Tag: Cookbook

May 1, 2024 – Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

May 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Ratio by Michael Ruhlman is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for May. How about that, it is the first of the month and I am already done? Well, you can guess that I have had a lot of reading time lately. It is waiting in the waiting room for doctor’s appointments or sitting by while my wife watches TV or is sleeping. Consequently I finished this month’s book and I am way ahead on Dante’s Divine Comedy.

I didn’t know it at the time, but growing up I was spoiled. My Grandmother was the best pie maker that I knew. The truth is, everybody on that side of my family made good pies. It was only when I got exposed to store made pies that I realized not all pies were equal.

One day I asked my Grandmother what the secret was and she said that my Great Grandmother was a pie maker for a diner and she said that the ratio of the crust was not only easy but also the secret. It was 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup shorting and 1/4 cup water. That turns out to be 4:2;1 in terms of ratios.

Not long after that, I assumed the role of process chemist. I spent a lot of my time scaling batches between the lab, the pilot reactor and full scale batches. I soon learned that it wasn’t the units of things that made a difference but the ratios of ingredients. Once I had the ratios figured out, I could convert to the exact units of measure to my hearts content.

I was excited to read this book. I intuitively knew that ratios were the secret but I had never given much thought to it other than the pie crust. After reading it, I have more mixed feelings about it. Here are some of my thoughts.

First, I would say that probably half of the book was about baking. While I don’t want to split hairs, typically baking and cooking are different disciplines. Certainly at home, it is often the cook is also baking but it set some different expectations from the title and the content. To cement matters, I am not much of a baker nor do I have a ton of interest in it. That is not to say I don’t enjoy a good desert, but I just don’t crave them much along with the clean-up that goes with it.

Of some of the items in the cooking one example was stock making. I find it a stretch that there is a proper proportion of bones to water. This is especially true when Ruhlman agrees with Samin Nosrat that if you cannot use homemade stock, you are better off using water than store purchased stock. I use what I have on hand and that is just fine with me.

Many of the final items were pretty highbrow. There were more French dishes in this book than I have ever read. Many of them I had never heard of either. The final chapter was about custards and he goes on to describe a smoked salmon custard with shrimp halves. Additionally, he talks about making crème brulee. I am not saying home cooks shouldn’t attempt this but it after you make your shrimp custard to top steak, who is making crème brulee?

Finally, I disagreed with some of the ratios. I tend to think that ratios are a starting point in cooking. If you don’t have 2:1:1 ratio of onion, carrots and celery, is it still mirepoix? I think so. Sometimes I use the half of onion that is already cut rather than a whole one. Sometimes I want to finish off the old bag of carrots or celery that is long in the tooth.

Lest you think that I am totally down on this book, I would suggest that for people that are clueless in the kitchen this is a good resource. He does freely state that ratios can be modified in most cases. But, if people do not know how to start, this is a gateway to the science of cooking. There is freedom in not being a slave to a recipe. You can’t get the freedom until you understand each ingredient’s place in the dish.

End Your Programming Routine: As a former chemist doing chemical engineering work, I see ratios in recipes. I find myself scaling for the ingredients on hand or eaters. So, maybe this book isn’t for me necessarily but it might be for you. Especially if you are struggling in the baking department or fine French food. It may change your perspective from a mystery to an art.

September 26, 2023 – Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life

September 26, 2023 /

Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook by Diane Mott Davidson was the August co-selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. The reason is that it was the co-selection is that our group is going through some trials and tribulations and is a little listless at this time. Unfortunately, two members died last month and we really haven’t been in an organized fashion this year. As a result, two books were ‘suggested’. I will talk about the other one after I read it.

Part of the reason that I like being part of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club is that other people do the work. That is, they are the ones to suggest ‘I think we should read this’. Most of the selections I would never pick in a million years but I like the fact that it provides a diverse view to what I would normally read or gravitate to.

This choice is an interesting one. Diane Mott Davidson is a long time author, publishing a series of mystery books dating all the way back to the early 1990s. Her primary character is a caterer and nearly every recipe in this cookbook has been published in each of Diane’s numerous books. This is a compilation of all the recipes throughout Diane’s writing career.

In all transparency, I have never heard of Diane Mott Davidson nor any of her books. I say that because the idea of this cookbook seems pretty novel to me. Another reason that I mention it is because I came into this with no bias whatsoever.

Another admission, I did not read every word. I read the anecdote that goes along with the recipe and scan the ingredient list. I want to understand the pulse of a cookbook. How much diversity is there within the book? Can I possibly make what is in the book with the ingredients listed? Do I even care about what is offered?

Usually, I pick out a couple of things that I would like to try. And typically those are recipes that are unique. I say this because after reading this cookbook, I don’t plan on making anything immediately. Nearly 1/3 of the recipes are desserts, nothing wrong with that but it is just not a cornerstone in my kitchen.

What is the pulse of this cookbook? Clearly, I would say desserts but I already said that. There is an entire chapter on egg and cheese, think quiche, omelets, frittata etc. This was apparently driven by the author’s editor being vegetarian and asking for more recipes that fit that definition. That was a novel stance as well but I noticed that many of the recipes were different assemblies of the same ingredients.

The author had spent most of her life in Colorado and the cookbook has strong leaning toward TexMex flavors. I don’t have anything specific against TexMex but I have a true affinity toward Mexican food and to me TexMex is like saying McDonalds represents hamburgers. No, it is a derivation and interpretation made for a specific purpose.

Before I am too hard on Diane, she makes a statement early on that says her character is a caterer and that is a business. If a shortcut can be made to get to the end, then it should be considered. I giver her credit that she has done her homework on learning and understanding the business. I think the disconnect is between catering as a business and cooking as a craft.

Just one quick example in the chicken broth recipe. This is the only recipe I have ever seen that uses prepared chicken broth as the liquid to make chicken broth. I subscribe to Samine Nosrat – If you cant use broth you have made, use water. So, I see the broth recipe as more of a hack than an actual technique. I could certainly see this work for catering, like I said it is a business.

End Your Programming Routine: Who would like this or be interested in this cookbook? I think fans of Diane Mott Davidson certainly. But, if you have a sweet tooth or lack a cookbook to make a lot of cookies with dried fruit or chocolate in them, this may be your thing. This will probably be one that I never open again but that is OK. I didn’t know there was a mystery series with hundreds of recipes contained.

April 18, 2023 – Milk Street: The World In a Skillet

April 18, 2023 /

The World In a Skillet by Christopher Kimball is the April 2023 is the Left Coast Culinary Book Club selection for April. We find ourselves back from fiction last month to a cookbook. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I find a it difficult to evaluate a book without using it. That certainly is the case here. That being said, there are some unique elements to this particular cookbook.

You may be familiar with Christopher Kimball as he was a host of America’s Test Kitchen for many years. I did notice that he was gone from the show about eight years ago. In fact, his fixture was so long and his transition abrupt that I thought that maybe there was a health problem or something. This is actually the first time I had seen anything publicly and learning that he changed directions.

My supposition about his whereabouts were not without merit. I ran across some allegations and apparently there was a lawsuit between America’s Test Kitchen and Kimball accusing theft of intellectual property and damages in his new endeavor Milk Street. If you ever watched any of his previous work then you will know it was highly technical. Fortunately, it appears this new direction is simpler and more approachable.

It is interesting to see different approaches, dare I say novel approaches to cookbook and I would say this is one of them. Let’s talk about the title first. Kimball’s premise is that there are a lot of specific apparatus involved in ethnic cooking. Or said another way, each culture uses a proprietary piece of cookware and he surmises that this could all be substituted with a skillet.

That was the approach, but it wasn’t the only innovation. The cookbook is organized by time to cook. So, the user can go to the section and look at the 20 recipes that require less than 45 minutes to make. I think that this is a brilliant because skillet meals are often one dish meals. One dish meals are often those made in time constrained periods (weeknights, after work).

I do have a varied palate and I like the idea of Asian one night, Mexican another, soul food on another and comfort food on Friday. I think that it is pretty interesting that the recipes go from Vietnamese, to Italian to African to Chinese on page by page basis. So, it does seem to me that this approach fits my cooking instincts and preferences.

But wait… there’s more. It is not just single dish recipes but also sides and deserts and all things skillet. Now, maybe that is a step too far from what we need in a cookbook. But, if it is anything it is all in on skillets. So, I will give props for wringing the most out of the one-trick pony.

Out of 300 or so pages, nearly half of them are pictures. It does make you stimulated to page through the book. So, barring the fact that I haven’t cooked anything yet, it is a beautiful book. However in my kitchen, books are starting to clog up spaces so I am moving to the point that they need to earn their place. I do plan on trying a few things in the next month to see if it is worthy.

End Your Programming Routine: The book club is emerging out of our Covid hangover. Starting in 2020, we cut our interactions from about 10 a year to 4 (including March that was already scheduled) with outside summer gatherings. We have more books and meetings in the pipeline again as the composition of the group has changed to the new reality. I love reading and cooking but I warm up to people over time. I also love that being part of this group is a leap of faith for the interests of others. More books to come.

September 20, 2022 – Cannelle et Vanille, Part 2

September 20, 2022 /

I wasn’t the only one confused. It seemed as though most of the book club members weren’t sure if it was one book or both. So, most of them looked at both. This was the first cookbook that Aran Goyoaga wrote and it is all about dishes but includes baking.

I think that it is natural that everyone wants to put a stamp on their work. In this case, I saw something that I had never seen before which was about ten different meals. They included the entre, salad and drink/desert/side. This was the last third of the book. I suppose kind of like wine, pairing everything together.

I kind of like the concept. At least it makes the decision making kind of easy. I guess what makes the book speak to me more is that the ten dinners seem to have a Spanish bend. There is paella, tortilla de patata and various seafood, pasta and Mediterranean vegetable dished that are in Aran’s culture. I made the tortilla for our dinner and I feel closer to these Spanish recipes than I did with the Jose Andres cookbook.

If there is any downside to the cookbook, I would say is that it shares content with the baking cookbook. So, there is some duplication in the introduction fundamentals and the baking sections. I suppose that it is nice to know that she sticks to her principles and has found something that works. The other thing that I found a little too much gluten free baking in this particular cookbook. Since this one was written first, this is a much more comprehensive cookbook and I could see the other one as a niche reference.

Just like the others, there are a few things I am interested in trying. I am definitely going to give paella a whirl. I have made it before and after feeling disappointed in Spain, I feel like I can do it better. I mentioned after reading Self-Reliance magazine that I would like to try to make yogurt. There is a recipe here as well. I also saw a very approachable ragu using beef roast. I am always looking for more ways to focus on the primal cuts besides just Sunday roasts.

Once you start getting so many cookbooks, it is difficult to invest much unless it speaks to you. I was not excited when I saw the list and this one included. However, after giving it a chance and our connection to Spain, this one is stack ranking on the higher third on the list. What I am saying is that I don’t think that this cookbook is going to appeal to everyone but it seems to be the right mixture for me.

End Your Programming Routine: I feel for those that have a severe gluten intolerance. I know other chef’s that are absolutely tortured by situation. So, for that reason alone, I applaud Aran for attempting to solve the problem. As I said last week, I am going to keep trying things until we can eliminate some of the extra ingredients around or give up. If this is you, then I would give a recommend to the book at least for experimenting.

August 9, 2022 – Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession

August 9, 2022 /

This is the August selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. This book is a cookbook for Salads by Jess Damuck. Who is Jess Damuck? From what I read, she is a food stylist that primarily worked with Martha Stewart.

Once again, this book is divided by seasons. The one thing that I thought was really brilliant was that there is a master list of ingredients broken into categories. Then, each salad draws on the ingredients in the category. So recipes are organized by ingredients in the category, with the assumption that (1. you are into salads) you have options if you are working from a standard pantry.

Because Jess is a food stylist, all of the photos are vibrant and look great. One of her technique suggestions was to use similar items in different shapes. Think carrots and parsnips. Think rounds and julienne. In my opinion, this is more of a presentation tip than a taste improvement.

This is about where the compliments end from me. I wasn’t present when the voting happened and I probably wouldn’t have protested anyway but I find it hard to get jazzed about salads. Jess uses a lot of jargon, techniques or ingredients that I have never heard of. When I last went to the store, I checked on a few of these things and nope, not there. So, unless you are growing yourself, good luck with duplicating.

Maybe it is because I already know this but she frequently uses a lot of combinations of textures such as leaves, nuts, cheese, proteins, etc. It therefore feels like most of the salads are a random catchment of ingredients than deliberate combinations. In the foreword, Martha Stewart says that her marker of a good cookbook makes her hungry. So far, I haven’t marked a single recipe yet.

Given that I think making a cookbook about salad new and fresh is going to be difficult, I think probably 10% of the recipes are a stretch. Here are two examples gazpacho and esquites (Mexican corn) that I wouldn’t call a salad at all. There are other things that are called salad but I would call sandwich spreads or toppings like arugula pizza or egg salad.

To be fair, I haven’t made anything out of it yet. If you remember last month, I have tried a couple more and was very pleased with Corned Beef Dinner for instance. So, maybe I will soften up. The truth is, I don’t see myself really making much. But, all it takes is a handful to be worth it. So, I owe it to the book club to try a few things.

End Your Programming Routine: What can I say? I am not looking forward to the next one either. It is about gluten free cooking. I am not really big on gluten anyway but I feel like trying to substitute never works well. I have to give Jess credit that she did something different. Just because I am not into it, doesn’t mean that this isn’t for someone.

March 1, 2022 – Far Eastern Cookery?

March 1, 2022 /

That seems like a funny name. Well it is the title of the latest book I finished reading. My son bought me a couple books from the local used book store for me to read for my birthday in January.

Apparently, Madhur Jaffery has had several TV shows on PBS in the 1980s. She is a James Beard award winner and primarily writes about Indian food. I have never heard of her or saw any of the shows. but definitely seems well credentialed.

What I like about this cook book is that it was written in 1990. This means that it was pre-internet and pre-access to everything, anytime we want it. Consequently, there are a lot of substitution suggestions and simple ingredients. One thing I really appreciate is not having an exhaustive inventory of exotic ingredients that get used a couple times a year.

This cookbook is a smattering of all Asian foods: Chinese, Japanese, Thai of course but also Korean, Malaysian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and also Filipino (had to look the spelling of that one up). The ingredients and the techniques are very simplistic for the most part. That makes things pretty approachable.

I plan to try a few things. I am going to make Filipino Menudo for sure. I made a Chinese hot and sour soup the other day that my family really liked. I personally like Thai, Vietnamese and Korean over the others but I am anxious to try some other cultures for something new.

It appears that book is widely available on the used market and pretty inexpensive at less than $10. Since I haven’t used it a bunch, I can recommend it yet. However, I like what I see and I think it fits well into my style of cooking.

End Your Programming Routine: The next book I am going to read is fiction. In fact, I am already a third of the way through it. I took that with me on my business trip rather than the unwieldy cookbook. Sometimes, it is just best to unplug and enjoy rather that reading for a purpose. A chapter a day and eventually I will make it through.

November 18, 2020 – Updates to the Virtual Book Club today

November 18, 2020 /

Yesterday, the thinking about 1984 by George Orwell left me partially excited to go into that book again and partially disgusted to think about what has happened on my watch. I am going to save the stronger editorials to another time to get to a happier place today.

I spent this morning backdating the progress of the Left Coast Cellars Culinary Book Club. With the impending second lockdown and the weather really getting wet, it is a good time to read and cook. I have created separate pages, by year on where we have been as a club in case someone was interested in where we have covered. Those links are on the left hand margin.

I am strongly thinking in the future that I will repurpose the ‘Approachable Wine’ page and change that into a ‘Resources’ page for people interested in the things that I am such as freedom, gear, skills and books. That page was really intended for a different purpose. I was wanting to build an app and tie all of this together, but I didn’t get started and probably wont.

So, we have bunkered up into our ‘two week freeze’. Our Thanksgiving shopping is done and the menu is largely set. There definitely won’t be more than six people at our table. As Thanksgiving signals the end of the harvest season, it is time to appreciate the year behind and look forward to the year ahead. Do some reading in your free time.

May 12, 2020 – Review: Hunt, Gather, Cook

May 12, 2020 /

Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast by Hank Shaw was the April book selection in the Left Coast Cellars Culinary Book Club. Unfortunately, the club has been on hiatus since mid-March but that doesn’t mean that the reading doesn’t go on.

Hank Shaw is an author, blogger, podcaster and general media person. His focus is about cooking with wild sourced ingredients. He tends to collaborate with others in this space like Steven Rinella. If you are into this sort of genre, then you probably already know about him and his contemporaries.

The book is organized into three sections. Section one is about foraging, section two is about fishing and section three is about hunting. Each chapter in the section is grouped by a theme such as wild berries. At the end of each chapter there are five or so recipes focusing on the type of ingredients the chapter is about.

This is one of those books that I would consider a gateway into the subject. There is no possible way that a person can safely learn everything about foraging by reading this. Every microclimate and region in the country could support it’s own botanist/mycologist/herbologist from the vast diversity that is present. There is no mention of mushrooms, which is probably a good thing. Instead the focus is on high value, low risk choices like seaweed and day lilies.

Another potential roadblock to successfully implementing ideas in this book are access, equipment and knowledge. For example, in my state there is no ‘season’ for rabbit hunting. It does require a license to do so. There is public land about ten miles away, but I have rarely seen a rabbit. I think that to really do this successfully, having a flushing dog would be the only viable option. Dogs are not allowed in the public land without a leash.

Instead of focusing all of my energy into why any of these ideas can’t be done I think the best use of this book is to read through it and look for things that can be done. Almost everything has a season to when it is available and or legal (including a lot of plants). Plan times to obtain these items as family activities. A family charter for bottom fish and crab is something I can do in my area. Then be prepared to feast when the trip is complete.

I enjoyed reading this book because it is about 25% technique, 25% cookbook and 50% inspiration. So, it is not a page turner but it does get the mind stimulated about the possibilities. Over the years, I have learned that it is much more enjoyable to pursue the activities rather than read about them. But I find that I can more easily find the time to learn and think than I can do. For that reason, it is exciting to think about that next fishing trip or making blackberry wine.