| This book is worth its considerable weight in vanilla pods. Pitched squarely at the catering professional, but written in an accessible style that makes it equally useful for the serious (and motivated) amateur, The Professional Pastry Chef is a comprehensive reference work that will enable you to get the best out of your existing skills and will lead you to acquire new ones. I bought this book because I'm a professional chef; I also have a love of good food writing, and this book has elements that appeal to both parts of me. Professional cooking is all about reaching a certain standard of competency - when that standard has been reached, then most instructions in print will be understandable and useful. This book keeps that threshold low without being patronising or losing its usefulness to the professional, and is definitely of use to the amateur as well as we galley-rats. | 
