A review by faye_okay
Aida Mollenkamp's Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook by Aida Mollenkamp

3.0

The book only partly lives up to it's name.

-An essential reference, yes. Lots of great beginner cooking tips/techniques, kitchen and pantry set up, general food knowledge, and some basic recipes in the Set-up and How to sections.
-Becoming a more accomplished cook, yes. The final section, titled The Rift, contains go-to recipes for cooks that are confident enough in their own skill and don't really need to have their hand held through the cooking process, or "from the hip" as Mollenkamp refers to it.
-Becoming an adventurous cook, I'm not so sure. About half of the main recipes are what you'd expect and explained simply but with good detail. But the main issue with the book is when it tries to get adventurous, it's not very successful. Twists to classic recipes or combining multiple ethnic techniques, ingredients & dishes (to make one conglomeration that can't be described as anything in the end) doesn't give me much ambition to try theses recipes. I was mostly confused trying to figure out how it were supposed to be appetizing and in the end wasn't very hungry...which is a pretty rare feat for a cookbook.