
I notice that this book contains a chapter on sauces. I would love to learn more about how to make and keep sauces for a variety of meals.
That sounds like such a great cookbook! I definitely want to get my own copy of it.
Me too! This cookbook looks so lovey!
I could definitely use a book like this. I am not the best cook and I also don’t have a great amount of patients for cooking. I do love to eat so I know I need to learn how to cook a lot better.
I was never taught how to cook, I had to learn on my own and am still learning all of the time. learning how to make a recipe can be a great basis to build on since you learn how foods behave, and it gives confidence.
What a great book! My boyfriend wants to learn to cook and I think I will get this for him. Or hopefully win it 🙂
OK I need a book like this, I am not a good cook at all and this sounds like something that could really give me a boost in the kitchen.
This looks like such a great book about cooking. I’d love to learn to do pastries some day!
Cooking is one of my favorite weekend pass times. It is more difficult to cook during the week because of the time crunch, but I always love to learn new recipes and buy cook books often.
It’s really nice that this focuses on some really useful skills that people will use over and over. It should be fun trying some recipes from around the world.
This book would be great for my son. I like that it teaches a lot of things for chefs of any skill level.
This sounds like a perfect cookbook for me. I can cook, but don’t enjoy it so I need all the help I can get.
This sounds like a fantastic cookbook. I am going to buy it for a few kids I know headed to college this year!
Such a great cook book! I’m sure anyone who has this book and try its recipes would surely become a skilled cook.
Souffles I’ve not made one because I’m afraid of them falling after all the effort
I would like to be able to cook better and be more organized. My husband works in a restaurant and it comes naturally to him. For me, it can take hours for something simple. This is why Iwould love this book!
I am so NOT good at cooking. I don’t think this book could save me. Though it does sound like a good find.
If it wasnt for online recipes and cookbooks, I will not learn how to cook. This is a nice giveaway.
I love cookbooks!! I love finding new recipes and this cookbook looks like a great one! I need to check it out for myself!!
I have a huge cookbook collection and I would love to add this one. My kids are learning to cook so that would be great for us as a family!
I’d like to learn how to cook burgers.
what a cool cookbook! I would love to try some of these recipes!
I would love to learn tips of pickling.
This looks like a really great book. My oldest loves exploring new dishes and styles of cooking so this would be perfect for him.
I’m not a good cook. There are 3 or 4 dishes that I do really well, but beyond those I am lost. I would love to learn how to make chicken and dumplings.
i really want to learn to cook ribs
I have never actually made an omelet and I would love to learn how to do that! Seems like an essential skill!
I want to learn to make good gravy! 🙂
mia2009(at)comcast(dot)net
Name: edye
I would like to learn how to cook different types of fish.
I would love to learn more about sauces, and expand my sauce repertoire!
I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE LASAGNA.
I would love how to fillet a fish.
I’m dying for this cookbook–talk about informative! Thank you so much for the opportunity! 🙂