Modernist Cuisine - Essential for wannabe chef?

I've got a question about the Modernist Cuisine books:

I want to work in restaurants, I've spent some time at a Michelin star place as a dishwasher and I'm looking to expand my knowledge and skills whilst working up the ladder. I want to know whether the Modernist Cuisine books are essential for someone who is learning (self-teaching) whilst working.

Any help appreciated!

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Manfred_18311

Essential

they are but form a different perspective. Since Augustes Escoffiers

book "Guide Culinaire", published in 1903 there was nothing further published

with such decisive influence in the culinary world. If the MC publication would be essential

for your aim to get up on the ladder; they are certainly a no miss along the way.

Fully to understand

and thus useful in its whole volume they are for anyone who already knows the

basics of cooking processes and holds product knowledge. You might look out for

literature giving you the basic understandings and knowledge to lead your

practical skills to the point you really benefiting on the investment.

MC@Home

would be an alternative.

Good luck

on your endeavor.

Andrew_54504

Thanks Manfred.

To elaborate on my situation, in my library already I've got:

Larousse (latest edition)

Leiths Techniques Bible

McGee On Food & Cooking

amongst other recipe books

I think I've got enough books to cross reference to get an all round understanding of what I'm reading. Would you suggest a copy of Escoffier to even things out? I have some money set aside for the purpose of obtaining books etc to teach myself so I am open to suggestions.

I enjoy eating and cooking different styles of food but my interests and main focus sway towards modernist style cooking. Any suggestions welcome.

Manfred_18311

It certainly

would help; set beside the fact a century passed by since its publication, the essentials

of “Haute cuisine” still apply for contemporary fine dining and cooking.

Andrew_54504

Good to know. I'll spend a couple of months with Escoffier before diving into MC. Does anyone know of a good PDF version whilst I wait for a hard copy?

tshewman

FWIW - any books to help with basics would be beneficial and depending on yuor learning style, complimenting Escoffier's etc with shorter books with good intros may be beneficial. Heston's at home has a decent intro for each section to help start with the "why's" and has the advantages of why to use things like pressure cookers etc. Thomas Kellers books are also great for basics. MCAH has some great "how tos" and some "why" but feels like basics are somewhat assumed. Consider current level (and ambition) time, finances and your learning style. Any mentioned so far in the thread will likely be used....often.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques, is another good "how to"

book.

Concentrate on the dull and boring basics - knife skills, how to season, butchering (breaking down birds and fish). Work efficiently and clean.

Andrew_54504

Thanks for the reccomendation. There are Kindle and iBook versions of Pepin which is very useful.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@mcha4452 - I'll echo what @Tim had to say. La Methode and La Techique are very good and have recently been re-published in color. Jim Peterson's books are uniformly good, especially "Sauces." It's now in it 3rd or 4th edition.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

Every time this discussion pops up, I feel compelled to recommend The Fat Duck Cookbook. The final third of that book is like a rough draft for a lot of the food sciencey stuff in MC. One of the blurbs on the back even makes the joke that the information is so dense they had to shrink the font in order to get it all into a single volume.

But, as a non-professional, I tend to agree with @Tim_Sutherland - make sure your basics are solid first, let the science come later.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

MC isn't essential, but it is also the single greatest resource on food and cooking ever put together. And while the information can get technical at times, it's always very approachable. The techniques covered also range tremendously; it's not all rotovaps and freeze dryers. Braising, roasting, smoking, and most other traditional cooking techniques are covered and explained in great detail. That said, if you don't know the basics then it's probably not a great place to start. MC@H, on the other hand, strikes a great balance between learning about techniques and putting them in context with recipes that are accessible to intermediate home cooks who want to become better. It's lighter on science, has more of a practical slant, and is much cheaper than the full MC. I highly suggest checking it out. I sometimes forget how much ground it covers. It's my #1 reference, but I cook at home and not in a restaurant environment.

+1 for Thomas Keller's TFL and Ad Hoc @ Home books. There are lots of good recipes, but they're also peppered with lots of practical tips and explanations for when/why to use various techniques. Under Pressure is less helpful in this regard. And +1 for The Fat Duck cookbook as a condensed reference on the food-sciencey side of things.

Andrew_54504

So what does everyone think about working through MC just to get a grasp of the concepts and techniques?(not actually attempting/not diving in to deep).

This might be very subjective for everyone though.

That's not to say I disagree with nailing the basics. I have been working on my knife skills slowly but surely for a while now, and also my stocks. I'm now starting to work harder on my technique whilst also attempting to get my head around a lot of concepts.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I would master your basic techniques before trying to go through MC. I like to open up MC to alter existing dishes in modern ways by applying some newer technique to achieve a similar taste but different texture or doneness that you may not otherwise be able to get traditionally. Or I will look for ways to do things more quickly (i.e. pressure caramelizing is the tits). But I wouldn't feel comfortable doing any of that stuff if I didn't have a grasp of how to make the original perfectly fine on my own.

Think of it this way. MC is kind of like a continuing education class for someone already established in a field. You don't usually enroll in those courses until you already know the basics.

Andrew_54504

That's interesting thanks Brendan

ljdcooks

HI there MCHA

No its not essential, in fact I would dare say that no books are.

That said I would say though that a proper working knowledge and understanding
of traditional cooking techniques is. No books can replace what traditional technique knowledge
will give you going forward into a Modernist Chef.

Manfred_18311

I disagree here.

The formula is: Theory shows what is possible

in practice, and practice proves theory. I would lay it to 80% practice and 20%

theory. It would be a helpless task creating a reverse Specification without proper

read up’s on the method, scale measurements and specific ingredients, if for a

first time. This includes knowledge of chemistry in general and food chemistry

in specific.

Ok…, one who

seeks profession certainly needs to be able to cut a piece of beef next to many

other skills, but knowledge from which part of the beef laying in front of the cutting

board was originated from must come with it. Even more you need to know about proteins and protein

physics, this cannot be archived trough practice or traditional knowledge alone.

Theory must always attendant practice.

I even

would recommend a formal education on a recognized culinary institute as it certainly

widens career opportunities.

Connoisseurship

in any filed evolves on the foundation of both, theory and practice.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Coming from a completely separate field - Software development and engineering - I'd suggest

reading anything you can get your hands on, read opinionated material, read the "bibles", read

MC, go back and read, practice hands on skills, read more, re-evaluate, practice.

There are no true truths, you most likely with experience will end up with your own bag

of tools and tricks that define you, but avoiding input is a great way of achieving at best mediocracy.