Best gourmet cooking books according to redditors

Firstly, I would invest in a decent cookbook, because a lot of the recipes on the internet are garbage and you, as a new cook, won't be able to separate the good vs. the bad. Any beginner's cookbook is probably decent (How to cook everything, the joy of cooking, etc.) but america's test kitchen is probably my recommendation, if only because the equipment reviews and ingredient tests are a boon to a home cook who is starting with little knowledge or equipment. Buying spices/basics when you need it is a good plan as well. That being said, don't get too wrapped up if you can't find the exact brand recommended by ATK.

People on reddit in particular will also recommend the food lab book, which is a fine book on itself, or tell you to watch all of Good Eats, but i'm going to go against the grain and recommend against both, as they both somewhat unnecessarily belabor the science aspect of cooking that, IMO, isn't necessary to be a good chef (also, Good Eats is super fluffy and oftentimes highly reliant on DIY hacks that aren't applicable except for their very specific application within their recipe). OTOH if you really dig the science-based cooking method, Alton Brown's "I'm just here for the food," The Food Lab (slightly more involved), or ATK's "The Science of Good Cooking" are all worth exploring (it's just important to recognize that cooking doesn't begin and end with science)

• Start with the guy who wrote a book on techniques. Jacques Pépin.
  
• Expand into an American Master showcasing family americana style food but with high technique Thomas Keller Ad Hoc
  
• Check out the deep science behind food to understand why people do what they do Modernist Cusine at Home
  
• Or if you want someone to explore the science and break it down for you in Alton Brown
  
• Youtube. Check out Gordon Ramsay, American Test Kitchen, Heston blumenthal or Blumenthal again, Thomas Keller, Pepin Videos, There's so many food videos from chefs my reply would be huge if I linked it all

Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques and Larousse Gastronomique are both great resources for classical dishes and techniques. Much of classical French cooking is based around stocks and sauces (the 5 mother sauces, and their extensions) and finesse in cooking, i.e. precise cuts, elaborate platings, etc. Something like cooking a french omelet, a piece of fish a la meuniere (get real french and do it with skate wing or dover sole), or if you're into pastry, a simple pâte à choux or genoise, are good starting recipes. With those two books and a few recipes to practice should get you started.

Maybe it's carbon steel. But yeah, it's hard to watch as I also assumed nonstick. This is my favorite technique video of his (his book New Complete Techniques is also a must purchase).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5p1CcGn70&user=TopSecretPt

Edit: Misremembered the name of the book.

You want the Larousse Gastronomique

He published a newer version of the book with color images and some new techniques.

Link to the book on Amazon

Thanks for posting a recipe! This is similar to what I used. Mine was out of This Book ($5 digital copy on Amazon) so I don't think I can post without breaking copywrite laws or something.

I will try again sometimes with the above recipe. Hopefully with better folding technique.

​

Edit: typo

Ad Hoc at Home.

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774

Might I suggest an alternative method? In my experience, the study of the techniques to cooking are at least half the battle in laying a foundation for a good culinary education. Rather than take the direct simple-to-complex recipe route, perhaps there is value in utilizing a hybrid method of learning where the recipes are centered around the use of particular skills in the kitchen. Some useful materials that come to mind are "Complete Techniques" by Jacques Pepin or "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child. Once these types of technical skills are engrained in your cooking process, you will find the true joy of cooking which is much less about following instructions and more to do with finding your "culinary groove".

You can also use a blowtorch to caramelize the outer portion of the meat. I tried it on the last prime rib I did at home and it turned out great. Thomas Keller mentioned this method in Ad Hoc at Home. I find it to be both more convenient and less messy than pan-searing, especially for larger cuts of meat.

The process is called sous-vide. It's a fairly new technique and only began making its way into high-end restaurants a few years ago. Thomas Keller wrote a book on it, which is valuable because it's one of the few on the subject that are available in English.

At the high end, sous-vide is done with chamber sealers and immersion circulators, a setup that costs thousands of dollars but is extremely precise.

At the enthusiast level, sous-vide can be done with a rice cooker, a PID controller, and a vacuum sealer. Setup cost ~$300.

At the low end, you can work with a thermometer and a pot. This approach is the easiest way to get started, but it's very limited. Sous-vide eggs, for example, need temperature accuracy within 2 degrees for 75 minutes, something that is too difficult to do manually. Sous-vide short ribs are great because you can cook them rare (impossible with conventional methods) but that means holding the ribs at about 135 degrees F... for ~40 hours. It's fun to try it out with salmon because you get a texture that is unique to the technique, but there's a lot more to play around with once you spring for the home setup.

Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is easily the best book to learn French cooking. It has very thorough instructions for techniques, authentic recipes, adapted for the American kitchen.

I also recommend Larousse Gastronomique,
Escoffier and
Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques.

You mentioned that you prefer recipes that are simple and not too time consuming. The problem with that is, most authentic French cooking is time-consuming and laborious. This is why it is so delicious and intricate. However, I do have one cookbook that I don't use too much anymore, but it features great recipes that are fairly quick and accessible.

Because it's an entertaining video that came to the same conclusion as other well-respected food writers including J. Kenji López-Alt, Nathan Myhrvold, and Thomas Keller.

Jacques Pepin is awesome at teaching techniques, and especially good at giving detailed instructions that are easy to follow (even if not so easy to execute without practise).

Besides his numerous youtube videos, his Complete Techniques book and DVD (i have both) are really good. Like how to cut vegetables, cook eggs in various ways, debone a chicken etc. I find the DVD easier to follow.

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000LXHJZA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1457271533&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=jacques+pepin+dvd&dpPl=1&dpID=51RpoAjNx9L&ref=plSrch

His video on making an American omelet and a French omelette. This video is the best there is, and i have seen dozens of other videos about making an omelet.

https://youtu.be/s10etP1p2bU

Edit: His scrambled eggs recipe since you said that is your next goal.

https://youtu.be/u8QIDHla6iA

(From 11:40, but if you go back a few minutes, he also tells you how to make mushrooms to accompany the scrambled eggs)

https://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Gastronomique-Greatest-Encyclopedia-Completely/dp/0307464911

America's Test Kitchen complete TV show book or their Cooking School book are both excellent as large compendiums of a variety of recipes all of which have been thoroughly tested, are well-written, and have two or three paragraphs explaining why the recipe is the way it is. These are books I would recommend to anyone looking for a big book of recipes to cook at home and get good results.

My personal favorite is Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. The food in that book is just so wonderful -- pretty much perfect examples of every dish attempted -- and the recipes execute it perfectly but are generally not too complex or difficult for a home cook. If we had to eat food from just one cookbook for the rest of our lives I think we would all give priority to huge compendiums with 500+ recipes in them, but if we had to choose from single-author cookbooks with ~100 recipes or so, I would pick Ad Hoc at Home.

The Larousse Gastronmique is a whole lot of fun to poke through. Tons of information on ingredients, restaurants, and chefs, although it does sway heavily toward French cuisine. The newest edition is pretty expensive, but the Older editions can be had for not too much cash.

I would stronlgy recommend Jacques Pepin who is wonderful.

Invest in some professional chefs cook books. I recommend this one. super delicious recipes, but not impossibly complicated. Also the photos are spectacular.

I actually think America's Test Kitchen's Family Cookbook might be a good option for you here. While the book is pretty big, it covers different courses, not just mains. So you wouldn't feel the need to make every single dish, as you may not always feel like a soup course or whatnot. An added benefit is that the ATK books are generally well researched and their results are pretty consistent. It's also pocketed with useful information about ingredients and cooking techniques in general.

While not as "adventurous" in difficulty as buying a tome from Ottolenghi, it also covers a wide spectrum of ethnicity, so you don't get tired of serving one thing all the time.

If I had a 'dream book' to follow along with, it'd probably be Franklin's :P

The ability to improvise comes with time, observation and willingness to experiment. Onions can add different texture and flavor to a dish depending on preparation. From crunchy, sulfurous, raw onions to sweet, soft, caramelized onions the spectrum of possibilities is quite broad. Use them raw, gently sautéed in oil, caramelized, fried, dried, pickled; cut lengthwise, crosswise, diced; etc. and build up a mental library of the results. I love reading about food, food history, preparation and food science but nothing beats actually getting hands-on with food.

That said, there are some books about flavor combinations and it might help if the concern is wasting food due to impractical experimentation. I own and enjoy Niki Segnit's The Flavor Thesaurus. It's not a mathematical table of A+B=C, but it gives classic and inventive combinations of various flavors. I can't vouch for these, but maybe read through the reviews and see if they sound interesting to you: one and two. I follow the blog of the latter two authors and it's quite interesting even if it is sometimes beyond the scope of home cookery.

As The Flavor Bible has been mentioned already, I'll add Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

https://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51QkBbNStmL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=E6S63V8X7MYR2V32N7V9

You could also try getting a cookbook and cooking your way through it. Ad Hoc At Home is pretty accessible. Check out French Laundry At Home for some inspiration.

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques

The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Become a Great Cook

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

From here you can move on to:

Institut Paul Bocuse Gastronomique: The definitive step-by-step guide to culinary excellence

&

Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia, Completely Revised and Updated

These are all great resources. Also look for culinary school text books and always youtube.

The resources are out there and with everyone having a different way to learn and adopt information the variety in options is tremendous. Good luck and keep cooking. If you have any questions please reach out and if I can help I will.

Well you could add to their cooking knowledge by getting them a book about real mexican cuisine:

Truly Mexican


Tacos, Tortas y Tamales.


The Art of Mexican Cooking

Larousse Gastronomique

America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook it has a little bit of everything in it, and it explains why and how different things work. This is my goto wedding or house warming gift, and everyone has always loved it.

Jacques Pépin's New Complete Techniques is the bible of technique. It combines La Technique and La Methode which have taught some of today's top chefs.

Jacques Pepin's New Complete Techniques.

https://smile.amazon.com/Jacques-Pépin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110

And don't get the Kindle version.

I’ll recommend three books that have upped my research as a home cook; The Professional Chef by CIA, Techniques by Jacques Pepin, and Ratio by Michael Ruhlman.

Of course there are hundreds of books but I often reference these in particular for education.

5 1/2 stars. First result from google.

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Dumplings-Mastering-Spring-Samosas/dp/1580089755

I learned a lot about Mexican cuisine from The Art of Mexican Cooking: Traditional Mexican Cooking for Aficionados: A Cookbook by Diana Kennedy. I picked it up for a dollar at a yard sale nearly 20 years ago and I'm still happy I grabbed it. I go back to it often.

The recipes and methods are very clear, she tells stories on the history of a dish and the whole thing feels really authentic. I've had plenty of Mexican cuisine cookbooks over the years, this is the only one I still have.

Jacques Pepin wrote two books called La Technique: An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamental Techniques of Cooking and La Methode: An Illustrated Guide to the Fundamental Techniques of Cooking that are standards. They have been reissued in a single volume called Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques. Right now the Kindle version of New Complete Techniques is on sale for $2.99.

https://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques-ebook/dp/B009XNXSJA/

Thomas Keller has a cookbook called Under Pressure that's good. It's aimed at professionals, but it's perfectly accessible for home cooks as well. There's a big section on food safety that's on the scary side. (I keep waiting for the first round of sous vide botulism deaths)

And there's a web site called chefsteps that puts out a lot of sous vide articles and video tutorials. Highly recommended.

And this.

HTH

Obligatory edit: My first gold! Yay! Thank you, whoever that was! You made my day!

this could go one of 2 ways. either :

a pack of ramen and a bottle of soy.
or the Escoffier Guide de Culinaire

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escoffier-Cookbook-Guide-French-Cuisine/dp/0517506629


Auguste Escoffier is the Godfather of classic french haute cuisine. It's more fascinating than it is practical.

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)

This particular recipe happens to be one of my family's favs - and it's incredibly easy. It is from TK's book Ad Hoc at Home. Every recipe I've made from the book is amazing. Even better, the book is full of very insightful kitchen tips that you can apply in everyday cooking, no matter the recipe.

Some cookbooks that I use or are on my wishlist:

• The Fat Duck
  
  
• The French Laundry
  
  
• Alinea
  
  
• Eleven Madison Park
  
  
• Quay: food inspired by nature
  
  
• Room for Dessert
  
  
• Murgaritz: A Natural Science of Cooking
  
  
• Saison
  
  
• Rasoi: New Indian Kitchen
  
  
• Le Cinq
  
  
• Coi: Stories and Recipes
  
  
• Massimo Bottura: Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef
  
  
• Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste
  
  
• El Celler De Can Roca
  
  Great British Chefs also has some recipes from Michelin starred restaurants.

It sounds as if you are a novice? If you are and you are looking for books as your guide I suggest anything Jaques Pepin produces like this.

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques

https://www.amazon.com/Jacques-Pépin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520771297&sr=1-3&keywords=jaque+pepin+cookbooks

Jacques Pépin is a masterful teacher. There are also youtube videos and TV shows that would add to anything you get from his books. I highly encourage you to seek them out.

Beyond that, if you are looking for more a narrative form and you are more than a novice, consider:

Simple French Food by Richard Olney

Thats just a start, I'm sure there are many others that deserve consideration. In my experience Jacques Pépin; however, is one of the most approachable of the masters and I have a long-standing admiration of him, so my opinion is likely biased.

edit: a letter

I recommend The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller:

https://www.amazon.com/French-Laundry-Cookbook-Thomas-Library/dp/1579651267

His book covers foundational French cooking technique with fine dining application. He has such a beautiful talent for teaching and communication.

I was particularly drawn to the methodical, scientific approach he takes to cooking. But there's no mistaking his emotional investment and passion at the same time.

Truly one of the greatest chefs and culinary teachers the world has ever known.

The do look amazing, the funniest thing is that I looked up the book and on Amazon's website they have the recipe, enjoy!!!

Ad Hoc at Home:
Check out the video on the Amazon page here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579653774/ref=oss_product

Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes I think this is one of the best options, beautiful as well as lots of information and many different methods.

> So whats yalls opinion? slapchop? food processor? other?

A chef's knife is the right tool for the job.

This book has all the info you need.

Well, I'm half-Chinese. I'll give you two cookbook recommendations which are full of recipes which really resonate with that part of my background:

• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. While I'm generally not big on Chinese cookbooks not specializing in one or two regional cuisines, this book gets a pass because it's so organized and pedantic. It builds itself up from simple to complex and includes recipes which build on each other. It also features a large section on ingredients. An additional pro is that it includes the Chinese characters which makes it easier to find the proper product at your Asian grocer. I love it so much that I lugged this book to Taiwan with me and used it as my cooking guide/reference.
  
• Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. Of all the regional Chinese cuisines with which I have experience, I love the multi-layered flavors of Sichuan the most. It was through Dunlop's book that I first discovered this magnificent cuisine and it encouraged me to discover some of the Sichuanese restaurants in the Bay Area. Instructions are clear and she does a great job bringing Sichanese food to life. An absolute must own if you are at all interested in regional Chinese food. Her book on Hunanese food is also pretty killer.
  
  In addition to the aforementioned Chinese food, I'm just a fat piggy who loves to eat. Here are a few more recs:
  
  
• Thai Food by David Thompson. This is the bible of Thai food for English speakers. It's nearly 700 pages long and not a page is wasted on fluff. It's more than just a cookbook, it's a anthropological study on Thai people, their history and the way they eat. An immense book. If you are more into pictures, check out his book on Thai Street Food.
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen. This was the book that really unlocked Vietnamese food for me. I adore how many fresh herbs/veggies are used and how it creates a complex, yet light, cuisine. And don't get me wrong when I say light...it's as full flavored as can be, but without heaviness. In the interim since this book came out, others have showed up on the market which are as good (see Charles Phan's recent book), but Nguyen's book will always have a special place in my heart.
  
• ad hoc at home by Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is arguably the most important American chef of the past 20 years, so when he turns his sights on homestyle food, you can be sure it's done with correct technique and style. While this book isn't as notable as TFL cookbook or his sorta primer on sous vide cooking, I'm including it because it has recipes which people will actually use. Unparallelled technique, good recipes and delicious food equal a winning cookbook. One note: it's not dumbed down and some of the recipes take time, but everything I've ever made from it has been great.
  
• Alinea by Grant Achatz. {Disclaimer: I worked for Grant Achatz for a couple of years.} Everyone should own at least one cookbook which is completely out of reach, but serves to inspire. When you flip through this book, your jaw will drop and you will wonder, multiple times, "WTF?!?!?!" It's an amazing testament to how open and possible American cuisine is at the moment and you'll do yourself well to flip through it. Additionally, the photographs and the book itself are phenomenal. The paper, in particular, is well worth the price of admission. It's sexy shit, yo.
  
  Feel free to drop me a line if you need more recommendations. I've got quite the cookbook collection (I love to cook, it's not just cookbook porn) and love to share my thoughts.

Under Pressure by Thomas Keller.

The McGee Bible is probably the best food-science oriented cookbook ever written.

This Book is basically the same content but condensed and made more accessible, so its a good starting point if you don't want a huge doorstop of a book to page through.

Good Eats by Alton Brown is a pretty awesome how-to show that combines food science and comedy. poke around for full episodes if you can find them, its worth it.

as for podcast format...not sure if I've encountered a good one in strictly audio. maybe just look for books on tape?

Julia Child is great, but that really isn't the best resource. Have a look at these three books. Together they will tell you more than almost any other resources about French cuisine, recipes, technique, history, everything.

Larousse Gastronomique
http://www.amazon.com/New-Larousse-Gastronomique-Hamlyn/dp/0600620425/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

The Escoffier Cookbook
http://www.amazon.com/Escoffier-Cookbook-Guide-Fine-Cookery/dp/0517506629/ref=pd_sim_b_4

On Food and Cooking
http://www.amazon.com/On-Food-Cooking-Science-Kitchen/dp/0684800012/ref=pd_sim_b_6

The best flour blend I've found is from the cookbook Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking. You have to mix it yourself (it's a blend of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, cornstarch, potato starch and potato flour), but it's worth it. I use it in all kinds of recipes and it's never failed.

Thomas Keller's French Laundry it's quite a complex cookbook that would be perfect for someone studying culinary because it teaches you to look at food in a different way and is brings forth culinary creativity.

So most of my cookbooks are either text dense reference manuals or obnoxiously difficult like The French Laundry Cookbook, but here's a few that are relatively simple with excellent photography:

La Cocina - Cookbook from an organization in San Francisco that teaches low income people to successfully grow food businesses. Photos are incredible.

-

The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook - Excellent photos with a lot of obscure produce.

-

Ad Hoc at Home - Thomas Keller's family style recipes with wonderful photography.

-

Flour Water Salt Yeast - Focused on baking bread and making pizza, but a lot of step by step photos and some awesome pictures of the final product.

If you're looking for basics, it's hard to beat Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything The Basics.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-The-Basics/dp/0470528060

It's exactly what you're looking for. It covers the basics of cooking, with 1,000+ photos.

Another go-to recommendation is Jacque Pepin's New Complete Techniques, a fantastic 2012 update of his epic masterpieces La Technique and La Methode, with 1000 new photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110

Both books are great. I prefer Pepin's book since it's based solely on classic French technique, but Bittman's book would be better for an absolute beginner.

Get the book Under Pressure. Literally a Bible full of info on the machines themselves and the technique. Also a huge wealth of recipes with cook times and temperatures for nearly everything you'd need.

Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide (The Thomas Keller Library) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579653510/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_voa8yb3VJXAHS

Don't take everything as fact but Thomas Keller's Under Pressure is pretty good.

Just a some that likes cooking alot here. Maybe pick one of these bad boys up and start playing.

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-1&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Bakery-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579654355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-2&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/French-Laundry-Cookbook-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579651267/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-3&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579652395/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-4&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Sous-Vide/dp/1579653510/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-6&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-9&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373678139&sr=8-1&keywords=ratio

Thomas Keller does something similar to this in Ad Hoc at Home. He has a creamy polenta recipe (if you don't have the book, here's an adaptation of it) that he pan fries once it's cooled. I've tried it, and it's delicious and totally firm. I cut mine in wedges, and it works perfectly.

yeah, I've actually posted the entire recipe in a comment before. Lemme find it. It's one of Dan Lepard's.

edit: Here it is, copied from when I posted it about a month ago.

..second reply while drunk...

I decided to go ahead and post this recipe while I remember. Hopefully no one is offended that I am basically copying verbatim Lepard's recipe.

Although if interested, it is from The Cook's Book, which is an absolutely excellent culinary tutorial.

So anyway...

For the initial mixture:

4 tsp unbleached white or whole-wheat high-gluten bread flour or rye flour

2 tsp live plain yogurt

3 1/2 tbsp water at 65-68 degrees F

1 tbsp organic raisins (optional, provides more sugar for the yeast)

For the daily refreshment

unbleached white or whole-wheat high-gluten bread flour or rye flour, depending on what bread you want to make.

Step one:

Measure all the ingredients for the initial mixture into a one pint jar with a lid and stir them together vigorously with a fork. Cover the jar with it's lid, then leave for a day at room temperature.

Step two:

The next day, bacteria and yeasts will have begun to multiply, yet all you will see is a glassy layer of liquid over the solid matter. Measure 4 tsp of your chosen flour and 3 1/2 tbsp water into the jar, stir vigorously, and replace the lid. Leave again until the following day.

Step 3:

On day 3, look for the odd tiny bubble on the surface of the mixture. This is the beginning of fermentation. Again, add 4 tsp flour and 3 1/2 tbsp water to the jar, stir vigorously, and replace the lid. Leave until the following day.

Step 4:

By day 4, the mixture will be getting energetic and will benefit from a higher ratio of new ingredients to old leaven. Stir the mixture, then tip three-fourths to four-fifths out (throw this away). Add about 1/2 cup (100g) water to the jar. Stir vigorously, then add 3/4 cup (100g) flour and stir vigorously again. The mixture will look like a thick batter. Replace the lid and leave until the following day.

Step 5: On day 5, bubble of fermentation will appear on the surface. Repeat the procedure followed on day 4, then put the lid back on and leave until the following day.

Step 6: From day 6 on, the mixture will be able to raise a dough, but it will take many more times for complex flavors to emerge. Repeat the day-4 procedure each day for the following 2-4 days. You will notice the aroma becoming sharper every day. After 8-10 days, you will have a healthy leaven that you can use.

FOR THE ACTUAL BREAD

4 oz natural leaven (above)

7/8 cup water at 72F

1 tsp fine sea salt

2 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten bread flour

olive oil

Step 1: Early in the morning, combine leaven and water, mixing it with your fingers. In a large bowl, mix the salt with the flour, stirring well with a spoon.

Step 2: Tip the leaven mixture into the flour and, using your hands, mix it quickly and evenly to make a soft, sticky dough. Cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes. The dough temperature should be about 68F (20C).

Step 3: Spoon 1-2 tsp oil onto the top of the dough and rub it all over the surface. Turn the bowl over and scrape the dough onto an oiled surface. Knead the dough, repeating after 10 and 20 minutes, then cover and leave it for 30 minutes at room temp.

Step 4: Fold the dough by thirds, and repeat this every hour for 3-4 hours. Each time, return it either to a bowl or tray, seam side down, and cover. At the three hour mark, cut a deep slash into the surface of the dough to check the aeration. If you can see a good network of air bubbles, it can be shaped.

Step 5: Line a basket or bowl with a dish towl rubbed thickly with rye flour. Shape the dough into a round loaf or a baton. Place it seam side up in the towel, cover, and let rise until almost doubled in height.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 425F (220C). Sprinkle a little semolina or flour on a baking sheet (I use the stone here), then place the dough onto it, rounded side up. Slash the surface of the loaf, then lightly spray it with water. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375F (190C) and continue baking until the loaf is golden brown and feels light in weight, 15-20 minutes longer.

Step 7: Let the bread cool on a wire rack. When cool, wrap in wax or parchment paper and store in a bread box.

END

Anyway, this recipe is awesome, and the book is awesome. Everyone should buy it.

The best fried chicken I ever made was from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home book. The amazon page includes the fried chicken recipe, so you don't even need to buy the book. It was a lot of work though, and required brining the chicken overnight. http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342457237&sr=8-1&keywords=ad+hoc+at+home

pendulum has swung to.... what? in the new Eleven Madison Park cookbook, Daniel Humm used them a'plenty. They are still popular, and still work as long as they are done tastefully.

Watch Good Eats, for a start. I think pretty much every episode is up on youtube, and S1E1 (Steak) was what got me started on cooking. The show feels pretty corny sometimes, but it's full of great information and flexible recipes.

When you're good on basic techniques, you can pretty much pick up any cookbook and make things work. I suggest Keller's Ad Hoc at Home for some mind blowing (and thoroughly explained) stuff, and Mark Bittman's How to cook Everything series for pretty much everything else.

Have you ever used the Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking book? The flour blend is somewhat pricey(who knew potato flour could cost so much?) but it makes some killer scones and beignets. I find that a lot of GF products are also egg free or dairy free which robs them a bit of that wonderful flavor, these are not.

This post was inspired by the Fresh Homemade Mozzarella post from /u/tamale_uk.

My recipe came from Diana Kennedy's Art of Mexican Cooking. Here is a blog that sources the same recipe.

A few notes:

• I didn't have access to raw milk (in fact, this milk was discarded by the grocery store and 100% free!), so I added 1/4 cup of kefir instead of the recommended yogurt.
  
• Diana Kennedy's recipe didn't mention precisely how much rennet to use, so I referenced a pamphlet I got from a cheesemaking class, which suggested 1/4 tablet dissolved in 1/4 cup water, for every gallon of milk. After the appropriate time for the rennet to do its work, it hadn't become super firm, so I went ahead and started cutting the curds. As a result, the curd I pulled out was a lot smaller than I expected, which resulted in a smaller yield than the recipe suggested.
  
• Because of the lower curd yield, the 2 1/2 tsp. salt ended up being too much. So this cheese is a bit too-salty, though no less delicious in small amounts.
  
• I didn't have a proper cheese mold, so I poked some holes in a 4.5", 1 cup, plastic shallow takeout container, which was perfectly sized for the amount of curd.
  
• Due to the small curds and low yield, I knew there was still plenty of milk solids in the whey. So I added 2 tbsp of vinegar to the whey, brought it to temperature and let it simmer on medium-low for 1 hour. I then poured the whey through a cheese cloth (butter muslin to be exact), and yielded 2.5 cups of requesón cheese (Mexican ricotta, same thing really).

His book is all anyone needs.

This looks like thousand-layer pastry to me. I made dumplings like the ones you posted recently by following the directions in this book. There don't seem to be thousand-layer pastry recipes online very readily, so you may need to buy a decent cookbook to be able to create these.

The basic approach is to make two types of dough, one that's like normal short crust pastry, one that's much softer. You wrap the soft dough in the harder one and fold it over a few times. Depending on how you cut it, you get spirals or straight lines.

It's not something I would do often but it was fun to try. There's a high-end dim sum place I go to that has a couple of thousand layer dumplings and it's a lot easier to just go and order them there.

I don't know if this translates to german, but there is a popular saying in english - "He wrote the book on (x)" which translates to "he is a master at (x)". In Jackie Peeps' case, he LITERALLY wrote the book on technique - https://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques-ebook/dp/B009XNXSJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485136823&sr=8-1&keywords=pepin+technique

He is a very famous chef, both for his work on the line and on TV. He was the chef de cuisine and executive chef for some world class restaurants before he became famous on American TV for his cooking shows and for his books. He is an absolute master and belongs in the conversation with Careme and Escoffier.

Check out this IDEAS IN FOOD'S MACARONI AND CHEESE recipie. I have tried it a few times and its great.

I recommend their book too. Great for home chef's and professional chef's. taught me a lot.

Alton Brown's cookbooks are quite good, so I'll add my voice to those recommending them.

If you don't need color glossy photos, "The New Best Recipe" from the folks at Cook's Illustrated magazine has great recipes and thorough instructions.

When you someday move beyond the basics, I'd also throw in a plug for Michael Ruhlman's "Ratio" and Jacques Pepin's "Complete Techniques". Ruhlman's book breaks some recipes (like doughs, batters, and custards) down to their basic components and will help you understand how to modify or even improvise with some kinds of recipes, and Pepin's book has great illustrations that can help get you through some of the techniques mentioned by not described by cookbooks. Pepin's Techniques might even prove useful to you now as a reference, depending on what other cookbooks you're working with.

This is the book I purchased for him. I liked it because it has basics of prep and food storage, how to tell when veggies are ripe and it is laid out in chapters that are listed on the cover.

Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook

Two books I recommend:

1. The Cook's Book, a compilation by ~20 world famous chefs of techniques, styles, and recipes. The pictures and instructions are gorgeous and very concise. I particularly recommend the fish and shellfish chapter by Charlie Trotter.
   
   
2. The Flavor Bible is great for inspiration and help in becoming more than a simple cook. It lists unique flavor combinations that you would've never thought of alone.

I own this cookbook and love everything I've prepared out of it. Written by a gringa but it's meant to be still pretty authentic.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mexican-Cooking-Diana-Kennedy/dp/0307383253

There is no 'recipe' everyone should know but basic techniques.

http://www.amazon.com/Keys-Good-Cooking-Making-Recipes/dp/1594202680

Once you master techniques recipes become less important and your own creativity can take the reigns.

America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I have the older edition, but I assume the new one is good as well. It has both basic recipes (such as different ways to cook eggs or the best way to make a baked potato) as well as typical classics (lasagna, roast turkey, steak with pan sauce, pizza, etc.).

Basically if you're looking for one cookbook that covers all common American fare, this is a great option. Also has equipment and ingredient brand recommendations. It's spiral-bound, which is great for a cookbook since you can lay it flat on the table.

America's Test Kitchen Cooking For Two. Many of the same recipes as above sized for two people. Plenty of different ones as well. A lot of focus on easier weeknight meals.

If you're a complete beginner you don't need a book of recipes: You need a book on techniques.

Something like Jacques Pepin's New Complete Techniques will teach you HOW to cook, not what to cook. Then you can find good recipes all over the place.

Apparently it does according to the index here :)

2 suggestions:

White Trash Cooking: Surprisingly interesting both in recipes and accompanying text.

The Escoffier cookbook: The absolute classic that few people have. Good for recipes, amazing as reference.

Jerusalem

Cooking with Loula: Greek recipes from my family to yours

Ideas in food: great recipes and why they work (ma anche Maximum Flavor, degli stessi autori)

Meathead: the science of barbecue and grilling

BraveTart: iconic american desserts (in uscita 15 agosto)

Jacques Pepin’s “Techniques”

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579129110/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_AmdCCbPKNCZ8D

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques

French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David

If you like French food, recommend trying cookbooks written by French chefs (ie chefs actually from France).

This is like the Bible of French cuisine and is translated in english:
https://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Gastronomique-Greatest-Encyclopedia-Completely/dp/0307464911

While it does have recipes, it also has a ton of pictures and descriptions of a variety of techniques: New Complete Techniques, by Jacques Pepin

Blog post on Ideas in Food about soaking pasta.

Their book, which has more extensive explanations.

Any of the Thomas Keller books, French Laundry, Ad Hoc at Home, Bouchon, and Bouchon Bakery. The only one you'd probably want to avoid is Under Pressure.

Also, Heston at Home and In Search of Perfection are great books.

If you're into southern food, check out Sean Brock's Heritage and Ed Lee's Smoke & Pickles.

Finally, I'd suggest Modernist Cuisine at Home if you're up for splurging.

Larousse Gastronomique

Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Julia Child

Paul Bocuse:The Complete Recipies

So sorry for the delay! Slow cooker tilapia:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 1.5 cups diced tomatoes or one 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
  
• 0.5 cup chicken broth
  
• juice of 1 lemon (about 0.25 cup)
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (I always double this if not more :) )
  
• 1 small red chile, seeded and minced (I've used different chiles with similar tastiness)
  
• 0.25 tsp ground ginger
  
• 0.25 tsp curry powder
  
• 0.25 tsp ground turmeric
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 2 lbs tilapia
  
  

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent.
   
2. Transfer the onion to a slow cooker and add the tomatoes, broth, lemon juice, garlic, chile, ginger, curry powder, turmeric and salt and pepper. Stir and cover. Cook on high for 90 minutes.
   
3. Add the fish to the sauce and turn the slow cooker to low. Cover and cook for 45 to 60 minutes, until the fish is flakey and cooked through.
   
   This recipe is from a book my mom got me called Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking. Enjoy !

I was eying this one recently: The Gourmet Slow Cooker

There is also a part II with more recipes.

• House of Leaves. It won't really teach you anything, but you'll get a sense of accomplishment from finishing it.
  
• A Confederacy of Dunces. If you feel like you have no direction in life, this might make you feel better about yourself. If nothing else, its a good laugh.
  
• Catch-22. Mentioned here already, but really, it might be the best book of the 20th century.
  
  
• EDIT The French Laundry Cookbook. It's a must for foodies, it's a phenomenal coffee table book, and it's inspiring to read the perspective of someone with so much passion for their craft.

Larousse Gastronomique For me it's the Bible of cooking. It has all the classics, as well as being an encyclopaedia of food. Every serious cook needs this book.

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques

In the description it says this one combines the two.

I made a 3 tiered cake for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary about 5-10 years ago. To be honest, the actual baking is quite easy, especially if you have experience baking cookies during the holidays. What I personally struggled with was the assembly, which I highly recommend you get someone to help you with because it definitely helps to have an extra set of hands for that part, and icing, but this is something you could practice before hand! I would definitely recommend making the cake at least once but preferably twice before your wedding to get a feel for it.

I used a recipe from the Gourmet Magazine cookbook. I'm pretty sure this is the recipe, but I don't have the book any more to confirm. The cookbook had TONS of picture illustrations to help. Many cakes can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days with no effect on texture, but I would definitely recommend holding off on the actual icing until the day of or at earliest the night before.

It's a recipe from a book called Ad Hoc:

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774

Sweet, here it is if anyones interested: http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774

I've seen a couple I like, but where's La Technique by Pepin. Or more likely, one of the updated versions.

Pick a classic in a cuisine with which you're generally unfamiliar but for which you feel confidant you can get good ingredients. A few ideas:

• Diana Kennedy - Essential Cuisines of Mexico or The Art of Mexican Cooking
  
  
• Barbara Tropp - The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking
  
  
• David Thompson - Thai Food
  
  
• Claudia Roden - The New Book of Middle Eastern Food
  
  
• Shizuo Tsuji - Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
  
  You'll be forced to learn new techniques and deal with new ingredients, and get a sense of an entire cooking tradition. Any of those books will give you at least a small sense of the culture that inspired the cuisine, the human context, in addition to culinary knowledge.

Marecella Hazan has an amazing Italian Cookbook.. That was one of the first cookbooks that really got me into Italian Cooking.

This book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0756613027/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Is what really got me started me and taught me the basics.

The Inn at Little Washington's Both Cookbook was a big influence

Rick Stein's Complete Seafood is comprehensive and really unique approaches to seafood

Beal Neals Southern Cooking is to Southern Food what Marcella Hazan is to Italian.

Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, the Gift of Southern Cooking is another.. Or any Edna Louis Book is

Molly Stephens All About Braising is another wonderful book that is incredibly comprehensive with regards to Braising.. Some amazing recipes.

Fuschia Dunlop's book, The Land of Plenty is a wonderful intro to Sichuan Food

And really, just for incredible inspiration, i think everyone should have a copy of Ecoffier's Book


I am a self taught cook and these books started me.

The America's Test Kitchen New Family Cookbook has perfected recipes for everything in the book and runs the gamut from as basic as a grilled cheese sandwich to full multi-course formal sitdown meals. The format is cook-friendly too since it lies flat.

This book is so great that I have started buying it as a housewarming gift for people just starting out on their own. It includes everything you need to know but might think it's a dumb question and too afraid to ask.

Jacques Pépin - New Complete Techniques

The James Beard Cookbook

> This is a basic cookbook. It is intended to help two sorts of people: first, those who are just beginning to cook and say they don't even know how to boil water, and second, those who have been trying to cook for a while and wonder why their meals don't taste like mother's cooking or the food in good restaurants.

Jacques Pépin's New Complete Techniques.

If you are looking for basic cooking information the Joy of Cooking is obligatory.

A couple things I've learned along the way is first to start slow and work through cookbooks. It's easy to keep buying book after book but they are just decoration if you don't know them well. Secondly, be wary of books with lots of pretty pictures! In my experience they are full of single-purpose recipes that don't teach you the true nature or source as you spoke of above.

As far as source recipes I'd second everything mentioned so far but if you are looking to blow people away with Italian and Mexican dishes (my particular favorite styles)... look no further than:

The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan - Possibly my favorite author of cookbooks of all time. This is definitely the one to start with in my opinion.

The Art of Mexican Cooking - Diana Kennedy - If you are looking for real mexican food this book is a great place to start.

Bonus Book... not a cookbook but a great way to learn about cooking

I LOVE Joy of Cooking. I have made every single recipe in the cookies section (from my 1985ish edition).

I also recommend Jacques Pepin New Complete Techniques. Some of it is challenging, but some of it is just..."oh, so that's how you do that!!"

And...a crock pot. I made at least 1 meal a week in my crock pot. Super easy and cheap!

I like to cook French and Asian/Indian foods the most. Here's my base list for any type of cooking: kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil, canola oil, eggs, flour, potatoes, onions and shallots, cream, butter, bacon, cheese, rice, canned diced tomatoes, garlic bulbs, red and white wine, vinegar (rice wine or balsamic). Root vegetables can be added too, but I prefer to get them specific to the meal.
A few extras I tend to use a lot are ginger root, oyster sauce, and red cabbage. Not exactly stock-worthy to some people though.

But actually, I think this is the wrong approach. I suggest finding a good cook book, perhaps Ad Hoc at Home, and just start reading it. I did this with Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles book and it revolutionized how I think about cooking. I wish I had done it from the start to develop the thought process first, which then leads to better food preparation. When you cook a specific meal you can go to the store and look at each food separately for the meal you're preparing. When I'm at the market looking for specific ingredients and not "grocery shopping" I'm able to think about the food in a different way. Gradually, you can build up foods and spices over time, but in doing so you'll build good habits, good recipes, and a more mature approach to food in general. My approach before was very much like a shotgun blast of spices, whereas now I'm able to more precisely pinpoint the flavor profile I'm going for.

A word on spices: Buying in bulk will save you lots of money. People suggest dating them, so as to know when they're going bad, but this might be out of your scope right now. I know Central Market here in Texas has a pretty nice bulk spice section, and I imagine other whole foods places do as well.

Herbs: Fresh herbs are key. You want something to have at the ready? Fresh herbs you can get from the store. But really you should invest in a $.25 pack of basil seeds, rosemary seeds, and thyme seeds. These plants are hardy and tough to kill (maybe not so much with basil) and will make everything taste more expensive.

I as well have gluten sensitivity and PCOS. I don't see any help or relief of the symptoms. (If you do, that's great and I'll be super jealous!)

As for advice, it's not that terribly restrictive of a diet.

I don't like to buy marketed gluten free products. They're expensive and sometimes don't taste that great (Glutino is a fine example). If you need to, or want to, I suggest Annie's products (http://www.annies.com/). Everything I have had tastes great. Is pricey, but a nice alternative when I don't feel like making things from scratch.

Salads are a great option, just be careful, a lot of salad dressing use gluten as a thickening agent.

Lettuce is your best friend. It's a great alternative for bread. Burger lettuce wraps are delicious!! Anything you sandwich between bread tastes great wrapped in lettuce.

Eating out is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Don't be afraid to ask to have something wrapped in lettuce, or served in a different way without flour. A lot of places are understanding, and even incorporating gluten free options into their menus.

Xanthan gum will be your best friend in baking. Gluten free baking often comes out flat and stodgy, but xanthan gum helps your goods rise and be fluffy just like gluten!
This is a really great gluten free cookbook. It has an awesome flour blend that has nice results. I highly recommend you get your hands on it. All the recipes are sooo delicious.
http://www.amazon.com/Artisanal-Gluten-Free-Cooking-Great-Tasting-Scratch/dp/1615190503

Books. Has he/she mentioned a cookbook or food reference book lately that he/she wants? Good cookbooks are awesome as gifts, since most cooks don't often have time to make it into a bookstore. Just as long as you get a good one (no Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee bullshit).

If your chef friend doesn't already have one of these books, any of these are a good gift:

Food Lover's Companion

On Food and Cooking

River Cottage Cookbook

French Laundry Cookbook

Also awesome, a subscription to Lucky Peach magazine.

What kind of restaurant/cuisine does your friend cook for? I have suggestions for more cookbooks if you want, but a little bit more information would be helpful.

Edit: Forgot to mention Art Culinaire, a hardback quarterly for chefs and cooks.

i've been dying to try these two books: this one & this other one

These are deep fried. I used the same method for dredging and frying as described in this cookbook's fried chicken recipe (the recipe is actually on the linked page). The final coating is substituted corn meal and graham flour instead.

Annnnd here we go again (dear lord)

A is for A Whole New Mind
B is for Burglar - a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, who knew?
C is for Candy starring Health Ledger
D is for Dandelion, a book
E is for Eureka vacuum
F is for Follow, a song.
G is for Gourmet cookbook
H is for The Hornet Electric Radio Control Buggy
I is for Invisible Ink Pen
J is for a Journal about Babies
K is for Kitty Cat Pet Dress Up and Care, an app
L is for Land Lakes Mini Moos Creamer
M is for Monty Python and the Holy Grail
N is for Nowhere To Go And All Day To Get There
O is for Opium for Women
P is for a Porcupine Puppet
Q is for Queasy Drops
R is for Roland MIDI Controller
S is for Spirit, a book
T is for Termidor, a Termiticide
U is for Ululu, a book
V is for The Vandal, a book
W is for The Wonky Donkey, a book too
X is for X., an ebook
Y is for Yolanda Griffith's basketball card
Z is for Zucchini, an ebook.

Zero recipes, only plating.
It is a fantastic resource for that because it is open to interpretation.

The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery is a good companion.

New Larousse Gastronomique has many recipes and is an essential reference book

Institut Paul Bocuse Gastronomique: The definitive step-by-step guide to culinary excellence also a fantastic resource.

It's from a version modified for home kitchens. And yes, I can: buy the cookbook ;)


http://www.amazon.com/Eleven-Madison-Park-The-Cookbook/dp/0316098515

I'm surprised so far no one has mentioned Larousse which is generally my go-to along with The New Best Recipe for more generalized fare.

I generally don't cook from cookbooks, but I do use them for inspiration or fundamentals.

https://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Gastronomique-Greatest-Encyclopedia-Completely/dp/0307464911

Paleo by Season is a good one. The recipes are definitely more involved than weeknight meals.

As far as food pairings look into a copy of the Flavor Bible. There’s also a similar book by them called What To Drink With What You Eat if you want to get into pairing basics as well.
As for plating, just look at nice cookbooks from restaurants and chefs, like The French Laundry,
Sean Brock,
Bluestem,
or basically any other example of food you want to produce. Follow the restaurants, go eat there if you can.

Also examine your platings from the perspective of the diner. Where is your eye drawn first? Is it the focal point or is your plating distracting from that?

Gastronomique is an incredible resource for all pretty much anything edible.

Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is also a great resource but is more like a text book than a cook book.

The Ideas in Food books are pretty good too.

I guess I've been leaning more towards "educational" type reading lately (opposed to recipe tomes). Ratio is also very good. Does reddit like Ruhlman?

My go to recipe book is a comprehensive guide to cooking as well as containing recipes. It shows you cuts of meat, where to purchase ingredients, techniques etc. It worked well for me!

You won't be able to smoke your own salmon unless you know what you're doing, and you have a smoker and cured raw salmon. For an amateur cook it's not really a good use of your time and money (raw salmon is expensive) to learn how to smoke it yourself. Hell I've been smoking briskets and pork shoulders for years and only tried my own salmon once.

You almost always buy salmon that's already been smoked, and if your deli doesn't have it, check in the same area you would buy your canned tuna. Smoked salmon is like

Smoked salmon isn't cheap, either. Personally I would skip that part of Ramsay's recipe along with the creme fresh. Focus on getting your eggs cooked properly, I provided a better link to how he does it below.

Also, I would highly suggest looking into Cook's Illustrated magazine and their cookbooks, especially their [America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook] (http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Test-Kitchen-Family-Cookbook/dp/1936493853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414034236&sr=8-1&keywords=america%27s+test+kitchen+family+cookbook). There's also a PBS show that's great. Clear, concise explanations of hundreds of recipes, presented in an almost scientific manner that explains why you want to do X over Y. Plus unlike the stuff on the Food Network it's not trying to entertain you or sell you Rachel Ray's latest cookware.

A number of years ago I was given this culinary tome called The Cook's Book, I have found it to be invaluable when I do things like terrines, plus there are some interesting recipes to refer to.

If someone is really into sous-vide technique, these guys are amateurs compared with Thomas Keller.

https://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Thomas-Library/dp/1579653510

Worth the read if you're into this kind of thing.

If you're starting him off young, honestly, get him the Escoffier cook book: here's a link. It's nice to get an appreciation for the classical elements and how they've changed, I think.

It's been a delight learning culinary the classical route.

I'm saving for Guide Culinaire :K it'll be a nice christmas present, thanks student loan!!

Thomas Keller - Under Pressure

On my Christmas list is a copy of Larousse Gastronomique.

Assyrian Cookbook
Great recipes for feeding a family. Easy to follow with simple ingredients and I love that the cookbook looks like a chopping board :-) Has by far the best minced lamb kebab recipe.

Larousse Gastronomique
I have this . . . . just because it makes me feel like a real cook! This is a serious reference book (and heavy).

Join ussss. Now all you need is a copy of The Gourmet Slow Cooker Volumes I and II and you will have unlimited deliciousness.

The updated one combines the two. This one is the most up to date one. Here is the Kindle version.

It is from Jacques' Techniques series:
https://www.amazon.com/Jacques-Pépin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RA2N5BG269A24BTRJQ6F

I think it comes with at DVD in the book, but I am not sure.

https://www.amazon.com/Escoffier-Cookbook-Guide-Fine-Cookery/dp/0517506629

I was about to list out all my favorite resources, the ones where, looking back, I can point to as being the bedrock of all the cooking knowledge I've cobbled together over the years, and I noticed they have one thing in common: PBS. The cooking shows that air on PBS (and their companion materials) are just awesome. They're not gimmicky, they don't have puppets or catch phrases, but they're reliable. There are other great sources of food knowledge, but if somebody's on PBS, you know they're the real deal.

If I had to learn it all over again starting today, here's what I'd be looking at, in rough order:

Martha Stewart's Cooking School

Martha's got a great new show and companion book to go along with it. The reason I'd start here is because it's structured the way you want it: an emphasis on technique, with clear goals for each lesson. Just about every one of your topics listed above is covered in here, and the recipes are almost secondary. Like, a show or chapter will be about braising, not about boeuf bourguignon. Pretty heavy emphasis on French and European cuisine, but some nice forays into other cuisines, too. Covers all the basics: equipment, stocks, sauces, cuts of meat. Lots of good reference sections, too, like charts on cooking techniques for different rices and grains.

It's mostly pretty traditional stuff. No "hacks" or "science", but she will occasionally throw in some neat updates to a traditional technique. In particular, her hollandaise method is the best I've ever come across. Almost completely traditional, double-boiler and all, but she uses whole butter instead of clarified. Really easy and probably tastes better, too.

Incidentally, most of the substance of the show probably comes from editorial director for food at Martha Stewart Living, Sarah Carey, who happens to have an awesome YouTube channel.

Julia Child

Julia needs no introduction. She made French cuisine accessible to us servantless American cooks half a century ago, and I don't think anyone has done it better since. You'll want to watch every episode of The French Chef you can get your hands on, and also grab a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

You could start with Julia, but her show seems to focus on the recipe first, followed by the technique. So Julia's episode on boeuf bourguignon will be about boeuf bourguignon. She'll teach you all about technique, too, of course, but I think it's easier to start with Martha if you want a run-through of the basics of a technique.

Jacques Pepin

Probably the most talented cook to ever appear on television. The man elevates mincing an onion to an art form. Probably the best shows of his are Essential Pepin, Fast Food My Way, and Julia and Jacques Cooking at home (which used to be on Hulu, if you have that).

Every show he'll cook through a bunch of recipes, and he'll make these off-the-cuff comments on why he's doing what he's doing. How to peel a carrot. How to puree garlic with a chef's knife. Adding a splash of water to a covered skillet to steam the contents from the top while cooking them from below.

There's also a lot of his older stuff on YouTube that will show particular techniques: parting and deboning a chicken, preparing an omelet, and so on. He's remarkably consistent, so if you just watch enough of his stuff you'll get the spiel on every topic eventually.

Jacques does have a compilation of technique, but frankly I think Martha's is better. The photography in Jacques' book is pretty poor, and he devotes an awful lot of space to techniques that have probably been out of fashion for forty years. That said, there's a lot that's still useful in there, so it's worth at least checking out from the library.

(By the way, while you're at it, you should read My Life in France and The Apprentice, Julia's and Jacques autobiographies, respectively.)

There's a lot more to learn, but if you start with Jacques, Julia, and Martha, you'll have a rock-solid foundation upon which to build. Once you've got the basics down, my favorite new-fangled cooking resources are Serious Eats and ChefSteps.

Happy cooking!

well, it's not 'only' pictures, but it does have a lot of pictures - New Complete Techniques by Jacques Pepin. it's very comprehensive & easy to follow. there are photos for just about everything, in both color & black & white. and whatever text there is, is presented in digestible bits, alongside the photo illustration.

If you want a cookbook that will teach you classic French cooking techniques and also provide recipes, I'd recommend Jacques Pepin's New Complete Techniques. The Julia Child book was good for its time and definitely popularized French cooking, but it's more of a historical touchstone at this point than a functional guide for 21st century cooks. It assumes that you already have a lot of cooking knowledge.

Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256231136&sr=8-1

Just came out, GREAT cook book and learning tool.

I don't know any good recipe sites for these kind of dishes. I would be very curious about a site like that as well. Alain Ducasse has a great book called Bistro which includes a lot of these kind of dishes. Thomas Keller's Bouchon is also a great resource.

You should buy this cookbook, it will teach you so much about cooking http://www.amazon.com/James-Beard-Cookbook/dp/1569245347

Either Miracle Fruit Tablets or Ad-Hoc at home Only the second cookbook I have actually wanted... Alton Brown's was the first.

There's a great sous vide cook book called Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide that has a bunch of stuff at the back about cooking times and temperatures. The book is pretty expensive, but alot of those charts are available in the preview on amazon.

what you really want are recipe inspirations with common ingredients, not necessarily techniques. There are tomes out there like the CIA's Professional Chef or Pepin's New Complete Techniques which go into minute details on very classical preparations expected at high-end restaurant kitchens, but for the avg home cook that's overkill.

I think your ultimate goal is to develop a set of protocols to guide you in creating dishes on the fly, which actually is a really difficult thing to do even for skilled cooks. The only advice i can give is to cook broadly, learning preparations for various cuisines, from Italian dishes, to Lebanese/Israeli, to Indian, Chinese and Japanese. Many ethnic/cultural cuisines have a certain flavor profiles, with specific spices and ways of combining proteins & starches. But you need to read & practice so these protocols come instinctively.

Non-mobile:

• Paleo Comfort Foods
  
• Paleo Happy Hour
  
• Paleo by Season
  
  ^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470421355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518328836&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=cia+cookbook&dpPl=1&dpID=41rNtxGGDYL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316118400/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518328931&sr=1&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2972396462&pd_rd_wg=nq5yM&pf_rd_r=YWY3G2TH6PPKJDW69WQG&pf_rd_s=mobile-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=9701&pd_rd_i=0316118400&pd_rd_w=Ra06B&pf_rd_i=culinary+school+book&pd_rd_r=6d45f769-fe0f-4f25-870c-9833a3a902fb&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1579129110/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518329071&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=jacques+pepin&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ob6blpRqL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0778802566/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518329157&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=knife+skills+illustrated&dpPl=1&dpID=513Oqyg2uPL&ref=plSrch

In all seriousness, I made some great bbq pork spare ribs, and some beef short ribs this weekend. Last week I made bbq chicken thighs, a spinach stuffed pork loin, a goat leg, and some stuffed green peppers.

Beef ribs were made with white cooking wine, a cube of bullion, and 1/2 onion. We reduced the broth down with some corn starch for a gravy.

You can also pick up a copy of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1580084893?pc_redir=1406926129&robot_redir=1

I have been having amazing results with the flour blend in this book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1615190503

It's kind of expensive and a pain to start up with, but once you get all the different flours it's not so expensive to just buy the ones that run out. The blend has a different amount of each kind of flour, so they don't all run out at the same time. I think it's 6 different kinds of GF flour blended.

I have a few that I really like. Paleo Comfort Foods, Paleo Happy Hour and Paleo by Season.

I'd also recommend The 4Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss (super interesting) and They Joy of Cooking (which I think is probably the one book everyone should own).

The problem with health/diet is that there are literally studies, documentaries, books, fads, etc. for every possible combination, so you really just have to find something that works for you and follow that. No one is ever going to tell you that heavy vegetables, moderate fruit and meat is bad for you (vegans aside, I'm talking medical community). So I generally strive for that. Sure sugar isn't the best for you, but I'd much rather drink the rare "treat" soda with real sugar than some sort of fake zero calorie sweetener.

I just got a copy of [Ad Hoc at Home](http://amzn.com/1579653774 from the library and it's got a toooon of good easy recipes.

I'm all over that homestyle comfort food.

Cookbooks? I find celebrity cookbooks to be sort of dumb but there are plenty of great American food cookbooks out there and that might be right up her alley.

http://www.amazon.com/James-Beard-Cookbook/dp/1569245347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292871063&sr=8-1 for starters.

>Sous-vide cooking calls for some quite expensive equipment.

Sous vide can be done nearly free at home on a stovetop using a pot and a zip-loc bag, or a variety of other techniques, using some readily affordable options.

>Also, the recipes you'll find in cookbooks (and thus on the internet) are usually simplified.

Usually does not mean always. You can find the full-scale recipes if you're interested. There are plenty of resources out there for everything from stocks and sauces to molecular gastronomy, and there are plenty of people out there with sufficient time.

You might not be able to do it consistently, on a daily basis, in a timed manner, to serve multiple seatings with multiple entrees per night, which is where the skill of a professional chef comes in, but given a little practice, you can probably cook just about any single meal well enough to satisfy yourself and friends, for a tiny fraction of the cost.

TL:DR - Again, you can simulate (if not perfectly replicate) just about any meal offered anywhere given a little time and ingenuity.

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Sous-Vide/dp/1579653510/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407685834&sr=8-1&keywords=under+pressure+keller