This is a great instruction book for intermediate to advanced cooking techniques. There is a humongous amount of useful information presented and without cooking a single dish you can learn the subtleties of cooking. I like the fact that this book focuses on French techniques with an American flair due to Julia Child’s background. The wonderful pictures step you through difficult techniques like making meringue mushrooms for Bûche de Noël. Additionally, the book is set up so you have Master recipes/techniques with suggestions for variation. For example, Pâte à Génoise (aka Genoise cake batter) is a master recipe that sets the stage for a number of other cakes: The Santa Clara (a 3-layer cake with apricot filling and white mountain frosting), The Cambridge Cake (Genoise layer cake with mocha buttercream frosting, chocolate walls and bow), The Queen of Sheba (a chocolate almond cake), and of course roulades (including Bûche de Noël).