Book picks similar to
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work by Aki Kamozawa
cookbooks
food
cooking
non-fiction
My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life
Ruth Reichl - 2015
No one was more stunned by this unexpected turn of events than its beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an uncertain professional future. As she struggled to process what had seemed unthinkable, Reichl turned to the one place that had always provided sanctuary. “I did what I always do when I’m confused, lonely, or frightened,” she writes. “I disappeared into the kitchen.”My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly heals through the simple pleasures of cooking. While working 24/7, Reichl would “throw quick meals together” for her family and friends. Now she has the time to rediscover what cooking meant to her. Imagine kale, leaves dark and inviting, sautéed with chiles and garlic; summer peaches baked into a simple cobbler; fresh oysters chilling in a box of snow; plump chickens and earthy mushrooms, fricasseed with cream. Over the course of this challenging year, each dish Reichl prepares becomes a kind of stepping stone to finding joy again in ordinary things. The 136 recipes collected here represent a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Here, too, is Reichl’s enlivening dialogue with her Twitter followers, who become her culinary supporters and lively confidants. Part cookbook, part memoir, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year may be Ruth Reichl’s most stirring book yet—one that reveals a refreshingly vulnerable side of the world's most famous food editor as she shares treasured recipes to be returned to again and again and again.
Think Like a Chef
Tom Colicchio - 2000
Rather than list a series of restaurant recipes, he uses simple steps to deconstruct a chef's creative process, making it easily available to any home cook. He starts with techniques: What's roasting, for example, and how do you do it in the oven or on top of the stove? He also gets you comfortable with braising, saute ing, and making stocks and sauces. Next he introduces simple " ingredients" -- roasted tomatoes, say, or braised artichokes -- and tells you how to use them in a variety of ways. So those easy roasted tomatoes may be turned into anything from a vinaigrette to a caramelized tomato tart, with many delicious options in between. In a section called Trilogies, Tom takes three ingredients and puts them together to make one dish that's quick and other dishes that are increasingly more involved. As Tom says, " Juxtaposed in interesting ways, these ingredients prove that the whole can be greater than the sum of their parts, " and you'll agree once you've tasted the Ragout of Asparagus, Morels, and Ramps or the Baked Free-Form " Ravioli" -- both dishes made with the same trilogy of ingredients. The final section of the books offers simple recipes for components -- from zucchini with lemon thyme to roasted endive with whole spices to boulangerie potatoes -- that can be used in endless combinations. Written in Tom's warm and friendly voice and illustrated with glorious photographs of finished dishes, Think Like a Chef will bring out the master chef in all of us.
Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites
Deb Perelman - 2017
Whether we’re cooking for ourselves, for a date night in, for a Sunday supper with friends, or for family on a busy weeknight, we all want recipes that are unfussy to make with triumphant results. Deb thinks that cooking should be an escape from drudgery. Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites presents more than one hundred impossible-to-resist recipes—almost all of them brand-new, plus a few favorites from her website—that will make you want to stop what you’re doing right now and cook. These are real recipes for real people—people with busy lives who don’t want to sacrifice flavor or quality to eat meals they’re really excited about.You’ll want to put these recipes in your Forever Files: Sticky Toffee Waffles (sticky toffee pudding you can eat for breakfast), Everything Drop Biscuits with Cream Cheese, and Magical Two-Ingredient Oat Brittle (a happy accident). There’s a (hopelessly, unapologetically inauthentic) Kale Caesar with Broken Eggs and Crushed Croutons, a Mango Apple Ceviche with Sunflower Seeds, and a Grandma-Style Chicken Noodle Soup that fixes everything. You can make Leek, Feta, and Greens Spiral Pie, crunchy Brussels and Three Cheese Pasta Bake that tastes better with brussels sprouts than without, Beefsteak Skirt Steak Salad, and Bacony Baked Pintos with the Works (as in, giant bowls of beans that you can dip into like nachos). And, of course, no meal is complete without cake (and cookies and pies and puddings): Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake (the icebox cake to end all icebox cakes), Pretzel Linzers with Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cloud Cookies, Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars, as well as the ultimate Party Cake Builder—four one-bowl cakes for all occasions with mix-and-match frostings (bonus: less time spent doing dishes means everybody wins).Written with Deb’s trademark humor and gorgeously illustrated with her own photographs, Smitten Kitchen Every Day is filled with what are sure to be your new favorite things to cook.
Thanksgiving 101: Celebrate America's Favorite Holiday with America's Thanksgiving Expert
Rick Rodgers - 1998
From shopping through chopping, from making flawless gravy to fearlessly carving the bird, he offers tips, insight, and inspiration every steop of the way. Whether it a tradition holiday feast with turkey and all the traditional trimming, chutneys, and chowders; a vegetarian dinner with just the trimmings; or new ideas for regional classics, including Cajun- or Italian-inspired tastes, Thanksgiving 101 serves up a delicious education for novice and experienced cooks alike.
Rose's Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos
Rose Levy Beranbaum - 2018
Whether you're a baking enthusiast or just want to whip up the occasional treat, you will be able to easily make perfect brownies, banana bread, holiday pies, birthday cakes, homemade bread, and more, with recipes including: Chocolate Sheet Cake with Ganache Frosting, Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints, Beer Bread, Apple Walnut Muffins, Peach Cobbler, Milk Chocolate Caramel Tart, and more. Throughout, Rose shares her unique tips and methods for unlocking the secrets to the best flavors and foolproof results, for a treasury of essential recipes you'll use forever.
The Tea Cyclopedia: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Drink
Keith Souter - 2013
To put it frankly, it is a love, an addiction, and some would even go as far to say a philosophy. Dr. Keith Souter examines the perpetual impact that this adored beverage has bestowed upon the world for centuries, from its mystical origins in the East, to its inevitable influence on the West. The Tea Cyclopedia is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in all things tea. Commencing each chapter with insightful quotes, it not only captures the historical beginnings of this beloved drink, but also explores tea's involvement in politics, health, the economy, and even fortune-telling. This unprecedented beverage has united people in times of adversity; it has also divided nations, causing volatile revolutions, such as the Sri Lankan Civil War and the Boston Tea Party. But today you will most likely find that various cultures have developed their own unique style of enjoying tea, and the ritual of tea drinking itself is not only intriguing, but also highly rewarding.
In this meticulously detailed guide, readers will rediscover tea, its cultivation, and all of its richness and intricacy as a worldwide beverage. The Tea Cyclopedia is an enthralling tribute to the illustrious, invigorating, and elusive leaf that has vehemently continued to inspire people for more than two thousand years.
101 Things® to Do with a Cake Mix
Stephanie Ashcraft - 2002
Move over Betty Crocker--101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix will amaze your friends and leave them Jell-O green with envy! From Snickers Surprise Cookies to Christmas Rainbow Poke Cake, it's the best thing to happen in the kitchen since your last romantic rendezvous! So what are you waiting for? Grab a cake mix, whip up some goodies, and throw some flour on your face so it looks like you spent days in the kitchen.
Modernist Cuisine at Home
Nathan Myhrvold - 2012
The Cooking Lab, publisher of the encyclopedic six-volume set Modernist Cuisine, which immediately became the definitive reference for this revolution, has now produced a lavishly illustrated guide for home cooks, complete with all-new recipes tailored for cooking enthusiasts of all skill levels.Modernist Cuisine at Home, by Nathan Myhrvold with Maxime Bilet, is destined to set a new standard for home cookbooks. The authors have collected in this 456-page volume all the essential information that any cook needs to stock a modern kitchen, to master Modernist techniques, and to make hundreds of stunning recipes. The book includes a spiral-bound Kitchen Manual that reprints all of the recipes and reference tables on waterproof, tear-resistant paper. Drawing on the same commitment to perfection that produced Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Cuisine at Home applies innovations pioneered by The Cooking Lab to refine classic home dishes, from hamburgers and wings to macaroni and cheese. More than 400 new recipes are included, most with step-by-step photos that make it easy to bring dining of the highest quality to your own dinner table.Among the amazing techniques you’ll find are:how to cook fish and steak perfectly every time, whether you’re in the kitchen, the backyard, or tailgating in a parking lot;how to use a pressure cooker to make stocks in a fraction of the usual time while capturing more of the flavor;the secret to making quick, sumptuous caramelized vegetable soups and purees;how to outfit your home oven to make pizzas as crispy as you would get from a wood-fired brick ovenalong with recipes for:perfect eggs and breathtaking omelets that remove the guesswork for stress-free breakfasts, even for a crowd;gravies and a hollandaise sauce that are wonderfully rich, perfectly smooth, and never separate;a flawless cheeseburger and an ultrafrothy milk shake;chicken wings made better with Modernist techniques, plus seven great sauces and coatings for them;macaroni and cheese, including stove-top, baked, and fat-free versions, that can be made with any cheese blend you like, from gouda and cheddar to jack and Stilton.Cooking like a Modernist chef at home requires the right set of tools, but they’re less expensive and easier to find than you might think. You’ll also learn how to get the best out of the kitchen appliances you already own. Learn how to use your microwave oven to steam fish and vegetables to perfection, make exceptional beef jerky, and fry delicate herbs.The first 100 pages of the book are a trove of useful information, such as:how to test the accuracy of a thermometer, and why it’s time to switch to digital;how to use (and not to use) a blowtorch to sear food fast and beautifully;how to marinate meats more quickly evenly by injecting the brine;the myriad uses for a whipping siphon beyond whipped cream;why those expensive copper pans may not be worth the price;how to deep-fry without a deep fryer;how to stop worrying and get the most out of your pressure cooker;how to cook sous vide at home with improvised equipment, a special-purpose water bath, or a home combi oven.Modernist Cuisine at Home is an indispensable guide for anyone who is passionate about food and cooking.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Jeni Britton Bauer - 2011
Unique flavors, prepared from top-quality ingredients combined with minimally processed milk from grass-fed cows, transformed Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, a small artisanal scoopery in Columbus, Ohio, into a nationally acclaimed (and beloved) brand.Now with her debut cookbook, Jeni Britton Bauer is on a mission to help foodies create perfect ice creams, yogurts, and sorbets—ones that are every bit as perfect as hers—in their own kitchens. Frustrated by icy and crumbly homemade ice cream, Bauer invested in a $59 ice cream maker and proceeded to test and retest recipes until she devised a formula to make creamy, sturdy, lickable ice cream at home. Her recipe for a milk-based American-style ice cream contains no eggs, which allows her amazing flavor combinations to shine. Filled with irresistible color photographs, this cone-tastic book contains 100 of Jeni’s signature recipes—from her Goat Cheese with Roasted Cherries to her Salty Caramel to her Bourbon with Toasted Buttered Pecans. Fans of easy-to-prepare desserts with star quality will scoop this book up. How cool is that?
The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary
John O'Connell - 2015
John O’Connell’s erudite chapters combine history with insights into art, religion, medicine, science, and is richly seasoned with anecdotes and recipes.Discover why Cleopatra bathed in saffron and mare’s milk, why wormwood-laced absinthe caused eighteenth century drinkers to hallucinate and how cloves harvested in remote Indonesian islands found their way into a kitchen in ancient Syria. Almost every kitchen contains a bottle of cloves or a stick of cinnamon, almost every dish a pinch of something, whether chili or cumin. The Book of Spice is culinary history at its most appetizing.
The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater
Nigel Slater - 2005
It is my belief?and the point of this book?that this is the best recipe of all. A crab sandwich by the sea on a June afternoon; a slice of roast goose with apple sauce and roast potatoes on Christmas Day; hot sausages and a chunk of roast pumpkin on a frost-sparkling night in November. These are meals whose success relies not on the expertise of the cook but on the more basic premise that this is the food of the moment--something eaten at a time when it is most appropriate, when the ingredients are at their peak of perfection, when the food, the cook and the time of year are at one with each other.? ?Nigel Slater, "The Kitchen Diaries" Nigel Slater writes about food in a way that stimulates the imagination, the heart, and the palate all at once. "The Kitchen Diaries" brings an especially personal ingredient to the mix, letting us glimpse his pantry, tour local farmers? markets with him, and savor even the simplest meals at his table. Recording twelve months in his culinary life, Slater shares seasonal dishes and the intriguing elements behind them. As someone who celebrates each visit to the cheese shop or butcher, he enthusiastically conveys the brilliant array of choices and encourages his view of food shopping as an adventure rather than a chore. A rainy day in February calls for a hearty stew; summertime finds him feasting on a lunch as simple as baked tomatoes with grated Parmesan. If an exotic mood strikes him, slow-roasted duck with star anise and ginger is in order. In "The Kitchen Diaries," Nigel interweaves his meditations on how food should be enjoyed and prepared with his delicious recipes. No matter the season, "The Kitchen Diaries" offers a year-round invitation to cook and dine with the world's most irresistible lover of food. BACKCOVER: Praise for Nigel Slater ?His writing could not be more palate-cleansing? his acidic riffs put you in mind of Nick Hornby, Martin Amis and Philip Larkin all at the same time.? ?"The New York Times" ?Nigel is a genius.? ?Jamie Oliver, author of "Jamie's Kitchen, The Naked Chef," and "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" ?unpretentious, delicious? ?Nigella Lawson, author of "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" ?The recipes sound uniformly delicious, rustic and tasty...but they?re also straight forward: easy to follow, easy to cook.? ?Independent on Sunday ?joyous? ?Guardian Weekend ?Slater wants his food, above all, to be uplifting. As a cookbook, "The Kitchen Diaries" succeeds brilliantly.? ?William Leith, "Observer" (London) ?it's a collection of scrumptious recipes, somehow written in such a way as to make your mouth genuinely water.? ?Rebecca Seal, "Observer" (London)
Surprise-Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion--with a Little Something Extra Inside
Amanda Rettke - 2013
Whether it's a striking all-white cake with a secret rainbow heart baked inside, a birthday cake complete with a surprise balloon in the middle, or the gorgeous rose cake that took the blogging world by storm, Amanda's creations are downright revolutionary—and tons of fun! In Surprise-Inside Cakes, she gives us fresh new ways to enjoy life's greatest occasions, with themes and cakes including:Celebrating Family—Stripe Birthday Cake, Paw Print Cake, Rainbow Cake Celebrating You—Leopard Cake, Herringbone Cake, Cowboy Boot Cake Celebrating Love—Kiss Cake, Ring Cake, Sunset Cake Celebrating Holidays—Jack-o'-lantern Cake, Rudolph Cake, Holiday Candle Cake Celebrating Life—Football Cake, Cherry Cake, Smiley Face CakeFeaturing a few classic favorite cakes from her blog and more than forty brand-new cakes—along with her easy-to-follow instructions and step-by-step photo tutorials—Surprise-Inside Cakes shows you how to replicate these incredible designs in your own kitchen.To make these dazzling cakes, you can start with one of Amanda's delicious, foolproof recipes for cakes and frostings, or use a boxed cake mix or favorite family recipe. With tips on how to bake a level cake, tricks using household items such as rulers, biscuit cutters, and cookie cutters to carve and shape cakes, and Amanda's simple yet stunning frosting and decorating ideas, you'll not only be re-creating these amazing cakes for occasions large and small, you'll soon be using her techniques to create your own surprises!And your friends and family will be thrilled and delighted when a beautiful cake opens to reveal a special gift inside.
How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart
Pam Anderson - 2000
Times have changed. Today we have an overwhelming array of ingredients and a fraction of the cooking time, but Anderson believes the secret to getting dinner on the table lies in the past. After a long day, who has the energy to look up a recipe and search for the right ingredients before ever starting to cook? To make dinner night after night, Anderson believes the first two steps--looking for a recipe, then scrambling for the exact ingredients--must be eliminated. Understanding that most recipes are simply "variations on a theme," she innovatively teaches technique, ultimately eliminating the need for recipes.Once the technique or formula is mastered, Anderson encourages inexperienced as well as veteran cooks to spread their culinary wings. For example, after learning to sear a steak, it's understood that the same method works for scallops, tuna, hamburger, swordfish, salmon, pork tenderloin, and more. You never need to look at a recipe again. Vary the look and flavor of these dishes with interchangeable pan sauces, salsas, relishes, and butters.Best of all, these recipes rise above the mundane Monday-through-Friday fare. Imagine homemade ravioli and lasagna for weeknight supper, or from-scratch tomato sauce before the pasta water has even boiled. Last-minute guests? Dress up simple tomato sauce with capers and olives or shrimp and red pepper flakes. Drizzle sautéed chicken breasts with a balsamic vinegar pan sauce. Anderson teaches you how to do it--without a recipe. Don't buy exotic ingredients and follow tedious instructions for making hors d'oeuvres. Forage through the pantry and refrigerator for quick appetizers. The ingredients are all there; the method is in your head. Master four simple potato dishes--a bake, a cake, a mash, and a roast--compatible with many meals. Learn how to make the five-minute dinner salad, easily changing its look and flavor depending on the season and occasion. Tuck a few dessert techniques in your back pocket and effortlessly turn any meal into a special occasion.There's real rhyme and reason to Pam's method at the beginning of every chapter: To dress greens, "Drizzle salad with oil, salt, and pepper, then toss until just slick. Sprinkle in some vinegar to give it a little kick." To make a frittata, "Cook eggs without stirring until set around the edges. Bake until puffy, then cut it into wedges." Each chapter also contains a helpful at-a-glance chart that highlights the key points of every technique, and a master recipe with enough variations to keep you going until you've learned how to cook without a book.
Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom
Deborah Madison - 2013
Destined to become the new standard reference for cooking vegetables, Vegetable Literacy shows cooks that, because of their shared characteristics, vegetables within the same family can be used interchangeably in cooking. It presents an entirely new way of looking at vegetables, drawing on Madison’s deep knowledge of cooking, gardening, and botany. For example, knowing that dill, chervil, cumin, parsley, coriander, anise, lovage, and caraway come from the umbellifer family makes it clear why they’re such good matches for carrots, also a member of that family. With more than 300 classic and exquisitely simple recipes, Madison brings this wealth of information together in dishes that highlight a world of complementary flavors. Griddled Artichokes with Tarragon Mayonnaise, Tomato Soup and Cilantro with Black Quinoa, Tuscan Kale Salad with Slivered Brussels Sprouts and Sesame Dressing, Kohlrabi Slaw with Frizzy Mustard Greens, and Fresh Peas with Sage on Baked Ricotta showcase combinations that are simultaneously familiar and revelatory.Inspiring improvisation in the kitchen and curiosity in the garden, Vegetable Literacy—an unparalleled look at culinary vegetables and plants—will forever change the way we eat and cook.