TDG: Brain Surgery Self-Taught

[McDuff]

Kurt Weill, from Lady in the Dark. Dawn Upshaw sings it on a CD of songs by Weill, Marc Blitzstein, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim, called "I Wish It So." Some time after that one came out, she did all Rodgers-and-Hart, and eventually an all-Vladimir-Dukelsky CD. Vernon Duke, that is: "Autumn in New York," "April in Paris," "I Like the Likes of You" among others.

I hung out with people in the 70's who were big into musicals and everything you mentioned, and more, was the soundtrack for our lives for those 3 years. It just got ridiculous. Three of them snuck into Pacific Overtures EVERY NIGHT it played in Boston, I saw Bobby Short so many times in so many cities that when I ran into him on the street in Boston I casually said HI. I got to touch Ethel Merman, and when my brother got remarried at the age of 48, the lovely bride entered the room to Ethel braying, You can't get a man with a gun.

This book we're reading about here...someone gave me a copy, and I gave it away to some poor soul on another web site who desparately wanted to be a chef. Too much information for me.

[fishmansam]

Weird as it was, the OLD version of the "ProChef" was one of the 'gotta have its' for all of us restaurant and catering chefs. like any good good book you just had to know its limitations and perspective. yes, the recipes made everything too thick, too well done, too sweet and too commercial. but they were SUPPOSED to. but where else could a seat of the pants 24 year old in his first chefs job in NYC learn how many egg yolks you needed for a mayo, roux for a huge pot of Mornay, whites to clarify a stock, the right amount of fat for a pate, etc. all in one book?

i wish i still had mine, i actually wore it out.

the new one is like politically correct "new american cuisine" lite. on the more cerebral plane, this whole idea of an emerging New American Food is a laugher to me. its been emerging since the Pilgrims looked cockeyed at corn. we may no longer be a "melting pot" here in the USA, but rather what NY Mayor David Dinkins called "a beautiful mosaic." what would be so wrong with going back to the classics of american food modernized rather than going off in search of a menu featuring minted pea shoot puree with alaska fiddle heard fern frizzle and stone ground Minnesota Wild "Rice" dumplings et al. Eat Italian on tuesday, BBQ wednesday, NY Deli on Thursday, Chinese Take Out and Pizza on Friday, a great French meal on Saturday, and cook at home for chrissake on Sunday. If anythings truly wrong with modern american eating its that its take out based and stands idly by as the family unit disintergrates for lack of a good meal with everyone in attendance. at least thats what i think. i told you not to get me started.

[robyn]

After I sent off the piece, I finally read Burton Kaplan's review from Wine Lovers' Page, which I downloaded about a month ago.  Boy, am I glad I waited!  He says the book "clearly affords amateur cookaholics the best dissertation in English on culinary technique since Escoffier."      And: "Tack-sharp color photography..." -- yes, if you only want to see the finished dishes in the front.  Well, the photos of techniques ARE excellent, albeit sometimes on the small side.

Fat Guy is right about the prospects of this one being a good reference.  But for that it could be half the size, leaving out the extra recipes.  It is clearly a class text, with those recipes the equivalent of exercises in a math or grammar book.  And that was what I wanted to get across: that one can't simply pick it up and learn to cook.  Hell, I can hardly even pick it up, period (6 pounds 12 ounces!). 

But even as a reference, it strikes me as so ... middle-American.  More P.F. Chang's than Congee Village.  I know I'm spoiled by all my books on specific ethnic ingredients or ingredients in general, which are more exciting and, taken all together, far more comprehensive and useful for my style of cooking.  But I have to remind myself that P.F. Chang's has probably introduced more people to something almost akin to Chinese food than all the restaurants in Chinatown.  Which they should be applauded for doing.  (Don't hate me, Jinmyo  )

I think you underestimate the importance of the pictures (I have the 6th edition). For most non-professionals like me - and even professionals who - like me - don't work with particular things very often - the pictures are great. E.g., I don't eat/cook beef very often. First time I bought a whole tenderloin of beef - the pictures were great in terms of showing me exactly what everything should look like when I butchered it.

I don't get the comparison between a book like this and P.F. Chang's. What do they have in common?

I also have Peterson's book. The pictures in that book are frequently prettier from a graphical point of view - but frequently not as useful. If I want pretty (indeed beautiful in my mind ) - I will stick with La Maison du Chocolat (Linxe).

There is an old phrase in medicine - "see one, do one, teach one". This book allows you to "see one" in pictures if you can't see one in person.

For worth it's worth - there are some neat websites which also have pictures showing you how to do things. Check out the Joe's stone crabs site - which has a video showing you how to crack stone crabs (don't think most people would figure it out without pictures if they've never seen the process before). Robyn

[robyn]

Weird as it was, the OLD version of the "ProChef" was one of the 'gotta have its' for all of us restaurant and catering chefs.  like any good good book you just had to know its limitations and perspective.  yes, the recipes made everything too thick, too well done, too sweet and too commercial. but they were SUPPOSED to. but where else could a seat of the pants 24 year old in his first chefs job in NYC learn how many egg yolks you needed for a mayo, roux for a huge pot of Mornay, whites to clarify a stock, the right amount of fat for a pate, etc. all in one book?

i wish i still had mine, i actually wore it out.

the new one is like politically correct "new american cuisine" lite.  on the more cerebral plane, this whole idea of an emerging New American Food is a laugher to me. its been emerging since the Pilgrims looked cockeyed at corn.  we may no longer be a "melting pot" here in the USA, but rather what NY Mayor David Dinkins called "a beautiful mosaic." what would be so wrong with going back to the classics of american food modernized rather than going off in search of a menu featuring minted pea shoot puree with alaska fiddle heard fern frizzle and stone ground Minnesota Wild "Rice" dumplings et al. Eat Italian on tuesday, BBQ wednesday, NY Deli on Thursday, Chinese Take Out and Pizza on Friday, a great French meal on Saturday, and cook at home for chrissake on Sunday. If anythings truly wrong with modern american eating its that its take out based and stands idly by as the family unit disintergrates for lack of a good meal with everyone in attendance. at least thats what i think.  i told you not to get me started.

It's funny - I was reading some old threads here last night - and there was one written by an Indian Chef. And he was saying the same thing you're saying - but from the point of view of Indian cuisine. That you can't just dump curry on something and claim to have invented some new creative "Indian fusion cuisine".

I agree with you about home cooking - and will take your word for it when it comes to what goes on in professional kitchens. Most Americans don't cook hardly anything at home anymore. Heck - even Campbell's had to put a pop-top on its cans to get people to buy its soups. Why don't they cook? I'm sure there are a lot of reasons - but a primary one has to be time. I know I didn't learn how to cook at all until I retired. And now that I do cook at home - I still want something where I can buy all of the ingredients at my local grocery store - and not spend 2 days in the kitchen to put something on the table.

As for restaurant eating - I am better at making reservations than making home-cooked meals . And I don't want to spend $200+ to be a guinea pig for the chef's latest musings about whether "this" goes with "that". I want something professional and polished. It doesn't have to be a recipe that's 50 or 100 years old - but I expect the kitchen to get the "kinks" out of the dish before it appears on my plate.

By the way - next time we get a cold spell here in north Florida - I will make my classic macaroni and cheese for dinner - from scratch. If it's good enough for Alain Ducasse - it's good enough for me . Robyn

[robyn]

That's an EXCELLENT book review with a LOT of really good,

perceptive, and useful points...

This is a great post. Are you a math professor (only reason I ask is my husband takes advanced math courses as a hobby - something he couldn't do 35 years ago when he was grubbing for grades in college - he was inducted into the math honor society when he was 55)?

I especially agree about the role of the internet with regard to several points. First - I will note that I'm an ok home cook. Not terrible - not great. I know my customers - and they like what I put on the table. I have my strengths - and my weaknesses. These days - when I want a new recipe - I go to the internet. Find perhaps 4-5 recipes from trustworthy sources. Then think a bit - discarding the things that are obviously stupid - and kind of average the differences among the recipes I have left. Note that I do not recommend this for baking . The first time I try something new - it will either be just for me and my husband - or a single dish out of many if there are guests. In other words - a trial run. So if it stinks - I don't have to worry. I may discard a first try that doesn't have any promise - rework a first try that does. If it's "wow" from everyone at the table - it's a keeper.

Also - I've found both pictures and videos on the internet that are useful. In one of the threads I started here - about how to cook a prime rib (which I had never done before - like I have said previously - we don't eat a lot of beef) - another forum member pointed me to something on the internet which showed me all the pictures start to finish. It was an enormous help.

I have about 75 cookbooks - but I haven't bought a new one in a couple of years - and I'm not sure I'll ever buy another. The internet is my cookbook - and I am close to 60. What about all those 20-30 somethings in the world? I have to think if I'm using the internet a lot - they're using it more. Robyn

[robyn]

And I challenge anyone to make a better corn chowder than what you'll get by following the recipe on page 341.

I will try that one when we get a bit of cold weather. I can recommend the recipe in Julia Child's The Way to Cook. Try it (the recipes are similar but a bit different - the fatback is obviously essential). Let me know what you think. Only problem I have with the Julia Child recipe these days is it's hard to find "common crackers" in Florida. Robyn

[Niftynorm]

I have the 5th edition and I used to go to it for info but, now I use On Cooking as a reference. I think the more recent editions of TPC are more to sell books than provide a reference.

[budrichard]

Jacques Pepin's 'The Art of Cooking Vol 1 & 2' is about the best there is! Not only are there recipes but color photos and step by step techniques and explanations. Along with the 'La Technique' and 'La Methode' or combined as 'The Complete Techniques' they form a very good basis for cooking skills. Be aware that all these volumes have been reprinted in soft cover but were available at one time in hard cover which have become collectable. -Dick