(Part 2) Top products from r/Food

A book I can't recommend enough (though with some caveats) is Nourishing Traditions. It gives you something of a baseline to begin to understand some facts about what actually is good for you and gives you loads of ideas on how to eat in a healthy, economizing way (the author is pretty consistent about having uses for nearly everything you make -- and the byproducts). It's also kind of fun making some of the ingredients that get used in a plethora of dishes you'll make.

It also gives you the ability to start to parse some of the folk wisdom you've heard all your life -- stuff that a scientifically-minded peson (rather rightfully without any additional knowledge) dismisses as old, magical thinking. But stuff which upon examination sometimes makes enormous sense as "wisdom" received through generations and generations of iterative testing (and relatively stable environments conducive to -- say -- figuring out practical ways to get iodine into your diet when you live in a mountaineous region, far from the sea).

My main caveat about the book, though, is that she cites seemingly literally every study she can find that supports her basic premise (that you should eat "whole" foods prepared with specific care instructions and only from a certain class of foods). I think the premise is sound but that some of the studies she cites (and so some of her evidence) is not. The variable nature of statistical science (see regression toward the mean) assures us that some statistically significant results are aberations. In my mind, some of what she cites is certainly an aberation. Oh, and she's really, really excited about some stuff that science has seemingly proved to be total BS, by now (e.g. MSG as a neurotoxin).

Like I said, though: In my mind, her basic notion of what is healthy is right. And even when she's wrong ("MSG is neurotoxic"), she's often right (MSG is a good marker for heavily synthetic and unnutritious food, on an ingredient list)

A good companion to that is Mark's Daily Apple, which is a Primal/Paleo eating/lifestyle site, but which I think has a lot of worthwhile information whether or not you decide to go on a "Primal" diet. At the least, you'll begin to understand what actually is in some of the food you eat and be able to make more informed decisions about it.

This article about bread gives you some clues as to what you should be eating, as well, IMO.

I think ultimately that diet is something people simply have to spend time learning about in the modern world -- that in traditional societies, people (generally or often) lived in stable situations and could, through slight variation and trial and error, oftentimes chance upon some very health habits. We simply don't live in a place and time in which received knowledge is sufficient (or even easily passed on) and in which coherent rules of thumb fail can even emerge -- unless we understand some of the science (principles) behind them.

> You make me think of the French who are known for snacking all day on small portions of very rich foods, and somehow are not fat, instead are healthy.

Oh, and as another example of perhaps skewed cultural values, we in the West or America (or whatever it is) often think of skinniness as necessary and sufficient condition for considering someone healthy. What that is, though, is a rather superficial aspect of health and one whose sole focus on belies some rather backwards thinking. Here, we're more focused on tricking people into thinking we're healthy (on that visceral, biological level that judging people as attractive entails) than on actually being healthy. I think that being fit and reasonably not-too-fat are logical outcomes of living healthfully but that if your focus is on the outward manifestations of health rather than actually being healthy, you're doing it wrong.

Sorry. Wall o'text.

YES!!! this is the book you have right?

My boyfriend and our friends do the same thing every sunday!

For the season premier we made onions in gravy, Roasted Aurochs with Leeks, and turnips in butter- for dessert we did frozen blueberries with the creme bastard! lol

Last night we cooked the beef and bacon pie. SO delicious. Definitely one of my favorite cookbooks. However there were a few spices that i still have found that I couldnt include in certain recipes.. like Grains of Paradise. I went to 5 different markets...3 of them had never even heard of grains of paradise. =(

edit- wow! I had no idea that I can use cardamom. I read that GoP was a mixture of different kinds of pepper with citrus notes. I was using a mixed pepper mill and a tiny bit of orange zest. But if I can use cardamom- then it makes things a lot easier! THANKS EVERYONE !!!!!!!

The only cookbook I've used multiple times has been How to Boil Water. It has a lot of basic recipes, but the best part about it is that it also gives you lots of great instructions on how to prepare and store different foods. It's a great book that I refer back to often. :)

I received the Feast of Ice and Fire Game of Thrones cookbook as a gift last year. We decided to make meals from the recipes based on different regions from the show for watching different episodes this season. This week it seemed only appropriate to cook food from King's Landing and invite a few people over for a feast to celebrate the wedding :)

I normally always include recipes for all the things I post but this time it seems a bit wrong since it would just be copying recipes from their cookbook. I shared the ingredients for some of the items in the figure captions and have typed out the recipe I modified for my favorite dish the salmon fig tarts

I wish I could have taken better pictures, but I just had time to snap a few shots before we started eating. There was nothing that I didn't like. The game hens were a bit boring but still tasted fine. The cheddar onion pie, the salmon fig tarts, and the lemon cakes were my favorite! I'm excited to try out more recipes from the book. I think the authors have more of their recipes posted on their blog

Oh wow! Thanks - seems like that it would be worth getting that one.

Amazon wants $35 and 4.4 out of 5 stars with 461 customer reviews is pretty good :)

Alton Brown is a huge geek and had a career in making film/tv before he became a cook and than a cooking show host. He actually filmed this music video for R.E.M. early in his career..

Yeah, huge geek. I highly suggest his books, too. I have his first one, I'm Just Here For The Food, and it contains my favorite recipe in the world. Get it, find the page with his Chicken with Garlic and Shallots, cook it in a slow cooker and omfgbbq, IT IS AWESOME. It's also insanely easy to make.

Once you've started down the road with Alton, there's a bunch of other books I can suggest. Feel free to drop me a line anytime.

Edit: Oh, and while watching the show, pay attention to any clock in the background. A good deal of the time they're set to 4:20.

I bought my Joy of Cooking as a poor college student. It is now 26 years old, and it will be handy to the kitchen for the rest of our days. Terrific book.

Alton Brown's your man, via TV, the web and the first book, especially. I'm Just Here For The Food is a better teaching book than Joy, though nothing beats Joy's comprehensiveness.

And, IMHO, Julia Child is the woman, though I'd recommend her The Way To Cook as the one book to get, if you have to pick one. We actually carry it with us when we travel for Thanksgiving. I was going to leave our copy at the in-laws, but my wife didn't want to part with it, even though I was going to order another one. Mrs. Child considered it her magnum opus, and she designed it carefully to teach someone how to cook.

What everyone says about 'just try it' and 'tweak your recipes' is true. Practice is where it's at, but informed practice will get you where you want to go much more quickly.

Happy cooking and Bon Appetit!

If you're just starting out, How to Boil Water may be a good read. I've recommended it to a lot of college age friends trying to expand beyond easy mac and they've said that a lot of the recipes have been great

Good food is mostly a function of good ingredients and as little prep as necessary.

Slow cookers and toaster ovens are your friend.

Beans are easy and cheap.

Rice is easier in a rice cooker.

Ground meat can be purchased in bulk, frozen in 1/3 or 1/2 lb increments and used as needed. I lived off of ground turkey bought in 10lb job lots clear through my junior year.

Spinach is cheap and good for you. Buy a bag of it and eat it raw and it will last forever. Buy a bag and wilt it on the stove and it will last one meal (but it'll be worth it).

Whole chickens are massively cheaper than chicken pieces, particularly boneless ones. A chicken can be baked in about an hour. Eat enough of it to be full, then pick the bones clean. Put them in a pot with a carrot (ideally one of the carrots you forgot about that is now all wilty) and maybe an onion and add water to the top. Simmer on low overnight to turn into broth. Freeze or not. Use to make rice, soup, whatever.

It might be a good idea to go to Ikea and buy their super-shite kitchen set of knives and pots'n'shit. They will suck but as you learn what you like, you can treat yourself by replacing things that you hate. A decent set of knives is empowering, as is a decent set of pots.

Most cookbooks are pure vanity and food porn. A decent cookbook hasn't been written in a long time. That said, the BHG is probably my favorite amongst the staples (and I collect cookbooks - I've got a 1st edition "Gentle Art of Cookery" from 1910 and the full-bore 1951 3 volume Gourmet). The one you really want if you're feeling overwhelmed, however, is Eduard de Pomaine's slim 1930 volume French Cooking in Ten Minutes. It, more than any other book, will teach you that a "recipe" is nothing more than a loose set of instructions on combining things that you should probably already have.

Food that has been warmed to room temperature sticks less in the pan.

Olive oil smokes when heated too high.

Save your bacon grease because you can cook anything in it.

Farmer's markets are often cheaper than grocery stores, have better produce, and are a cute place to bring girls.

Clip coupons.

One of my uncle's friends survived his undergrad by visiting the feed store and sampling from every bin. He found Reindeer chow (mostly honey-rolled oats) for $0.05 a pound and lived off of it for four years.

Ramen is really fucking bad for you.

Frozen pizzas are really fucking bad for you.

Pizza rolls are a bad bargain for the amount of food you get.

If you can find frozen burritos 10/$3, buy them. Otherwise, don't.

Eggs keep for damn near forever. Just remember to refrigerate them.

"Well-done" is anything but.

Kitchen experiments are only a failure if you render them inedible. Experiment when cooking for yourself so that when you're cooking for others it's a known quantity.

Amazing amounts of vodka can be hidden in vanilla milkshakes. Not that I'm suggesting that they be given to freshman girls. At the very least, not without telling them that there's "a little" vodka in them.

Don't buy a bunch of fancy dishes just because that girl is coming over to have dinner and study. She won't care and then you'll be stuck with a bunch of tacky Target stemware that will haunt you for years.

Yes, it will fuck with your brownies when your roommate passive-aggressively cooks a frozen pizza in the same oven you're using.

If your roommates are eating your food, make it abundantly clear that they're buying ingredients.

/r/frugal.

/r/cooking.

allrecipes dusts the fuck out of epicurious.

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    Now go get in trouble.

I learned using The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I found it useful in several ways. It has a great section on what materials and tools you'll need and will use, what the quality of your ingredients will need to be in order for the end product to be a certain way and so forth. Also, each recipe has great instructions, and a bit of the history of the recipe. Overall, a great book for the beginning Artisan Bread Baker.

I've also heard that Rose Beranbaum's The Bread Bible is a great resource, but haven't had time to look into it myself.

I try and follow a paleo diet. I still allow myself an indulgence of beer or treat every now and then, but mostly I follow it. I love to cook, and it has really forced me to cook more, which is nice. So far I am down almost 20lbs, and my stomach issues have dwindles (I use to get bloating + crampy after meals). One tip, try not to kill yourself following it to a T, gradually integrate into the diet. Also, get a spiralizer.

There's some great recommendations, to be sure, in this thread.

However, one must remember that most modern cooking is still based on French technique, so a couple of books on basic French technique would serve you well.

Jacques Pepin has published many fine books, including La Technique and La Methode, which were combined together into a single volume, Complete Techniques. This book is probably my #1 recommendation for the enthusiastic kitchen n00b.

And, of course, there's always the old standby, Julia Child and her two famous volumes, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 2.

yes, how true, but Joy is like the annotated reference manual for every other cookbook. Personally, the most influential cookbook for me has been the classic French Cooking in Ten Minutes for its attitude and severe lack of detail.

It is pretty much how flamingbabyjesus said. It is more of a process than a recipe. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/ this is a very good resource. I have Flour Water Salt Yeast wich explains all the steps, and ive heard that Tartine is also a very good book.
p.s A skale is very importaint.

Add 1 Tbs vital wheat gluten per cup of flour, esp. if you are using whole wheat. Let the dough rise longer. Check your oven temperature with a thermometer. Bread needs high temperatures because it's primarily the steam which expands the dough, explaining why bread expands so rapidly in the oven but so slowly on the counter.

If you really want to learn bread, The Bread Bible is a great read.

http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Bible-Rose-Levy-Beranbaum/dp/0393057941

I have this Spiral Slicer
It's amazing for making veggie noodles AND curly fries. It's also nice if you like apples and pears in your salads.

I got The Joy of Cooking for Christmas. I have only used it a couple times, but it is incredibly comprehensive. It is divided into sections like "Meat," "Fish," "Desserts," etc., and gives careful instructions on every cooking technique, kind of food, and anything else you would want to know about every recipe in there. It is almost too big though - very overwhelming. I have had nothing but success with it so far.

Not OP, but I bet it is from using a potato ricer to mash up the potatoes. E.g. http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Potato-Ricer/dp/B00004OCJQ My understanding is that it helps to gently break up the potatoes, as compared to a food processor, which can make the potatoes glue-y.

The subjects got very ill when fat was removed from their diet.

This is a really interesting study. I love stuff like this that goes counter to modern diet orthodoxy. For a whole cookbook based on similar (but not as dramatic -- it has vegetables!) ideas, check out Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.

How to cook everything, and Ratio are great first cookbooks, covers equipment, theory, and basic recipes.

Alton Brown's old show Good Eats is decent too if you can handle the grainy video quality of the feeds out there.

If you need more ideas or recipes, you might try this book out. I've flipped through it a few times at my local bookstore. It seems like a great buy.

You can make your own with this thing and a deep fryer. I use mine all the time to make healthier food but this machine is the shit.
://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0007Y9WHQ?pc_redir=1405572019&robot_redir=1

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential is a great read.

This is one of the major principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation. A good book to read on the subject is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. We need good fat to build our brains. I'm afraid we've been sold a bunch of bullshit with our current food pyramid.

And BTW, heart disease was practically unheard of at the turn of the 20th century. Our modern diet - low fat, plenty of carbs, sugar-sugar-sugar - has created this beast.

I got a book called 660 curries that has made my indian cooking drastically improve and I now kind of "get" it. I highly recommend it - I use it probably more than any other cookbook I have.

What this man speaks is true! In fact it is called How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. I own both and would agree it is an essential book series; it is written in a very minimalist approach to food. Check out the New York Times Bitten blog for a taste of his style.

I make a version of beef barley based on the recipe in the Game of Thrones cook book. It's fucking awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/Feast-Ice-Fire-Official-Companion/dp/0345534492

This book helped me tremendously with my bread baking. The best advice I got out of it was to bake the bread really dark to get more nutty flavors out of the crust and hydration.

http://www.amazon.com/Flour-Water-Salt-Yeast-Fundamentals/dp/160774273X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1381862858&sr=8-5&keywords=bread+book

Try this for heathy cooking and his other book for more traditional dishes. Both are amazing.

I throw remnants away and slice in utter fear. It's worked for me so far. I got the same one before Christmas last year. Recently I purchased this spiralizer and I really like the fact that I never have to slice in fear. It doesn't do the same things but the stuff it does is amazing.

Baking recipes are simply variations on very basic ratios. There is actually a book full of these ratios. Called "Ratios" http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728

An amazing read actually.

Source: Professional Chef

Of course. I would encourage anyone that is interested to bake bread. My usual first suggestion is to get a digital scale, only because before I made the purchase I absolutely hated baking, as nothing was ever consistent. It's also useful for cooking with ratios a la Ruhlman.

[MOD NOTE] Do not post amazon links. They are removed. Thanks.

Edit: So, here is the amazon link for those of you that require it:

Amazon non-referral link

For me it was French Cooking in Ten Minutes. Before it, I was fumbling through recipes. It is so brief, lacking detail and had such attitude that it gave me the confidence to just try.

Not to get all preachy, but a correct vegetarian diet shouldn't require supplements. I swear I'm not trying to be snarky here, but that supplement money would be much better spent on Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, worth every penny of the $20 bucks. And very approachable recipes, no fancy ingredients or techniques required.

http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874

I've been cooking from this for a couple of years, the recipes are quick and easy (for Indian cuisine) and VERY tasty.

This cookbook might be a good investment.

Is This The book you're referring to? I'm big into baking, and I want to make sure I'm looking at the right book.

As you probably read elsewhere, the potatoes are cooked (peeled and boiled or baked whole with the meat scooped out of the peels) then riced, which just means putting them through a ricer, which is a very inexpensive press that works in the same way as a garlic press. Like this: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-Potato-Ricer/dp/B00004OCJQ

You can get a cheaper one at a grocery store.

Looks like this book

I have this one and I really like it. The recipes are authentic, but the author is also aware of the realities of North American cooks making curry, so he offers suggestions for alternatives to the harder to find ingredients that are sometimes in the recipes. Plus it's really inexpensive for the number of recipes that it has.

Jaques Pépin's Complete Techniques

and On Food and Cooking (not really a cookbook, but I think it's the most important book for anyone who is serious about food)

Tbh i'm not sure if it really was a referral link. I just saw ref=... in the amazon url and the fact that the comment was stickied looked suspicious. Did some googling and it seems like ref links actually include tag=... and ref=... is only used by amazon to track where the traffic is coming from. No idea if the link included the tag=... part. Sorry for acting a bit premature on this one.

In any case, just removing the ref=.. or tag=... part of the link should do the trick. This is a clean link (if that's the right book).

Here's a quick howto
This is the cold brewing rig I use. It's fairly inexpensive and the filter can be washed and reused forever (as far as I can tell). For your first time, of course, I recommend you improvise something instead of spending money.

More detailed instructions are found in The Bread Bible.

Go buy it now! Bread is more than just a recipe - it's learning solid techniques.

I really just wanted to point out that if you want to buy a wok and buy:

a cast iron wok it will be 11.4 pounds and probably not what you are expecting.

vs.

a carbon steel wok which is probably what most people want.

Personally I use a Potato Ricer I just find that much less messy and effective than trying to squeeze them with a towel.

The wok stuff can be tricky on electric but my range is an ex-top of the line 50's unit, so gets mega hot still. It also helps I use a wok with a flat bottom purposed for electric. But still I know I'm missing something without those btu's coming up the side of the pan.

Protip for good wok cooking when you don't have an adequate range. This includes gas ranges too, as I've seen gas ranges whimper pathetically compared to my own electric. Anyway, just get a cast iron wok.

Recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's book, "The Bread Bible".

http://www.amazon.com/Surge-12-16-FL-Cans/dp/B00M2OGS08/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410798892&sr=8-1&keywords=surge+soda

Link.

Here you go! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M2OGS08/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

read his first book, then report back. i worked in a kitchen for about a year when i was 14 at a family owned italian joint. i didn't realize until AFTER reading his book that my experiences there were not unique to that restaurant.

I don't have the book with me right now but this is the closest I could find to the recipe found in A Feast of Ice and Fire.

I will try to remember to post the recipe when I get home!

Jacques Pépin's Complete Techniques

http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pins-Complete-Techniques-P%C3%A9pin/dp/1579121659

"The fully illustrated bible of cooking techniques from the world's best-known French cook "

http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Burgers-Burger-Book-Recipes/dp/0789331144

http://www.amazon.com/Toddy-Maker-Cold-Brew-Coffee/dp/B0006H0JVW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1220371554&sr=8-1

Referring to this book.

Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For The Food and the sequel. They teach you not just how to cook, but why particular methods are used from a scientific standpoint. It helped me a lot when I was getting started a few years ago.

This book talked plenty about the theory behind cooking. I am kind of a geek when it comes to cooking. I enjoy knowing "why" instead of just "how".

http://www.amazon.ca/Im-Just-Here-Food-Cooking/dp/1584790830/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291937502&sr=8-4

[Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques]
(http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pins-Complete-Techniques-P%C3%A9pin/dp/1579121659)
I cannot recommend this book enough.

Go for a cast iron one. It'll last forever and nothing cooks like cast iron.

You could try out a heavy cast iron wok. Let it heat up on medium until it's evenly hot, then crank up the heat and get cooking. The pot holds a lot of heat, so the temperature of your dish doesn't fall to lukewarm every time you add an ingredient. Still not perfect, but better.

Sold out. :(

It was $14 BTW

He deleted his comment here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2OGS08

I've been following a bunch of instructions and recipes in this book to no avail. :(

Maybe should try more olive oil...