The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking (The Teaching Company, The Great Courses)

Can't say enough good things about this DVD set. The chef/teacher is the absolute best. Totally enjoyable and valuable.

Four and 1/2 Stars. Very well done. Chef Briwa takes you thru the essential fundamentals of a trained chef. I was very pleased with his presentation and the skill set he builds. Great emphasis is placed on developing abilities (including tasting skills, wine pairing, equipment, spices, sauces and stocks, ingredients, etc..), rather than on specific recipes. Chef Briwa does use many complete dishes/recipes in his presentations. I took the half star because of a few too many digressions into Thai dishes that struck me as excessively sweet, and tertiary at best to the rest of the course.I also ordered the hardcover book, which is more of a guide thru the course than a cookbook. I have used it several times and am happy to have it. It saved me the tedium of note taking while viewing the lessons.

Ordered this for my high schooler that I am homeschooling. Other Great Courses items have proved dry and boring to my students, but this one has been fun for my last student. We watch two lessons a week, practice skills on Thursdays, and Friday is the cook for your family day using what you learned that week as lab hours. I wish this course came with recipes or some kind of activity suggestions for each lesson.

These discs are priced in the three digits at Great Courses. Mid-two digits, with their yearly discount (when they dump the stuff that's less popular). Acquiring this item from this seller for a single digit price was manna from heaven. Especially as it was a gift. You're great!

We really need to go back to basics of cooking again. With all this fast food and instant TV dinners, the quality of health of the human being is deteriorating. I would not go to the extreme of the "slow food" philosophy, because, although it has its merits, it ends up becoming very snobish because only Ancien Regime people could afford to get all those original pristine materials and the sophisticated chefs to cook for them. But if you go back to basics you can prepare very tasty, nutritious and healthy food yourself for you and your guests.

I acquired this as a Christmas gift for my wife and she loved it. The Great Courses Series, regardless of the topic are extremely thorough and well done. I was very happy to find this multi-disc set at a bargain price. The shipper was extremely quick with this order as well, and it arrived in plenty of time for the holidays despite the late order. Thanks!

he covers even what pans to buy!

I had seen this series when borrowing from work, and it was so well done and comprehensive, I had to have a copy of my own!

Basically inspiring video tutorial for the lost art of cooking your own meal. This series covers a wide variety of foods and basic techniques. Students, homemakers, foodies ect. would find something useful in the different approximately 40 minute lecture series.