The Complete Handbook of Cookware & Bakeware

I've been cooking professionally for twelve years and I picked this up thinking it might be a nice reference. The first chapter on heat conductivity and material reactivity genuinely made me reconsider what pans I use for what. That said, I was expecting more specific brand comparisons and pricing data later on, but those sections were more general. Still, the maintenance chapter alone saved me from ruining a couple of good pans.

This is the book I wish I had when I opened my bakery. The chapter on choosing bakeware for a commercial deck oven was worth the price by itself. I've already replaced my aluminum sheet pans with heavier gauge ones after reading about warping under high heat. The troubleshooting guide is so clear that my sous-chef and I have started using it as a training manual. Honestly, this is the only cookware book I've seen that treats the subject with this much seriousness.

I read a lot of product manuals and forums, but they're always contradictory. This handbook is more consistent, but the first chapter dragged on a little--I mean, I know how heat works, I just wanted to know what to buy. The chapters on materials and specifications were useful, though. Good book, just heavier than it needs to be in places.

I'm a serious home cook, and this handbook answered questions I didn't realize I had. For example, the point about how differential expansion causes pans to warp on induction cooktops - that explains why my old stainless pan is now a spin-top. I appreciated the checklist in Chapter 2 for evaluating a pan's thickness. I subtracted a star because I wish there were more photos or diagrams; the text is dense, and a visual component would help illustrate some of the concepts.

It's a solid, informative book, but I struggled with how dry it is. The chapter on business opportunities felt a bit out of place for me, since I'm just a chef, not a buyer. However, the maintenance section was solid, and I appreciated the specific example of using a drop of dish soap to test seasoning on cast iron. It's not an exciting read, but it's a good reference to have on the shelf.

I wanted a serious, technical guide, and this delivers. The section comparing carbon steel and cast iron was exactly what I needed, and the advice on how to look at a pan's thickest point to guess at its material integrity was clever. It's not the kind of book you sit down and read cover to cover, but it's a very valuable resource. It lost a point for not having a more detailed index, which I really need in a reference book.