Comments on: Cookbook Writers and Wannabes

By: christina

christina — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Two things I haven’t seen mentioned:
Found: Julia Child’s Amazing “The Way to Cook” did teach me how to cook: it shows you, for example, how to sautée a chicken, then three or four variations. it’s what allowed me to make the jump out of recipes.
Seeking: a good vegetable book that will allow me to go to the farmer’s market, buy what ever looks & tastes good, then cook it. I’ve bought several vegetable books and they are all too short and incomplete. I need the flavor profile and technique approach here… I love meat, but they have been better served in cookbooks than veggies.

By: cybercita

cybercita — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

on thinking over your question, i realized that my favorite books to cook from are not even cookbooks. i couldn’t live without my copies of home cooking and more home cooking by laurie colwin or cooking for mr. latte by amanda hesser.

By: Melly

Melly — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I agree with Tracey..flavor combinations. I have over 300 cookbooks..I love my cookbooks. I consider myself to be a decent home cook. I do wonder sometimes if this flavor will enhance that flavor..or screw it all up. I try it..sometimes it works.

I like the idea of a book of side dishes too..I don’t want a complicated side dish..just a really good one.

By: Rory

Rory — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

JoP and Melly: I’d highly recommend “Culinary Artistry”. It has pages and pages of tables of flavor combinations for composing a dish and composing a menu. Very dry, no recipes, but exactly what you are looking for and incredibly handy. There’s another part to the book too, something about stories of chefs or meditations on the craft. i don’t know, I haven’t read it, I just bought it for the flavor tables and have usually been very happy with the results.

By: ella

ella — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I’d love to see a cookbook in which each recipe teaches or reinforces a technique, with the recipes grouped by technique. This could be a good learning tool.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I’d like to see/buy a cookbook that takes a whole-meal view, not just a list of side recipes that go with a protein. I have a huge hole in my knowledge about preparing whole meals, specifically the following:

1) Conceptually, which side dishes (pre-dinner drinks/appetisers/veggies/starches/salads) work best with the main dish
2) Timing of multiple, especially for enteraining. Which menu choices can be held (and how) to get hot, perfectly done food to guests on time.
3) Prep – what techniques can be used at home for early preparation, holding food, which foods hold well, and heating up.

I haven’t seen this, but would love to. Thanks.

By: Marta Lane

Marta Lane — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I would love to see a cook book that consisted of whole foods (nothing processed; no cheese, bacon, etc) with healthy (as in good for you not portion size) calorie counts. I’m always hearing and reading that I should have a diet of whole grains, fruits, vegatables, beans, and nuts. It would be fantastic to have a cookbook that had these types of recipes that are tasty and easy(ish)! I’d like to give a shout out to Heidi from 101cookbooks.com for leading me to this site!

By: JoP in Omaha

JoP in Omaha — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Flavor combinations. That’s what I need most help with. Lack of knowledge about flavors is one of the reasons I can’t cook without a book. If I have a piece of meat or a fish or anything, how do I figure out what herbs / spices / other ingredients will complement it?

How flavors work together — I think that’s what I need to know in order to learn the rest. I’m not finding discussion of this topic in the resources I have. Does it exist somewhere?

By: Claudia

Claudia — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Ach – sorry about the double post! Typepad is having a pissy moment!

By: Tracey

Tracey — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Ideas for a cookbook…..easy. “How to cook and impress” Do different menus and recipes for different types of guests. One set shopping list and detailed recipe (w\idiot proof pictures) for “the inlaws are coming over”, “my husband just invited 10 guys over to watch the game”….or my favorite, “Having a dinner party, and one friend is a Vegan”.

Make it humorous and I will be the first to buy it…or send me a signed copy.

It would make some money and answer alot of peoples questions and insecurities.

All my best,

Tracey Kent Andreis

By: Claudia

Claudia — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Bob:

Or you need Skawtie there – one-armed or not, he should get everyone shushed into nervous submission (!)

By: Claudia

Claudia — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Bob:

Or you need Skawtie there – one-armed or not, he should get everyone shushed into nervous submission (!)

By: Skawt

Skawt — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Bob delG:

You don’t need a book. You need a hockey mask and chainsaw.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I learned technique from James Beard’s Theory and Practice book — and the cookbook I use most for everyday stuff is Patricia Wells Bistro Cooking — ever recipe is easy, it works, and tastes great. I have a whole bookshelf of others that I love — some to read, some for specific recipes — but if the house burned down, it’d be PW I’d buy a new copy of first (although it would be terrible to lose all those recipes I’ve cut out and stuck in the PW).

By: Tags

Tags — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Bob, if you do remove the valves, don’t forget to hide them.

I just started reading a book called Fish Forever, by Paul Johnson (owner of Monterey Fish Market and fish supplier to Alice Waters and Thomas Keller, to name a couple.) It tells what type of fish are safe to eat, what fishing and farming locations are safe to buy fish from, and a lot of useful info about fish in general.

Michael, write a book like this for land based foods like livestock and vegetables.

Click one of MR’s Amazon book links on the left and search for “fish forever” so MR gets a cookie credit referral for it.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Bob, you’re a paesano – use the Big Italian Wooden Spoon. If that fails, come back up to your ancestral turf, Brooklyn. I’ll feed you (!)

By: djs

djs — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I think it might be interesting to see variations on mediocre American recipes. Like what you did with the Chicken Caeser Salad. Introduce each recipe how it is prepared the traditional, boring way. Then offer ways to improve it.

By: szg

szg — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite conceptual cook books is from Ming Tsai. Each chapter starts with a master recipe, and then he shows you how to use it in multiple ways.

Because I am often only cooking for two (my wife and I), and recipes are usually for 4, I either have to reduce everything or prepare too much food. With the master recipe approach I don’t mind making “too much” because I know I will use it for more than one meal.

The other element I look for is pictures, pictures, pictures. And I want the picture to match the actual recipe, not some food porn version. When you made Kung Pao Chicken on this website you had good pictures at almost every step. That was perfect. Nothing frustrates me more than seeing a picture of the recipe I am making and notice details that are not in the recipe.

Obviously pictures add to the cost of the book, especially by adding pages. If that does create a barrier to using them, why not create a website companion with the pictures?

By: EHLindner

EHLindner — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Mr. Ruhlman,

Let me add my vote to a technique book. I have thought recently that while any good home cooking tastes great, what makes it seem ’special’ (above and beyond the fact that it was made at home with love and respect) is presentation and technique. It makes food “go to eleven”.

What I think I’d like to see is a culinary school basics education pared down for home use. And for a twist, there would be follow-ups for what to do with scraps and leftovers from your ‘training’. For example: I am currently fascinated with turning potatoes. I can imagine that at a culinary academy, there would be piles of ‘taters around to turn and something to do with them after I did it. At home, I don’t really have that luxury. So after the book’s lesson on making my tubers ‘anglaise’, there would be a recipe for the turned potatoes themselves AND a recipe for the trimmings.

I would also like to see a reference guide to butchering. Showing the basics of where the cuts are on the animal, what they are best used for, how best cooked, what to ask for at the butcher’s, what else to ask them for if they don’t recognize the name of the cut you first asked for, etc. (Something to sell as a sister book to Charcuterie, perhaps)

By: Rory

Rory — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Ooh, great idea on the butchery book, EHLindner. I’d buy that in a second. You can pick up bits and pieces from a number of cookbooks (the Niman Ranch cookbook and the River Cottage Meat book come to mind), but I’d love a home guide to butchering, even if I’d probably never break down a half a cow or something, I’d like to see how it’s done and where the cuts come from. With REAL pictures please, not just the butcher cartoon map showing the primal cuts.

In the meantime, EH, you may look for an old book called “Cutting Up In the Kitchen” which basically teaches you how to buy large primal/sub-primal cuts (say, Beef Shoulder Clod, bone-in whole pork loin, or a whole chicken) and break them down into the individual cuts. The emphasis is mostly on frugality (get a whole chicken for the cost of the boneless skinless breasts, cut cheaper roasts into steaks, etc.), but the author also tells you how to cook the various cuts too.