The Starter Cook is the perfect quick culinary reference, a learner's manual to that sometimes intimidating room in one's home: the kitchen. With its plethora of helpful tips and a step-by-step guide to every major technique, it helps the beginner home cook connect the dots as he learns his way around the kitchen. Linda Johnson Larsen covers all the basics--from understanding food storage and preparation to perfecting knife skills to learning to poach chicken--and then some, like covering all special preparations needed for select ethnic dishes. Peppered throughout are quick tips to make life in the kitchen a little bit easier. With The Starter Cook, the good home cook--or even a beginner, whether a recent college grad or a newlywed--can become a great one.