Cooking text

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, January 26. 2016

It's a cooking textbook and a cookbook. Unlike a recipe book, it teaches the fundamentals and the theory along with the recipe. It's the one text almost every professional and serious hobbyist has on the shelf or, more likely, in the kitchen covered with stains. A reference book.

If I had the time, I would take some serious cooking classes because I love to do justice to the earth's bounty. I know Mrs. BD and I would enjoy one of those 5-day courses in Amalfi or Florence. Or better yet, in some village in France. French country food is the best.

Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 15:33 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Ah! Mrs feeblemind would love to do those very things.

She is well aware that technique is the secret to good cooking. She thinks 'peasant food' is the best. She also says her culinary skills are wasted on me, a hamburger and fries sort of guy.

She just said today she wishes we could live on a little farm in Normandy.

#1 feeblemind on 2016-01-26 17:02 (Reply)

Cooking magazine does much of the same over a subscription and you are more likely to make one or two dishes every month than have a book off on a shelf.

#2 JK Brown on 2016-01-26 17:45 (Reply)

Yes, this is a textbook, not a cookbook.

#2.1 Bird Dog on 2016-01-26 17:49 (Reply)

Yeah. It's a textbook.

You can tell from the price.

But give it a couple of years and you can pick it up for $.50 on the used market, plus $3.99 shipping AND it will be spanking new!!

Just another cookbook. I agree with JK Brown, you'll get more out of a (good) cooking magazine. Most good cooking is about liking food and lots of practice and experimentation. Never make the same thing the same way twice in a row. Oh, yes, and having a willing taster or two living under the roof.

Fair Winds,

The Captain

#3 TheCaptain on 2016-01-26 18:34 (Reply)

For cooking classes you might check out an interesting one out my way - BBQ U. It's a four day class at the Broadmoor Hotel.

#4 Colorado on 2016-01-26 21:37 (Reply)

At the risk of sounding like a red neck or classless hick I find the best food here in the U.S. Not consistent but every now and then we discover a restaurant off the beaten path or right on an interstate highway that makes the best home cooking or country food. There is one on I-84 in Idaho that I plan my trip around to make sure I'm hungry when we get there. There is one in Bend Oregon. Another one in Silver Lake Oregon. Ely Nevada (but last time it was just so-so, must have changed cooks). When I lived in Southern California I knew of a half dozen authentic Mexican Restaurants that were awesome. Every time I go back East I go to two restaurants which I really like (one is a hole in the wall but famous for fried clams). Texas has the best barbecue (of course) and typically they are a bit of a hole in the wall kinda place too

I would like to learn to make authentic Mexican food. I have tried with some success. oddly Youtube videos are a great source for learning to make authentic Mexican food.

#5 GoneWithTheWind on 2016-01-26 22:13 (Reply)

Cookbooks are fun to read- I have a shelf of them- but I actually use them maybe 4 times a year. The one I consult the most is an 800 page monster a childhood friend wrote, which also reads a lot like a textbook. The rest of the time I just cook from memory. When I wanted an eggnog recipe last month, I found it on the Internet.

An 80 year old neighbor, who cooks from memory American stuff and the dishes from her Moroccan childhood, used my cookbooks for a cream pastry recipe.

Cookbooks are one print item that I find superior to e-books. For one, they are more readable in hard copy than on a 6" screen. Second, a splatter on a cookbook tends to do less harm than a splatter on an e-reader.

GoneWithTheWind, I would suggest you consult cookbooks by Rick Bayless or Diane Kennedy. I use a lot of ingredients used in Mexican cooking, such as dried chile peppers, cilantro, chocolate, or peanuts [I cheat and use peanut butter], but I am not going to call my cooking Mexican. I am not going to spend hours creating a mole.

#6 Gringo on 2016-01-27 09:47 (Reply)

I'm not a cook but every two months I read Cooks Illiustrated magazine because the writing, the subject matter, and the presentation are intriguing. Try a free copy at the link.

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/magazine

#7 Charley Hua Chu on 2016-01-27 11:56 (Reply)

I like cookbooks but spend time more looking at video recipes on YouTube.

I also recommend this offering from The Great Courses, The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking.

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-everyday-gourmet-rediscovering-the-lost-art-of-cooking.html?pfm=BestSellers&pos=2

#8 Freddie Sykes on 2016-01-27 13:36 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, January 26. 2016

Cooking text