(Part 3) Top products from r/Food

That's great! I'm glad I could help. Did you get a chance to try any non-dairy milks yet? I tried "Tempt" brand chocolate hemp milk the other day it was sooo great. Really smooth and creamy.

As far as recipes go, I'd recommend that you pick up a copy of Veganomicon: http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-Ultimate-Isa-Chandra-Moskowitz/dp/156924264X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262068128&sr=8-1

It's helpful in that it tells you how to cook grains, legumes, vegetables and beans quite simply and easily. You can make your own meals using this knowledge. However, it also has a whole boat load of recipes that are almost always delicious.

Personally, I love to cook indian food. This is my basic recipe for a curry: http://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/ae8q2/i_love_indian_food_and_am_starting_to_get_into/c0h533g

Also, make nut cheeses and creams. They're better for you and the environment than any of the fake cheese substitutes you'll find in stores. Cashew cream is basically cashews soaked in water over night and then blended up in a food processor. It is delicious. Add a few things, and you've got a great "cheese" for a pizza (you don't even need to soak them for this).

Good luck! If you have any questions about anything, I'd highly recommend joining the PPK forums here: http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/index.php - there are plenty of friendly and sane vegans there who will gladly help you. I've also PM'd you my email address and I'm happy to help.

Maybe I'm not as skilled as the other cast iron cookers around here, but I just use what I have on hand to season my skillet. I bought a Lodge combo cooker and it was pre seasoned so I don't know if you are starting from a truly unseasoned skillet or it's pre-seasoned and you just want to improve/maintain it. Usually I just wipe it out with some canola oil because that's what's sitting next to my stove. I have also wiped it out with lard because that's what was on the counter after I made pie crusts and of course I have used bacon grease because I had that on hand after making bacon.

Not knocking what other people use on their skillets but I just wipe my skillet out with whatever fat is near by and my skillet still has a great seasoning on it. I feel like it's more important just to use the skillet and always make sure that you oil it after use. I also leave my skillet in the oven sometimes when I'm baking something and season it then too just because I can.

I haven't been to Olive Garden, but if it's that really rich, smooth, and sweet quality you're looking for you need Coco Lopez. There are similar products, but this one is guaranteed to give good results. I like fresh pineapple in mine, but juice could work too. Equal parts Coco Lopez and and pineapple, add rum, ice, blend, enjoy.

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. :)

Have you tried Coco Lopez cream of coconut? It comes in a can and has a much thicker consistency than the bottled mixes that take up most of the shelf space. There's also some stuff that comes in a squeeze bottle called "Coco Real" that will get the job done, but Coco Lopez is better IMO.

Just follow the recipe on the back of the can. It's the best Piña Colada I've ever made, and rivals the one from the Lob, which I agree is delicious!

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 :)

Well, it's not really a cookbook per se, but it's definitely for food geeks:
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee.

Otherwise, how about the New Moosewood Cookbook. I found a copy of it used and it's pretty easy, affordable, tested, with delicious recipes.

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!

Link to cookbook on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1579654355?pc_redir=1396133599&robot_redir=1

A quick Google search also found a blog post with the recipe:
http://the-cooking-of-joy.blogspot.com/2013/01/traditional-croissants.html?m=1

This is a very time consuming recipe - it took me an entire day to make these. The time and patience is totally worth it, especially if you love croissants!

Side note, I did not use European butter nor did I use the diastatic malt powder and they still came out great!

Hope you guys try it!

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

I'm a fan of Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For the Food.

Only book I know that covers everything from the very basics of starting cooking to advanced techniques. I also love that he doesn't tell you what to do, but the why; the science behind cooking.

Very easy to read and tons of great info.

Yes. I see most people really like the popular Rooster Brand. However, I always try to get people to try pho with the original Thai sriracha which I call the Shark Brand.

The Shark brand is not as spicy, in fact, hardly spicy at all. But it's way less overpowering than the Rooster brand (especially when you add too much). It's a tangier and sweeter sauce which I think complements the broth better. But for anything other than pho, my goto is the Rooster brand.

Thank you so much for all the info! So maybe something like these Zhen knives or this Tojiro knife?

Stupid question: I recall someone telling me once that high quality knives are not dishwasher safe. Is this true? If I buy these for her, we'll be hand washing them, correct?

For the wet stone: how much does the manufacturer matter? I was able to find this one and it seems well reviewed. :)

Thank you again for all the help!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I may go with this knife as it's got some pretty great reviews and a decent price.

OP's book/media suggestions, formatted with links:

• People start with Ruhlman's Charcuterie, but quickly learn it's heavy on salt.
  
• For some slightly more esoteric recipes, check out In the Charcuterie by Taylor Boetticher and Levonia Miller. I absolutely "butchered" those names, btw.
  
• Also, get a book called Pig Perfect by Peter Kaminski... Not a lot of recipes, but it will enamor you with all things pig.
  
• Show... There's a series on BBC called <Time Period> Farm]... Edwardian, Victorian, Jacobean, etc... Where a group of historians run a farm for a year by the standards of the time period. It's cool and they do some pig stuff.

a proper cast iron setup

a great cookbook

a set of unique spices or ingredients in the style of his favorite cuisine?
italian, french, mexican, indian, spanish, chinese...

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.

I used the recipe out of Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn. I let it cure for a few days longer than the recipe due to an unexpectedly busy weekend. The end result was too salty but as per the recipe it's fixable by blanching slices right before you fry them and it worked like a charm.

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.

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

Awesome! Question about the bread....how did you get that shape? I've been working with the no knead recipes and bought a smaller cast iron combo cooker to work with but with the standard recipe it's still not that tall even though the crumb is still nice and airy. Thinking I may just need to double the recipe?

check out, What Einstein Told His Cook. it covers a lot of kitchen myths like this. unless you're squeezing by hand, this doesn't do much

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.

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

This one. It's not very expensive and it works great.

I could not agree more. Watch or read anything with Alton Brown, including his Good Eats program (on DVD to RE-watch if possible!) I'm definitely going to check out that geek cookbook. This book came to my mind: http://www.amazon.com/What-Einstein-Told-His-Cook/dp/0393011836 . It offers many explanations and follow up recipes to demonstrate each technique.

Bonus: Rosemary bacon gugelhupf and home cured bacon.

Hash, Eggs, and gugelhupf recipes taken from Das Cookbook and the bacon from Charcuterie.

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.

Yea, I use my meat slicer for them. I have seen people use these $20 Kyocera mandolines to slice sweet potatoes.

This is the ceramic blade handheld:

http://www.amazon.com/Kyocera-CSN-202-RD-Adjustable-Mandoline-Slicer/dp/B000HZBXOA

And this is the Shun:

http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Pro-Mandoline-Food-Slicer/dp/B00144L47E

(its way nicer looking in person than that picture portrays, haha)

This cookbook might be a good investment.

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.

Looks like this 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.

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.

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.

You can't go wrong with the Veganomicon.

It's the only vegan or vegetarian book I have ever used where the recipes wouldn't actually improved by sprinkling bacon on top.

Would echo others' concerns on getting a knife set. You usually only need 1-3 knives. I'd start with a good 8-10" chefs knife, paring knife, and bread knife. The Victorinox ones are good, but the blade can dull quickly. For around the same price I recommend the Torijo DP knives. They're made from very hard VG-10 steel and will hold an edge much longer.

I don't own it, but I'm pretty sure that Microwave Cooking for One may be the worst (saddest?) cookbook of all time.

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

Or you could always get shark brand sriracha if you want to be authentic about your Thai food.

No, the original Mollie Katzen one.

Relevant: Microwave Cooking for One

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.

Found it.
http://www.amazon.com/THERMOS-fresh-1100ml-stainless-DSD-1100W/dp/B00AF5GPJA

Heres the link to the lunchbox if anyone needs it link

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

The only dessert book you'll ever need.

Edit: Well maybe this one too.

People have been linking to this one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AF5GPJA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AF5GPJA&linkCode=as2&tag=jdelator-20&linkId=FU4NHZPO4SIRR6JM

Referring to this book.

Instead of of regular unsweetened coconut milk, I usually see recipes calling for sweetened coconut cream (usually Coco Lopez).

Given the way most corporate food is done here, I'd assume the missing ingredient you're looking for is a lot of added sugar.

This book has made me attempt suicide twice: http://www.amazon.com/Microwave-Cooking-One-Marie-Smith/dp/1565546660/ref=pd_sim_b_4