The wildly popular basics course at Berkeley's famed Kitchen on Fire! culinary school teaches students ultimate confidence in the kitchen. In this new book, Chefs Olivier Said and MikeC. combine their many years of experience cooking in professional kitchens and classrooms to present all the basic techniques necessary to create great food—complete with full-color illustrations and step-by-step photos throughout. You'll explore the underlying methodology and alchemy of cooking, from ingredients to prep to heat. You'll get all the skills to navigate your kitchen with ease and the knowledge to put that cookbook back on the shelf and create your own recipes with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Beginners will find the information easy to digest, and seasoned cooks will discover the secrets of professional chefs—such as the rarely discussed importance of surface area and density in gauging cooking time. Blending the precision of a professional culinary textbook with the authors' fun and irreverent attitudes, Kitchen on Fire! makes it easy for anyone to cook like a chef.   LeslieLovesVeggies.net, 1/12/12 “This must have kitchen ‘bible’ is loaded with over 1,000 color photos and illustrations and includes tips, tricks and techniques to make every cooking skill a bit easier!...Learning to cook can seem like a daunting challenge but Chefs MikeC. and Olivier have broken it down chapter by chapter and made it fun and interesting!” Portland Press Herald , 2/1/12 “If you're one of those home cooks who's tired of being a slave to recipes but you can't afford the money or time to go to culinary school, pick up a copy of Kitchen on Fire! ” Taste for Life , February 2012 “Become a master of the hearth with Kitchen on Fire! Chefs Olivier Said and MikeC. take you through the bootcamp experience of professional culinary school (without the cost or commitment)…[It] will help you learn the fundamentals of cooking in a fun and digestible (pun intended!) way.”  Oakland Tribune , 2/15/12 “A book that is rich in technique.”  Midwest Book Review , February 2012 “Step-by-step color photos throughout, measurement conversion charts, tools, and more make this an 'all-in-one' home course for any aspiring to better cooking!”  “Self-taught cooks and those who follow only family recipes will benefit from Kitchen on Fire! ...In addition to perfecting techniques, home cooks will learn the essentials of improvisation… Kitchen on Fire! is not designed to make non-cooks into cooks, or cooks into better cooks; its aim is to supply the information that will help home cooks evolve into home chefs.”  EatDrinkBetter.com, 12/15/11  “Can give a beginning cook confidence in the kitchen…Twelve chapters cover every basic topic a cook needs to know…If the CSA box includes some weird veggie you’ve never eaten, just knowing the techniques in this book will provide enough information to make a delicious dish. I recommend Kitchen on Fire for beginning cooks, but also for more experienced cooks who want to broaden their kitchen repertoire and break free of recipes.”  The Hippo 12/15 issue “[A] good place for a beginning cook to start.”  Publishers Weekly, 11/7/11 “Said and MikeC…have extensive West Coast culinary credits, a strong visual sensibility and an impressive knowledge of the science behind their art…A step-by-step guide for those who learn best by reading, and safe harbor for those who prefer not to be taught knife skills in person…A fascinating section on cooking chemistry explores everything from the polarity of water to the properties of starch.” Library Journal, 11/15/11 “A book meant to free home cooks from rote recipe following by imparting the essentials of cooking technique and science. Individual chapters are packed with pictorial instructions, easy-to-read text, and exercises or recipes that readers can use to test their skills. This is a streamlined crash course for novices.” BizIndia.net, 12/12/11 “If you want to equip yourself with the right knowledge, skills and most important of all, the techniques to cook creatively, this is the book you need.”  Technorati.com, 12/16/11 Sand and Succotash, 3/4/12 “An easy to follow 'cooking class' in your own home…The many illustrations and charts throughout the book give a great understanding of how and why different ingredients interact with one another…I have over 300 cookbooks and books on ingredients in my home library, ranging from professional texts and specialty produce to old-fashioned regional fare, but few do as good a job of tackling the basics of cooking in such a well-photographed and well-illustrated manner.”   Deseret News , 3/14/12 “If you have ever wanted to attend culinary school and never been able to, chefs Oliver Said and MikeC. may have what you've been looking for…Great photos throughout…Everything is technically right and well-presented.”  Blogcritics.org, 3/20/12 “A cooking school all rolled into one book…This book goes far beyond the basi