nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Sharing your cooking resources

James_Mc_Geough_145011

I've been trying to teach myself to cook. Currently I'm working to learn the skills behind cooking any dish (from understanding flavours to plating food) rather than specific recipes/dishes. I'd love to ask some of you guys your recommendations for learning and hopefully we could build up a good collection for cooks of all skill levels.

What have been your favourite resources for learning to cook?

Book-wise I'd highly recommend:

The Flavour Bible
The 4 Hour Chef

Of the skills or methodologies you've learned (I'm thinking things like Mise en Place, the ability to balance the flavour of a dish, etc.) if you could only choose to learn one, that has disproportionately improved your cooking, which would it be?

Thanks for any responses 😊

Find more posts tagged with

QOTD

Comments

bkeene12

Resource: Larousse Gastronomique

Skills: My big moment was when I felt I mastered the saucier situation.

Honorable Mention:

Julia Childs: Cooking with Master Chefs (you'll find it on PBS's site, Netflix and Apple TV). I learned a TON of basics from that series. I still watch it for inspiration.

Angelo_197648

Resource:

Modernist Cuisine - I've been cooking since I was a kid, this book though allowed me to figure out ways to do dishes I see in my head. It may be heavy on the modernist techniques, but the teaching behind the traditional techniques alone make it worth it.
Internet Forums - All over, not just food related forums either. You get good at searching online you can find people's attempts at dishes, and little tricks that you wouldn't even pick up in a 3 star kitchen. These help you build your own ideas up to a working attempt because everything is related somehow in food.

seijoed

Modernist Cuisine,

CIA - The Professional Chef,

CIA - Baking and Pastry Mastering the Art and Craft,

Pepin - Complete Techniques.

chriswrightcycles

My most frequented resources...

Modernist Cuisine

On Food and Cooking

ChefSteps

Jared_Kent_JWU_58505

I love Michael Ruhlmans books, Ruhlmans twenty is a fantastic book that really outlines the fundamentals of cooking. Also Ratio is a great read, he outlines the methodology and basic ratios for a lot of basic dishes (bread, biscuits, pasta, custard, etc.) Then once you understand and memorize those ratios you can use them to create your own variations of these items and you won't be dependent on recipes. Also Egg (coincidentally, also by ruhlman) is a fantastic book. It gives you everything you possibly need to know about eggs, very important. Good luck!

Jack_Mayer_85396

Props to Jared's recommendation on Ruhlman's books. I have Ratio and Ruhlman's Twenty and refer to them often. He also co-wrote Thomas Keller's books and one with Eric Riepert called A Return to Cooking that is very good.