Lifestyles
The Virtual Gourmand No. 13 - Stacks and Facts: A Chef's Bibliography
It's certainly no secret that I love to cook. In fact, I likely spend the better part of each day shopping, preparing or reading and writing about food. Much of the rest of my time is devoted to promoting my food business. Even though I use cookbooks mostly to refresh my memory on the basic ingredients of dishes or for inspiration (rather than as detailed recipe resources for preparing dishes), I am regularly gifted cookbooks of an amazing variety. Some of my favorites have come from an in-law in New Orleans who sends me a different local cookbook for Christmas every year - all of them signed by the authors (Uglesich's and Gallatoire's are two of my recent gifts). And I enjoy them immensely.
Many people ask me which cookbook would make a good gift for a cook who is either a novice or is accomplished. I always try to discern where the recipient is coming from in terms of experience and interests before offering advice. But a recent acquisition, The Elements of Cooking: Translating The Chef's Craft For Every Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman (more on this book later), lists what he feels are the most essential cooking books that both a novice and experienced chef should have on hand.
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The Elements of Cooking: Translating The Chef's Craft For Every Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman (Scribner, 2007; ISBN: 0-7432-9978-7). This book has been called "The Strunk and White of food" (they were the authors of The Elements of Style, which has been used at some time by virtually every writer of the English language). I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment. The first few chapters explain the essential elements of cooking, the minimum needs of a kitchen and the tools of the chef's trade. The bulk of the book is an encyclopedic glossary that explains virtually every cooking term one can think of in simple yet effective language. This is a new acquisition, but one that will be with me for many years to come.
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The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Plume, 1973; ISBN: 0-452-26333-6). I have to confess that I own about six copies of this book, all various editions and revisions. It's become a guilty pleasure of mine to locate editions at estate sales and used book shops, and to peruse what has changed between revisions. My favorite edition a dog-eared paperback one I consult at least a few times a week. I do not favor the newest edition, which has reduced the scope of the volume. Do seek the earlier editions out, as they are almost encyclopedia of American cuisine, containing recipes for just about any American dish you can think of, from cocktails to recipes for wild game (I have editions with recipes for bear and possum in them). This is the first book I pull off of the shelf when I have a cooking question. I can't really give a higher endorsement than that.
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The Escoffier Cook Book and Guide to The Fine Art of Cookery , by Auguste Escoffier (Crown, 2001; ISBN: 0-51750-662-9). I am fortunate to have been gifted my edition (a 1941 printing of a book whose roots are in the 19th Century) from a fellow CWer several years ago, and it has claimed a prime piece of real estate on my bookshelf. Boasting 2,973 recipes, this tome is the Bible of French cooking, and has been a chef's standby for over a hundred years. The recipes for stocks and sauces alone would make this book an essential reference. But Mssr. Escoffier goes far beyond the essential basics, and catalogs virtually every known variation on each dish within. Sauciers are often the most talented chefs in a professional kitchen, and Escoffier can teach you the secrets of a skill that borders on alchemy. |
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The Key to Chinese Cooking , by Irene Kuo (Wings, 1977; ISBN: 0-517-14889-7). French food and technique are considered to be the foundation of the Western culinary tradition. Chinese food and technique are just as influential and widespread, if less well understood by Western chefs. Far from the greasy, spicy takeout proffered by restaurants and (shudder) buffet restaurants, Chinese cuisine has it's own techniques, traditions and ingredients that are just as distinct and individual as their Western counterparts. I probably own a dozen or more cookbooks that deal with cuisines of the East, but this is by far the most comprehensive, clear, and downright literate (to steal a line from James Beard) book on the subject I have yet found. I cook Chinese quite a bit, and I consult this book regularly to refresh myself on a technique or to look up a treatment of a recipe I want to try. If I had to limit myself to just one volume on Chinese cuisine, this would be the one. |
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Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, by Paul Prudhomme (Morrow, 1984; ISBN: 0-688-02847-0). I lived in New Orleans for almost ten years, and married a full-blooded Cajun woman while I lived there. More than any other single chef, Prudhomme has taught me about spices, combinations of flavors and layering tastes in an individual dish. I own many of his cookbooks, but this is the one that I refer to the most. Cajun cuisine may be considered passé these days in restaurant circles, but it is a staple at my house. And nobody does it better than Prudhomme. All of the basic Cajun dishes are presented here, and if you follow his advice, you'll be able to make food every bit as good as that in the finest Cajun and Creole restaurants. Several of the chefs I know also credit Prudhomme with opening their horizons and teaching them finesse in their dishes. |
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Larousse Gastronomique, by Prosper Montaigne (Crown, 1961; ISBN: 0-6096-0971-8). The newer edition of this classic isn't as comprehensive as my first American edition (which, curiously, didn't appear until 1961 even though the original was published in 1938). So seek out the older, used versions if you want to buy a copy. This is literally an encyclopedia of world cuisine in a single volume. Boasting over 8,500 recipes, it is an indispensable reference work to familiarize yourself with any number of foods from around the world. The only drawback is that it doesn't cover enough of each world cuisine (a flaw that the newer Oxford Companion to Food has remedied). Still and all, it deserves a place on your shelf. Some day, I'll invest in a copy of Oxford. But I've gotten along with Larousse for 20 years now, and will continue to even when the newer tome is finally on my shelf. |
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The Professional Chef, 8th Edition, by The Culinary Institute of America (Wiley and Sons, 2006; ISBN: 0-7645-5734-3). This is the largest and most expensive book on the list, and it likely covers more about operating a commercial kitchen than the average home cook needs to know. Personally, I can forgive such extravagance (and the penchant of recent editions to resemble coffee-table volumes as much as professional texts), as this treatise is the text used by chef trainees at the CIA. Just about every technique, trick, secret or topic that you might want to know about cooking is referenced somewhere in this volume. At 1,200+ pages, it's certainly a weighty volume. But I can't pull it off of the shelf to look something up without spending at least 30 minutes browsing it. It is a beautiful book that is as informative as it is attractive. |
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The New Best Recipe , by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine (America's Test Kitchen, 2004; ISBN: 0-936184-74). This isn't the most complete or comprehensive cookbook on my shelf, but that doesn't diminish its value in the least. Each one of the recipes within its pages has been cooked dozens (if not hundreds) of times, and the absolute best method and recipe is what is presented here, along with a narrative of why it works and why other variations may not work quite as well. It is a very accessible volume to cooks of every skill level, and will educate and inform even the most experienced chef. This represents only one of many titles on a wide variety of culinary topics produced by America's Test Kitchen. And while I don't agree with them on a number of their barbecue recipes, I still find the series, in general, very useful and this book, in particular, very instructive. It would make an excellent gift for a novice cook. |
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Baking Illustrated, by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine (America's Test Kitchen, 2004; ISBN: 0-9361-8475-2 ). What The New Best Recipe is to cooking, Baking Illustrated is to baking. Written by the same authors and published by the same company, it offers a very good overview on baking as well as a wide variety of recipes. My baking skills are not so well-honed as my cooking skills. But I have made a number of recipes from this book, and have never been disappointed with the results. |
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The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All-purpose Baking Cookbook, by The King Arthur Flour Company (Countryman Press, 2003; ISBN: 0-8815-0581-1). King Arthur Flour has been a producer of high-quality flours for over 200 years. This volume contains some of the best recipes for cakes, biscuits, quick breads and cookies I've found to date. My copy has so many Post-it notes marking favorite recipes that I've had to color-coordinate them to make it easier to find which recipe class I am seeking. Paying no attention to established methods for traditional recipes (their biscuit recipe is as heretical as the end result is tasty), the authors focus purely on what turns out the best product possible. Many of the recipes in this book have become family favorites in my house. |
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Cook's Illustrated (America's Test Kitchen; ISSN: 1068-2821) is responsible for two of the volumes in my top 10. But in all honesty, they also produce a very fine magazine as the backbone of their operation. I'm not as fond of their new sister publication Cook's Country (which, in my opinion, resembles The Betty Crocker Cookbook in a way that is uncomfortable for me), and I have my reservations about their PBS television series, America's Test Kitchen (where their grilling and barbecue techniques and recipes offend the purist in me). That said, I can't find enough good things to say about their flagship magazine. Think of it as a cross-section of recipes and techniques across the spectrum of culinary subjects that end up collected in their series of cookbooks. |
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Saveur (Bonnier; ISSN: 1075-7864) is as much a magazine about travel and culture as it is about food. It is the primary focus on food, though, that provides the vehicle for the interest in the stories that accompany it. The global orientation can lead to a very eclectic mixture of cuisines and traditions. But the heritage recipes from local cooks (not just chefs, but also local indigenous cooks) and the captivating photography lend this magazine an authenticity that is uniquely compelling without becoming elitist or pretentious. The respect for the common culture of food, the first-person accounts of memories and traditions, and the search for deeper roots of same all make for highly enjoyable reading. And the recipes? Trust me. You'll want to try them for yourself. |
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Fine Cooking (Taunton Press, ISSN: 1072-5121) is currently undergoing a format makeover. But for the last fourteen years, this has been a magazine for cooks and written by cooks who love cooking. One of a series of specialty magazines (the firm also publishes fine magazines on woodworking and gardening as well as on other subjects), it never fails to provide a tip, a trick or a recipe that can easily be incorporated into the repertoire while remaining grounded in the world of the home cook. Many cooking magazines cater to the trendy cook - the cook who wants to re-create those 'upscale' restaurant dishes or the sometime cook who wants to look like a chef by serving trendy food. Fine Cooking has, from the beginning (and I am a charter subscriber who has accumulated and bound every single issue of the series into library binders), managed to avoid the pretention of those trendy magazines, and has its feet firmly planted in the home chef's kitchen without treating them like rank amateurs. This magazine gently invites the home cook to experiment while keeping the recipes from being either too complex or too simplistic. It is a delicate balance, to be sure, but Fine Cooking achieves it seemingly effortlessly. |
CW Editor-at-large and Executive Chef Jason Clabaugh (BigO) hailed from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, and has settled in a suburb of Atlanta. With the addition of a new baby to his family, he's refocused his energies on fatherhood and a new project bringing his famous mango-habanero salsa and unique barbecue sauces into commercial production.