I'll just leave this here:

http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Edit: Thanks for the gold

Edit 2: Coolio you owe me some commission!

Well, his cookbook is doing surprisingly well...
Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439117616/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zo9vybX1XV1CZ

Finally - I can share my wok knowledge with someone actually interested!

A couple years ago I decided I really needed a wok. I don't know why. I've never owned a wok before, I'm not a chef (I barely even cook) but I love the idea of being someone who cooks a lot - and someone who can pull off a fridge toss that doesn't end up as an experiment in what not to do. I digress.

Anyway...true to my neuroses, I spent HOURS over the course of several days researching everything. And I mean everything. I've never been happier with a purchase. Below are the things I deemed necessary (again, after an inordinate amount of time researching what was - and what wasn't - needed for cooking with a wok). I also found some great deals (part of all that homework I did).
I bought 3 things: a wok, a wok turner and a book. I've listed them below and also linked to a video on "how to season a wok". I can not overstate the importance of seasoning your wok. Do it! As a bonus, I've included another video of Grace Young cooking live on a morning show (it was my justification for why I needed a wok - quick, easy and healthy!).

14 inch carbon steel wok (yes you need carbon steel. as for the size, trust me, that's the size you want, I didn't forget to look that up).
Joyce Chen 14 inch wok

The Pao (brand) stainless steel wok turner: Pao Stainless Steel Wok Turner

The book: Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge by Grace Young
*this book is $28 - if that's too much right now, you'll live with whatever you find online. I do recommend getting it at some point if you can though because it tells you how to cut things, what order to add things, which oils to use, etc.

How to Season a Wok by Grace Young

Grace Young on morning show, offering tips/advice and cooking live

Good look on your wok adventures. You're going to love it!

Edit: changed a word

Edit 2: forgot to mention...woks are not black! They are the color of stainless steel - they blacken with use.

He has a cookbook, I bought it for a friend. It's actually a great cookbook, funny too.

Lord, the assumptions/priviledge that is in your post/responses...

The cuisine you're describing isn't an "old food fad" or "old food phenomenon." It's a multi-generation adaptation of a people's (the immigrant Chinese) cuisine in response to the to conditions, available ingredients, and demands of the people around them; in North America. To say that it isn't authentic, or calling it "fake crap," is condescending (and shows a lack of understanding) to the thousands of Chinese immigrants who have lived/worked/adapted/died in the U.S. and Canada for the past 200 hundred years. To think that this cuisine doesn't exist anymore (outside of of old menus) shows how sheltered/closed off you truly are. It is no greater/worse, nor is it less "authentic," than all the [regional] Chinese cuisine from China/Taiwan. It is a food style unto it's own; with it's own influences, responses, techniques and made by people who [usually] identify as Chinese.

If you want to try and know what you're talk about:

Books:

Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States by Andrew Coe

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee

Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants by John Jung

Wu: Globalization of Chinese Food by David Y.H. Wu and Sidney C.H. Cheung

China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West by J.A.G. Roberts

Ethnic Regional Foodways United States: Performance Of Group Identity by Linda Keller Brown

The Chinese Takeout Cookbook: Quick and Easy Dishes to Prepare at Home by Diana Kuan

American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods by Bonnie Tsui

Documentary:

Chinese Restaurants directed by Cheuk Kwan (IMDB Overview)

I am also the proud owner of his incredible cook book

I don't think he has a restaurant, but he did release a cookbook and also made a mini series about it.

That was like 10 years ago though, so truthfully I have no idea what he's done since.

free-range, organic and other labels have been co-oped by the industry but they don't mean much. Check http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/014103193X

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/free-range-organic-meat-eggs-dairy/

In regards to the Chinese Restaurant question. (I didn’t know the best way to make sure everyone who asked about it saw it, so I’m posting a link to this comment in response to everyone who asked me to elaborate.) Please note that there are always exceptions, and that I’m talking specifically about the China roll / wok / star / 88 / dragon strip-mall type places.

Part of it comes from this – note that I have not read the whole thing. Most of it comes from observation and logic: I’ve eaten in Chinese take out places all over Florida, as well as some in Georgia and Texas, and noticed that there are several key similarities; I’ve taken long, hard looks at what it takes to open a business (including specifically restaurant concepts); and as you’ll see, I am familiar and have done business with similarly arranged groups. Please consider these in aggregate:

1. The menus are printed by the same printers (I don’t remember the name of the company but it’s based in San Francisco, there’s another printer in NY – I have no idea if they’re related). Same paper, layout, trifold, stock photos, menu items (though one store’s Hunan beef isn’t the same as another’s), etc. Given the cost of printing and shipping, let alone the fact that there are thousands of print shops all over the country, the fact that the China roll / wok / star / 88 / dragon places all use one or two printers is surprising.
   
   
2. Nearly 100% of these places are staffed 100% by 1st generation Chinese families. If you are familiar with how difficult and expensive it is to move a family from China, secure living arrangements, develop credit, obtain a storefront, prep it, get all the necessary licenses and permits, decorations, supplies, stock, menus, and so on, there has to be some kind of arrangement. Most native-born Americans (who have the advantages of language, familiarity with the area and culture, and are more likely to secure credit/financial backing through regular sources) would find it difficult to move to some random area of the country and open a small restaurant. I mean, how does a Chinese native from the back of beyond develop the familiarity and financial resources to find, let alone move to and open a restaurant in, Alachua, Fl or Statesboro, GA?
   
   I AM NOT IMPLYING THAT THERE IS A SECRET HUMAN TRAFFICING CHINESE MAFAIA MSG THING GOING ON but I am suggesting that while there may be some well off Chinese families who can afford to pack up, move over, and open a restaurant in a big city, there’s no way that there are so many families with the resources, training, and connections to just pack up and move to every county, suburb, and podunk town in America (and then, in addition to magically procuring all the money, paperwork, and etc needed to open a restaurant, somehow magically knowing that they’re supposed to order their menus from Company X and their supplies from Company Y). China has a huge population which is almost entirely mind-numbingly poor – step outside your western context and try to imagine how the average Chinese family could pull this off with nothing more than word-of-mouth.
   
   
3. Parsing and placement. You see burger joints across the street from each other, pizza places, chain restaurants, etc. You never see that with China wok / roll / star / whatever places. So a random Chinese family just crosses their fingers hoping that when they move to Gainesville, Fl that there will be not only an available / affordable storefront, but one which is far enough away from all the other Chinese take out places that they don’t need to worry about overlapping markets/delivery areas? As my original post pointed out, most Americans don’t seem to have that foresight, and they’re not dealing with having to move from fucking communist China.
   
   
4. Because my company does business with them, I know that there is a Korean Dry Cleaning Association that operates the same way. Like the Chinese take out places, they operate on a Sole Proprietor model instead of a Franchise model (could be cultural, could be legal, could be financial – my guess is all three), and their business model is the same: recruit a family in Korea, take care of the (insane) paperwork and red-tape required to get them to America, train them, move them to an appropriate location, provide the financial backing to buy or lease the location, laundry equipment, etc., etc. It’s not like all Koreans are born laundry experts, or have access to super cheap laundry equipment, etc. The association even does collective bargaining on their behalf – they have accountants, lawyers, and account managers who procure their supplies (even things such as collective bargaining for their energy supplies, which is how I know about them).
   
   The same applies to nail salons – does anyone think that Asian women are just born with both the ability and the resources to perform French manicures (which, by the way, require cosmetology licenses in most American jurisdictions), so they just jump on their invisible jets, fly over, wave their magical “instant storefront and housing needs wand”, charm the inspectors and landlords and suppliers with their magical “expense and bureaucratic red tape elimination rays” with the end result of opening a nail salons in an almost perfect “one every five miles” grid across the entire country? How would a random Asian woman (remember, all these people are 1st generation – if you don’t believe me, you’ve never been in one of these places) even know that Americans want their nails did? (“Oh, but they already have family over here that tells them and helps them come over and do the research and get the training and secure the finances and…” Excatly.)
   
   
5. While there is something to be said about the homogeneity of culture, the fact that almost all these places have the same dozen or so names?
   
   Someone mentioned Occam’s razor. Let’s look at the two possible scenarios:
   
   1) Random Chinese family (in a communist country, no less) packs up their family of 5-10 people, moves to some random little town or suburb in America, and with their best broken English (or lack thereof) manages to find a place to live and open a restaurant (presumably using money from their Chinese money tree). Using their inborn research and networking skills, they contact one of two print shops and suppliers in America and have them send over everything needed to open a restaurant. And since all Chinese immigrants are geniuses, they manage to have no issues with all the local legal and regulatory paperwork and all the tax requirements. Also using their inborn abilities and despite the fact that China is a huge country that comprises some dozen distinct cuisines none of which come close to resembling the Americanized stuff served in American Chinese take out places, they manage to create a menu that is 100% identical to every other Chinese take out menu. It’s the American dream!
   
   2) There are one or two groups which specialize in helping Chinese families move to America and open restaurants, including all the setup and training, legal intricacies, financial and credit requirements, taxes and accounting, location research, equipment provision, housing, etc.
   
   When you take all of these things into consideration, and then remember the history of how the Chinese first came to the west (railroad workers and the like intentionally brought over for a specific purpose – that’s why there is such thing as Chinese Cubans, the most amazing people on the planet, and why the Cuban paella pan looks more like a wok than the flat-bottomed, shallow Spanish version), #2 is much more in line with Occam’s razor than the alternative.

You can do it! Until Feb of this year I was a full-on meat lover but I always had that niggling feeling about it - the more I learnt about the industry the more I realised I was just pushing the reality of it all to the back of my mind.

I read this book (which I'm happy to send to you if you're broke) and it made me realise that compared to the dozen, and dozens of reasons not to eat meat there was really just one reason I ate it: because it tastes good.

I've been able to cut meat out totally, a lot easier than I thought it would be too.

Yeah...he actually has a cookbook... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439117616/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_KrJlub0CJEMRF

They have horrid existences though... even the 'free range' usually, it's BS.

this book - turned me veggie, it's really good - Eating Animals by Safran Foer

Thug Kitchen was a fucking mess. Having to explain to people why a book written in faux-AAVE by two WASP-y motherfuckers was racist as fuck got really grating.

It was also entirely superfluous, as Coolio already wrote the go to "ghetto gourmet" cook book.

For those of you who don't know, Coolio has a cookbook at Barnes and Noble and it has little gems like: "Now put the muthafuckin' chicken in the oven." It is awesome. Link

I also enjoy history of food books. However, not all of them have the cookbook aspect to them. Here are a few, I’ve read:

Milk: The Surprising Story...

Salt

Consider the Fork

I'm not so sure this is a fundamental difference, so much as a distinction in who is looking at each field. For the most part, category theory is studied by those who are looking to make advances in knowledge. Sure, the things researchers are looking at can be complex. But if you look at current research in abstract algebra, it's equally difficult to get up to speed and comprehend. The reason abstract algebra can be seen as simpler is that there is also introductory material, aimed at undergraduates, and even the general population.

Is it fundamentally impossible to produce such introductory material in category theory? Of course not! Several people have made serious and credible attempts. For example, here and here

It's a fair point; applied category theory is really in its infancy. For a long time, it was considered pretty inaccessible and obscure. I think that's starting to change, e.g. with some new pedagogically oriented books (Cheng, Fong-Spivak), new international conferences, new journal, etc. But it might take time.


The most successful application so far is certainly Haskell, OCAML, and other similar functional programming languages. These were built entirely on category-theoretic principles, and have become quite popular (Haskell is used at AT&T, Amgen, Apple, Bank of America, Facebook, Google, Verizon, etc.).


There are control theory researchers such as Paulo Tabuada, robotics researchers such as Aaron Ames and Andrea Censi, and others who have explicitly used category theory in their work. For-profit companies such as Kestrel, Statebox, R-Chain, Conexus, etc. all use category theory more or less explicitly.


Whether or not electrical engineers—or others of that sort—will use CT depends on whether there are enough interested parties who can drive it more deeply into that domain. So far, the work has been at a very surface level because category theorists have to "go to them" instead of them "coming to us". As category theorists, we don't know enough about the depths of these fields to make a direct and immediate impact without preparing the ground. It takes time and effort, and we need more people on the case.


But if we continue—and I think we will—my guess is that in the future, people will use category theory to learn lots of different fields and connect their knowledge from one to another. A major value proposition of category theory is its ability to transfer information and problem specification from one field to another. I think that will eventually be broadly useful.

This is the book you're looking for: On Food and Cooking

*Actually maybe not...

Got ahead of myself but now I see what you're asking for. I still highly recommend it though. It's less actionable on things like flavor profiles, but super important information that goes into why things work the way they do - the egg chapter is amazing and talks about why the whites and yolks behave the way they do. It helps understand the fundamentals of temperatures and why cooking techniques do what they do.

cookin with coolio

seriously, though, I know it's not what you asked, but good eats taught me a lot. others will suggest the usual suspects: the food lab, salt,fat, acid, heat, and America's test kitchen books

I bought Japanese Soul Cooking, and one of the recommendations given in the book to get the yolk right is to constantly swirl the the eggs with a chopstick so the yolk never gets a chance to settle. They also call them 6 minute eggs in the book, due to cooking in boiling water for exactly 6 minutes - so I'm curious how you have gotten them to set properly with less than 2 minutes cook time.

this book goes into it in depth. Great read.

And one hell of a chef.

For (northern) Thai food Andy Ricker is very similar lived in Thailand developed a love for the food learned as much as he could and brought it back to the states and made a cookbook finally

Rick Bayless and Justin Wilson are respected for their shows on Mexican and Cajun cooking respectively

Asia's a big, ancient place. Even within each nation there are unique styles of regional and ethnic fare.

With that in mind, I'd love to see some recommendations here for awesome Indian, Filipino, Hmong, Uzbek, etc. cookbooks.

Japanese

Lets get beyond sushi and hibatchi.

Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art is a great starting point. If you want to get technical you should check out Ando's Washoku or Hachisu's Preserving the Japanese Way.

If you want to start simple, Hachisu also has a great book on Japanese Farm Food. Ono and Salat have written a great noodle slurping opus in Japanese Soul Cooking.

Chinese

What we've come to think of as Chinese food in the US is a natural part of human appropriation of food styles, but with all due respect to Trader Vic's, crab rangoon and other buffet staples really aren't the real deal. Food in China is extremely regional. You don't have to go very deep to see the vast differentiation in spicy Schezwan recipes and Cantonese Dim Sum culture.

For your reading pleasure:

Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking Eileen Yin-Fei Lo.

Breath of the Wok by Grace Young and Alan Richardson.

Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho and Jody Horton.

All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China by Carolyn Phillips.

Some people might freak out that I'm placing Erway's The Food of Taiwan under the Chinese category, but I'm not going to get into a political debate here. Taiwan has had a lot of different culinary influences due to migration / occupation and that is really the take away here.

Go forth, make bao.

Korean

Korea is having it's moment right now and if you want the classics, Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall's Growing up in a Korean Kitchen is a good baseline. It has all the greatest hits.

You also can't cook Korean food without kimchi. The only book I've read is Lauryn Chun's The Kimchi Cookbook which is kind of underwhelming considering the hundreds of styles of Kimchi that have been documented. The process of making kimchi (kimjang) even has a UNESCO world heritage designation. With that in mind, I think it's only a matter of time before we see a English book on the subject that has depth.

Given the cuisine's popularity, there are several other cookbooks on Korean food that have recently been published within the last year or so, I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet, so I won't recommend them here.

Thai

David Thompson's Thai Food and Thai Street Food are both excellent. /u/Empath1999 's recommendation of Andy Ricker's Pok Pok is excellent but it focuses on Northern Thai cuisine, so if you want to venture into central and southern Thai fare, Thompson's the other farang of note.

Vietnamese

Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen provides a nice survey to Vietnamese cooking. Charles Phan also has a couple of cookbooks that are quite good but I'm sure that there are zealots out there who would bemoan authenticity in either Vietnamese Home Cooking or The Slanted Door, but seriously, who gives a shit, the dude has Beard Awards under his belt for fuck's sake.

TL;DR OP means well but its long past time to bury "Asian" as a catch-all for such a large and diverse part of a continent, no?

Apparently, people who bought that book also bought Cookin' with Coolio.
I'm not sure in what way these two books are any similar - apart from both probably featuring ovens ...

He has a great book as well. I wish I had gotten to visit the restaurant. RIP Kenny

https://smile.amazon.com/Eat-Me-Philosophy-Kenny-Shopsin/dp/0307264939?sa-no-redirect=1

This recipe was adapted from the Pok Pok cookbook.

To make the dish, I made a marinade for the short ribs consisting of minced lemongrass, black pepper, and Thai thin soy sauce. I bagged the marinade with the beef and cooked for 48 hours at 140 F.

I removed the beef from the bag. To make the sauce I combined some of the bag juices with a lot of citrus juice (~3:2 ratio to the beef), fish sauce, sugar, and toasted Thai chili powder (to make this I just toasted dried Thai chiles in the oven, then ground with a spice grinder).

I seared the beef on the stove, then de-glazed with the dressing. I sliced the beef, poured the dressing over the beef, and served it topped with an herb salad (mint, cilantro, lemongrass, and shallots) and toasted rice powder.

http://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888 Andy Ricker really knows his stuff if you want real thai food beyond things like pad thai and whatnot

McGee.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Food-Cooking-Harold-McGee/dp/0684843285

Im a big fan of Japanese Soul Cooking. It breaks down a lot of common food into the 'master recipes' like that permeate them, then expands on those with some really great, simple dishes.

We made tonkatsu this weekend for katsudon, and leftovers means a tasty tonkatsu bento for today! Tonkatsu was made with recipe from the Japanese Soul Cooking book which I highly recommend.

He's got some big shoes to fill.

By Ramen, do you mean the broth, or noodles? There are some simple recipes out there.

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Soul-Cooking-Tonkatsu-Kitchens/dp/1607743523

Open up the look inside, the base Ramen recipe is included in the preview. It's fairly simple to make

Don't forget that Coolio has a Cookbook. It's actually a fairly good cookbook.

All of that to deliver the “Cookin’ with Coolio” book I ordered on prime

As someone who owns the vastly underrated ['Cooking With Coolio'] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1439117616) cookbook, this is pretty great news.

Coincidentally Coolio has a cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

My brother got it for Christmas, it's got some really interesting sounding recipes and it's pretty funny too

New recommendation:

MFK Fisher. The Art of Eating

Ivan Ramen is a good start to homemade ramen (as /u/h2g2Ben suggests), and probably one of the only places where you will see a ramen recipe that was actually used in a ramen shop. Ramen-ya's generally keep their recipes close to their chests. I would suggest perusing through /u/Ramen_Lord's post history as well, as he's done a ton of research into and experiments with ramen styles.

the only other book I was recommended on ramen was this one and while it has some nice recipes, they are modified for the home cook. If that's okay with you, have at it! But you probably won't see a broth boiled for 4 hours in a good ramen-ya; even the french-style broths go for at least 6.

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:


Pan-Asian

• Asian Dumplings - the masterpiece on all things dumpling
  
• Asian American - Dale Talde's (Top Chef) book with lots of Asian cultures' food in the US
  
• Asian Pickles - pickles and fermented foods from throughout Asia
  
• Lucky Rice - recipes from the Asian festival of the same name
  
• The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook - traditional cooking passed down to American cooks
  
  Burmese
  
  
• Burma:Rivers of Flavor - good focus on difference in Burmese cuisine from other regional
  
  Cambodian
  
  
• Num Pang - Cambodian sandwich restaurant in NYC
  
• Cambodian Cooking - GREAT book on Cambodian cuisine, supporting refugees
  
  Chinese
  
  
• Ken Hom Complete Chinese Cookbook - great primer for cooking Chinese food using ingredients commonly available in US
  
• China Moon - classic SF Chinese restaurant food
  
• Feeding the Dragon - modern culinary journey through all of China
  
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking - omnibus focused on the home chef
  
• Breath of a Wok - focus on wok technique at home
  
• Every Grain of Rice - wonderful Sichuan food for home cooks
  
  Indian
  
  
• Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking - actually, any of her cookbooks are wonderful for Indian cooking
  
• Savour Mumbai - looks at Indian cuisine as a melting pot in Mumbai
  
• The Indian Family Cookbook - modern South Indian food
  
• Indian Harvest - Vikas Khanna's family cookbook
  
• Made in India - classic Indian food, from street to home
  
  Indonesia
  
  
• The Food of Indonesia - everything you need for a rijstaffel!
  
  Japanese
  
  
• Japanese Farm Food - authentic rural Japanese cooking
  
• Preserving the Japanese Way - how to make awesome Japanese pickled vegetables
  
• Sushi Chef - not strictly speaking a cookbook, but "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" book in English
  
• The Japanese Grill - authentic hibachi and Japanese grill recipes
  
• Japanese Comfort Food - lots of traditional Japanese recipes
  
• Nanban - Japanese "soul food"
  
• Tokyo Cult Recipes - hip modern urban food from Tokyo
  
• Yum Yum Bento Boxes - updated modern take on bento boxes
  
• Ivan Ramen - traditional ramen for a Western audience
  
• Izakaya - traditional Japanese pub food & small plates
  
• Nikkei - emigrant Japanese food culture in South America
  
• Donabe - traditional Japanese hot pot recipes
  
• Kyotofu - very unique Japanese dessert cookbook
  
  Korean
  
  
• K Food - modern take on Korean street food
  
• Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking - great resource for Korean cooking in a non-pro kitchen
  
• Traditional Food - omnibus of four regions of Korean food
  
• Koreatown - authentic, approachable guide to Korean food in a US context
  
• Smoke & Pickles - Edward Lee's fusion of his Korean heritage and southern barbeque
  
• The Kimchi Cookbook - many, many recipes for kimchi...
  
  Malaysian
  
  
• Malaysian Cooking - good overview of Malay cooking
  
  Middle Eastern
  
  
• The New Persian Kitchen - modern Iranian food
  
• Ottolenghi - Israeli-Palestinian collaboration
  
• Persiana - dynamic modern recipes from throughout the Middle East
  
• Zahav - modern Israeli food
  
• Sweet Middle East - traditional and modern desserts
  
  Philippine
  
  
• Filipino Homestyle Dishes - good intro to classic Filipino dishes
  
  Russian
  
  
• Mamushka - focus on Ukraine
  
  Sri Lankan
  
  
• Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka - beautiful photo-cookbook on Sri Lankan cuisine
  
  Taiwanese
  
  
• The Food of Taiwan - um... food... from Taiwan
  
  Thailand
  
  
• Nong's Thai Kitchen - she beat Bobby Flay in pad thai
  
• Pok Pok - Portland's most AWESOME Asian restaurant
  
  Turkish
  
  
• Istanbul:Recipes from the Heart of Turkey - lovely focus on urban Turkish food
  
• Anatolia - wonderful approachable approach to Turkish cuisine
  
• Essential Turkish Cuisine - focus on history and evolution of Turkish food
  
  Vietnamese
  
  
• The Slanted Door - great Vietnamese restaurant cookbook
  
• Vietnamese Market Cookbook - focus on simple Vietnamese from fresh ingredients
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen - traditional Vietnamese home cooking
  
• The Banh Mi Cookbook - the greatest sandwich in the world!
  
• Vietnamese Home Cooking - another great overview
  
  (edit: screwed up a couple links)

I have a book that has a recipe for Japanese hamburger and yes it does have you cooking the onion and garlic until sweet. This recipe also says to soak panko in milk and add that to the meat mixture along with an egg and soy sauce. I haven't made this particular recipe from the book, but everything else I've made has been really good. The book is Japanese Soul Cooking.

I have a few favorite cookbooks. One is "White Trash Cooking" by Earnest Matthew Mickler. No I'm not kidding and I'm definitely not not attempting to belittle anyone here. https://www.amazon.com/White-Trash-Cooking-Anniversary-Jargon/dp/1607741873

The others are Mexican/South American cooking books by the flaming gringo Rick Bayless. That white boy really knows how to cook Latino cuisine!

There's a real simple burger recipe in one of the books I have. Coolio calls it the "Ghetto Burger". I basically take a smallish onion, beat it to a pulp with the slap chop, 1tbsp of Lawry's, and 1tsp garlic powder. Usually add that all to 1.5lbs or so of ground meat (Venison). Coat each of the patties in grape seed oil (cause fuck the olive oil industry) and grill as per normal.

Soul of a Chef and Making of a Chef.

Michael Ruhlman

http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Chef-Journey-Perfection/dp/0141001895


http://www.amazon.com/Making-Chef-Mastering-Culinary-Institute/dp/080508939X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373354322&sr=1-1&keywords=making+of+a+chef

I'm glad I'm vegan long enough now that I don't even really realize it anymore and don't feel the need to frequent any online vegan spaces. Like any place for any group online there's a lot of stupidity and of course plenty of misogyny.

Vegan spaces I'd put on par with libfem ones for the degree of misogyny that is celebrated. Lots of nudity, lots of imagery of violence. Libfems pretend it's 'for female empowerment'; vegans pretend it's 'for the animals'. Either way it's the same ol' standard rank and file 21st century western misogyny at play. Don't people ever get sick of not thinking for themselves? Not creating anything themselves? It's all so boring and uninspired. I realize that's like the least pressing issue about all of it, but sometimes I just wonder, don't people at least tire of that aspect?

Kind of off topic now but for practical purposes honestly I don't even seek out vegan websites (or subreddits) for recipes anymore. Either figure out my own these days, like the lentil bolognese I made last night (amaaazing), or far better resources are simply picking up non-'western' cookbooks. My latest acquisitions are Samarkand and Taste of Persia. So many amazing, exciting, fresh, flavorful vegetable based recipes that have stood the test of time, that you know are good cause all these countries full of non-vegans are eating them. Next on the wishlist is probably The Malaysian Kitchen, and old favorites are Lebanese Home Cooking and Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook. Sorry I know OT, but I just love cookbooks. What's the word for the cookbook-obsessed? Like foodie, but... cookbookie?

But anyway for fucks sake come on. I assumed most vegans would feel the same as I which is jesus christ people drink some damn almond/soy/oat/rice/bean/flax/whatever milk. I can understand wanting a meat substitute since it is pretty inimitable, but milk? It's just creamy white stuff with some fat protein and sugars. Not hard to imitate, and frankly the plant based versions are superior anyway. I would challenge anyone to stop eating dairy for a year or two, then tell me it doesn't smell rancid and sweaty. You get desensitized to it when you consume it regularly but give yourself a break from it and your nose will pick up on those things big time. But bottom line it's just not necessary. It's the most frivolous, weird, and frankly disgusting part of non-vegan eating. I would think that would be the message (ok probably in more marketable inviting terms), not "well let's just have human women do it". ??? Ultimate facepalm.

I agree that "How To Cook Everything" is a good reference guide for complete beginners and those with gaps in cooking knowledge.

It might be a bit over your head at this point, but if you truly want to understand cooking and what's happening when you do it try "On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee.

For Asian you might like...

"Every Grain Of Rice" by Fuchsia Dunlop (or any of her books)

"Japanese Soul Cooking" by Tadashi Ono

"Ivan Ramen..." by Ivan Orkin (Good for ramen and other japanese-ish food.)

"Momofuku" by David Chang (Really good mix of general Asian flavors)

Other books that might interest you:

"Irish Pantry" by Noel McMeel

"The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern" - Matt Lee and Ted Lee

"Real Cajun" by Donald Link

"Authentic Mexican" by Rick Bayless

"Fabio's Italian Kitchen" by Fabio Viviani

For Vegetarian try anything by Alice Waters or David Tanis.

I've been looking also. I recently ordered this:Growing up in a Korean Kitchen: a Cookbook. AFAIK, this covers tradition and technique, with the author's personal history. Reviews say it is authentic, but it's in the mail, haven't received it yet.

Yes they should!

Hnnng, JB0212's came 5 days earlier than expected.... Leaving work earlier to wait for the FedEx guy is justifiable, right?

I'm also totally going to find out if my local B&N has this amazing cookbook

You can actually make crepes using flour tortillas! That's what Kenny Shopsin does, believe it or not (http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Me-Philosophy-Kenny-Shopsin/dp/0307264939). And then this person took it one step further: http://www.bonappetempt.com/2010/04/meyer-lemon-crepe-cake.html

Always be 5 minutes early, study your craft, be professional and constantly look for new skills to learn. You have to be eager to build your resume and your repertoire and that means making lots of mistakes. Make sure you learn from every single one.

And read The Soul of a Chef

I freak out about things all if the time. Once I got my bag stolen and it contained all of my credit cards and my debut card, and even my ssn. I freaked out. I had no method of calming down, besides trying to reason with my emotions and tell them it isn't the end if the world, because it isn't. It never works though so I end up just riding it out. Sometimes that's all you can do.

I find this cookbook random, hilarious, and awesome.

I graduate soon too, and I totally understand. My dad tells me "you will always be paying bills, it's a fact of life, so don't sweat it." I think he's right. Bills will always be there. After your school bills it will be a mortgage or a car...it's always something. So don't worry and be happy, there are a lot of other things in life to be happy about. :) it isn't the end of the world. It may seem overwhelming right now but it'll work itself out when it happens. Just remember no one is going to come break your kneecaps over it or anything.
If it's less about bills and more about just life after college in general, then sorry for misunderstanding. But seriously, if it isn't life threatening, don't sweat it. :) at least, try not to.

Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

Start learning to make things from scratch. The book, Cooking by Hand is a good place to start. It is an expensive book, but you should be able to find it on amazon for around 20-25 dollars.

Learn the basics. Learn how to make your own pasta, your own soup stocks, and some basic pastry for starters. From there, go with what interests you and what you feel passionate about.

Soul of a Chef - Michael Ruhlman

Silver Spoon is the best for basics/reference. I've got a copy in both English and the original Italian. It's the modern bible while larousse gastronomique is outdated imo.

Cooking by Hand was a big inspiration early in my career

Recently I like cookbooks that are entertaining beyond just pretty pictures of food.

The Dirt Candy cookbook. The graphic novel style is awesome and the recipes are good.

Also, A Super Upsetting Book about Sandwiches

And of course Thug Kitchen

Adding on to your comment, these are the books I'm lusting after:

Heritage

A Kitchen in France

Aeri's Korean Cookbook

The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food

Ottolenghi

Thug Kitchen

My Paris Kitchen

Any Barefoot Contessa cookbook

The Smitten Kitchen cookbook

Cookin' with Coolio has some solid cooking advice.

"Everything I cook tastes better than yo' momma's nipples."

For Thai I recommend Pok Pok by Andy Ricker https://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888

I'm pretty sure he had a cookbook long ago

Edit: Published in 2009 apparently.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439117616/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_PA7YBb2DDYHYB

"Look Homeward Angel" by Tom Wolfe is pretty good, as is anything by Gurney Norman; Jessie Stuart is a poet, and some of his work tends towards the sentimental. "Plundering Appalachia" is a multi-authored work on the problem of mining and how it affects people there; I highly recommend that. I also recommend this one as well: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1607741873 Its the book on White Trash cooking, and actually has some decent recipes.

Regarding the place with solid info on wok seasoning: I used a combination of two methods. The first is from a very in depth amazon.com review of a 16-inch carbon steel wok. The second was from Chinese cookbook Stirfrying to the Sky's Edge.

The reviewer recommended a three phase seasoning involving crisco, vegetable oil, and food grade mineral oil. He seemed to really know what he was talking about regarding his oven method (which I followed), but I didn't have mineral oil or crisco, so I believe I used peanut oil. The cook book spends even more time on wok seasoning and is very well illustrated showing woks in different stages of seasoning (brand new, after first seasoning, month of use of first seasoning, year of use, etc). As a complete novice to woking it's a pretty good purchase. I don't really like all the recipes but the extensive information on seasoning and unfamiliar chinese ingredients wes very helpful.

From what I remember, I used peanut oil (may have been veg oil), turned my oven as high as it would go, and used fans to direct the smoke out of my kitchen and onto the patio. For a more detailed description of the method, refer to the book or the reviewer. One thing I will add to what they said is to not over oil it before the seasoning. I think the cookbook called for a tsp of oil and I thought "well that can't possibly be enough, it doesn't feel oily at all." I added a bit more and the oil accumulated in streaks on my wok. It turned out fine, but was a little gummy at first as the reviewer describes. If I were to do it over again, I'd probably use crisco as the reviewer recommends.

Another thing I will mention is that all these methods are describing the seasoning of a carbon steel wok. If you have stainless steel, they won't work. There are ways to achieve non-stick cooking in a stainless steel vessel (outlined by BlackfricanAmerican above), but once again carbon steel is standard. Well, actually, I've heard cast iron woks are standard as well, but I don't know how the seasoning method differs.

Regarding heat: this depends on what you're cooking on. I use an outdoor 65,000 BTU propane burner which produces a very adequate flame that is perfect for my round bottom wok. The cook book author talks about round bottom carbon steel woks like mine, but her recipes are written for flat-bottom carbon steel wok users who cook on gas stoves. Her reasoning is that most amateur wokers will be using this setup because it is more accessible. Her measure of appropriate heat is that when a bead of water evaporates in 1-2 seconds after contact on the wok surface, it's ready. She also says more oil is required to achieve non-stick cooking with a flat bottomed wok than a round bottomed wok. And still more oil must be used for a skillet that a flat-bottomed. I don't really know how well this works because I don't have a gas range or a flat bottom wok, but if you do, I'd recommend the book. If you have a round bottom carbon steel wok like I do, then experiment with getting your heat to just below the oil's smoke point. You can do this by preheating your wok to a temperature you suspect is around the oil's smoke point and then add the oil to see if it smokes. If it doesn't try to go hotter.

If you have an electric range however, I don't have any experience.

Further regarding sticking: even with my completely seasoned wok, some sticking still occurs when I add sweet sauces to my stir fries (like hoisin or a miso I've added sugar and sake to). The sugar will burn onto the wok if the heat is too high). Meat, however, never sticks.

Good luck, I'm afraid I can't be more specific without knowing your setup. If you have any more questions I'll try to answer them.

Fuschia Dunlop is a good source for Chinese food. Her published recipe for Kung Pao Chicken is pretty killer. Eileen Yin-Fi Lo is also a well respected Chinese recipe author, check out My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen.

For Thai Food, Andy Ricker's Pok Pok is pretty interesting (and the restaurants are pretty awesome). There's also a tome, simply called Thai Food from David Thompson, as an outsider, looks complete and exhaustive (it's also daunting to me, but nice to have).

Hot Sour Salty Sweet also features Thai (as well as other SE Asian flavors). And I really like Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges as a more upscale cookbook.

Also, I find this little, unsung book to be a great resource. It has fairly simple recipes that can yield some nice flavors, great for weeknight dishes.

And, Momofuku is a fun contemporary twist with some good basics, but it's not a beginner book by any stretch!

Finally, The Slanted Door is on my wishlist. Looks divine.

Seconding /u/ManicBrklyDreamGrl on Food52 and Alton Brown's awesomeness. (Good Eats is fantastic. It covers mostly basic stuff and gets super nerdy.) And Ina Garten almost never fails me.

If you're interested in cookbooks as well, My Paris Kitchen is one of my favorites, as is pretty much anything by Yotam Ottolenghi. And if you're building recipes yourself or you like to experiment, I highly recommend both The Flavor Bible and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible.

I like Japanese cooking regardless, so the answer is yes I guess? It's always been just the idea though, I've never followed an anime's recipe specifically.


I will say, while I can't speak for how truly accurate it might be (not being Japanese), I love this cookbook. Recommended for anyone who is interested in the food, especially the sort of food you'll probably get if you ever ask someone "what should I eat when I'm in Japan?"

Unfortunately, despite being a bit of a foodie and a decent amateur cook, the best recipes I've made have been the most basic ones. I can make a pretty mean karaage and katsudon. My oyakodon always turns out strange, I don't think I cook the chicken quite right. And as much as I love stir fries, I don't have a gas stove so they're always just an approximation.

I have these books and they're fantastic:

1. Joon
   
2. Peru: The Cookbook
   
3. Taste of Persia

You wouldn't be incorrect

Can cook it yourself with this awesome book.

Pretty funny read too.

I always had fun showing people this book when I worked at Borders. Surprisingly quite a few of them bought it. I just don't think they thought it was an actual cookbook, but it is, written in some rather saucy language to boot.

If you're serious, y'all need a copy of "Cooking with Coolio". It is as awesome as it sounds. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Japanese Soul Cooking: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607743523?pc_redir=1414099212&robot_redir=1

You can never go wrong when you cook with Coolio

He's not the only rapper to have his own cookbook remember this jem? http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Kitchen tongs and bar/dish towels, I know I never seem to have enough.

EDIT: If he doesn't have it yet, there is a cookbook called Pok Pok that I've found to be an excellent resource for Thai cooking.

I remember when Coolio got all pissed off at Weird Al for doing Amish Paradise. He got all offended and said it degraded the song that said something he felt strongly about. Odd, seeing how its basically a straight rip-off from Stevie.

sort of relevant - http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321458851&sr=8-1

1. There is an ethical distinction between causing incidental suffering and intended suffering
   
   
2. The animals that die accidental deaths in the fields live wild and free. 99% of animals kept for food live tortured lives (see for example 'eating animals').
   
   
3. The vast majority of all meat sold comes from animals that are fed harvested crops that will induce the same deaths in the field as well as the suffering of the meat animal. Not being able to remove damage doesn't mean one shouldn't be concerned with limiting the damage.

My brother gave me the best christmas present

Cooking by hand is great

Check out this book "Edible" very informative

If its bold color - red, orange, yellow - usually leave it alone
browns, greens, black usually ok.

The main thing about insects is the exoskeleton so eating them at the grub stage is usually preferred. (or add flours to your cooking)

There are a many companies that sell foods now made of grasshoppers and crickets. Exo Bars, Chapul, etc

Ants, worms, mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, etc, so many insects are edible.

I personally find mealworms the best - they aren't as hard to get down and have a nutty flavor very versatile and they are easy to raise yourself!

In America its a matter of educating the young and changing the mindset of the old. Its only gross because we're not used to it.

The book seriously, check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Adventure-Eating-Insects-Planet/dp/0544114353/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463372368&sr=8-1&keywords=eating+bugs

I love the science in the kitchen - understanding what happens at a low level helps me understand the reasoning behind different temperatures and processes

This is a great book for those interested in learning more

https://www.amazon.ca/Food-Cooking-Science-Lore-Kitchen/dp/0684843285/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=41NFf5lpuyL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR105%2C160_&refRID=SNW861FYDPH697KWJW1M

I like math, physics, and cooking, and I think "Ratio" by Michael Ruhlman is amazing.

The classical text that every nerdy chef should read is Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking

If you're feeling extra spendy, A thermapen is awesome. Geeky cooks love precision measuring devices.

Great book that follows a group of chefs going through the eight day process of becoming certified master chefs. Also follows chefs Michael Simon and Thomas Keller. Excellent author to read as a culinary student.

I like https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Korean-Kitchen-Cookbook/dp/1580082815/ a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Korean-Barbecue-Kimchi-Recipes/dp/0764540785/ is also very good. Neither is full of photos (so it helps if you already know what it's supposed to look like), and both assume you know how to cook.

For a more fully photo-illustrated book, with more beginner-oriented detail, https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Korean-Cooking/dp/0754817865/ is OK. Doesn't give Korean names for the dishes. This is, iirc, the same book as https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1846815258/

I've done both. There are a few differences, but the skills you'd learn in one will transfer to the other.

The largest difference is in pace. When you're cooking in an a la carte kitchen, the chaos level his higher once service starts. The ticket printer starts chattering, the expediter is shouting off orders, and you won't stop moving until the last table is done. You've got waitstaff needing things fast because they forgot to put the order in, people yelling at each other, plates dropping... Chaos... My parents never understoond why I was so tired at the end of the day until they saw me work the line. 5:30 PM to 10PM, I was moving. The chaos can be fun, and the feeling of accomplishment you get when you hear the crazy number of covers you knocked out can be pretty nice.

Banquet work, or catering is a completely different beast. You know what time you need the food done, and you have a really close idea of how many covers you'll be doing. You'll prep what you can, and then when service hits, You'll go into assembly line mode. We used to have long prep tables with six to eight people standing around them. One person would lay down a plate, the next would place the starch, the next would place the protein, then one for the vegetables, one person for the sauce, one person to wipe the plate, cover it, and put it in the hot box. You could crank out thousands of plates that way in a really short period of time. There was none of the line chaos, just a little pressure to get it done, and done right at a reasonable speed.

If you want a good idea of what kitchen service is like, pick up The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. I think his description of a night of service at Lola really captures the essence of what a restaurant kitchen feels like. Either way, you'll still be doing good work, and gaining great experience.

Fantastic read on the topic: Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Bugs are delicious! I've only tried a few myself, but it is amazing how good they can be. Many cultures and countries all over the world eat bugs as a pretty sizable part of their diet. These include, but are not limited to, peoples all over South America, Africa, and Asia. As many people in this thread have mentioned, foods like shrimp, crabs, and lobster are all essentially the same thing as bugs and they even taste similar. There are a myriad of reasons why Western cultures have given up eating bugs over time, but there is no good reason why you should limit yourself in modern times. Really! Give them a try!

There are a number of places where you can get them all over the world, but if you are in the US your best bet is the internet.

• Chapul is a great little start up company that makes protein bars out of a cricket powder. This was my first introduction to bugs and it's one that comes highly recommended. The bars are fantastic, great after a workout, and taste absolutely nothing like bugs or meat of any kind. There isn't even a crunch. If you want to get past the psychological barrier of "eating bugs" without any of the more unique sensory experiences, then these are the bars for you:
  
  
  http://chapul.com/
  
  
• Think Geek offers a (temporarily out of stock) "Edible Bug Gift Pack" which features a few different species of freeze dried bugs in little tin cans. This pack is a good sampler of some different species and is a pretty decent price. They are already cooked and are also well-seasoned. Most importantly, they LOOK like bugs and feature an extremely satisfying crunch.
  
  These bugs are all pretty tasty, with the BBQ Bamboo Worms probably tasting the worst (They reminded me of soggy lay's bbq chips). The Bacon and Cheese Grasshoppers are smoky and crunchy, they taste like a slightly burnt potato chip. The Wasabi Crickets are much more lightly seasoned and probably taste the most like "actual bugs". They have a shrimpy taste with just a hint of wasabi. The Salted Ants taste just like popcorn. Far and away my favorite were the Scorpions, though. They are salty, crunchy, tangy and delicious. It's a crime there's only two or three per tin!
  
  http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1716/?srp=2
  
  Think Geek also has a chocolate covered bug pack, but I would probably recommend against these. The reason may surprise you though. The bugs aren't bad, but the chocolate is of an extremely low quality. The bugs themselves are so small and so thoroughly covered in cheap chocolate that they offer very little flavor and not nearly enough crunch. Plus, silkworms are, even among seasoned bug-eating enthusiasts, considered kind of gross tasting.
  
  But, if anyone is interested: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/177a/?srp=1
  
  
• If you enjoy the Think Geek sampler pack and are ready for more variety, why not go right to the source? Think Geek gets its sampler packs from a company called Thailand unique. Thailand unique has hundreds of bug products to choose from and they ship internationally. I have only tried a few things from here (namely I've ordered more scorpions!), but they've all been really delicious.
  
  http://www.thailandunique.com/
  
  
• If you are a little more adventurous you can order some fresh crickets and prepare them yourself. They are very easy to order and they arrive alive and in a little box with air holes. All you have to do is pop them into the freezer for a day or so, which slows their metabolism down gradually. This kills them in a safe, clean, fast, and humane way.
  
  Fluker farms is a company that raises crickets for pet consumption (people who own lizards and snakes and whatnot), and they are very good about making sure their crickets are big, healthy, and safe to eat. Not to worry, plenty of people (including myself) have ordered and eaten their crickets and found them to be very satisfying.
  
  http://www.flukerfarms.com/
  
  
• Most of my information comes from the venerable Daniella Martin, who is an affable expert in the field. She has written a fantastic book on the subject, called "Edible". It's a great read that discusses all of the major issues and concerns about eating bugs, and also all of the great reasons to try them (reason number 1 is that they are delicious)
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Adventure-Eating-Insects-Planet/dp/0544114353
  
  She also has a website, which contains more information on where to try bugs, as well as some links to some pretty creative recipes
  
  http://www.girlmeetsbug.com/
  
  tl;dr Bugs are really delicious! You should eat them, not only for environmental reasons but also because it's an enjoyable experience.

Yes, I know. The big houses publish around 30 Big Cookbooks a year but there are small publishing houses that are putting out smaller cookbooks like this one http://www.amazon.com/Four-Twenty-Blackbirds-Pie-Book/dp/1455520519/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416611612&sr=1-5&keywords=Brooklyn+cookbook. I've seen them at the Pro Food Shows but for the past year I've been able to pick up some nice books with the proof reader page in them. Either way I love it! My Paris Kitchen just came out in April http://www.amazon.com/My-Paris-Kitchen-Recipes-Stories/dp/1607742675/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416611794&sr=1-1&keywords=My+Paris+Kitchen+cookbook

Cookin' With Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price

The recipe is from My Paris Kitchen from David Leibovitz. It’s a great cookbook.

There will undoubtedly be a lot cook book recommendations, and that's fine. But I would also recommend some books about food. In other words, food essays. Good food essays will simply get you thinking about food, which is a major part of being a good cook.

My personal favorite is Elizabeth David's An Omelet and a Glass of Wine. I never get tired of reading these essays. They make me think about food, and think about food in different ways.

M.F.K. Fisher is another good food writer. Check out The Art of Eating.

The cuisine of the trashy.

For me, it was Conceptual Mathematics: A First Introduction to Categories. Today, I might suggest How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics or Category Theory in Context to start.

Well there’s always Cookin With Coolio if you’ve always wanted to measure things in “dime bags of salt.” Great for kids and the whole family.

Thai

http://www.amazon.com/Thai-Food-David-Thompson/dp/1580084621

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Thai-Food-Classic-Recipes/dp/1607745232

http://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888

I've patiently awaited the opportunity to share this.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Trash-Cooking-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1607741873

Mrs Henry Dorsey Short's Real Country-Smoked Ham is incredible. It's basically a bourbon-braised slow-cooked ham. Our cousin cooked this for us and you could smell it all the way to the mine. It was so tender and delicious I broke up with her mom and married her instead.

Andy Ricker's Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand is a very accessible book that is well regarded as a good take on Thai cuisine.

Andrea Nguyen is a similarly excellent resource on Vietnamese food and cooking.

Taste of Persia by Naomi Duguid. Recipes from Iran and the Caucasus.

This book is really helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0544114353/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416766299&sr=8-1

A few history of food things have stuck with me:

• Hidden Kitchens (Amazon link)
  
• The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen (Amazon link)
  
• And the PBS series, Mind of a Chef. This series follows a few chefs and some history of food (especially the episodes in the south in season 2)

One writer frequently overlooked is M. F. K. Fisher. She tends to get lumped into the genre of "food writer" and promptly ignored. But she's not really a food writer. She's a writer of the pleasures and joys of life. Auden said, "I do not know of anyone in the United States who writes better prose." (Lazar, David. Conversations with M. F. K. Fisher' at 22 (University of Mississippi Press 1992) ISBN 0-87805-596-7)

Check her out. She's a fresh, new embracing of life.

C-A-K-E Must be lucky or something!

May I interest you in Cooking with Coolio?

Proper Thai sweet & sour sauce. Made some out of Pok Pok and I must say that the western stuff doesn't hold a candle to the spiciness or complexity of the recipe in here.

Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat: Bee Wilson

much better then it sounds.

Eugenia Cheng wrote How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics, which was a fun read for both me as a first year math graduate school student and for my former colleague who didn't have any formal math background at all.

Dr. Cheng also has some wonderful videos on a Youtube channel called The Catsters. These videos really helped me to get started when I was first learning some category theory.

And last but not least, she's worth following on Twitter: @DrEugeniaCheng.

Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price

I highly recommend Consider the fork. I'm almost done with reading it, and I think it's fascinating. It's one of those books what doesn't sound terribly interesting until you read it and realize you never considered how complex the subject matter is.

Note to self: don't read sad books while you're on an airplane.

Thanks for the contest!

Legit.

For anyone who's looking for a comprehensive and authentic Japanese cookbook, I picked up a copy of Tadashi Ono's "Japanese Soul Cooking" last year, and I use it at least once a week for meals. The first chapter is Ramen and has the basic recipe for ramen soup and chashu, followed by the marinade for ajitama and and the ramen meat, then detailed recipes for tares for shoyu, miso, siho, tan tan men, nagasaki champon, hiyashi chukka, and shrimp wonton men, as well as the torigara stock base for recipes that don't use the ramen soup base. It also includes rayu recipes for those who like their noodles oily. I'm extremely lucky to live near both a Japanese market and a Super H Mart.

The book has 13 chapters that each cover a type of food along with variations and history on the styles, including everyone's favorites, udon, gyoza, tempura, and donburi. If you love cooking and want to get into Japanese, I really can't recommend it enough.

you should consider picking up Grace Young's two wok cookbooks, Breath of a wok and Stir frying to the sky's edge. I like her earlier book better but they are both great.

my wife got me this for my birthday

http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

one of the first tips for organizing your kitchen before meals is to separate all your spices into little dimebags cause all his recipes measure seasoning by dimebag

Bwahahaha :D My evil plan has worked.

Seriously though - I found a neat tool recently you can use to stop your amazon likes from appearing on Facebook. It is here for PC/Mac and here if you are browsing FB on your phone with an iphone or android

I would like to add "Cooking with Coolio" as part of their reading list.

Cooking with Coolio

I second Keller's Ad Hoc At Home. Probably #1 on my list.

Also huge props to Andy Ricker's Pok Pok cookbook. I've only dipped my toes into this world but it has already changed the way I look at cooking.

As a reference book, Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is invaluable.

That documentary is one of the best I've ever seen. He has a book out now.
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Me-Philosophy-Kenny-Shopsin/dp/0307264939/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301019170&sr=8-1

Is it just me or are more people willing to look at what's really happening and change their habits?

I remember when I watched Earthlings 8 years ago or so (which combined with reading Eating Animals, which I also highly recommend, made me a very selective omnivore) I got much more flak for ever raising the issue of animal suffering.

I'm seeing vegetarianism/veganism slowly becoming a real force in big cities in Europe. More and more souvlaki places (I'm from Greece) are offering vegetarian options. People are asking for them, and not just rich people.

I'm not saying people should never eat meat at all. It's closely connected with culture in most places in the world. Last Thursday we had 'tsiknopempti', which is part of the carnival celebrations here, and what people do on this day is go out and eat tons of grilled meat. But when that's what people do pretty much on almost any other day, it loses its significance.

Meat could be reserved for special occasions, or even just once a week. The lower demand would mean that the animals raised could all be raised ethically, and if it was a special thing, the difference in price would actually make us appreciate the treat, and the sacrifice for our benefit, even more.

The Omnivore's Dilemma, which I recently finished, really made me think about all the possible nuance there can be between full-on factory farming and extreme veganism (which I don't necessarily have a problem with, it's just a hard sell).

Basically gonna echo most of the answers already posted, but just to pile on:

• 8" chef's knife. 10" is longer than may be comfortable and 12" is longer than necessary, but 7" may start to feel a little short if she's ever slicing large melon or squash. I'm a casual knife nerd and I have knives by Wusthof, Victorinox, Shun and Mac. My favorite.
  
  
• This Dutch oven. Enameled and cast iron just like the Le Creuset that a few other comments have mentioned, but much, much cheaper. I own two and they're both great. I also have the non-enameled version for baking bread, but I don't recommend it for general use unless you're a Boy Scout. Here's an entertaingly-written blog post comparing the Lodge vs. Le Creuset in a short rib cookoff.
  
  
• This cutting board and this cutting board conditioner. The importance of an easy and pleasant to use prep surface can't be overstated. I'm listing this third on purpose; this is one of the most important things your kitchen can have. A recipe that calls for a lot of chopping is no fun when you're fighting for counter space to do the chopping, or doing it on a shitty plastic board.
  
  
• A cheap scale and a cheap thermometer. Seriously, these are as important as the cutting board.
  
  
• Just gonna crib this one right off /u/Pobe420 and say cheapo 8–10" (I recommend 10–12" but that's my preference) nonstick skillet. One note I'd add is that pans with oven-safe handles are a bit more dual-purpose than pans with plastic or rubberized handles. You can't finish a pork chop in the oven in a skillet with a rubberized handle. But one could say you shouldn't be cooking a pork chop on a nonstick pan to begin with. The important thing is to keep this one cheap: you're going to be replacing it every couple of years, there's no getting around that. For my money $30 or less, and $30 is pretty expensive for these things.
  
  
  

• Cookbooks
  

  Nothing inspires cooking like a good cookbook collection. The great news about cookbooks is that they're often bought as gifts or souvenirs and they make their way onto the used market cheap and in great condition. Here are my suggestions for a great starter shelf:
  
  

1. The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt. I kind of hate that this is my number one recommendation, but I don't know your wife and I do know J. Kenji López-Alt. This one is brand new so you're unlikely to find it used and cheap, but as a catch-all recommendation it has to take first place. Moving on to the cheap stuff:
   
   
2. Regional French Cooking by Paul Bocuse. This is possibly the friendliest authoritative book on French food out there, and a hell of a lot easier to just dive into than Julia Child (Julia is the expert, and her book is an encyclopedia). Bocuse is the undisputed king of nouvelle cuisine and people like Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain (so maybe a generation ahead of you and I) came from him. Paul Bocuse is French food as we know it, and yet this book—an approachable, coffee-table sized thing—still has a recipe for fucking mac and cheese. It's outstanding.
   
   
3. Theory & Practice / The New James Beard by James Beard. These will completely cover your entire library of American cooking. Nothing else needed until you get region-specific. When you do, go for something like this.
   
   
4. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. When she died, the NYT ran a second obituary that was just her recipe for bolognese.
   
   
5. Christ, top five. Who gets 5th? I'm going with From Curries To Kebabs by Madhur Jaffrey. Don't get bamboozled into buying "Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible" which is the same book, repackaged and priced higher. You want the one with the hot pink dust jacket, it's unmistakeable. This is one of those end-all books that you could cook out of for the rest of your life. It covers almost every diet and almost every country that Beard and Bocuse don't.
   
   
6. Honorable mentions: Here come the downvotes. Pok Pok by Andy Ricker. If you're American and you want to cook Thai, this is the one. Ten Speed Press can go home now. The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Rosen (so close to making the list). I shouldn't need to say much about this; it's the book of diasporic Jewish food, which means it covers a lot of time and almost every possible country. It's a no-brainer. Thai Food by David Thompson (a perfect oral history of Thai food for English speakers, only it doesn't include Pok Pok's precise measurements, which in practice I've found important). Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish. Not for someone who just wants to become a baker, this book is for someone who wants to make Ken Forkish's bread. And for a casual bread baker I can't imagine a better introduction. Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham. Andrea Nguyen is out there and Andrea Nguyen is awesome, but I really like Mai Pham's book. It's accessible, reliable and regional. You don't get the dissertation-level breakdown on the origins of chicken pho that you get from Andrea, but the recipe's there, among many others, and it's fucking outstanding. Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. This vegan cookbook is dope as hell and will really expand your imagination when it comes to vegetables. This could actually have been number five.

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307264939/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Iz5xCb5MCAZ0W

If he likes cooking you could get him a week of meals delivered! I use home chef and hello fresh. They can be kind of pricey but if you just do one week you get a discount for your first order (just be sure to cancel it after the first week because they charge weekly after that).

This game also looks super fun!

this cookbook could be awesome too!

and I mean, who wouldn't want to cook with coolio?

Looks really good! Now do yourself a favor and get the book I will link. It is modern and goes through most of Japan’s favorite modern dishes, BUT! It maintains are very high focus on traditional main recipes and techniques. It’s not as technical as Tsuji’s A Simple Art, but it’s traditional where it counts.

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Soul-Cooking-Tonkatsu-Kitchens/dp/1607743523

Seconding the Serious Eats Wok 101 series. And if you're ever going to get a book about wok cooking, Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge should be it.

As for my personal experience, a wok works best on gas stoves, okay on electric coil, really terrible on those flat top surfaces. They're good for small kitchens since they're clean with a quick wipe of water in the sink and can generally take the place of several other pots and pans, though it might be hard to find dedicated cabinet space for it. And think outside of the box: the wok can be used to make popcorn, or a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, not just traditional meat-and-veggie stir frys.

I'm not sure what you mean by fully resealable because I know milk packaging varies greatly by region. In my part of the USA the two main options are clear plastic jugs and cardboard cartons. I grew up in a family that cooked with milk, but didn't drink it. Milk would go bad on us pretty regularly. My mom started buying the cartons and swore it lasted longer, and anecdotally that seemed that seemed to be the case.

It wasn't until I read On Food and Cooking that I learned why this is true. Light helps to spoil milk, so a clear container will spoil faster. If the milk is used sparingly and exposed to light whenever the fridge opens it will go bad quicker. The cardboard blocks the light and the milk lasts longer. If milk is available in a resealable container that isn't clear then that would be the best of both worlds.

My husband got Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen as a gift from his great uncle and it seems pretty legit. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet because honestly they're a little intimidating, but just flipping through it, the recipes looked "right" if that makes sense.

As for fats, I actually learned this week that the original variant of Canola (rapeseed) oil is a traditional cooking oil of China, besides pork/lard.

Rapeseed oil comes from Brassica rapa, which includes many common Chinese vegetables inc. cabbage, bok choy, and yao choy which literally translates into "oil vegetable" from Chinese. Canola is the Canadian version which has a lower acid content of erucic acid, but in traditional Chinese cooking my preliminary research seems to show that you use rapeseed (preferably now Canola, expeller pressed if possible) plus some saturated pork fat.

I recommend Wisdom of a Chinese Kitchen http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Chinese-Kitchen-Grace-Young/dp/0684847396/ which actually has ground pork butt (1/4 cup) in many recipes. Pork butt (actually comes from the shoulder) is a fatty cut, and a 1/4 cup has you using the meat not only for seasoning (umami) but for the fat.

Unfortunately, the American diet focuses a lot on beef rather than pork and it's much more difficult to get high-quality pork compared to beef. Anyway good luck and let us know how it goes!

I'm not actually mad about the Pats winning that game. They certainly did enough to win and it was nice to have a SB uncontestedly won by the team that played better yesterday unlike several of the last few SBs. That said, how the fuck are you gonna go out there and look like a HS team because the Pats defense played a simple cover 2 zone? Like shit, isn't McVay supposed to be some offensive-minded genius? And his team just eats a fat one because of a basic zone package? How fucking embarrassing and stereotypical for an LA team.

Other than that, got a bunch of KH3 in over the weekend--loving that game, though I probably should've just started on Proud Mode instead of Normal. I made a great Japanese Miso Curry from the recipe in this cookbook that I got for Chrismukkah. I highly recommend this book if you like cooking and like Japanese drunk food. And I spent a good chunk of time praying to my shrine of Rangers memorabilia that we don't trade Zuccarello.

Maybe you can settle for Coolio : https://www.amazon.ca/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

or possibly

Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen

they both look like a lot of fun.

Cookin' with Coolio

EDIT: spelled cookin' wrong

here's 2 more :P sorry for multiple posts!
this
and synthetic weed

My buddy got me the Bacon, Pumpkin Pie and PB&J flavors of this. PB&J and Pumpkin were actually tolerable. Bacon tasted like death. In return, I got him Cookin' With Coolio.

I recommend starting here.
Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439117616/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_s7iiybB0M3ER5

I think you meant this: http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Coolio was on an episode of chopped and has a cookbook.

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-season-a-wokcooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-171893

From this website you will find a few basic recipes from Grace Young. She is my wok guru, if such a thing ever existed. My partner purchased one about six months ago, I found the link above and never looked back!

For under $100, you could get yourself a nice wok, spatula (I found mine at BBB for $10, and they always have coupons. Couldn't find it on their website but here it is at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Silicone-Flexible-Omelet-Turner/dp/B000JPXRGK/ref=pd_sim_k_4), her cookbook (http://www.amazon.com/Stir-Frying-Skys-Edge-Ultimate-Authentic/dp/1416580573/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345839270&sr=8-1&keywords=grace+young+stir+frying+sky%27s+edge), and a few essential reoccurring ingredients. Happy woking!

and then read his cookbook!

All my favorite recipes are right out of Grace Young's Stir Fry to the Sky's Edge so here's the Amazon link. Salt and pepper shrimp, stir fried beef noodles, chicken fried rice, stir fried bok choy (any vegetables really). Instructions are straightforward, there are plenty of pictures to whet your appetite and I really enjoyed the introduction chapter on seasoning the wok and wok techniques. She gives just the right amount of information without overwhelming a newbie.

The only cookbook you will ever need:

https://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888

a giant granite mortar and pestle is a good tool to have. This is a good book, as long as you can track down the ingredients. Andy Ricker's is probably also good, as I'm sure David Thompson's other book is too.

I found this book helpful: https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Soul-Cooking-Tonkatsu-Kitchens/dp/1607743523/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5X71GHDXSDDHX2E46D4G

here it is

http://www.amazon.com/White-Trash-Cooking-Anniversary-Edition/dp/1607741873/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376269849&sr=8-1&keywords=white+trash+cooking

Cookin' with Coolio.
http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616

Coolio made a cooking book named "Cooking with Coolio", I have it myself and the recipes are pretty fun (and taste good)
http://www.amazon.com/Cookin-Coolio-Star-Meals-Price/dp/1439117616/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381326534&sr=8-1&keywords=cooking+with+coolio

Nisei friend recommends this:

Japanese Soul Cooking

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Soul-Cooking-Tonkatsu-Kitchens/dp/1607743523

Cooking by Hand - This is another excellent read when it comes to all things Charcuterie.

5 Star meals at a 1 star price

I wanted to add this to my bookshelf next to Cookin' with Coolio.

Is that from the White Trash Cooking book?

I can recommend this Thai cooking book:

https://smile.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888/

I believe their duck laab recipe would work with a mock duck.