Search the Community

I am participating in a class about Santa Fe and Taos. I have chosen to research the Cuisine and Indigenous Food of the Northern New Mexico. Can anyone recommend some good sources for my research? Often, Regional Cookbooks have excellent material and so I am looking for that type of reference. We will follow up the class with a week long trip in the area in April. You can bet I will comb this forum for your restaurant suggestions! Thanks for any help you can give me regarding comprehensive cookbooks.

So, I was mentally drooling over <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showuser=19804">chrisamirault</a>'s description of savory egg dishes with curry over at the <a href="http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=99435&hl=">egg thread</a> while simultaneously bemoaning my lack of real proficiency for making any type of Asian cuisine beyond egg rolls, won ton soup, rangoon, etc., and it occurred to me (with only a smidgen of prompting) that I should ask here to see if you all have some suggestions for some good, solid books that would get me on the right track in this, one of my favorite of all types of cooking. I see lots of titles in the bookstores, but I have no idea what to look for, or which are worth the expenditure... I have no frame of reference! I'd especially be interested in pan-Asian books; my family, friends and I enjoy the nuances in every region's special fare... although I'm not averse to indulging one of my few spending vices and purchasing individual books if they are especially valuable. Thanks in advance!

3 more for me. Debbie Moose's Deviled Eggs Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Mark Bittmans How to Cook Everything Holidays [Moderator note: The original Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 3)]

Inspired by the current recipe preferences thread, I got to thinking about recipe style guides. All of the newspapers I know of have style guides, and I can't imagine that they don't exist for recipes as well. If you have experience with these, can you share some insights about them? What guidelines are you given? Do they differ from magazine to magazine, publisher to publisher? Do they crimp your style, or keep you on the straight and narrow?

I have to admit that when I first read the teaser description of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home on Amazon last fall, I was worried. Had Mario gone the way of Rachel Ray and FoodTV in general and surrendered to the “quick and easy” path that seems to plague the cookbook shelves at bookstores these days? As it turns out, there was nothing to be worried about. This is still the same old Mario, who can give a 5 second breakdown of Pugliese cuisine, make an obscure reference to a Rolling Stones song, and grill an octopus tentacle without pausing for a breath in between. So, while the subtitle includes the word “simple”, this is not the stuff of other FTV shows like Everyday Italian or 30 Minute Meals. You’ll find sweet and sour calves’ tongue, tripe, the aforementioned grilled octopus, and an anchovy and almond soup in these pages. In fact I’d say that “simple” is in fact a misnomer or at the least a relative term here: recipes do call for making the pasta yourself, or making your own mustard fruits, Cremona-style. The book is staggering in its scope and depth, and nearly every recipe has a beautiful, artfully composed full-color photograph by Beatriz da Costa to accompany it. It’s laid out in the usual Italian fashion, flowing from antipasti, to soups, to pasta, then onto seafood, meat, vegetables, and desserts. As always, his pasta recipes, both for dried and fresh pasta, seem to be the standout, and truly are “simple”, if you can get past making some of the pastas yourself. Peppered throughout are essays by Mario or other guest writers on Italian wine, the glories of cooking cephalopods, why ducks aren’t as popular in the U.S, and other varied topics, and Mario shares some of his dry, esoteric worldview in almost every pre-recipe writeup: when you break down a chicken, keep the thighs and legs and feed the breasts to the dog. That said, anyone familiar with his previous books will be a little dismayed at the number of recycled recipes here. Too, some recipes are only subtly different from one another, with only a minor variation in technique or ingredient to stand apart. The book starts with two fried cauliflower fritters, and there’s three antipasti recipes for clams on the half-shell. I’d rather have seen them rolled up into one master recipe, with variations listed afterwards, rather than blow a whole extra page and photo on them. Mario begins in the introduction by surveying his previous works as an overview of where he was at at each point in his career when he wrote them, and then continuing right up to this book, a summation of his total experiences with three cooking and two travel shows, and an ever-growing army of successful New York restaurants. It’s a look at the state of Italian food and cooking today, and he does indeed swing from Italian-American staples, to arch-regional specialties never dreamed of on these shores, to trademark, only-in-a Batali-owned-restaurant dishes. Mario’s strength has always been to walk the line between professional, restaurant-level cuisine and simple home-style cooking, and this is no exception. It’s hard not to argue that it doesn’t deserve a place on the cookbook shelf. Certainly anyone looking to get their first Mario cookbook should now begin (and almost end) here, but those with more familiarity of his previous works may have some misgivings. I gave a few of the recipes from this book a spin and made a weeknight meal for some friends. Here’s the menu: Antipasto: Prosciutto and Grilled Figs (page 100) Pasta: Spaghetti with Green Olive Sauce (Page 168) Main: Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with White Beans, Rosemary, and Mint Oil (Page 268) Vegetable: Asparagus with Citrus, Parsley, and Garlic (Page 418) Dessert: Peaches with Primitivo Syrup (Page 486) Total cook time from walking in the door to serving the antipasto: Almost exactly 90 minutes. No significant challenges or special techniques in making these items, the title gives almost an exact description of the ingredients. About the thing requiring an unusual technique was making the red wine syrup for the peaches, but seeing as how this was one of my first successful desserts back when I was learning how to cook, it can’t be that outlandish.

I would like to expand my knowledge about the history of cooking in various countries in the world outside Europe, mainly Japan, China, India, the Persian area, but I'm open for everywhere. So I'm looking for books that deal about how a cooking style developed in relation with the area; I'm not interested in recipes, but in historical and sociological issues. Just for example, I'd like to read a book that tells the story of Kaiseki style, how it was born and developed, how the Japanese culture influenced it (Shintoism, temple cooking and so on). I'm more interested on the high end cooking styles, like Kaiseki and Imperial Chinese. But I'm quite ignorant and don't have any references on these matters. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance. Teo

We are two countries seperated by a common language. I have an English recipe that call for fine and porridge oats. I think the porridge oats are rolled oats... but what are the fine oats? Dan

Any online references listing ingredients textures?

Here are the winners for this year. Any thoughts? Cookbook of the Year Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy by Diana Kennedy (University of Texas Press) American Cooking Pig: King of the Southern Table by James Villas (John Wiley & Sons) Baking and Dessert Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours by Kim Boyce (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) Beverage Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World’s Top Wine Professionals by Jordan Mackay and Rajat Parr (Ten Speed Press) Cooking from a Professional Point of View Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi (Phaidon Press) General Cooking The Essential New York Times Cook Book: Classic Recipes for a New Century by Amanda Hesser (W.W. Norton & Company) Healthy Focus The Simple Art of EatingWell Cookbook by Jessie Price & the EatingWell Test Kitchen (The Countryman Press) International Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories by Grace Young (Simon & Schuster) Photography Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine Photographer: Ditte Isager (Phaidon Press) Reference and Scholarship Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes by Mark Bitterman (Ten Speed Press) Single Subj ect Meat: A Kitchen Education by James Peterson (Ten Speed Press) Writing and Literature Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg (The Penguin Press)

Hi all, I purchased Gordon Ramsay's "3 star chef" some time ago, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading and cooking from it. What I particularly like about the book, is that it goes a long way in making "3 star restaurant food" accessible to dedicated home cooks. It takes time, patience, some ingredient hunting, but not overly expensive or hard-to-source equipment. This is pretty much the only "for the dedicated home cook/ambitious but do-able" cookbook reference I have in my collection, and I would now like to see what else there might be out there. I'm mostly interested in French/Italian cooking, and it's a great plus if recipes are given in metric. I am considering cookbooks by other celebrated chefs, such as titles by Heston Blumenthal, Alain Ducasse, Rene Redzepi (NOMA) etc., but most of them appear to me as coffeetable books meant for inspiring the pro chef rather than "home kitchen cookbooks". I've not had the chance to browse it yet, but would for instance Keller's "Ad-Hoc at home" be something to look out for? Any and all suggestions are very welcome!

I work in Seattle and recently got hired on as a lead line cook at an upscale Mexican restaurant. I was hoping to get some pointers on either books to read or places to do research about modern Mexican cuisine. Thanks!

Hi everyone, Its been several years since I've posted on this forum but hope to get involved more in the future now that I've changed jobs! Anyway, before buying Frederic Lalos' book, I mulled over buying it for almost 1 year. There is very limited writeup on this book and surely others would be going through the same decision making issues. In addition, we'll never know when this book'll be out of print. The reasons for my reluctance to purchase it is that here in Asia, this book + shipping from Europe would cost more than US$120. Do I really need to spend that kind of money when Hamelman, Dan Leader and Reinhart and other books would cover it? Thanks to my new job, I decided to buy it and it was the best decision I ever made. Firstly, this book touches on lots of basic knowledge covered in other books in terms of kneading, flour types, etc. Bear in mind that the recipes in this book use French flours, which are not as strong as American flours. Asian bakers may rejoice because our flours are quite similar in strength. Here in Bangkok, and in Singapore where I come from, we can get flours from Waitrose and other Italian as well as German flours. The most important aspect of this book for a professional baker or a serious home baker is that there are recipes dedicated to direct proofing, delayed overnight bulk fermentation method and a deferred overnight proofing method. All in the same recipe. This gives you timings and recipe options to better plan your baking. In addition, he gives the exact starting temperature and recommended end of mix temperature to ensure that the bread grows at the suggested pace. I have not come across any other bread book that is so detailed in this aspect. There are a lot of interesting French breads in here, but if you are looking for something really uniquely European, Dan Leader's book 'Local Breads' may be more your thing. However, if you are looking to get a first hand insight into how a professional baker executes his recipes, Frederic Lalos' book is exhaustive in this aspect. This link gives a more thorough review for this wonderful book. I as well give links to where to buy this book, with no commercial benefit of my own. I hope this review will help in your purchase making decision because it was something I wish I had after hours of fruitless web research.

[Moderator note: The original "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 2)] Since I've received mine I've had little time until this weekend to actually read through it in depth. I've been starting with the history in volume 1, which I find fascinating as I love history. I even looked up some of the original recipe books it references and downloaded them to my kindle through gutenberg as it is a wonderful addition to the whole and its history. Second to that I started sifting tbrough the equipment. Then yesterday I drove three hours north to share the volumes with my family. I don't think their mouths ever closed after seeing them for the first time. We each grabbed a volume, from my 16 year olde nephew to my 70 year olde father and for five straight hours we were consumed and shared with eachother ideas and "finds". In my family cooking and meals are a big part of us "coming together"...this truly added to a family moment for us. Now I've got to find a weekend to bring my 16 year olde nephew down to Massachusetts to cook with me. He wants to get into spherification and I want to experiment with the fish paper. I have a crazy idea to use the paper for and can't wait to start experimenting. ...after that I think the mac and cheese, since everyone has been talking about that on here I can't wait to try it as it brings back fond childhood memories for me.

Does anyone else have this? I am absolutely loving it. I made a modified version of the Eclipse cocktail with tequila, Campari, cherry heering, and lemon juice. I am going to try some of the infusions used in a number of the cocktails. I only hope that the results are good with scaled down versions, since all the infusions require you to sacrifice a 750 ml bottle of spirits.

I'm in consideration for a position at a Latin small plates restaurant and need to bone up on examples of "modernizing" traditional Central & South American food. Can anyone more experienced in this area recommend books or blogs on latin cuisine using contemporary platings and variations on the traditional stuff?

Michael Ruhlman has just published and released his new iPad app The Book of Schmaltz, a Love Song to a Forgotten Fat. At present, it is only available for the iPad, but will shortly be launched for other platforms. There also maybe a print version at some time. I have downloaded Schmaltz and am glad I did so and recommend others give it a look. I am very particular about cooking apps for my iPad and iPhone. However, when I see Michael Ruhlman's name attached whether it is a book or an app I delve deeper. Schmaltz is another of his quality efforts, not only with his writing and recipe prowness, but it is further enhanced by Donna Ruhlman's excellent photography. In my opinon, Ruhlman has the gift to weave an interesting story, while at the same time giving confidence to go into the kitchen to try the techinque or recipe. Having always been a visual learner in cooking, Donna's extensive photography further reinforces my desire to try using the recipes in my own kitchen. This is on the same tier as Bittman's How to Cook, the CIA's The Professional Chef and the Epicurious apps, among a very few others.

I am working on a project about Howard Mitcham, a chef and writer from my home state of Mississippi. I would be most appreciative of any input any of you might have on "Mitch". Thank you so very much. Jesse Yancy

Chef Andrew Taylor takes his forays into the Cascades to a new level as chef/owner of Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, Maine. Writer Sharon Kitchens joins him and co-owners Arlin Smith and Chef Mike Wiley in a skiff around the shoreline and come back loaded with interesting stuff: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-kitchens/beach-foraging-maine_b_3372621.html Peak foraging season runs mid June to end of July here in the Northestern USA

The title "It's Only Slow Food Until You Try to Eat It" does not really give one an idea of what this book is really about. The subtitle: "Misadventures of a Suburban Hunter Gatherer" is much more descriptive of the contents. First of all, it's got a lot of very funny writing. And there are some real "characters" that the author describes so well that I felt I could shake hands with them. I highly recommend this book for anyone who really loves food and wonders why we eat what we eat and what happened to the things that once were common on the tables of America - or for that matter, other countries where it is difficult to find anything but "factory food" unless one lives in a truly rural area. Here is the review I wrote for Amazon. I received the book via the Amazon Vine program so am required to publish a review but this is one I would have reviewed anyway. Funny, enthusiastic, witty and insightful. This is really a remarkable book because it looks at things that we see every day in a different light - that is, consider how many times you may walk past something that in the past was a source of food for many of our ancestors. And not just Native Americans but ordinary folks like me and you. I grew up on a farm in the 1940s when most of the people in the area still gathered wild "greens" in the spring, pawpaws, maypops, berries, wild asparagus, onion grass, ramps, plantain, watercress, mallow, nasturtiums, nettles and purslane as well as the wild mushrooms that only the experts in the family were allowed to pick. There was also hunting and fishing, finding bee trees (for the local "bee charmer" to harvest). The author writes with wonderful humor and modesty in that what he was doing is often labor intensive but certainly for one who truly believes in eating what is available for free (and often tastier than anything in the stores) it is worthwhile, totally satisfying. He writes about his backyard garden and reading his description of a homegrown tomato and the incredible flavor, causes me to wish that I had managed to find the effort to plant some this year. I am growing herbs, onions, shallots and radishes but thats it for this year. His description of his adventures in Cajun country had me laughing out loud and the writing makes the scenes so vivid that it is easy for me to picture exactly what was happening. We hunted frogs when I was a child but we used long-handled fish nets because my grandpa was afraid we would stab each other (or ourselves) if we had gigs. The rule was, if you caught it, you cleaned it once one was old enough to handle a knife safely. His trip to Alaska to spend some time with the Native Gwich'in people of the Alaskan tundra is equally inspiring. It also points up the problems these people are having with the attempts of the oil companies to exploit an area that is CRITICAL to the continuing success of the caribou as the ANWR area is their calving ground and not even the natives go there because it is important to not disturb the routine that has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years, or longer. Foraging around San Francisco can be successful but the writer indicates that some people appear to be in it only for the notoriety (or the money) and not from any personal conviction about sustainability. The local expert who takes him on a seafood excursion is at the other end of the spectrum, doing it for the sheer pleasure of finding something that other people do not even realize is there. And, it is also a love story... I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about urban ADVENTURES that anyone can have if they take the time to look around and actually SEE what is there if one just bothers to take some extra time. I wish that I was still physically capable of doing some of these things but age and arthritis forbid it. Meanwhile I can enjoy the experiences of writers like Bill Heavey vicariously through his evocative writing.

I've been using 3 sources to figure out sous vide cooking temperatures and times: * Sous Vide Dash iPhone app. Technology really is the best way to access this information, given the amount of parameters that go into the decision. The info here takes many more variables into account compared to the different printed tables I've seen elsewhere. such as the type of sous vide setup, beginning temperature, etc. The app is, as a whole, beyond awesome. However, I noticed that it has no recommendation for "tenderness time" for the different cuts. I picked up a lamb shank, and after consulting the app in the supermarket, I decided I had time to make it for dinner - I needed 5 hours to pasteurize it to core. However, when I consulted my two other sources (below), I realized I really needed 2-3 days. I assume the extra time recommended is "tenderness time". This was disappointing... * Tables from "Sous vide for the home cook". These give temperature and time for all the most common cuts of meat and fish, for different levels of doneness. It would be redundant with the information in the app, except it includes the full amount of time recommended, including "tenderness time", which can be significant for tough cuts. I also like the fact that they include fruits, grains, and vegetables, which are not included in the app. * Tables from "Modernist Cuisine". These include target temperatures (sometimes with no recommended cooking times). They're a nice complement to the sources above because they specify the team's personal favorite level of doneness for different cuts. After many experiments, I came to the realization that their favorite doneness is very consistent with mine, and I now follow their recommendations pretty much every time. I also like the fact that they have more ingredients listed than the other two sources, such as octopus and geoduck. So, for these reasons, I always end up checking all three sources before I cook anything. As much as I'm grateful for having access to information with such variety and quality, I'd much rather check just one source. What source(s) do you check before cooking something sous vide?

I am eager to dive into Fuchia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice. There are two common ingredients that are holding me back. I have not been able to find a kosher certified chinkiang vinegar and shaoxing wine. What are some readily available substitutes for these ingredients? Or, if you know a source for kosher certified versions of these products, even better. Thanks! Dan

A collection of cooking infographics was posted on a graphics site a few days ago - I have enjoyed looking through them all and thought they were worth sharing.

Hi everyone, I just had to re-sign up since it's been awhile I wanted to let you all know the awesome news that I will be releasing a book at the end of the year about my time learning the charcuterie and butchery of Spain. It's called Charcutería: The Soul of Spain, and will have a foreword by James Beard award-winning chef José Andrés. The book is going to have a bunch of traditional techniques and recipes for Spanish charcuterie and pork butchery, as well as recipes and other little tricks I picked up working with the folks in the Extremaduran countryside. My photog and I just got back from visiting Spain for the photoshoot and the guys up in Asturias did a little video about it. Here's the link to the video: http://www.whereisasturias.com/?p=6602 And a link to our FB page (Lots more photos... please like!): https://www.facebook.com/charcuteriaspain?ref=ts&fref=ts Please feel free to write me if you have any requests or questions for the book--really trying to make something that my fellow meatheads and sausage nerds can get into. Ciao, jeff PS: As a little offering to my hopefully-new eGullet pals here's a sexy photo from the Jamón slicing shoot. Tatoos and meat...

I'm looking to develop and expand my knowledge of cooking meat. Different types, different styles of cooking, science behind the methods, meat cuts, and so forth. Can anyone recommend any reference books or cookbooks that would help me? I've had a google, and found the following that seem like they might suit: Meat: A Kitchen Education (James Peterson)Ad Hoc at Home (Thomas Keller)The Science of Good Cooking (Though not strictly a meat book)Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

At this time of year when you can hoard fresh, local strawberries because they are so abundant, why not freeze them and enjoy them all year long. Then you won't have to buy tasteless, fake looking ones in the dead of winter! The best way to preserve them, sugar-free, and have them fresh, year-round is to freeze them. Remember to start with the freshest strawberries possible. Strawberries start to lose freshness and nutrients quickly and will only last a few days in the fridge, so the sooner you freeze them the better. Follow these steps and they will last up to a year in the freezer: 1. Gently wash them and pat them dry or allow them to air dry for an hour or so. Slice off the tops, including the stem and any white area, then cut them in half lengthwise. 2. Line one or more rimmed baking sheets (depending on how many berries you have) with parchment or SilPats. Arrange them in a single layer on the sheets. and place them, uncovered, or loosely covered with plastic wrap in the freezer. Allow them to freeze solid, about 12 hours. Once frozen, transfer the berries (they may stick to the parchment a bit, but peel off relatively easy) to a freezer weight plastic zipper bag. Press out as much of the air from the bag as possible before sealing, to minimize freezer burn over time. If you are planning to leave them in the freezer for months, then consider double bagging them. Place the bagged berries in the freezer, where they will keep for up to one year. Note: I will warn you that the thawed berries will not be firm and bright like they were when raw and fresh. They tend to thaw out a bit mushier, and slightly darker…but can still be used for anything you would use fresh strawberries for. For smoothies, use frozen. Optional: Brushing the berries with a bit of lemon juice before you freeze them will help to preserve their color. While strawberries can be frozen whole, cut or crushed, they will retain a higher level of their vitamin C content if left whole.