Cooking Techniques

[zari2121]

I know some cooking basics and am able to prepare food from recipes ok, but I am interested in learning more about fundamental techniques. I bought the America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook, which is helpful. Do any of you know of any online schools you've tried, or other books that have been useful?

I learned a lot from the Aaron Franklin book. I think this book will help you.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I learned to cook primarily by watching PBS cooking shows as a kid. I cannot recommend Jacques Pepin highly enough for learning just fundamental kitchen techniques. He also wrote a couple books on mastering French cuisine techniques, beginning with the fundamentals.

Martin Yan's old shows also showed some techniques for cooking Chinese food. For barbecue, Steven Raichlen's shows were really good about teaching techniques.

Unfortunately, most cooking shows today eschew showing technique in favor of something more akin to food porn and celebrity chefs.

And you can't beat Lidia's Kitchen for Italian. The PBS cooking shows are the best- too much yelling and general volume on Food Network shows, IMO

 

[The Knize]

I am interested in learning more about fundamental techniques

Any techniques in particular?

I have a lot of the books mentioned above and have gotten a lot out of each, as I recall. Jacque Pepin is especially good on technique. I have not tried any online classes, but I suspect anything by America's test Kitchen is at least good.

Thee is probably nothing like in person classes. For one thing, you get to ask questions.

I agree that these days You Tube seems like a good place to start when it comes to figuring out how to do anything.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Any techniques in particular?

I have a lot of the books mentioned above and have gotten a lot out of each, as I recall. Jacque Pepin is especially good on technique. I have not tried any online classes, but I suspect anything by America's test Kitchen is at least good.

Thee is probably nothing like in person classes. For one thing, you get to ask questions.

I agree that these days You Tube seems like a good place to start when it comes to figuring out how to do anything.

Seems the line “no, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express” can be replaced with “no, but I watched some YouTube videos”.

 

[Chef455]

Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat by Samin Nosrat

The Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman

I was fortunate to see Madeleine speak and do a cooking demo in Boulder. One of my culinary heroes.

 

[Old Hippie]

Well, for bread, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, 2nd edition by Peter Reinhart. A classic, updated. I'm fascinated by bread, and I learned so much reading Peter's books.

O.H.

 

[Whisky]

Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat by Samin Nosrat

Excellent book. Not only does it teach you cooking techniques but also the how and why food behaves at it cooks. It’s well written, very easy to read, and has some really good recipes in it as well.

 

[Rushman2112]

Don't worry... I was just joking around. We both lived in Indonesia for a few years so we have several Indonesian cookbooks. And several great American cookbooks... French, Italian, Indian. This is going to sound a bit strange, but when my wife follows a recipe line by line, we seldom enjoy the meal. She's one of those amazing cooks who know just how to tweak the spices to get things just right. Maybe we just have the wrong cookbooks. We only have two shelves of cookbooks in one of our pantries... about 3' in length, though i have a dozen or so BBQ/Big Green Egg cookbooks in my own bookshelves.

I lived in Jakarta for 4 years and met my wife there - she's originally from Medan. Vastly underrated cuisine, mostly (I think) because it's "home cooking" and despite tasting great, it's not that pretty. Sri Owen has some great books on the food - we have 3, but mostly my wife makes her mother's food.

General cooking I would recommend Leith's "Food Bible".

 

[TinyTim]

La Varenne Pratique by Anna Willan is IMO the best technique book out there. Get a hard copy because the photos do not translate particularly well on e-readers. If you go through that whole book and practice each technique as you go you will eat extremely well while using many less expensive proteins and you will master the equivalent of the basic Cordon Bleu course. You will also build a very fine basic pantry along the way.

I was able to pick up a copy of Willan's La Varenne Pratique at a reasonable price on the used book market. Looks to be, as you say, an excellent technique book. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[The Knize]

I was able to pick up a copy of Willan's La Varenne Pratique at a reasonable price on the used book market.

Prices seem remarkably low!

 

[Tirvine]

Prices seem remarkably low!

Agreed! I am thinking of scouring for a great deal on The Complete Robuchon. Anyone have it? Like it?

 

[The Knize]

I just made an offer on eBay for it. Sounds good. Not as cheap as the Willan book.

I really miss the magazine Pleasures of Cooking. Cook's Illustrated is great. But I like reading about and trying what top chefs are doing, not just what the best recipes for a home cook are. Although I admit that my exploration of molecular gastronomy was kind of fruitless!

 

[Tirvine]

I just made an offer on eBay for it. Sounds good. Not as cheap as the Willan book.

I really miss the magazine Pleasures of Cooking. Cook's Illustrated is great. But I like reading about and trying what top chefs are doing, not just what the best recipes for a home cook are. Although I admit that my exploration of molecular gastronomy was kind of fruitless!

It isn't state of the art, but it largely defined the art. High marks for White Heat by Marco Pierre White.

 

[The Knize]

I was able to pick up a copy of Willan's La Varenne Pratique at a reasonable price on the used book market. Looks to be, as you say, an excellent technique book. Thanks for the recommendation!

This finally came. Seems great. Thanks for recommendation.