OliverB

A fascinating read! It would be fun if you could post some pictures of the kitchen if the school is ok with that. Looking forward to the next lesson! Oliver

I almost bought it and had it in my hands many times. I've held off so far because I just recently got Culinary Artistry, which seems to cover quite some common ground. As it'll be years before I used all the ideas in CA, I'm wondering if I need the Flavor Bible too? I'd be curious to hear from some that have both books and use them. Why one would be better than the other for any given situation. And I agree, either one or something similar would be a really cool thing to have as a portable app on the Iphone (not that I have or need one right now). And I'm sure it'll happen sooner than later, maybe somebody is already busily typing away at it!

I'd not bet on it, the higher priced cooking stuff is luxury and the MFG know that those that want it will pay for it. Most of the high priced items are also a bit complicated to make and don't sell by the millions, they have to recover the cost of the plant etc. You might see a light price drop, but I'd be very surprised if copper pots follow the copper price. Making them does not really get that much cheaper, the material cost are probably a small fraction of the process of making them. But also, unless ALL of your pots and pans are falling apart (what do you DO with them?) you probably don't need to buy everything new? I'd look for sales.

but it won't be as pretty, no slip case, no silver gilded pages, most likely no colorful bookmark strings Of course, still very worth getting and I think it's great that they consider putting a less expensive version of the book out so that more people can own it.

was quite good there are always experiments going on, just started curing my first ever bacon :-) Sausage making and smoking meats and fish (not in a pipe, hard to keep lit) is next.

that ham looks gorgeous! I can almost smell it over here :-) I just cured my first ever pork belly (love my newly discovered Asian supermarket!) with a basic dry cure and some crushed garlic, pepper, juniper berries and a bay leaf. The meat is a bit over 2lb and has to sit in the fridge for 7 or so days now, can't wait to have a taste end of next week! I don't have a smoker (yet) so I might either put it in the oven or in my trusted Weber once it's done curing for some added smoke taste. I'll report back once it's done I must say, this book is one of my top 10 favorite cookbooks! If there'd be pictures in it I'd probably eat a slice of it~~~

I don't make them very often, but if you make a whole bunch they will freeze just nicely once they're cooked, though I usually just make up the amount I need, it's so quick. Don't know if the dough would freeze well, it's so liquid. I never add any taste modifiers to them, I like them "original". As for sauces etc, I've not seen them served as a "pasta dish" except as Kase Spatzle, with a nice thick gooey string pulling cheese sauce (mostly just melted cheese and sauteed onions) which is delicious on a cold winter day in Austria! Other than that they work well as a side dish with beef/pork/venison with a nice thick pan sauce. Hmmm, might just have to make some this weekend, I haven't thought about them in a long time - thanks for the reminder!

for cooking I'm pretty happy with the Costco Kirkland brand bottles, as well as one from Trader Joe's that often comes with a little pouring spout attached with a rubber band. Blackish label and I think it's one liter. Currently I have their store brand kalamata oil, also pretty good. For nicer oils I get Bariani (Californian - sold at my farmer's market) or the Californian from TJ's as well as the unfiltered femina something or other brand one. An Italian oil they sell. I recently tried a spanish one they sell in small square bottles with a real cork stopper, also pretty good. California EVO is actually very good and comes with a smaller carbon footprint, also supports (to me) local growers, something I try to do more and more with my food purchases.

just a quick update, I used what might amount to a 1x2 inch piece, sliced thinly into rings. And I could have used a lot more, either galangal is relatively weak in taste or just the piece I have is not that strong, but it sure pales compared to ginger. The sauce was very good but you had to concentrate to find the galangal in there. Next time I'll add a lot more. The fish was super yummy too!

thanks! I'll use about an inch, if it does not have enough galangal taste I'll add a bit more to the experiment. I was a bit surprised by the "one galangal rhizome" instruction in the book, as it's usually very detail oriented. With my fish, it's probably better to err on the low side than overpower it and make it taste like "poached in pine needles"

Not my favorite, but you could poach it. Depending where you live, bbq is always an option too, or the broiler of course. If you get really good fresh tuna, I'd not do too much to it, maybe a light sauce, but you want the fish to be able to sing by itself, it should not need an orchestra. Some interesting rice (brown/wild/forbidden/etc) or maybe some fava beans with a light butter sauce, touch of garlic. Some nice waxy baby potatoes with butter. With fish I try to stay on the light side, let the full flavor of the fish develop and shine, no heavy sauces. Maybe a bit mustard powder, a bit of honey? Very light touch of sesame oil? Hope that helps! Oliver

you might want to check out Jamie Oliver's book "Jamie at Home". He often uses his wonderful wood fired oven for just about anything. I remember wonderful game, game birds, tomatoes and other veggies. Just make sure to have similar size items. He had whole small birds and cut up/flattened larger birds in the same roaster. It looked so yummy, I wanted to lick my TV screen..... When I looked into building one (which I will in the near future) I also found a couple websites that listed recipes, though I unfortunately lost the links. A quick google might help. One site was from a guy in Australia who also sells a dvd with instructions on how to build your own oven. I think he had recipes on there. I'd also mix up some bread dough while you're at it, and stick that in once the oven cools a bit. You should be able to feed your entire street with baked goods from the residual heat, but at least try making one bread. It's so much better from a wood fired oven! Of course, a pizza party is called for too! Have all the fixings in bowls and let everybody make their own, they should be done in less than 2 min. Oliver

I hope I'm putting this in the correct category, if not the mods are of course welcome to move or delete. I just got me a copy of Peterson's Sauce book (what a great book!) and want to make a sauce for my whole fish I got from the Asian supermarket (my new love!). It asks for one galangal rhizome to be added. Now, the pieces they had there were as varied in size as ginger and I'm a bit at a loss what he might mean here. An inch? A pound? A cup? I've only used galangal once before. The other ingrediences are one small white onion, cauliflower and coconut milk. What would you do? I don't want to overpower the fish (a gorgeous red whole Ocean Perch). If it were Ginger I'd probably use about an inch or so. Thanks for any pointers! Oliver

I wold recommend Julia Child's book(s), even if you should decide the recipes are too heavy on fat. It still stands as one of the best books describing all the different ways in French cooking in a detailed and easy to understand way. It's fun to just poke around in the book, and it's also a book that almost should be required to have For more contemporary cooking (though I'm not sure it's less heavy) check out Keller's Bouchon, Bourdain's Les Halles, maybe Chanterelle by Waltuck or even Ramsey's *** book. Not your 100% and totally traditional French cooking, but certainly inspired by it. And then there are the old standards by Escoffier and Fernand Point, both available in English. You might want to look at those first if possible, they're less written for the home cook than for a professional Chef. Often no measurements are given etc. Depends a bit too, if you want to go "fancy" French or "peasant" French with bistro like cooking. Putting French cooking into Amazon will give you a wide selection, the above are books I own and love. By the way, the 11 pages on Omelette include several drawings, it's not all text. It's good text though, Child and her co-authors really spent a lot of time writing these descriptions. Yes, it's a bit dated, and yes, there are new tools and gadgets they did not have, but personally I like the old fashioned approach at times. Let us know what you decide upon! Oliver

I'm glad I found this thread! I had a 15%off coupon for B&N (on top of the 20% membership off) and got me this gem. Really a great book, I love it when there are little personal introductions to recipes. I have the feeling that I'll be making quite a bit from this book, still have the pasta machine on the counter from something else, think I'll start in that direction. As a side note, can somebody recommend a good Lambrusco that one can find in the US? The introduction chapter made me long for a cold glass of good italian allround wine to enjoy the summerly temps we have here (SF bay area) already! Thanks! Oliver

I just got my copy last week, it's a stunning book! A monster for sure, check the size and measure your bookshelf before you order, it won't fit on a regular shelf! I've not had time to really dive into it, but what I read so far is very well written, the photos are fantastic and the artwork is great - though probably not everybody's cup of tea. Dave McKean has been one of my favorite artists for many many years and he's one of the main reasons I got this book. I'm not sure I'd have spent this much had it not been for the added benefit of a true art book. A truly wonderful high quality book, a rarity today. I got mine from Amazon saving almost $100, not bad! Well on it's way to become one of my favorite cook books! Oliver