All this playing with comparisons is simply meant to make the point that while this book is presented as a textbook by the most prestigious culinary training institution in the country, it's material is simply not that different from a book with more obviously commercial origins.

This book does have a lot of material you will not find in a Martha Stewart or Ina Garten or Paula Deen book. High on the list of interesting background information is the history of how the French Revolution may have been a major contributor to the rise of restaurants and the great strength and variety in French cuisine.

The real story here is cold food and how it is prepared and served in (French) restaurants. On this subject, this book is a delightful source of both recipes and Alton Brown / Shirley Corriher type background. Honestly, the true culinary counterpart to Feynman's lectures would be Harold McGee's oft quoted books on food science.

This CIA book gives a wealth of recipes for salad dressings and other cold sauces, cold salads, sandwiches, cured and smoked foods, sausage, forcemeats, cheese, hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, condiments, and basic recipes (spice mixes and the like). One thing that immediately endeared me to the book is its treatment of vinaigrettes, which easily outdoes even Martha Stewart's better than average treatment. This material is worth the price of admission. Another service it supplies, with the authority of a teaching institution, is to simplify some culinary terms. For example, it always bedeviled me to know the difference between, for example, a relish, a salsa, and a chutney. Turns out that they simply are three different words for the same basic preparation. Like `plains', `veldt', and `pampas', they are different words for the same thing reflecting three different ethnic sources.

The chapters on curing and sausage may interest fewer readers than most, but there is much you can get from these chapters even if you never make a sausage. I was particularly struck by the fact that government regulations require that pork used in sausage making be `certified'. That's a little fact that people like Emeril and even Alton leave out of their little how to shows on sausage making. As a great believer in serendipity, I believe you never can tell what inspiration you can get from unfamiliar material. Here lies the greatest value to this book. It tells you a lot of the things which more popular treatments of the same subject can easily overlook. This includes things like sanitation, shelf life, and equipment care. As an aging hippie whose fantasies were fueled by the `Whole Earth Catalogue', I find the chapter on cheeses to be worth a month's run of `Good Eats' shows.

One can say that this book is really meant for the restaurant professional, but I believe it has many uses for the home cook. The most important use is as a resource for making pantry items like prepared catsup, mustard, relish, crackers, spice mixes, salad dressings, and stocks which one may typically buy at the supermarket. If you put your mind to it, you will certainly attain a better tasting product. What may be more important is that you will also certainly attain a better tasting product with no laboratory chemical ingredients.

For the real foodie, this book is a treasure. It gives recipes for lots of things few other books take the trouble to cover. The danger to the newbie is that they may not see those points at which the book's coverage is not complete. One area is in the recipes for stocks. These recipes are `bare bones' instructions with none of the usual cautions and explanations given in some other books. If you are really serious about stock making, consult `Jeremiah Tower Cooks' or Judy Rodgers's `The Zuni Café Cookbook' or even the CIA's `New Professional Chef' text. One can excuse this somewhat since these are hot preparations in a book about cold food. I would have preferred a reference to a work that gave the subject a more complete coverage.

One irritating thing I find in some reviews is a complaint about something which is outside stated range of the book. This book is about cold food. Do not expect details on baking or hot cuisine. Any material on those matters should be taken as a convenience to the reader.

I was a bit surprised to find at least one typo in this textbook by a respected school, published by textbook specialist Wiley. I found no errors that will mislead the home cook.

The book has several features I consider essential in a textbook. One is an bibliography. Another is a list of sources. Another is a glossary of terms. Another, very important, is an index of recipes.

This book is excellent if you are building a culinary library or do a lot of entertaining or are especially fond of salads and sandwiches, or simply like to read about food. The only reservation an interested reader may have is the price. The $60 list price inhibited me for several months, but I believe the book is worth it if you do any entertaining or make any quick cold lunches in your kitchen. Highly recommended.