A.Iley

I've been following this topic with some interest. I will be traveling to the US in a few months and I always check out things like how to tip before I travel somewhere. To me the system is mind boggling, coming from a country where when you are employed, you don't get at least the minimal wage, but also sick days and holiday days, it's something I can't get my head around. However I get the feeling that you wouldn't want it any other way, which suggests that you are actually better of under the current system. In that case I think you'll just have to take the good with the bad. Although the maths don't add up to me. Overhere a tip really is a gratuity, not a moral obligation and a normal tip is still about 10%, add that to your wages and other benefits and I think you're much better off with a salary. I think it's wrong to assume that if you get a salary you won't get any tips, the only country I've visited that really is without tips is Japan. (We knew this, but the habit creeped in and we left a tip one night. Only to be chased down by the waiter who returned the money to us. We had to offer him our apologies for being so rude. ) Going out for a decent meal is an expensive little joke here (and no that's not just down to waiter salaries ). So when we do it's a treat. I'm not a difficult customer, I don't care if you forgot something, spill something or whatever, as long as it's all sorted out in a nice friendly manner, I will still give a good tip. You've got to be really obnoxious for me not to leave a tip (the waiter that insisted in a very loud manner that the chicken wasn't raw, but medium cooked, as it should be and that we didn't know nothing about food comes to mind). But on the, luckily, very rare ocassions that this happens I don't see it as my job to "educate" the waitstaff on their shortcomings, I'm trying to have an enjoyable evening and if this was spoiled by a waiter then, that will be reflected in the tip. If they can't read anything into that, then that's their problem. I don't want to spoil the evening anymore by engaging in an argument. I also don't complain to the management (accept in the case of the raw chicken, they where serving this to the whole restaurant, so I was affraid that someone could get seriously ill). Because I think anyone can have a bad day and I really don't want you to get into trouble over that. But if a waiter was to chase me down a street to question me about the tip I left, I would make one immediate trip back to the restaurant and that would be to let the manager know what I thought exactly about the waiter in question. Only to never return there.

Hello, After about 16 years of abuse my much loved Le chasseur cast iron pan set needs replacing. Due to a couple of operations on my wrist, I'm looking for lighter pans. So I happily started researching.........got the shock of my life.....he I haven't looked at another pan for 16 years, so prices where a bit of shock. And my chasseur pans where half price at the time. The Egullet tutorial on stovetop cookware was a great source of information and with that I started looking at the different brands on offer. Living in Europe means not all the brands mentioned are available here....but still I think I've got it narrowed down somewhat. I'm looking for good quality pans, that will last me for a long long time. So I'm looking now at the Mauviel M'cook series, these are 7-ply. Unfortunately I can't find any reviews on this series, lots of praise for there copper pans (which would be to heavy for me), but nothing on the SS-pans. So I would love to hear if these are good quality and worth the money. Now another one and costing 30% more then the Mauviel is ofcourse the Demeyere Atlantis series. Some of these pans are 7-ply and some have a copper disc in the bottom, depending on there purpose. I understand the benefits of copper, but am wondering if the benefits of this ways up to the extra $$$$. Then there is the German brand Fissler, I've heard some good things about their profi range, but in price it comes close to the (in my opinion) much nicer looking Mauviel. However quality is more important to me. In my pre-chasseur era I've buckled more pans then I would like to remember. Oh......btw I cook on gas. Bottom line is that I just really want a good set of pans and am prepared to pay for it. I won't be buying a set, I'll just replace one pan a the time, when my bankmanager permits

I'ts available for pre-order at amazon.co.uk for GBP 24,50. When I was looking at it I found it said hardback. But the book out now is called the big fat duck cookbook, the one to be released in october is called the fat duck cookbook. So I went over to the publisher site. It gives the exact same descriptions for both books, same amount of pages, both hardback. But the new one has shrunk a little 272x232mm vs. 340x290mm and I guess it won't have the slipcover.

Jon, that's actually what I heard/read about the Charlie Trotter books as well. But it's not true for this one, this book really goes into the basics and doesn't just tell you to do something but goes into the why as well. It's actually a little more basic then I would like, but I really enjoy reading it and I had a few "aha, that's why moments". I'm looking up happy in the kitchen right now and must say it looks very interesting, just what the bankmanager didn't want, another book to add to my never ending wish-list Actually these do sound like the sort of thing I'm after. Maybe I didn't make it very clear, I did find it hard to describe what I was looking for...... I'm at a stage where I can cook in a way, that when I cook from a recipe and it doesn't taste right I can usually fix it. I know the herbs and spices in my kitchen well enough, to know what they will do to the flavour of a dish. I do this purely by tasting and I've got no real knowledge to back this up with. When I reached this stage I started to experiment more. So kitchenhacker, please do let me know about how you get on with "Think like a chef" the whole solid techniques and improvisation thing sounds very interesting to me. My question about flavours came from me always wanting to know the "why" about everything and from a wish to expand my range of flavours beyond the ones I use right now. From that point of view I have now ordered both the flavor bible and McGhee's book. McGhee for the why and hopefully between them they will give me some new ideas about flavorings. I do agree with what you are saying here. I'm a sucker for the pretty pictures and I'm sure I'll get the Fat Laundry, Alinea and Fat duck (when the paperback comes out) one day. I'm rather mesmerized by the whole molecular gastronomy thing, but would probably need a lot more kitchen-gadgets then I've got right now. But I'm sure that my want for exploring new flavours and maybe some more unusual combinations comes from seeing people like Heston Blumenthal cooking on t.v. Sorry that this got quite long. I'm new here and I really appreciate the help you've all been giving me

I totally empathise with your inability to get all the books. We have good bookshops in Australia but don't always get them as soon as others on eGullet do. My Amazon account works overtime, but unfortunately not as much as when our dollar was close to parity with the US$ (we're now around 67c to the dollar ) ← I'm on the other side.......having euro's means we can shop a lot cheaper in the States right now. Doesn't way up to all the misery the credit crunch is causing though. I did receive the dummies book and although there is a lot of basic information in there, I'm actually enjoying reading it (I wish I had it a few years earlier), when you get past the terrible dummy headlines which don't seem to have much bearing on the chapters themselves it's actually a nice book. Charlie Trotter does a good job of not just explaining the how to..., but also the why to...

Oh my........reading this thread just opened the flood gates to the memories of a meal I really hoped I never had to think about again. A girl I had worked with for a while was leaving the job and she invited about 7 of us to a meal. I took her aside and asked if she was sure about that, although the restaurant she choose was a very reasonably priced Italian, I knew this was a lot of money to her. She wouldn't hear of it....."I'm buying you guys a meal, you really helped me out when I had a hard time, etc.". So I had a word with the others and we decided, o.k. she can pay for the food, but we are getting the drinks and dessert. The night came...... Without having discussed this before none of us ordered starters, clearly everyone felt we wouldn't drive up the expense for this girl anymore then necessary. Whilst we where going over our menu's the host and her housemate where whispering something and called the waiter over. She said we are having this pizza (pointing at the very cheapest pizza on the menu). One of the people at the table, lovely guy, but never was any good at taking subtle hints, said o lovely I'll have this pasta. From that moment on the evening went rapidly downhill, clearly our host intended to order the cheap pizza for the whole table and she got really p****** off when we put in our own orders. Mind you there was nothing extravagant, the difference was just a few dollars. We decided to ignore her foul mood and actually had a nice meal, until our host pulled her roommate to the side in between dinner and dessert and we could overhear her say. "If they think I'm paying for this, they are not eating what I told them to eat". When it was time to pay up, she opened her bag and out came a big A4 notepad, pen and calculator (did she actually ever intended to pay, I never just happen to have an A4 notepad in my handbag????). She calls over the waiter and asks for a menu. Turned out that between them they had memorized exactly what everyone ordered, what and how much they had to drink and even who had asked for some extra bread (never mind that this was for the whole table and they happily munched away on it them self). This was my cue to get up and visit the ladies room. When I got back I stopped at the bar and overlooked the carnage going on at the table. The waiter, who had been fantastic all evening, came over and said don't worry about it and gave me a drink on the house, making me feel even more embarassed. But it didn't stop there..... When the bill was finally paid, we couldn't get one person (who had way to much to drink) to leave the restaurant. Finally with the help of my friendly waiter, we managed to literally shove him out of the door. We all had to go to the same underground station to get out of the city center, but while I thanked the waiter (again), they all just disappeared, leaving me with this huge lump of a man that could barely stand on his feet. It took me 20 min. to get him to cross the road, and then we still had to negotiate the stairs into the station. Honestly I know it sounds bad, but after a while I was just thinking about giving him a little push. I was home an hour and a half later then any of the others, while I lived closest to the restaurant. Can you imagine my shock when three months later this girl phones me and said "I had such a lovely time that evening, I would like to meet up for dinner"?

Thanks Nickrey, I can't believe I've never seen this book. We pop over to England to visit relatives at least once a year and I'm always searching the bookshops over there. Actually I just found it at a dutch online shop as well at 3x the price of Amazon One thing they had that I never expected to see.....a dutch translation of Charlie Trotters dummy book. Now I do have something against the dummy books (How am I a dummy when I'm trying to get smarter by reading a book?) and judging by the comments the translation is terrible, they kept the US volume measurements instead of going metric and the organisation of the book is chaotic. But it was also said that if you find you're way around it it's a treasure trove of information. All these negative comments meant I could get it very cheap, so that's one to keep me busy until I've sorted my next Amazon order out.

Thanks for elaborating Tri2Cook! It really does sound like just the thing I'm after. The other books you suggested are so tempting......but I feel I need to learn more about the how and why before I can fully appreciate them. That's why Bouchon is on my list, a bit of a compromise . ChezCherie I did see the thread on the flavor bible, I just wondered how it compared to the other books on flavour. Guess I just have to go for it. Thanks for trying to help me out here!

I've been wondering about that one. I wasn't sure if it was maybe to scientific. Not quite sure how to put this.....I would love to cook some more refined modern food and would love to learn more about flavour combinations that are a maybe a bit more unusual. But it all has to be doable in my normal kitchen with regular kitchen equipment. And I wasn't sure if the Harold McGee book would fit that bill. Could you tell my you think this book fits the bill? Thanks a lot!

Hello, I'm a pretty decent home cook, I love to cook and spent time in the kitchen. I would describe my food as flavourful and rustic. I'm looking for books that will teach me how to take my cooking to the next level. For me that means that I'm not so much looking for a regular recipe book, but I would like to learn about flavour combinations, refinement and more advanced techniques. By now I've got a long wish-list and I'm looking for some advice (and ofcourse recommendations if you know of a better book) on which books to buy. The books I have been looking at: For flavour combinations: Culinary Artistry- Andrew Dornenburg The Flavor Bible -Andrew Dornenburg The Elements of Taste- Gray Kunz Which one of these books would you recommend as the best starting point for learning about combinations and starting to develope ones own creations in the kitchen? For technique and generally taking my cooking to the next level: Think Like a Chef- Tom Colicchio Home Cooking with Charlie Trotter or the Dummies book by Charlie Trotter Bouchon- Thomas Keller Cooking by Hand- Paul Bertolli As I can't pop down to shops to actually thumb through these books, I would love to hear your input and suggestions before I make (another) dent in my bank account. Thanks! Agnes