Your Cookbook Gems

I'm a complete cookbook junkie and I always have some cookbooks I want to add to my collection. Also I always want tips on new ones, so I would like to know which books you can't live without

Here is a few of my favs:

White Heat - Marco Pierre White (Never cooked anything from this book, but it's still very awesome. A classic.)

Beyond Nose to Tail - Fergus Henderson (I love you Fergus, you're the coolest, this book always give me a good laugh)

Fäviken - Magnus Nilsson (A chef from my region in Sweden, probably the most important book in my collection, a bible for sure)

The Flavour Thesaurus - Niki Segnit (Highly recommended for everyone, explains how, why and which flavours works together)

Salt Sugar Smoke - Diana Henry (Book on preserving)

Also: Noma and Frantzen/Lindeberg, both high end cooking and beautiful pictures.

Currently I'm looking for a good book on ice creams, there are a lot of recipe books but not so many on the methods and science behind it.

A book on modern desserts would be awesome and also more books on preservings would be appreciated.

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prince_of_porcelain

I just saw an announcement yesterday for one I'm looking forward to: Rediscovering Brazilian Ingredients - Alex Atala.
Can't speak to it yet, but it's on my list!

Corey_37766

@Brian Douglas - this year is going to be such a great year for cookbooks! There's the aforementioned Alex Atala one, David Kinch's Manresa, Coi: Stories and Recipes, a Paul Liebrandt cookbook, and many more.

@Christoffer - the best book you can get for desserts, IMO, is Francisco Migoya's The Elements of Dessert. It is a must-have!

Fäviken

Andrea_Feldman_46226

I can't wait for the Coi book. I wish I used Aroma more, but it's just not very practical.

Other favorites in my house: Barbara Lynch's Stir — it's beautiful + the recipes are precise and easy-to-follow.

The Momofuku cookbook opens right to my favorite ginger-scallion sauce, and the Al Forno cookbook is well-worn. (George's meat sauce is one of my go-to favorites.)

Brendan_Lee_56950

I can't wait for the Manresa book. I was unaware Coi was coming out but now I'm excited about that too.

prince_of_porcelain

@Corey - Been eyeing Manresa for awhile waiting for it to actually come out, but hadn't seen Coi yet. I think the Liebrandt book is a memoir though, not a cookbook. All of them will be on my list to check out!

TODD_ANDERSON_36806

Volt Inc. was a book a friend of mine introduced to me and I think it is pretty amazing. Have not cooked anything out of it yet but will soon due to lack of equipment. Some of the ingredients are hard to find as well. I also have Ad Hoc and Under Pressure and have made some simple but great meals from Ad Hoc. (Kindly) Under Pressure wasn't what I thought it would be? Thanks to everyone for mentioning books I've never heard of, I need to expand my library!! Cheers!!

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Frozen Desserts, by Francisco Migoya covers more than just icecream.
Wild Fermentation, and The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz for your fermentation needs.
Natura by Albert Adria for desserts if you can find it and/or afford it.

The book I use the most in the kitchen is The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg - no recipes just lists of flavor profiles that go well together. The Modernist Cuisine series are at the top of cookbook usage list, but I use them more for reference (SV times and temps; ratios for ingredients etc). The cookbooks I have been reading the most lately are Marque by Mark Best and Pasi Petanen, and Quay by Peter Gilmore (both books Australian).

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Tucker - agree that the Volt Ink book is a keeper!

Matt__34377

I'll vouch for the greatness of VoltInk as well and say the Flavor Bible is probably one of the most handy books to have on your shelf.. I would have to say Ideas In Food by Aki Kamazowa and H.Alexander Talbot is a great concise book about some of the scientific aspects behind food, along with some magnificent recipes. I still reference The Joy of Cooking for some base recipes and have recently picked up Ludobites which is turning out to be both a great read and quite inspirational.

In terms of desserts I turn to Momofuku Milk the most. It is a very entertaining read and I find myself cooking out of it again and again and again.

For straight up food porn - Quay by Peter Gilmore, Mugaritz by Andoni Luis Aduriz and Eleven Madison Park.

Sergi_Palacin_Martinez_34819

My favorite one is The Sorcerer's Apprentices, from Lisa Abend, it talk about the Season 2009 of el Bulli, year that i Stage in there, it have sentimental memory for me

Jack_Mayer_85396

@MattKG - I should have mentioned the Flavor Bible as well; it gets your mind working and questioning. I have Ideas in Food too and need to revisit it ...

ren_74229

I'm a big fan of Angelo Corvitto's Los Secretos del Helado, El Helado sin Secretos.

Of other recent books, I'd say that Faviken, Mr. Wilkinson's Vegetables, and Astrance are all really great books with unique perspectives.

I think that the Big Fat Duck cookbook is the most beautiful restaurant cookbook recently published.

Francis Mallman's Seven Fires is hugely influential...even if few say so out loud.

MC is groundbreaking in the way that Alinea is groundbreaking.

All of Michel Bras's books are amazing...and his dessert notebook is probably my favorite pastry book

There are quite a few Japanese books out there that I can't read a lick of...but they are beautiful, well-organized, and eye-opening

Here's one:

ren_74229

Andrea_Feldman_46226

@Ren, that book looks fantastic!

I don't own any Japanese cookbooks, but I regularly buy their interior design magazines because the typography, photography and calibre of ideas contained within are ALWAYS off the charts. I may have to start looking for Japanese food mags as well. Damn it!

PS: UGUISU is one of my favorite sources for unusual Japanese magazines and paper goods: http://uguisu.ocnk.net

PERMANENT Magazine looks interesting: http://uguisu.ocnk.net/product-group/170

ren_74229

@Andra Feldmen

Yes! I love the Japanese books, because, just like everything in Japan, it comes from a completely different way of looking at things. Also, I think because of the otaku culture, there seems to be particular strength in describing things in detail. So while I can't understand the text, often the pictures alone can tell quite a story. Out of that have come things like "mooks" or "magazine books" which are generally single-subject explorations in a magazine format.

As an example, one mook I have is "The Ra-men Book for Professional" (There are 2 volumes). Volume 1 starts with a survey of ramen shops with profiles of each chef and the ramen they make. Next comes a section with 5 different methods for making ramen broth. Then a discussion of different kinds of kombu, then a discussion of katsuobushi, then one on other dried seafood. Then two methods of making ramen noodles, then a survey of charsiu, then a survey of menma. Even the page of eggs has 16 different examples of soft boiled eggs....

All this just for a bowl of noodle soup!

Corey_37766

Just got the Sat Bains cookbook in the mail today - IT IS FREAKIN' GORGEOUS! Very high quality and I can't wait to delve into it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Too-Many-Chiefs-Only-Indian/dp/095589302X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373065289&sr=8-1&keywords=sat+bains

Lennard__34626

My personal thoughts on the books I own, hope someone finds this useful

The fat duck cookbook- Amazing that the science section of the cookbook was written by chris, that section was the defining point of the cookbook cookbook that truly made me interested in trying to understand the science behind food. Heston is also my favorite chef and the Fat duck the best dining experience Ive ever had. Not alot of the dishes are do-able unless you have the equipment and hydrocolloids but you can get a lot from just reading the book

Heston at home- This was a dream come true for me and a must own for any chef, a lot of practical dishes that can easily be modified to suit the ingredients that are available to you

Under pressure- I honestly dont think this is that great of a book, its a good reference for someone whos wants to start SV, but tbh there are so many online resources out there now that I dont really feel this book would be of that much use. I've rarely used the cooking temperatures and times listed in this

Ad Hoc at home- Havent really cooked much from this book apart from sweets and bread(Brownies and brioche), both were great, I really should pull this out sometime and figure out if I can update any classics with modern technique

The flavor bible- A really great reference for building dishes, I prefer the foodpairing website because the pairings are more 'out there', but the flavor bible does have safer pairings that would go down well with most people. The section on how we perceive food is great as well

Modern sauces- I bought this recently but havent really had much time to flip through it, what I've seen of it has been good so far

Momofuku- Cant say much about David's high end food(I find it a little suspect), but his low brow dishes are just packed full of flavor. Ginger scallion sauce makes every noodle dish taste incredible. Some really good ideas like infusing smoked flavor into stocks using smoked bacon. Chang's story with food is also really interesting and its amazing how lucky he got(along with talent) to get to where he is today, ironically, the ramen I had at his noodle bar was nowhere near the standards in Japan, and this guy is obsessed with ramen

The family meal: home cooking with ferran adria- I bought this the same time as I got heston at home and I was a little disappointed. The food is pretty simple and (I think) majority of it is from staff meals at el bulli. Maybe its expectations, but everytime 'el bulli' and 'ferran adria' are name dropped, I expect something modernist, or at least out of the ordinary. This is fairly traditional, and if you look at it from another standpoint, its actually quite a good starting point to get into spanish cuisine

A day in el bulli: A few recipes thrown in here and there, this was more about understanding the incredible way el bulli operates. I doubt that any restaurant will ever operate quite like this again

MCAH and MC: The most important cookbooks in modern cooking, my go-to when I come across some hydrocolloid I dont understand, or when I need sous vide tables, or if I need to make gels, or if I need to brine... You get the point. My criticism is that the recipes from the plated dishes book dont exactly stand out to me and make me want to attempt them. I also found the photography and recipe layout in that particular book confusing

Mugaritz: I initially didnt think much of this because when I first flipped through the book, I thought it was going to be one of those where you barely get to try any of the recipes listed(I dont have access to much hydrocolloids), but now that I've read through it more thoroughly and attempted some, its slowly becoming my favorite cookbook. The dishes can be complex in preparation but usually look very simplistic on the plate, flavors are very focused and straight to the point. Mugaritz also happens to be one of the best meals I've ever had in my life.

Eleven madison park: One of the most beautiful cookbooks I own, the food is straight up pornography. I've only attempted two dishes from the cookbook so far, very tedious, but rewarding as well. Its the kind of book that even if you never cook anything from it, it will still be incredible to leave on your coffee table and flip through every once in a while. They also make some of the most incredible 'pulled' sauces and fluid gels(Im talking about when you spoon a sauce on a plate and use the back of a spoon to pull the sauce to form a teardrop), the shapes they get are incredible(very even, very smooth, not messy), Im curious to know if this is actually achievable in a real world setting during service

Try this at home(by richard blais): Richard is my favorite contestant on top chef of all time, not just because he uses modern techniques, but also because he just seems like a really likeable guy and someone that would be fun to cook with. This book is a very doable at home book with a few 'modernist' variations, i think its a good angle for a cookbook to approach from since you get to target both the traditionalists and modernists. I havent cooked that much from this apart from his pasta recipe(he used to make pasta at the french laundry). Alot of southern influence in the book

On the line: The cookbook of Le Bernardin. I like the dishes in this cookbook, but I do feel a little intimidated to try the recipes since decent-good quality seafood is really expensive here in Singapore. The recipe for the laiskonis egg is enough reason to own this cookbook though

Lennard__34626

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Lennard - thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Do others here agree or disagree with your conclusions? Based on this I'm going to refine/re-order my wish list. thanks again!

prince_of_porcelain

I was disappointed in the Blais book, and EMP for that matter. Both use volumetric measurements, which just seems like a pain to me now. I personally seem to get burned out quickly with the EMP book, which I also had really high hopes for. The dishes are absolutely gorgeous individually, but quickly start to run together. I don't know if this is the photography in the book or the plating style, but I feel it all starts to run together and ends up getting lost on me. Maybe it's just too much white.

The family meal is interesting as it was staff meal preparations at elBulli, but wouldn't be top of my list to cook from. Preps are very large quantities if I recall (serves ~40 or so). I am sure you could scale. If you were regularly cooking for a small army of people, I think this could be great, but not what I need.

I like the Momofuku book a lot, and agree with the above. I mostly stick to the sauces, stocks and low brow preps. What I (maybe after hearing DC state this, maybe not) refer to as bad pseudo fusion cuisine, which is really delicious.

The fat duck book is great, but I'd also echo the comment above in that I find it useful more as a textbook/manual than something I cook directly from. I love reading it though and the visual style throughout is great.

I didn't get much from Under Pressure. The few things I've cooked from Ad Hoc have been really great. The book is worth it for the Potato Pave recipe alone.

MCAH is one that I do regularly use as a cookbook. I'd enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who likes to cook. I don't have MC but hopefully will someday soon.

Mugaritz, Heston at Home, and A Day at elBulli are all on my list as well.

Lennard__34626

This was the EMP dish that I attempted, it was one of the more do-able dishes, so you can imagine the amount of work that goes into one dish.

The Blais book definitely isnt a necessity, of the lot, I'd recommend Heston at home, MC at home, flavor pairing(not a recipe cookbook per se), momofuku. Mugaritz if you have the time and patience

ren_74229

The only counterpoint I'd provide is in regards to Adria's Family Meals:

I really like the book. If you're familiar with El Bulli's cuisine, they've never been afraid to take advantage of ready-made food products. They've drawn the line differently in terms of what they're willing to do from scratch vs. what to purchase ready-made. They take it as an additional avenue for their creativity. It's a questioning of an assumption...Of course at home you can draw your own lines of what is acceptable.

Secondly, the most delicious food is neither the most complex, nor must it be totally unfamiliar....True both in their restaurant dishes and it applies to their staff meals, and even Adria's own personal favorite foods. It's great that we have such a huge toolbox now in terms of techniques, but it certainly doesn't mean that traditional approaches no longer have anything to teach us. Just because it's traditional does not always mean that it's been "debunked"/replaced by something modernist.

I also happen to have a theory that there is no such thing as a culinary synonym (yes, I know the confit example). I think that if a technique is truly different, it will lead to a different result. And there's no better guide as a cook as knowing what result you want to obtain.

Even more so than the recipes themselves though, that book is the first I've seen that attempts to adapt haute-cuisine restaurant systems of produce management/staff meal to the home context. And in that aspect, I think it's both underestimated and likely under-utilized....but completely useful at home.

PS, the potato-chip tortilla is delicious.

I'm also a big fan of the Ad hoc at home book...it's like an idealized cookbook of "what mom made," except I know my mom didn't cook anything like that. Also a place that early on applied modernist techniques to a familiar context.

Most recently, I picked up Ben Shewry's book...and it's pretty stellar so far! Really shows how important his family and past experiences are to his cooking and the result is one of the most personal and honest cookbooks I've seen.

prince_of_porcelain

Any reviews of Logical Cuisine by Jordy Cruz? I didn't even know it was out there, but I was able to skim through it for about 3 minutes this afternoon and it looked really interesting. I'm wondering if anyone has cooked from it and what they thought.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

@Andrea Feldman I make that Momofuku ginger-scallion sauce about once a month. Use it for everything from grilled meats at cookouts to a condiment for dried ramen. It's also really good pureed, strained and stabilized as a sauce for plated dishes, with a sort of pale green color.

Modernist cooking aside, my all-time numero uno favorite cookbook, and without question the biggest influence on me becoming a better cook, is The Splendid Table by Lynne Rosetto Kasper. Between the myriad food stains and the generally tatty condition of the binding, my copy looks like it's 100 years old. But that was unique to my particular taste and place in time when I found it, so other readers might not be so enraptured by it. But that's cool, to each their own.

In terms of recommendations, between Page & Dornenburg's The Flavor Bible and Michael Ruhlman's recent Ratio, cooks have pretty much everything you need to explore your kitchen. Neither one of them is really a 'cookbook', but in conjunction with one and other they make excellent tools and are effective companions. Before I got TFB, I would think about dishes in much the same way as the chart pairings in order to come up with variations. For example; pork goes well with ginger. Ginger goes well with carrots. What can I make with pork and carrots? That sort of six-degrees-of-(Kevin) bacon approach comes naturally to me, and I imagine to many people who love to cook, so I took to TFB quite easily when I got it.

ren_74229

@Brian Logical cuisine is quite interesting, because it was one of the first books that I encountered in english that really explained modernist techniques and put them into a specific context. The El Bulli books were always picture + recipe, so if you were to understand a technique, you needed to do some personal exploration. However, this was the first book I ran into that put the techniques into a personal conceptual framework. Aside from the techniques we typically associate with "modernist," there are also "traditional" techniques that he explores with logical understanding. It was interesting to see the specific thoughts behind the concepts and techniques rather than just "here is the technique, enjoy the result"

There doesn't seem to be much citation in the book in terms of origins...but I suppose that's a separate discussion.

A_L_Esterling_35269

I love this thread! Many thanks for everybody’s input on their favorite cookbooks.

We’ve added a Cookbooks We Love page to the ChefSteps store and we have a lot more favorites in our collection that I’ll be adding in the next few weeks. Keep those recommendations coming. I’ll be adding to our Pinterest page as well, so if you’re looking for new books to check out or want to share with friends, please do so!

Rob_Connoley_68489

Beyond many previously listed I want to share one that is more obscure but has kindled my passion countless times: Black Pudding and Foie Gras by Andrew Pern. One of the most passionate books that I own in my collection. Recipes are local and British so not all are replicable but certainly inspiring and full of soul.

Yitzchok_Bernstein_88575

Essential Cuisine by Michel Bras
All the Paco Torreblanca books, amazing pastry reference.

Christopher_Perry_68879

@ Christoffer Hagen: in regards to ice cream, you might want to take a look at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams At Home by Jeni Britton Bauer. She owns a small chain of ice cream shops in and around Columbus, Ohio and, while it is most definitely a recipe book, she does get into a bit of the science she learned along the way. I was drawn to it by the great flavours (I've got some Goat Cheese Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries in my freezer right now), but also by the fact that she doesn't use eggs in her base.

Christoffer_Hagen_53003

Sorry for not being active in my own thread

I have read it through several times though, and the advice on books here are awesome. Placed an order yesterday night for

The Elements of Dessert
The Art of Fermentation
Jenis Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Many more books here in the thread that i want purchase, but I need to build my library slowly