Unless you aspire to perfection—to be, in short, a Cordon Bleu—you do not have to be born with a chef's hat on your head to become a good cook. All you need is to love to cook, pay close attention to details, form the habit of being precise, and choose only the finest materials. The best way to learn, of course, is to work under a capable cook; but even without that experience, with a book like mine to guide you, if you are serious, you can learn to cook.

—from the preface