"Initially it would be a book that every time I got asked to teach someone to cook, I could hand it out," he said. "But it's evolving into a 13-volume series, such as the 'First-Timer's Baking' book, 'First-Timer's Italian.' I have been writing these other volumes as I see what people are struggling with in the kitchen."

The book is designed as a reference guide, showing basic principles that can carry over to many different dishes. So, there are ratios instead of recipes. For example, "Fill a pot with at least twice the water as you have pasta," or "The ratio of rice to water to liquid is 2 to 1. So when you're cooking rice, make sure that if you have one cup of rice, you put in two cups of water."

But there are a few instances when more proportions would be helpful. In Bucher's steps for making sauces, the directions say, "Add the appropriate amount of flour to the melted butter. …" It would help to have an idea of what that "appropriate" ratio of butter, flour and stock would be. Bucher said in future editions of the book he may provide more actual recipes.

In addition to the Art Institute, Bucher teaches many classes at local venues such as For Your Cooking, Orson Gygi and Macey's in Ogden. He's noticed that home cooks tend to follow what they saw their mom or grandma do, and those techniques may not be the safest, fastest or easiest.

"Families can hand down a lot of good things and a lot of good recipes, but they can also hand down some bad habits. If you watch your mom or grandmother cut things like potatoes with a knife, you may think it looks safe enough since they're not cutting themselves each time. But then you watch a professional chef slice up an onion in half the time, all the while keeping his fingers next to the blade. If your mom or grandmother were to go that fast, cutting the way they usually do it, they would definitely be losing some fingers."

Also, "Maybe your mom liked the broccoli falling apart and mushy olive green. But if you learn the principles, you know that if you prefer to have your broccoli bright and not mushy, you cook it a little bit less."

There's very little microwaving in his book, aside from the suggestion that potatoes can be baked in the microwave to cut down the cooking time.

"Professional cooks don't have microwaves," he said. "Microwaving generally deteriorates the product a little bit. It depends on what and how you are cooking, though."

His book came out mid-March. Of the 5,000 copies printed, he's sold about 1,000 at Orson Gygi, For your Kitchen in Ogden, Orchard Drug in Bountiful, in his cooking classes and at his Web site, www.firsttimers cookbook.com.

His Web site also has a blog where he takes cooking questions and talks technique.