Reddit mentions: The best herb, spice & condiment cooking books

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie, so I have a bunch to recommend. I'm interpreting this as "good cookbooks from cuisines in Asia" so there are some that are native and others that are from specific restaurants in the US, but I would consider these legit both in terms of the food and the recipes/techniques. Here are a few of my favorites:


Pan-Asian

• Asian Dumplings - the masterpiece on all things dumpling
  
• Asian American - Dale Talde's (Top Chef) book with lots of Asian cultures' food in the US
  
• Asian Pickles - pickles and fermented foods from throughout Asia
  
• Lucky Rice - recipes from the Asian festival of the same name
  
• The Asian Grandmother's Cookbook - traditional cooking passed down to American cooks
  
  Burmese
  
  
• Burma:Rivers of Flavor - good focus on difference in Burmese cuisine from other regional
  
  Cambodian
  
  
• Num Pang - Cambodian sandwich restaurant in NYC
  
• Cambodian Cooking - GREAT book on Cambodian cuisine, supporting refugees
  
  Chinese
  
  
• Ken Hom Complete Chinese Cookbook - great primer for cooking Chinese food using ingredients commonly available in US
  
• China Moon - classic SF Chinese restaurant food
  
• Feeding the Dragon - modern culinary journey through all of China
  
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking - omnibus focused on the home chef
  
• Breath of a Wok - focus on wok technique at home
  
• Every Grain of Rice - wonderful Sichuan food for home cooks
  
  Indian
  
  
• Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking - actually, any of her cookbooks are wonderful for Indian cooking
  
• Savour Mumbai - looks at Indian cuisine as a melting pot in Mumbai
  
• The Indian Family Cookbook - modern South Indian food
  
• Indian Harvest - Vikas Khanna's family cookbook
  
• Made in India - classic Indian food, from street to home
  
  Indonesia
  
  
• The Food of Indonesia - everything you need for a rijstaffel!
  
  Japanese
  
  
• Japanese Farm Food - authentic rural Japanese cooking
  
• Preserving the Japanese Way - how to make awesome Japanese pickled vegetables
  
• Sushi Chef - not strictly speaking a cookbook, but "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" book in English
  
• The Japanese Grill - authentic hibachi and Japanese grill recipes
  
• Japanese Comfort Food - lots of traditional Japanese recipes
  
• Nanban - Japanese "soul food"
  
• Tokyo Cult Recipes - hip modern urban food from Tokyo
  
• Yum Yum Bento Boxes - updated modern take on bento boxes
  
• Ivan Ramen - traditional ramen for a Western audience
  
• Izakaya - traditional Japanese pub food & small plates
  
• Nikkei - emigrant Japanese food culture in South America
  
• Donabe - traditional Japanese hot pot recipes
  
• Kyotofu - very unique Japanese dessert cookbook
  
  Korean
  
  
• K Food - modern take on Korean street food
  
• Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking - great resource for Korean cooking in a non-pro kitchen
  
• Traditional Food - omnibus of four regions of Korean food
  
• Koreatown - authentic, approachable guide to Korean food in a US context
  
• Smoke & Pickles - Edward Lee's fusion of his Korean heritage and southern barbeque
  
• The Kimchi Cookbook - many, many recipes for kimchi...
  
  Malaysian
  
  
• Malaysian Cooking - good overview of Malay cooking
  
  Middle Eastern
  
  
• The New Persian Kitchen - modern Iranian food
  
• Ottolenghi - Israeli-Palestinian collaboration
  
• Persiana - dynamic modern recipes from throughout the Middle East
  
• Zahav - modern Israeli food
  
• Sweet Middle East - traditional and modern desserts
  
  Philippine
  
  
• Filipino Homestyle Dishes - good intro to classic Filipino dishes
  
  Russian
  
  
• Mamushka - focus on Ukraine
  
  Sri Lankan
  
  
• Hidden Kitchens of Sri Lanka - beautiful photo-cookbook on Sri Lankan cuisine
  
  Taiwanese
  
  
• The Food of Taiwan - um... food... from Taiwan
  
  Thailand
  
  
• Nong's Thai Kitchen - she beat Bobby Flay in pad thai
  
• Pok Pok - Portland's most AWESOME Asian restaurant
  
  Turkish
  
  
• Istanbul:Recipes from the Heart of Turkey - lovely focus on urban Turkish food
  
• Anatolia - wonderful approachable approach to Turkish cuisine
  
• Essential Turkish Cuisine - focus on history and evolution of Turkish food
  
  Vietnamese
  
  
• The Slanted Door - great Vietnamese restaurant cookbook
  
• Vietnamese Market Cookbook - focus on simple Vietnamese from fresh ingredients
  
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen - traditional Vietnamese home cooking
  
• The Banh Mi Cookbook - the greatest sandwich in the world!
  
• Vietnamese Home Cooking - another great overview
  
  (edit: screwed up a couple links)

Good for you for making that connection! It's not an easy thing to accept, but once you do, you're kinda stuck this way.

1. A non-vegan can live happily in a vegan household. My SO is non-vegan but, I do all the cooking for us so we have a vegan kitchen. I would be uncomfortable cooking and paying for animal products at this point and he knows better than to ask that of me. I would bet that you're a fantastic chef and will have no problem keeping your husband full and satisfied.
   
   
2. If you're comfortable using it then do so. But I warn you that it may desensitize you to eating/preparing animal products again or it'll make you feel disgusted. If possible, I would donate it to a local food bank or a friend.
   
   
3. Clearly, you care about your son so I don't think you will harm him. Keep a watchful eye and maybe contact your pediatrician for advice, there are plenty that are veg-friendly. I would also recommend following some vegan parent blogs.
   
   
4. Like all other weightloss or weight maintenance, if you're keeping an eye on your calories then you should be fine. You can easily keep carbs under 50%, but you may find that the volume of food you're consuming will increase quite a bit. Most people lose weight when going vegan so don't be surprised if that happens (just maybe don't add tahini to every meal like I did).
   
   
5. My best friend has IBS and it improved drastically after severely cutting down on her meat intake. I imagine that there will be an adjustment period (I had like 4 BMs a day and was cramping due to bloat for a couple weeks), but cutting out animal products could really help your IBS as well.. Only time will tell.
   
   
6. Yes, you can! I haven't frozen seitan for quite that long but it would be interesting to see how it goes. I imagine it would be fine though. Also this recipe for tofu nuggets looks really, really good. Cultured vegan cheeses will last quite a while and continually age in the fridge, Miyoko Schinner says they typically last about 100 days. But yes, you can freeze them if you don't use it in time.
   
   
7. Yess this is my jam right here. I read cookbooks like people read novels. It sounds like you would enjoy Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I absolutely love her book Isa Does It and I recommend it to everyone. Her other stuff is also wonderful (I'm sure amazon will show you the rest of her books in their recommendations)! Another one that I think you would enjoy is Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry and Artisan Vegan Cheese. After hearing her speak at VegFest it sounds like she has similar style: doing a lot of prep work beforehand so that doing the everyday meal making is simple. Lastly, I will recommend Plum Bistro's Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes. The restaurant is absolutely fantastic and while I haven't made anything in this book since I got it (because I am a little intimidated tbh), I have no doubt that you could get a lot of use from this with your culinary skills.
   
   I hope this was at least a tiny bit helpful! Good luck! :)

Okay, you've caught me; there's beer and wine books, too. Here's what you're looking at:

I run a cocktail bar, and I've been meaning to share my library for some time, but I have a knack for lending my books out to friends and colleagues so I keep waiting for it to be complete. Then I realized my collection keeps growing and will never be complete, so I may as well just share a snapshot of it.

Top row:

Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... and the People Behind Them by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh

The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft by Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

The World Encyclopedia of Beer by Brian Glover

How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time by John J. Palmer

Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker, Jr. (aka The Gentleman's Companion Volume II)

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch by Michael Jackson

The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails by Andre Domine

New Classic Cocktails by Mardee Haidin Regan and Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Book of Garnishes by June Budgen

World's Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World's Best Bars and Bartenders by Tom Sandham

The Complete Book of Spirits: A Guide to Their History, Production, and Enjoyment by Anthony Dias Blue

Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches for Her & For Him by Daniel Boulud and Xavier Herit

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar by David Wondrich

Middle Row:

Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

The New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders' Manual; or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style by Harry Johnson (Espresso Book Machine Reprint)

Michael Jackson's Bar & Cocktail Companion: The Connoisseur's Handbook by Michael Jackson

The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner & Randy Clemens

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas by Brad Thomas Parsons

A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails by R. Winston Guthrie & James F. Thompson

The Bartender's Guide to IBA Official Cocktails by Jenny Reese (Espresso Book Machine Printing)

Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich

The Home Distiller's Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials by Matt Teacher

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Difinitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page

The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes that Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast by The Editors of Imbibe Magazine

The ABC of Cocktails by Peter Pauper Press

How to Make Your Own Drinks: Create Your Own Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drinks from Fruit Cordials to After-Dinner Liqueurs by Susy Atkins

How to Make a World of Liqueurs by Heather Kibbey & Cheryl Long

Women generally enjoy stuff that falls into any of the following categories:

• Currency
  
  
• Shiny things
  
  
• Chocolate
  
  So, obviously, chocolate dollars are the perfect gift. Wrap in a fancy box.
  
  I've given it as a birthday gift to a friend and it was very well received. Also: the women at the party spent a while pouring the chocolates over one another on her bed. All in all, I would say it was a success.
  
  You should follow the others' advice though -- take a look at our ideas, but do give some thought to what she enjoys and what would really be special.
  
  I felt idiotic one season when it failed to occur to me to make her a bracelet. She wore a bunch from her friends from all over. Stupid, stupid wasted opportunity.
  
  I made a mahogany puzzle box one Winter. It looked a little like this one. I put a hanayama puzzle in it. Does she like puzzles? They're delightful and expertly designed.
  
  I started a bookmarks folder a while ago with ideas for presents so that I wouldn't have to scramble for ideas ever again. (I suggest this, too. What are the chances of stumbling across something unique in the short portion of the year you're on the lookout for presents? Foresight, my friend!)
  
  Here are a bunch, hope something catches your eye!
  
  
• Fold a dollar into a heart
  
  
• You can get a book of these. She may enjoy that.
  
  
• Unreasonable extravagance as it pertains to soap
  
  
• These go over well. I guess you would surprise her with them afterward. Wouldn't have the same effect if she pulled them from under the tree. Also, protip: don't put rosepetals on beds. Ruins the bedding.
  
  
• If she's a lit-geek, she may find these fantastic.
  
  
• Does she enjoy cooking? Does she want to learn/improve? 1 2
  
  
• Does she enjoy beer? You could use that to find exotic beers for her, or you could get the poster and propose you two attempt to catch 'em all.
  
  
• Have you seen Trigun? Has she seen Trigun? WATCH IT. The original can be found here.
  
  
• Does she find cleverness entertaining? Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is some of the best I've ever seen. Consider "The West Wing" and "Charlie Wilson's War"
  
  
• Does she like science fiction and/or fantasy? I'm getting this poster printed out, and giving it to someone with a marker and a gift card for amazon (I know they have a kindle. Christmas morning activities -- deciding which to buy!)
  
  
• The Fall (movie)
  
  
• Is she interested in travelling? Check out Departures on OLN.
  
  
• Consider getting her one of these: Trine, Braid Trine is a beautiful toy (1 - 3 players). Braid is fun and, genuinely, perhaps the most moving piece of art I've ever experienced. Books, music, movies, plays -- Braid tops many of them.
  
  
• Has she read Calvin and Hobbes? Have you?!

I'm a very visual learner, so I got good by watching Julia Child. She regularly peppers her shows with advice about how to get good at something, and how to customise a recipe when things go wrong, or when you want to switch things up a bit. She's got a decidedly French leaning, but French food is a very good place to start anyway. The full set of DVDs of The French Chef can get had for about $50 from ebay.

There's an episode where she was featuring four recipes for potatoes. She was trying to make a potato cake type of thing. She'd added plenty of butter to the pan, and threw in the boiled lightly crushed potatoes. She didn't let it set for a very long time, but tried to flip the whole thing over in one piece. Half of it ended up on the stove. Without skipping a beat, she scooped it off the stove, threw it back in the pan, and said the iconic line "When you're alone in the kitchen, who's going to see?" She then proceeded to dump it into a dish, throw in a load of cream and a few cubes of cheese, and instructed you to let it hang out under the broiler so that it gets bubbly and crisped up. She mentioned that you shouldn't ever apologise for how something came out, and just carry on as if that new thing is what you'd intended all along.

Whenever she had the ability to do so, she'd show you how to do something from scratch, including how to filet a fish, how to separate out a whole chicken, and how to break down larger steaks into serving sized portions. And, because you're watching her do it all for you, you get an idea of what it is you're looking for, step by step.

Another great resource (although their recipes are white, and tend towards the bland) is America's Test Kitchen's TV Show cookbook. On the show itself, they don't go into technique very much, but they certainly do so in the book. There are large, colourful pictures about how each step of the cooking process should look, and hundreds of recipes to try out. They thoroughly test out each recipe repeatedly, using tools that the average home cook will have access to, and taste test the results. It's an excellent resource to have on hand. You can generally find it used for about $20.

If you're curious to try out baking your own bread, I cannot highly recommend enough Bread by Eric Treuille.

https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Eric-Treuille/dp/1409352722/

It has HUGE full colour photos of the final product, and lots of foundational advice about the art of baking bread. They discuss various flours, how to combine them into an existing recipe, and the effects they have on the final loaf. It's one that I turn to whenever I have a craving for home made bread, and it's never lead me wrong.

If you want SOLID advice about how to quickly build up your cooking repertoire, Mike Ruhlman's Ratio is your best bet.

https://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728/

He realised that most basic recipes can be broken down into ratios, so that if you need to scale up or scale down, you can do so very quickly. His technique to teach you how to get comfortable with ratios is very good.

Another EXCELLENT place to start learning to build your own recipes is Julia's Kitchen Wisdom.

https://www.amazon.com/Julias-Kitchen-Wisdom-Essential-Techniques/dp/0375711856/

She gives some basic techniques on foundational recipes, and then tells you how to tweak the recipes to work with whatever you've got on hand. It's less a by the books recipe compendium, and more of a philosophical understanding of how recipes work, and what flavours should go together.

Speaking of flavour. Get The Flavour Bible by Karen Page.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/

There are hundreds of ingredients, and the things that go well with them. Instead of giving you a recipe, it gives you ideas of things to combine together, so that they go together in delicious ways.

If you are going to get a ruler, go ahead and get a kitchen ruler:

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Rules-Mini/dp/B00DT1XYDM/

It's small, but it has a TON of great information on it. Very useful to gauge whether or not you're hitting your marks for whatever size you're aiming for.

Spices are a great way to up your cooking game, but they definitely take some learning. It's almost like learning how to read a language - there are different symbols that represent sounds, and there are grammatical rules for how you put them together.

I recommend tasting examples of spice combinations - go out to eat at places that do interesting spices, like Greek, Indian, Ethiopian, Korean, etc. Then read up online about what kinds of spices and herbs they use for their various dishes. This trains your palate and smell along with your knowledge. Indian cuisine is the hardmode for learning spices, but it's super sophisticated in how it's used. You can and do prepare spices in all sorts of ways for Indian cooking - toast whole, toast then grind, toast whole in oil, grind then bloom in oil, etc. And their different masalas are an excellent way to learn blending of spices. 660 Curries is a great encyclopedic resource for learning about spices and how they're used in Indian cooking.

Try getting a couple spice blends to try - such as Herbs de Provence (French) or a barbecue spice rub - use them in cooking and look at the ingredients. Make it almost like flash cards - you try or smell something, then look up what it is. That will help you become better at recognizing spices and herbs when you encounter them in the wild (in food) and also show you the patterns where they fit together. Generally, spices give more flavor when they're heated with oil, so make sure that your test preparations include that element somewhere to get the most out of the spices.

I assign my partner to create spice rubs for our steaks now, because it's a way for them to practice using their nose and knowledge to make a blend that not only tastes good, but that fits their idea of the flavor experience they are trying for.

Lastly, consider getting The Flavor Bible, which is a great resource for suggesting ways to pair ingredients with flavors, including spices and herbs. While you personally may not like every pairing, it's a good way to practice combining flavors that are generally seen as compatible.

This isn't a book, but I'll share with you the best way I've found to learn herbs. Pick a few that seem interesting. Then get the seeds. Grow some from seed. You get to see how they develop, what the seedlings look like, how it grows, when it flowers, what it smells like. You get familiar with it by taking care of it and spending time with it. Then you use it. Try making a salve. Make tea, or candies. Taste it. Then you'll recognize it anywhere. Next season, do the same with new herbs (but keep the old around as well). Do this even if the herb grows wild in your area. Then you'll be able to spot it easier from a distance just by its overall shape.

Now, on the subject of books: The Complete Book of Herbs is quite nice. But I've found the most useful information in snippets here and there. A Druid's Herbal has good preparation tips, and some good info on the medicinal uses, but goes a lot into magic and other nonsense (still a good read). I have a few pages from various Mother Earth News magazines from the 80's that have great preparation tips. Also, the Internet is great if you know what you're looking for.

Good question. I always have cinnamon on hand because it works great in both savory and sweet dishes. Also a great way to cut back on sugar, which I have been doing recently. Smoked paprika is amazing because you it works great in barbecue, and with tomato or lemon. Whole cumin because they can be used either way, and it is an irreplaceable flavor in many dishes. Basil and rosemary because they seem to work in a lot of things. Garlic powder because you can throw it on just about anything and it will be good. If you tend not to keep dijon mustard on hand, mustard powder is always good. Whole nutmeg because those things last forever. Thyme is really good; try lemon thyme. Ginger is a lot of fun. Allspice is really good too with both meats and pastries. Fresh lemons or limes are really good. Onions and peppercorns are a must in every kitchen. Don't buy ground pepper. Taste is lost completely.

Best thing to do is pick spices and herbs that span a couple of different types of cuisine that way you aren't having to buy a lot of specialty herbs and spices for nights you want something inspired by Spanish cuisine or Middle Eastern. If you have an extra 20 or 30 bucks, I suggest buying The Flavor Bible. You will learn a lot about flavors and which ones play well in a lot of different dishes.

Some additions to the Japanese section:

• Dashi Stock Granules (or you could make your own with bonito flakes and some big sheets of konbu). This stuff is the base of almost everything in Japanese cooking.
  
• Sake. The brand I get is Gekeikan. Comes in a green glass bottle. Not just for drinking.
  
• Rice Wine Vinegar. Used in sushi rice, dressings, sauces, and marinades.
  
  As an aspiring cook of Chinese foods, I got a book called "stir-frying to the sky's edge" and most of the recipes in it call for at least 3 of the following ingredients. I had one hell of a time tracking them all down at my local H-mart, but they were all there. It just took a very thorough inspection of the sauce and liquid ingredient isles.
  
  Chinese:
  
  
• Oyster sauce (Okay, just remembered you are vegetarian, but I'm gonna leave this up for the benefit of others.)
  
• Black Bean Sauce (Tenmen Jiang)
  
• Chili Bean Sauce (Douban Jiang)
  
• XiaoXing Cooking Wine (You might find different spellings... along with all of these Chinese ingredients now that I think about it.)
  
• Black Vinegar (ChianKiang Vinegar)
  
• Light and Dark Soy Sauce
  
• Sesame Oil (You can find this anywhere... Just mentioning because I use it all the time)
  
• Hoisin
  
• Red Fermented Bean Curd (Only if you want to make your own char siu. As a westerner I've never read about any other uses for it. This is what you're supposed to use instead of red food coloring).
  
  Don't know shit about Korean cooking (except that it requires good micro).
  
  Thai:
  
  
• I once followed a recipe for a very authentic tasting red curry paste that came out great. The only thing it called for that you haven't listed is shrimp paste. It's pretty foul stuff--smells horrible, tastes bad by itself, overpowering if you add too much. But, I added it anyway and, like I said, it tasted very authentic and I was very happy with it. I might just omit it next time to not have to deal with it, but I thought you'd like to know about it for the sake of authenticity. Gah, I just remembered you were vegetarian AGAIN. Sorry. Anyway, the recipe is here and they give vegetarian substitutes for all the ingredients.
  
  
• Also, if you want to cook Pad Thai, you need Tamarind Paste.
  
  Some posts in here have covered Indian starter spices really well so I wont repeat them, but I will tell you some of my experiences:
  
  
• Buy a coffee grinder to grind spices yourself.
  
• Even after buying tons of spices for indian cooking, it seems like no matter what, whenever I come onto a new recipe I really want to try, it calls for one spice I don't have. Be prepared to either plan your curries out well in advance or settle for omitting one spice from the recipe every now and then.
  
• Buy a cook book. After scouring the internet, all I could find were recipes by non-indians that called for "curry powder". if it calls for curry powder, chances are it's not authentic. I got a book called 660 Curries which is authentic and beginner friendly.
  
• I bought my spices online from Savory Spice Shop They are A+ would shop again. Not sure if they ship outside the US, though. Make sure you know how much an ounce of each spices is just so you don't do what I did... "Hmm, Coriander seeds... 1oz doesn't seem like much at all. Better go with six. OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE."
  
  Anyway, took me about two years to figure all this shit out and I'm still going, so hopefully you wont have to take that long. I find that after the initial cost of investing in these asian pantry items, you can just pretty much buy only meat, veggies, and grains and make nearly anything since you've got all the flavors on hand. Have fun shopping.
  

Investing in culinary texts rather than cookbooks really helped me. These books provide very basic recipes along with relevant techniques/information. Once you get these down, it's a heck of a lot easier to be creative with your dishes (e.g. knowing the 5 mother sauces of French cuisine leads to literally thousands of other recipes).


Suggested reading material:

Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making
One of my absolute favorites, I refer to this book pretty much every time I'm in the mood for something new. The author does a great job at keeping things simple while providing great information on traditional applications (along with how to flavor things to your own tastes) for dishes ranging from Mornay sauce to Ganache.


On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals
This was my required text for intro culinary classes, which makes it expensive. I'm sure finding older/used versions will be much cheaper and just as useful. This is a great resource for techniques such as deboning poultry, ideal use for various potato species, the different cuts of beef and pork, the best cooking methods for said cuts, culinary terms, etc.


The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
My god do I love Marcella Hazan. She's the Italian Julia Child, and does a fantastic job at making intimidating dishes much more approachable. While this is more of a classic cookbook than the previous two, Hazan provides info on produce selection, basic kitchen techniques, ideal tools to have, and, of course, hundreds of traditional Italian recipes with notes on altering flavor profiles.


YMMV, depending on how deep into the cooking world you'd like to get. Sometimes it's just easier for me to look through google results of a specific dish for inspiration. Good luck!

Websites worth reading: BBQ Brethren Probably the best and and most noob friendly bbq forum on the net.

any off the current offset smokers sold for less than $600 of so are total shit. Yes youcan buy them and mod them to hell to make them work well but that would be expensive. Here is what i suggest get on craigslist and search for smokers buy a used Smokin Pit Pro (SnP) or New Brauffels Black Diamond (NBBD) for $70 and have a pit that is 10 times what you would buy at lowes or home depot. The problem with the current crop of offset smokers is how thin they are. Smoking meat is all about temp control and the mass (and there for ability to hold heat) of of your smoker comes into play quite a bit. My NBBD uses steel that is probably 1/8th inch thick (pro pits are 1/4th inch at the minimum with some using 1/2 inch) and i still need to load up the chamber with bricks to add mass the stuff they are selling now are much closer to 1/16th thick. Sadly the time for pretty good quality back yard smokers for cheap has gone.

If you MUST get something new your best bet is going to be a Weber Smokey MOuntain (WSM) it has a HUGE FOLLOWING and turns out some great product,

Alternatively you could make an Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS) on the cheap provided you can get ex food metal 55gal drums for cheap/free. there is a HUGE thread on BBQ Brethren dedicated to the UDS.

Also i hightly suggest you pick up Smoke and Spice is an EXCELLENT resource full of techniques and recipes for real wood burning bbq.

if you are interested in sausage making Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman is the book you want it is by far one of the best entry level sausage/curing book out there.

If you have any questions i am currently bored silly here at work so feel free to ask away and i will do my best to answer them

Riddle the First
a toast!
There's this emergency candle. It has three wicks! How else would you make toast, if not over an open flame? And everyone knows how much more pleasant it is to study by candlelight. Found here

Riddle the Second
a broom?
On the arts-and-crafts list there lies a "bookbinding brush," to use when making notebooks! Not only does it look like a miniature broom, but every student needs a notebook to take notes in! Found here

Riddle the Third
a hat!
On "Chris's List," There is a lovely bundt cake pan. This lovely bundt cake pan could serve as a beautiful hat! As long as you don't mind looking like you've been caught in a whirlwind! And, it always serves to have something sweet to bribe your teachers with. ;) Found here

Riddle the Fourth
a book!
I have a whole wishlist full of books. The one I'd like most right now is The Hot Sauce Cookbook. It's about how to make hot sauce! Keeping a student entertained during holidays is the best way to avoid chaos at school! Found here

Riddle the Fifth
a trunk!
In the arts-and-crafts list, there is a beautiful wooden box. It's just the right size for a few novels. And just the right size to hide under those school books so no one finds those ahem special books. Found here

For Bonus Points
a cape!
On my "Arts and Crafts" list, I have an unfinished lighthouse. Just like the ones on CAPE Cod! A cape is necessary for those brief naps in the library. Better than a sleep mask! Found here

Mischief Managed!

I like The Flavor Bible. It lists pretty much any ingredient you can think of and all the flavors that pair well with them.

I love it because if you know a few basic techniques and recipes, then you can greatly enrich your experience by knowing what flavors pair well. Like if you're making a rub for some ribs or whatever you're throwing on the grill but you want to change it up a little bit, you can get some great ideas that way and just try new and interesting flavor combinations. It will also tell you when there are combinations of like 3 or 4 flavors that work really well together.

And as you're trying new combinations, you start to get more of a taste for things. Like a made this rub for chicken thighs with brown sugar, cardamum, ginger, salt and pepper that was awesome. The chicken came out fantastic until I put the terrible barbecue sauce I made that I should have thought through more (I got cocky).

Anyway, because of The Flavor Bible, I made some basil and strawberry brownies because of this that turned out really well. Some orange, ginger, whiskey brownies that were pretty good. I made cayenne, lime, and paprika brownies that were mind-blowing. I made a blue berry tart with cardamum that was damn good. I like desserts... desserts and barbecue.

What's more nomalicious than Chocolate??? This is seriously the best dutch process cocoa powder known to mankind. No really! That much might last you until your next bulkish order...maybe. Being a carnivore, I use this to make an awesome rub for pork and poultry along with ancho chile, a bit of chipoltle chile for heat, and a dash of Mexican oregano. It is available in smaller amounts but costs more per pound then. And on to that most excellent of spices Cinnamon! Once again, this is the most nomalicious Cinnamon known to mankind. I make an unbelievable rhubarb coffee cake and amazing monkey bread with this stuff. It seriously takes any recipe with cinnamon to the next level. It can also be used to add heat to savory recipes. And for my last suggestion I give you Powdered White Cheddar!?!? Nomalicious on popcorn, for making sauces, adding to bread, and sprinkling on vegetables. It does look like recent reviews aren't as stellar as they could be but my experience with this stuff has been all good. Were I to win I'd appreciate The Flavor Bible from my wish list which I'd point you to in a PM ;)

Enjoy! =D

This is one of my favorite salads, and something I eat regularly. It's delicious, and we can call it high-class if you want. It's a combination that presents beautifully, and one I frequently serve.

But IMO, I wouldn't qualify it as sophisticated for two reasons

1.) The flavor combination is not particularly complex. By definition, sophisticated is "highly developed; complex." (Or, if you want to go with dictionary.com's definition, "developed to a high degree of complexity.")

To me, complexity in food is a combination of flavors that will interest my mouth in a multitude of novel ways, where there is either a) an unexpected progression of flavor, or b) a certain je ne sais quoi that I JUST CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY. This is what can elevate the simplest dish, like mac & cheese, to the highest levels of "sophisitcation" and innovation.

This flavor combination (and the wings recipe above) are both very basic (although delicious) balancing of flavors and textures. So basic, in fact, that I can now go into my local Panera and order that salad ...

2.) Which brings me to point #2. There are movements in food, as in fashion and architecture and every other form of art. And while things may be at the height of innovation one year (I'm talking to you, duck fat and rosemary potatoes. And you, salted caramel. And yes, you, fruit and goat cheese salad.) the cruel machine that is capitalism will eventually get their filthy claws into these delightful things.

And when they do, said flavor combinations cease to be interesting. A well-executed salted caramel brownie can be one of the most amazing things in the world - it has a rich, oaky nuttiness; a slightly burnt warmth. It's layered and complex and slightly bitter, not overly sweetened, covered in icing, and turned ^into^a^cake^pop.

So I see where u/adremeaux is coming from. It's frustrating for those who are looking for new ideas to see the same few over-done and passe flavor combinations mentioned and touted again and again and again as the very height of complexity and sophistication.

That said, I think a lot of redditors that make it to this subreddit aren't chefs. They don't read The Flavor Bible for fun, their idea of a celebrity encounter isn't meeting Grant Achatz, and they're just learning to branch out from spaghetti and sauce out of the jar. They get excited about things that, to some, seem boring or commonplace, and they want to pass that excitement on to others.

You could call this the blind leading the blind, but I'd rather look at it as something beautiful - for every person in this thread getting excited about a little goat cheese salad today, perhaps we'll see another hot potato, cold potato.

Also, for OP:

Honey & Black Pepper Duck Breast

Roasted Chestnuts with Black Pepper Honey

Baked Apples with Blue Cheese, Black Pepper, and Honey

Honey-Black Pepper Mayonnaise - perhaps on Fall 2011's dearly beloved cranberry, brie, and turkey sandwich?

I'm also going to throw out the ideas, sans recipe, of:

Earl grey tea cookies with a honey-pepper glaze

[Insert fruit of choice] shrub soda with honey and black pepper (I think peach would be quite nice!)

Cocktail - I'd suggest rye and a splash of lemon, but I'm no mixologist.

Hope i was helpful! Enjoy your culinary journey :D

1. Cardomom can come in purple too, apparently. That would probably be black cardomom, the green pods on the right are green cardomom. That whole picture shows the ingredients for chai.
   
   
2. Green chilis will give you similar heat to chili powder, but I'd just recommend picking up some dried red chilis and making your own powder. You can get large bags for cheap at an indian grocer. You can make your own chili flakes from this too. Cloves and cinnamon together can substitute allspice.
   
   
3. Yes, some indian spices are very close to morrocan / thai spices, and there are plenty of spices used in other kinds of savory dishes (italian and oregano, mexican and cumin) or sweet dishes (cinnamon, cardamom) and so on. You've got a much better stock than most people do when they start cooking.
   
   
4. There are plenty of online resources for subbing spices. Just read up when you have to.
   
   
5. Just start with what you have, and if you are missing something, grab it. I have over 100 spices at home and probably use 30 of them frequently. Just figure out what you like and run out of by learning new dishes. You might want to either grow an herb garden, or stock up on leaf spices (thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, basil, savory, majorum and so on). These are generally better fresh but dried can still impart flavor. I also enjoy different table salts (black lava salt, pink salt) for different flavors.
   
   
6. You really learn this by making dishes. The more you cook, the better you will be able to remember how spices go together. Also, there's "Culinary Artistry" or "The Flavor Bible" for most spices you will encounter. This book lists all different foods and spice and what is traditionally mixed with what.
   
   
   
7. Just have fun with spice! It really is a learning process, but once you get the hang of it, it really makes all the difference in cooking. You can make wonderful dishes very easily if you master the use of spice. Good luck!
   
   Edit : 8. Wear gloves, and just try not to be careless. You will probably injure yourself cooking in one way or another, but you can take precautions to minimize the injury. I have about 8 cuts on my hands from my chefs knife, but they all happened because I was either drinking or was half awake. I've burned myself from pans, but again, it's because I was being careless.

This is a great idea for a challenge. I'm not so great at budgeting but I always enjoy reading about other people's money-saving victories.

Budget cooking resources. I only know of two budget cooking cookbooks for vegans, Eat Vegan on $4 a Day by Ellen Jaffe Jones, which I don't have, and Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson, which I do.

https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Vegan-4-00-Day-Conscious-ebook/dp/B006IS83W0/

https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cheap-Robin-Robertson-ebook/dp/B00BKROO22/

Vegan on the Cheap is a good money-saving cookbook, especially if you're fast in the kitchen. The thing about trying to budget is that you often have to trade time, creativity and effort for money. Some of the recipes in the cookbook are geared toward making your own staples rather than purchasing them at the store. Others use affordable ingredients like potatoes, cabbage, lentils and winter squash to create tasty main courses. Each meal lists its supposed cost although food has gone up in price since this cookbook was published, so I'm not sure how helpful that is.

While I don't own it, Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry is a cookbook of staples. I suspect it's also money-saving for that reason. Maybe those who have this cookbook can weigh in on whether it is?

https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Making-Staples-ebook/dp/B00NRQXT70

These are a couple of college cookbooks that say they have affordable vegan recipes, though I have no personal experience with them. Maybe someone can weigh in on them? The are:

PETA's Vegan College Cookbook

https://www.amazon.com/PETAS-Vegan-College-Cookbook-Delicious-ebook/dp/B01CO4HH4Q

Student's Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond

https://www.amazon.com/Students-Go-Vegan-Cookbook-Recipes-ebook/dp/B003EVJKIU

There is a new money-saving vegan cookbook in the works that won't be out until June, Frugal Vegan by Katie Koteen.

https://www.amazon.com/Frugal-Vegan-Affordable-Delicious-Cooking-ebook/dp/B01MQ3O7DK/

Finally, I'd like to recommend a book on money-saving that is entertaining as well as educational, The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Tightwad-Gazette-Promoting-Alternative/dp/0375752250

Dacyczyn and her husband's dream was to raise a family of six kids, but to do this, the Dacyczyns had to become radical money savers. They tried and tested many money-saving strategies, and eventually began to publish a newsletter. Their newsletter subscribers contributed suggestions of their own. This book is a compilation of all their newsletters. It is somewhat dated, since they were published in the 1990s, but many of the money saving tips in it can still be applied.

Did you know that soy flour sold in bulk makes a good egg substitute in baked goods? I didn't either, until I read this book. Did you know that you can calculate the energy costs you accrue when you turn on the oven for an hour? This book shows how it can be done. The book also has some strategies for how to grocery shop -- the authors take in account not only prices at the supermarkets in their area, but also the cost of gasoline when they make multiple trips.

They're not vegan, and many of their strategies were too radical for me, but I really enjoyed reading about their creativity and ingenuity.

These are all the resources I know of, off the top of my head, but I'm really looking forward to hearing what books and blogs others have tried!

I've been experimenting with vegan cheeses for awhile and I've found that to really get a good cheese-like substance, you need to have some lactic acid and fermentation going on. Here is the recipe I use from Miyoko's Homemade Vegan Pantry. I love this book for so many homemade staples, it is my go to for many recipes, but Miyoko is like the queen of vegan cheese.

Yield: one pound

Ingredients:
1 cup cashews (raw)
1 Cup Rejuvelac (I use sauerkraut juice because I am often making krauts; but you can also find recipes online and make rejuvelac pretty quick and easy with quinoa--just search for a recipe online)
*1 1/2 tsp sea salt (def. sea salt and don't substitute coarse...I tried once haha)

• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
  1 tsp white, yellow, or chickpea miso
  1/2 tsp onion powder
  *1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP water
  1 TBSP agar powder
  2 TBSP tapioca starch
  
  Directions
  
  Place the cashews, rejuvelac, salt, nooch, miso, and onion powder in a blender and puree until smooth. Transfer to a clean container or jar, cover with a lid, and let sit at room temperature for 1-2 days, until the mixture has thickened, risen, and formed air pockets. It will also taste tangy. You'l notice the texture change to something somewhat gooey and thick. I usually use a spoon and test it.
  
  Put the 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan with the agar and whisk it well so the agar is nicely distributed. Cover the pot with a lid and bring it to a simmer over low heat--it'll take a few minutes (3-4ish). It'll look like it solidified after the first 2 minutes or so but let it keep bubbling until the after is dissolved. When the agar is fully dissolved, pour the cultured cashew mixture you made a day or two ago into the pot. Whisk vigorously and while the mixture heats, dissolve the tapioca starch in the remaining two TBSP of water and add it to the pot. COntinue cooking until the mixture is stretchy and shiny. Cook it until you get just about the desired texture--don't overcook it as it will continue to solidify once you put it in the fridge. Pour the mixture into a glass container and refrigerate until set, at least 4-5 hours (I usually let it go overnight). Wrap the cheese in wax paper or cheese cloth. It will last in the fridge for 2-3 weeks (I often don't mind it at a month to be honest, but it kind of depends how fresh my kraut juice is).
  
  Enjoy!

for nutrition, head on over to your Health Care Provider's website. They should have many helpful articles on eating right. Failing that, check out WebMD's suggestions.

I'm gonna presume it's just you (for now at least). One of the things you'll notice about a lot of recipes out there is that the serving sizes. Check out r/CookingForOne.

Also look over r/AskCulinary. It has a great FAQ (covers books, equipment and ingredients for beginners and experts alike) and Index.

Watch some Julia Child and Alton Brown videos.

for books, head over to your used bookstore and get yourself a copy of The Joy Of Cooking, Ratio and The Flavor Bible. This last one will help you a LOT with your spices.

Yes, I'm suggesting that you spend money. But the equipment (knives, cast iron, etc) and books are an investment. And you don't have to get them all at once.

Finally, it's great when you find items on sale in the produce section of your local market. But if it spoils before you use it all, it's wasted money and food. This is when your local salad bar can be a great help.

Good luck.

Edit: get yourself a rice cooker/steamer. a simple one-button model is all you really need. Always perfect rice and you can steam your veggies in the basket as well. Much healthier. Also, once you get more confident, you can look up some copycat recipes for your favorite fast food restaurant items.

The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner: http://www.amazon.com/The-Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Staples/dp/1607746778

Vegan, not vegetarian, but there are some amazing recipes for really basic staples in there, like condiments, cheese, milk, stocks and broths, meat substitutes, pasta, breads, crackers, and a few simple desserts. There are also some recipes that build on others, like certain soups and stews, or using leftovers and scraps of one recipe to make something new. It's a beautiful book and everything I've made from it so far has been pretty simple and has tasted wonderful. And it's under $15 on Amazon for the hardcover physical version! I highly recommend it!

Yotam Ottolenghi came out with a followup on his Plenty cookbook a few months ago, its called Plenty More. Used to see vegetables as only a side dish but he really changed my mind and enabled me to see that they can really be the star of the table. There are many interesting combinations. And as a man who is an omnivore himself, he often makes his dishes hearty enough that many of us wont even miss the meat.

Another book which you should look into is Thug Kitchen. If you haven't seen their blog, you should really check it out.

You should also look into Deborah Madison's books. This one is practically the Bible among vegetarians due to how comprehensive it is. Ironically, she also is an omnivore.

Theres also the Moosewood Cookbook which is great for weeknight meals as many of the recipes are simple and quick.

If you like Indian, I would really recommend 660 Curries which has some of the best Indian food I've ever tasted. I often compare food I get in Indian restaurants to what I've cooked from this book. Yes, its not completely vegetarian but the vast majority of Indian cuisine is vegetarian so it should still be a valuable resource for you.

Speaking of Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey (who is known for her Indian cookbooks) has a great cookbook dedicated to vegetarian cooking.

Your post inspired me to put up this awesome five ingredient tofu recipe over on r/veganrecipes. I'm calling it LPT: Life Pro Tofu as it's the best tofu recipe I've ever seen. The recipe comes from Miyoko Schinner's book and combines tofu with flax seed gel. The results are amazing; for me, truly mind-blowing. Thinking back, it's amazing how far I've come with good tools and recipes. Here's hoping you might gain some inspiration!

I am by no means an expert, but I recommend baby steps. Instead of trying to make up a whole new recipe from scratch, why not try modifying some recipes you are already comfortable with? You can try substituting ingredients, modifying your seasoning, changing the cooking method for a recipe using the same or similar ingredients, or even combining two different but compatible recipes into something new. I would also maybe try to stick to one culinary tradition at first, like French or Japanese cooking, which use a few key ingredients to create lots of different dishes. I learned a lot from cooking from Harumi Kurihara's cookbooks. Stick with what you know until you become more comfortable imagining flavor profiles and methods of cooking in your head and then you can worry about taking on something completely new.

I've also heard from friends who cook that this book, The Flavor Bible, is good at describing how flavors work. I haven't read it myself (still on my Amazon wishlist until I have more $$), but you may want to check it out. Good luck!

edit: added some stuff

The herbs and spices you get will depend on your tastes, but the windowsill herb garden is a great idea, especially for certain staples that just aren't the same when dried (basil, oregano and rosemary jump to mind).

Different herbs will stay fresh different periods of time in the fridge, its really hard to tell, but most will last at least 2-3 weeks, especially if they have some water in the base of a container.

most of the time I find that toasted\heated spices taste better not worse, so I'm not sure what's going on.

In terms of learning the fundamentals and flavors I am a big fan of the "Flavor Bible" It covers a lot of different combinations, spices, and how to use the flavors contained therein. It doesn't have a lot on how to preserve them, but if you're looking for ideas of things to keep around and how to use them, its a great choice.

Hopefully those are helpful to you.

Hello! SO I personally am a vegetarian, but my significant other is a vegan and I eat and cook only vegan at the house, alongside that I work at a 4.8 star restaurant in my town and am inches away from getting soux after climbing up the ranks. The official fine dining training helped me exponentially in refining and learning basic and advanced culinary skills that I can implement at home with a plant based diet. As far as references I would consult a large number of gourmet vegan cookbooks and learn the skills at home yourself, after purchasing books like 'Artisinal vegan cheese'
https://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830

and my all time favorite cook book, the vegetarian flavor bible
https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Vegetables/dp/031624418X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505111621&sr=1-1&keywords=vegetarian+flavor+bible

and learn enough skills in cooking things like seitans and fake cheeses, you can start looking at more contemporary cookbooks about vegetarian cuisine and just sub out the non vegan items with a vegan substitute
I absolutely agree that seeking out a vegan chef and working in their kitchen is the best way to learn good cooking, but in the town I live in, the only vegan restaurant is ran by an asshole so I had to aloft to a omnivorous restaurant, and yes I do have to taste dishes made with meat, but I aspire to veg/vegan place further down the line that could trick any omnivore!

Video series or anything? I really learned a ton reading The Professional Chef, which is a textbook in a lot of culinary schools I hear. I have the eTextbook version that has a lot of video links and interactivity.

If you're into the science behind cooking I'd also really recommend The Food Lab, I have the hard back version and it's also just a beautiful book.

I also have Cooking and Sauces by Peterson, also textbook quality books.

And of course, the ever popular Better Homes & Gardens Ring-Bound Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and The Joy of Cooking are staples on my bookshelf as well. Great for reference or a quick look to find a particular recipe just to see how others do it.

I also browse a lot of websites and watch a lot on YouTube. I'll save recipes I find online using the Evernote Web Clipper and tag them so I can find them easily in the future. This works great because I can pull them up on my iPad while I'm cooking.

When a recipe calls for a method, tool, or ingredient I'm not very familiar with I'll usually just search it on YouTube and get some ideas about how to use it. That's worked really well for me so far.

I made a vegan gift basket for a friend and her boyfriend this last Christmas and it contained:

• The Homemade Vegan Pantry cookbook Essential.
  
  
• Dickinson’s Purely Fruit spread The blackberry one is my favorite.
  
  
• Bee Free Honee So good in a mug of hot green tea.
  
  
• Carrington Farms coconut oil Good for cooking, body care, or a silky and sexy massage!
  
  
• Some pretzels, fresh sourdough bread, and a banana loaf made with this recipe.
  
  
• Also some mason jars filled with chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flax meal.
  
  
• A few cute little strawberry shaped reusable bags.
  
  

That’s awesome. Glad you have a good solution, sounds like a rad store! Sort of related- If you haven’t ever made your own yogurt, I strongly recommend it, it blows the store bought stuff away. I usually use Westsoy Original soy milk, normally I like unsweetened but the fermentation cultures like the sugar so I get the original. One of these days very soon, I will try the feta recipe from that book...

You may eventually want to check out Miyoko’s “Homemade Vegan Pantry” cookbook. it came out pretty recently and the recipes seem a little updated, not as many in depth recipes on specific types of cheese but the recipes I’ve used out of there have been stellar and I find that I reach for it more often than the Artisan Cheese book. It really depends on what you’re into making. She includes the recipe for her cultured butter and the ice cream recipe is also perfect.

Mine is slow smoked brisket.

Early in my marriage, I bought a small smoker and cooked some ribs. The recipe called for them to be smoked at 225 for 4 hours. While I was out on the small balcony of our Chicago apartment, my wife completely left me alone. I had 4 glorious hours of solitude while I tended the ribs in the smoker. And they came out tender and juicy and delicious. My wife was very proud of my new found skill.

20 years later, we live out in the country and I have a full sized smoker on my deck, and my wife still gives me the temporary solitude that I enjoy.

Now, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I wake up at 4AM and get the smoker going. I will smoke the biggest brisket I can find, usually north of 15 pounds. I will smoke it at 190-200 ALL DAY LONG. From 5AM til 11PM, usually. If it is still not cooked to perfection, I will finish it in the oven overnight.

I use mesquite usually, but sometimes oak or a mix of oak and mesquite. I am a huge fan of this cookbook, and use their recipe for the brisket. If you like smoked meat, I highly recommend it (the hot smoked salmon and martini leg of lamb recipes are also amazing, but all of the recipes in are good. There is even one for 'smoked butter', and that is something you need to try.)

I'm a picky eater too and a new vegan. I feel like 90% of my diet is soy at the moment haha. I find that making alternatives of the foods I liked helps a lot. This book has been amazing the past few weeks. I like it because it shows you how to make staples to use in your diet instead of these crazy recipes that are overwhelming. I made the nuggets in the book the other day and they're super nice and I'm making some of my own mozzarella now!

Also train your taste buds and try new things. We are picky normally because of a mental block that causes us to be repulsed by certain foods and it helps to slowly break it down as much as possible. I personally have made a lot of progress with new foods in the last couple of years.

I hope this helps a little :)

If you want real Indian food, go buy 660 Curries. It's a huge book, but it's amazing, and I've had it for a year now. Every recipe I try is absolutely fantastic, and he gives great tips on techniques. There's everything from how to make your own paneer to biriyanis. The focus is definitely more on curries, but also includes some flatbread recipes and other side dishes.

This is literally my curry bible.

Edit: Also included in this book are various recipes for how to make different spice blends like garam masala or punjabi masala using the whole spices. Invaluable just for that.

>misc books from my amazon wish list

This is exactly what i'm doing since I'm flying back home for the holiday and seeing a lot of family that I haven't seen in nearly a decade. I figure most of the books are around $5-28, so it's not breaking anyone's bank and I get some old texts I haven't felt like truly spending money on. ...and then The Flavor Bible for both work and fun is the one book I'm really hoping someone picks up before I do.

There was a thought of getting a kindle which drops a lot of the prices for said books but I prefer hard copies too much =\

Oh, and from myself I'm picking up these chukka since my boots have started to fall apart and I don't know enough about having them resoled.

Do you guys feel weird making holiday lists as adults? On one hand I feel it helps family and friends who do enjoy the holiday and spirit of giving rather than them possibly wasting money on something you have no use or really don't like, such as cologne or that wicked flame watch I got years ago.

On the other hand ... The things I want, the few, I feel I should be capable of purchasing myself anyhow.

Sometimes I check out Supercook and throw a few ingredients at it to see what comes up, then maybe consult my Flavor Bible and kind of cobble something together. It usually turns out pretty good, or least something I'm interested in improving on, and it's always fun. Sadly, my culinary partner is on the other side of the continent. We share a lot of trial and errors over the phone and by email but it's not the same as cooking and eating together like you and your bff. That's an awesome thing to have with a friend.

I read both /r/smoking and r/bbq, and /r/bbq in general has better traffic and is more suited to "can someone tell me about this model smoker"?

Anyhoo, it's a little hard to tell the quality from the picture. Brinkmann is a good name. I liken them to Toyota. Not the best on the market, also not the worst. I have a Brinkmann SnP and while it has drawbacks, it's not something that I'm unhappy with. It's a good name to start with. That said, some things are unclear. I have two major issues. The first is heat movement. If the meat is sitting directly over the coals, you need some sort of a deflector to prevent the meat from grilling (smoking is more like cooking with an oven). I also can't see vents. A fire needs a good supply of oxygen to burn; this requires good vents. If you have shitty vents, you'll get shitty food. With barbecue, there really is a link between how much a smoker costs and how good it is. A smoker that's $100 or less will either make shitty food or fall apart within a year. If not both. This is a mistake everyone of us has learned the hard way.

I wouldn't focus so strongly on a brisket at first. We all have our favorite things to smoke, but I strongly advocate doing your first smoke with a pack of bratwursts as well as a turkey or pork shoulder. Turkey and pork shoulder are delicious smoked, they're cheap, and they're hard to eff up. Brisket is tricky to get right. If you have tons of money and wouldn't be upset to destroy a $30+ cut of beef in maiden smoke, that's one thing. But your maiden smoke is hard. Believe me- my first time, I literally took three hours to get my rig up to temperature. I actually wondered if there was a risk that my pork shoulder spoiled on the way to being cooked (it didn't, but I'm sure I'd get a ticky mark from a health inspector). The bratwursts are there to keep you fed during the 10 hours your pork shoulder (or whatever) takes to cook.

As for chips/charcoal ratio, I would suggest you read up a bit about BBQ before starting. You really want to use hardwood lump charcoal, and you should avoid chips if at all possible. The reason is that when you buy a nice bag of hickory or cherry chips, it's probably 50-80% cut with oak. Think: how often do you drive past a stand of hickory trees? How often do you drive past a stand of oak trees? This tip and lots, lots more will be covered in any good BBQ book. I recommend two:

1. Smoke & Spice
   
2. Peace, Love, and Barbecue
   
   If you hate books : ( then there's a fantastic online resource called Amazing Ribs (which discusses all types of BBQ, including I'm sure your coveted Texas-style brisket).
   
   As I said before, don't buy wood chips. Buy chunks or logs. You'll find a few types at your local Home Depot or Lowes, and any type of wood you can't find there is available at Barbecue Wood. They're a bit pricey, but they ship anywhere in the lower 48 free. And when I say any kind of wood, I mean any. I've been itching to try some of their pecan wood; just haven't gotten around to it because I'm sitting on a big pile of hickory I don't want to get moldy.
   
   Hope that helps! Feel free to send me a PM if you want (though I'm a bit slow these days as I'm moving), and remember that at /r/BBQ you'll probably get more responses to your equipment inquiries.

Here is what I do/did for simple quick semi healthy meals : First buy a nonstick wok, for like $25 at target. Buy a cheap beef or pork roast the morning of your day off and cut it up into thin slices like you get at a chinese restaurant (chicken breasts a good too). Portion it out into about 1lb per ziplok bag and freeze. Buy some frozen stirfry veggies. Buy some teriyaki or other asian bottled sauce ( I am partial to House of Tsang).

When you get home heat the wok with just a little vegetable or sesame oil (careful with sesame because it has a low smoking point) pour in some of the frozen veg and cook til warm (about 4 minutes) drain excess water. add the meat that you thawed out in the fridge from the night before and just enough sauce to coat the ingredients. Turn the heat to high and cook til the meat is just cooked through (5 minutes or less. Eat what you want and take the leftovers to work for lunch tommorow.

you can do this with fresh veg but them you have to cut it all up yourself. Also there are lots of different veggie combos and sauce options.

A quick few essentials to always have on hand: Potatoes, fresh garlic, salt, pepper. a bag of yellow onions, soy sauce, sriracha if you like heat, 2 different small blocks of cheese, 2 boxes of pasta in what ever shape you like, just not the store brand which is almost always subpar, 2 jars of pasta sauce (you get what you pay for so no Prego or Ragu they are filled with sugar) and lastly, atleast for me, a couple of frozen pizzas.

these days I cook from scratch much of the time and the 2 cookbooks I would recommend are How to Cook Everything and The Flavor Bible. With these two books you can make a great meal with just about anything.

tl;dr: just read it I actually put some effort into helping.

The dextrose is just what I use as a primer for the yeast and the 1/4tsp is per the label instructions. I'm not sure how much if any flavor is imparted from it but this has been my method for every batch I've made so far and I haven't had a bad batch yet out of the five batches I've done.

Edit: As for the vanilla extract: it had a more prominent flavor at first but then I decided to go in a completely different direction with this one so I didn't add any more. I guess it's not necessary to add any then haha.

Edit 2: I love experimenting with flavor combinations! A good book for anyone into flavor profiles is The Flavor Bible. I actually had a watermelon basil salad at a potluck and it was really good. The idea to add chili powder came from the Flavor Bible.

Edit 3: lawlz hyperlinks

YES, I love making Indian food because you can turn relatively basic ingredients into ridiculously delicious meals with the right spices. I really love this book, which I got as a present a few years back. It can be bought used for super cheap http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Indian-Cooking-Julie-Sahni/dp/0688037216

edit: I also really like Aarti Sequeira's youtube channel for her Indian recipes or American recipes with an Indian twist. She also now has a Food Network show. She's fun to watch and makes Indian food a lot more accessible.

My go to place for Indian recipes has become Manjula's Kitchen. That lady is like the Indian grandmother I never had. Here's a few noteworth recipes:

Paneer, this homemade cheese is really, realy easy to make and used for a lot of stuff.

Palak Paneer: Very quick and easy diesh that is very good.

Achari Paneer, I know, more paneer, but it is good stuff.

The spices in most of Manjulla's recipes are pretty basic, too. With the exception of asafetida you can find everything else easily at a local big box store.

If you would prefer a cook book, 660 Curries is also a great way to get started.

This recipe comes from the EXCELLENT (and very large!) cookbook, "660 Curries" by Raghavan Iyer. I got it this past Christmas and have been trying new recipes out almost every week. It's not a vegetarian/vegan cookbook, and has plenty of non-veg recipes... but wow, there are a TON of veggie ones. Like hundreds of pages. It's been a really great resource, and tons of fun/very instructive to work through. This recipe has become a regular in our rotation, because it's such a delicious way to pack in the veggies. We've been using sweet potato/cabbage/carrot (and we use vegetable oil instead of ghee), but I'm looking to switch it up for spring next time we make it.

Edit: Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to put up a recipe format before it's removed. I have tendinitis in both my hands atm and it hurt a ton to type up the above paragraph - I will edit it tomorrow morning after they've had a day to rest.

trying adding more salt. sometimes stuff is just under seasoned. i'm no expert at all, but i do like to cook. here some cool books i have gotten that i have liked. i know they look expensive but they are awesome starter books.

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this book is used in culinary schools that have base recipes for stuff you can expand on.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America-ebook/dp/B076DMFJR6/ref=pd_sim_351_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B076DMFJR6&pd_rd_r=5f939938-cb0a-11e8-9abb-7d2cd28fbd32&pd_rd_w=NqA2i&pd_rd_wg=nSx0t&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=KE3361D1T1JE1EPGF841&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=KE3361D1T1JE1EPGF841

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and here is one to help do the expanding.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative-ebook/dp/B001FA0P86/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1539010578&sr=8-9&keywords=cooking+books

Seconding /u/ManicBrklyDreamGrl on Food52 and Alton Brown's awesomeness. (Good Eats is fantastic. It covers mostly basic stuff and gets super nerdy.) And Ina Garten almost never fails me.

If you're interested in cookbooks as well, My Paris Kitchen is one of my favorites, as is pretty much anything by Yotam Ottolenghi. And if you're building recipes yourself or you like to experiment, I highly recommend both The Flavor Bible and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible.

I've found the most useful resource on sauces to be James Peterson's Sauces. It covers classical and contemporary sauces, and for classical sauces, contemporary methods of production. It's very useful.

Forgot another resource: If you're going to be in the industrial or modernist world, then Martin Lersch's Textures is a pretty great (and free) resource for working with hydrocolloids. Lersch's blog is also a good resource by itself.

Good luck!

I have a number of cookbooks (99% of which were hand-me-downs from random family members) that I don't really use because I prefer the internet, but the two physical books I've gotten the most use out of are these:

How to Cook Everything
-Especially if you're just starting out this book is excellent. It doesn't list tons of complicated recipes sprinkled with cooking jargon. It holds your hand through the simplest versions of many, many recipes and then tells you why you're doing what youer' doing.

The Flavor Bible
-Because while it's better to have experience to be able to just know which flavors work well together, this is just easier. The book has some explanatory stuff in the front, but most of the book is basically a huge index of different ingredients and all of the other things that go well with them. Especially if you're a broke student, spices are going to be the big thing that keeps you from eating bland-ass ramen all of the time (though this book doesn't just cover spices).

If you like to just wing it, I highly recommend The Vegetarian Flavor Bible. I use it all the time when I want to be creative in the kitchen. They recommend flavors which work well together, broad ways to prepare a dish, a few recommendations from the chefs they worked with to put the flavors together and more.

I hate that there isn't a vegan flavor bible, but the vegetarian is already loads better than the original Flavor Bible (I gave that copy to my omni sister). There's still a lot of eggs, cheeses and dairy products, but at least all the meat is out.

But I also highly recommend you look into a few cusine-specific books. Most cusines have vegan books, or at least vegan bloggers who share a lot of recipes in their own flavor worlds. Try looking up: Greek (thegreekvegan), Indian (Harshdeep on YouTube), Persian / Iranian, Ethiopian, Thai, Mexican, etc.

These are some of my favorite cusines to dive into. Once you understand the spices, how the flavors are built up, and then how they prepar various plants, you can leave the recipes behind and make your own foods. I never look up Thai, Mexican or Indian recipes anymore since I am so confident in how the flavors and textures work together. If you want cookbook recommendations for these cusines let me know.

> based on what do you even start to mix stuff up

Well, a lot of times I'll make a recipe once, and then if I like it, I'll think about what I can do to alter it. This stuffing has dried cranberries in it... can I use dried cherries? This glaze calls for a 1/2 ounce of whisky... what would it be like if I used brandy? And if I added some ground cinnamon, how would that taste? That sort of thing.

Sometimes I'll do smaller test batches of things. Like if I want to try a new BBQ rub, I'll cut a rack of ribs in two and see which I like better. Or I'll make two smaller pots of the same stew, one altered and one from the recipe.

> how do you personally expand your ingredients that you cook with ?

Here's a very good place to start: http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

> Say you want to try out something new that adds alot of acidity into your food, how do you go on about this ?

Well, you try what seems like it makes sense. Say you want to add acid to a beef stew. Do you just put vinegar in there, or use red wine instead? How about red wine along with some diced tomato?

Hey there! Glad you made the switch :)
In an ironic twist of events, my love of cheese led me to veganism. I loved it so much that I decided I was going to learn how to make it from scratch as a birthday present to myself in October of 2015. I threw myself into learning everything I could about cheese production which in turn led me down a rabbit hole filled with awful, eye-opening information about the dairy industry. I was totally shocked. It had just never crossed my mind that all dairy comes from pregnant cows. The thought of inseminating an animal for the sole purpose of inducing lactation and then treating the baby as a by-product was just sickening to me. Went vegan overnight and haven't looked back. Best decision I've ever made!

Here are two vegan cookbooks I can't recommend highly enough:
Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples and Artisan Vegan Cheese

Here are some must-have apps:
Leaping Bunny: guide to finding cruelty-free products.
Happy Cow: guide to finding vegan friendly restaurants.

Helpful tips:
Before going out to eat, always check their online menu so you won't feel so pressured to find vegan stuff while the waiter stares at you.
Open a Pinterest account. Great place to collect recipes and vegan cooking hacks like this dairy-free conversion chart, guide to non-dairy milks & how to cook with them, What your food cravings really mean...for vegans and this Cheat sheet for egg substitutions.
My pinner name is Uma Vida Boa if you want to dig through what I've amassed.

Have fun!

for eggs, unless you just would miss the taste, depends what you use them for. baking is easy to replace with flax eggs or egg substitutes which i haven't really tried. for scrambles, that's easy - http://minimalistbaker.com/southwest-tofu-scramble/

lots of people like chao cheese, but it's got that processed taste in my opinion. miyoko's vegan cheese is great - http://shop.miyokoskitchen.com/

miyoko actually has a book with all sorts of stuff you can make yourself, along with cheese - https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Making-Staples/dp/1607746778

there's a whole awesome vegan food world out there :)

Advanced? That's easy. Not a cookbook, but something far more useful. A comprehensive overview of how flavors work together.

[The Flavor Bible:] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410311129&sr=8-1&keywords=flavor+bible) The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs Hardcover – September 16, 2008, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Some are very obvious. And some are not. I have yet to try the salmon-and-liquorish combination, but one day...

Highly recommended.

Got the recipe from The Banh Mi Handbook (which is fantastic, by the way) and it turned out pretty damn delicious. Rolling the dough out was interesting and it took me a minute to get used to. My next attempt, I'm going to try focusing on minimizing that butt at the bottom of the rolls from the seam - any tips on that? That and getting a better slice on the top of the rolls - I used my Wusthof chef when I probably could have used a better implement.

I forgot to take it with me to work, but the recipe from memory has 500mg Vitamin C (so like one pill, crushed), 3T vital wheat gluten, 3 1/2C unbleached AP flour (I only had bleached at the time), AD yeast, salt, and sugar. I'll update with an edit when I get home if people would like it in more detail. One oversight I had was not having a spray bottle to mist the rolls periodically before baking, but it didn't come out poorly as a result.

This looks fantastic, especially the rice. I know from experience it's not always easy to make the grains long and lovely like that. I recommend getting this cookbook. It's easy to follow and the finished product is always delicious. My boyfriend's parents used to have an Indian food catering business and they gifted us this cookbook! I think the trick to good Indian food is having the right spices and being REALLY patient when you're browning the onions.

I'm not a chef, but if you're willing to listen to some friendly advice from a non-professional, I have one thing I'd recommend vis-a-vis the spices and herbs question: Smell your spices. Most spices and herbs smell a lot like they taste, so if you can imagine that taste in your dish, go for it! Of course, some spices and herbs are more aromatic than others, so this is only a starting point. For more, I've heard this book is pretty good.

Two books I recommend:

1. The Cook's Book, a compilation by ~20 world famous chefs of techniques, styles, and recipes. The pictures and instructions are gorgeous and very concise. I particularly recommend the fish and shellfish chapter by Charlie Trotter.
   
   
2. The Flavor Bible is great for inspiration and help in becoming more than a simple cook. It lists unique flavor combinations that you would've never thought of alone.

Being vegan doesn't have to mean cooking. There are plenty of ready made meals out there for your convenience. Vegan Burritos; Vegan pasta; vegan sandwiches; vegan soups. However, it is healthier to cook for yourself vegan and omni alike. Cooking for many people is very intimidating... It's a lot of fear of the unknown and fear of messing up.

For you boiling a hot dog, throwing on some mustard and ketchup...maybe some relish and onion. Is easy. A no brainer, even. And that's because you know how. You know those things taste good together and it takes 15 minutes or less to get it together.
But the truth is... so many other things take as much or less time as boiling and chopping.

Vegetables steamed or sauteed or boiled are as easy as making that hot dog. But you say, what sauce? What flavor? What vegetables go with which? And then you get overwhelmed. But that is simply an ability to understand flavor profiles. What goes well together and what makes something taste chinese or thai or italian.

Vegan recipes of your favorite omni dishes are a great addition to your meal plan. But you have a great advantage that you can steam some broccoli, chop up a salad or grill some eggplant...without having to get ornate about it.
BUT if you want to get ornate you can. Here is a book, that not only takes the guess work out of combinations but also helps you to look into the produce isle and see food. To open your fridge and see options.

You don't have to worry about recipes unless you want to. Although if you miss mac and cheese, then challenge yourself to expand your creativity... or just eat this

Purchased this book a while back and they have a section on types of hot sauces, typed up below:


Louisiana

With a razor-sharp heat, these sauces are simple bends of cayenne or tabasco peppers, vinegar, and salt. The salt and chilli peppers are mashed and aged 1 - 3 years, then blended with vinegar. Occasionally xanthan gum or other thickeners are used. Popular Louisiana-style brands include Crystal, Frank's RedHot, Tabasco and Trappey's. Louisiana hot sauces have a relatively thin consistency, with the good ones being more flavorful than merely a spicy, salty vinegar. They needn't be refrigerated.

Hawaii

"Chilli pepper water" is made with whole chillies, garlic, salt, water and sometimes Hawaiian ingredients such as ginger and lemongrass.

Central America and The Southwest

In Central America as well as the American Southwest, you'll often find sauces that are distinguished by the use of a particular chilli (chipotle, New Mexico red, habanero, or cascabel) and earthy ingredients ranging from tomatoes and pumpkin seeds. In New Mexico, most traditional dishes are served with red or green chilli sauce, which flavours meats, eggs, vegetables, breads and burritos. New Mexican-style chilli sauces also differ from many others in that vinegar is used sparingly or not at all. In southeastern Mexico, habanero sauces are as common as ketchup.

West Indies or Caribbean Style

A culinary melting pot, Caribbean cooking has been influenced by colonists from Europe, African slaves, and natives. One island may feature French cuisine, while the next island a half hour away by sail may be English, with Indian influences. Anything goes, but the flavours are always big and the fire hot from the habaneros or Scotch bonnet peppers. With chillies giving the sauces the top fruity notes, each island - indeed, each kitchen - has its own homemade concoction. Jamaican sauces, for example, often blend Scotch bonnets with jerk seasonings and tropical fruits like tamarind or papaya. Puerto Rican sauces float hot chillies and garlic, and maybe a few garden herbs, in vinegar for a pretty pique. As hot as the equatorial sun, island varieties include Susie's hot sauce from Antigua, Sauce Ti-Malice from Haiti, Baron hot sauce from St. Lucia, Pickapeppa from Jamaica, Bajan Pepper Sauce from Barbados, Bello Hot Pepper Sauce from Dominica, and Matouk's from Trinidad.

Asian

Thick and pasty, Chinese chilli sauces include chillies and often garlic and fermented soybeans, and they are used either as a dipping sauce or in stir-fries. Chilli red oil, a distinctive Sichuan flavouring, is made by pouring hot oil into a bowl of dried chillies. The finer the chilli is ground, the stronger the flavour. Ground chilli is commonly used in western China, while people in northern China cook with whole dried chillies. In Indonesia and Malaysia, thick, pungent sauces (called sambals) often feature ginger and garlic. In Thailand, many dipping sauces contain chilli peppers. Nam phrik is the generic term for a Thai chilli dip or condiment made with fish paste, garlic, chillies, and lime juice. Sriracha sauce is a sauce of chillies, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt that is found in Thailand and increasingly in the United States.

<br />
Hope you find this helpful! The book has a variety of recipes that covers each of the above styles, with some of the recipes being readily available [here.](https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/)

Thanks for the book tip, I'll check it out. I started with Alton Brown's recipe (since, well, he's Alton Brown), and most of my messing around from there has been in trying different flavors. I started with different liqueurs in place of the brandy, but I found that juice reductions gave me more flavor. Sometimes you want the subtlety a liqueur provides, and sometimes you want to highlight the flavor a little more against the chocolate - or you want to use a flavor that isn't available in a liqueur, like the red wine or a beer.

For a beer truffle, in addition to using a beer reduction I would also try adding a few other flavors to try to punch it up. For instance - and this is just an example, because I don't know how well chocolate would work with a beer this light - for Blue Moon I would definitely steep orange zest in the cream. Figure out what beer you want to use, taste it and describe it the way you might a wine, and try to highlight and exaggerate the big tastes.

I poked around Google a bit and there are a few candied ginger chocolate bars, so there's clearly a flavor synergy there. I also just checked the Flavor Bible and they indicate it's a solid match, so I think it's worth trying.

You'll want to mix tofu with vital wheat gluten for the best results, IME.

There's a good recipe in Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry. This book is well worth the cost of purchase. The recipes for all of the fake meats, cheeses, etc. are outstanding.

Alternatively, as others mentioned, buffalo cauliflower is a good bet. My favorite recipe for it is from serious eats

So a few off the top of my head:

1. The Professional Chef. Geared towards professional chefs but a great resource.
   
   
2. On Food and Cooking. A classic. Not really a 'cookbook' per se but rather a book that discusses history and food science.
   
   
3. The now out-of-print Williams and Sonoma Mastering Series. Specifically, their book on sauces - the others are solid but not quite as good. Those books were how I personally learned to cook. (still can find used)
   
   
4. The Flavor Bible. Obligatory. Eventually you grow out of it a bit, but it's still a great resource to have around.
   
   
5. Flour Water Salt Yeast. I just got this book recently this last Christmas, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit.

Miyoko has published 2 books with cheese recipes in them. I bought both books and got them signed AND tried many of the cheeses at her book signing party in NYC a couple months ago.

Artisan Vegan Cheese

The Homemade Vegan Pantry

Many/most of the cheese recipes are made from cashews and other nuts, and require some ingredients most of us have never heard of. I went through and found the recipes I want to try (all of them!) and rounded up all the ingredients (amazon for the obscure stuff).

In the cheese book there are 2 different Mozz recipes, one is meant to be for a fresh mozz type cheese (tried this one at the party, was just like the original and so delicious), and the other is more for melting like on pizza.

So far from the pantry book I have made Squeeze Bottle Yellow Mustard (perfect, but strong!) and the Oil Free Eggless Vegan Mayo. 2/2 both are great.

I had to change my plan about trying one of the mozz recipes today; still have some store bought cheezes I'm trying to use up, also have too much other stuff to do.

Got a slew of books, but as has already been mentioned, Amazing Ribs is my primary source for pertinent BBQ data. There is simply no better resource out there, print, binary or otherwise. It's my go-to for technique.

For recipes, I have a decent library. Here's just a few of my books: [Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison](http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343976826&sr=1-1&keywords=smoke+and+spice0, Peace, Love and BBQ by Mike Mills, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book by Chris Lilly, Low and Slow by Gary Wiviott, Championship Barbecue by Paul Kirk, Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance, and few specialty books like Asian Grilling by Su-Mei. All excellent resources for recipes.

The ability to improvise comes with time, observation and willingness to experiment. Onions can add different texture and flavor to a dish depending on preparation. From crunchy, sulfurous, raw onions to sweet, soft, caramelized onions the spectrum of possibilities is quite broad. Use them raw, gently sautéed in oil, caramelized, fried, dried, pickled; cut lengthwise, crosswise, diced; etc. and build up a mental library of the results. I love reading about food, food history, preparation and food science but nothing beats actually getting hands-on with food.

That said, there are some books about flavor combinations and it might help if the concern is wasting food due to impractical experimentation. I own and enjoy Niki Segnit's The Flavor Thesaurus. It's not a mathematical table of A+B=C, but it gives classic and inventive combinations of various flavors. I can't vouch for these, but maybe read through the reviews and see if they sound interesting to you: one and two. I follow the blog of the latter two authors and it's quite interesting even if it is sometimes beyond the scope of home cookery.

My favorites are the Veganomicon and The Homemade Vegan Pantry

Depending on your frame of reference neither is super cheap but I highly recommend them.

I've picked up a few free ebooks but I've never made anything from one. I guess my favorite free vegan cookbook is googling any item + vegan then making that.

We usually source all of our hydrocolloids from Chef Rubber since our school gets a discount, since we order in bulk for a lot of the pastry specialty students. Fairly decently priced for first time experimenters. They don't get into very specific hydrocolloids (like the three different types of Carrageenan, or two types of Methylcellulose) but they give you enough to work with.

Willpowder is a good source to find some more specific hydrocolloids, and a few recipes. However, they don't supply some of the tools you'd need, as Chef Rubber does.

L'Epicerie is another source for the VERY specific needs in mind, at the highest quality, and price.

As for literature, Khymos is still our first stop to shop on knowledge. They do a very good job on this blog of finding, and sharing information from professionals using MG methods, as well as point you to printed literature on the subject. If anything, we like to take ideas from the blog, and then tinker with them to make something else using the same process they show.

One thing I can't stress enough in playing with MG, is know and understand flavour. Every single member of our club has a copy of the Flavor Bible and usually the second thing looked at after we get an idea bouncing around.

Haha, the presentation is nothing. Ive worked in a kitchens for a total of about 3 or 4 years so I guess I kinda just learned. The combination of ingredients is nothing. At one of the places I worked we had a couscous salad which had sultanas, grilled egg-plant and pumpkin, along with some orange juice. I didnt have egg plant so I just left it out and skipped the orange juice. So that part is easy. The salad...having lived in a wine region for 10 years I quickly learned that the locals like marinated olives/mushrooms/sundried tomatos...just put them on some greens and you have a tasty looking salad. Then just do the lamb cutlets and you have an awesome meal :) If you really want to learn about combining some more ingredients and maybe move away from conventional cooking, i highly recommend THIS book. I often try and buy something ive never worked with (like a herb or spice, or some vegetable etc) and then look it up in this book and make a meal from that.

Yeah, I'm really quite disheartened. They aren't pretty (I guess just like real ribs) but they are really tasty. They are from Miyoko Schinner's Homemade Vegan Pantry, but if you can't get the cookbook it is pretty much just a complicated seitan recipe. Make seitan, slice it into steak sized pieces and sear them on each side. Bake them like you normally would for seitan covered with watered down BBQ sauce. Cut into rib-sized pieces, sear on each side again, then toss with more BBQ sauce! The cookbook also notes that they get even better if you let them sit in the sauce for a day or two in the fridge, and thats whats happening in the photo.

I should note that this is one of my all time favourite cookbooks and I really recommend it :)

Lately, I've very much been enjoying Kenji's The Food Lab. I think it's worth the (ebook) price just for the chapter on fried foods.

I also keep coming back to The Flavor Bible, which has lists of how to combine ingredients for different cuisines.

If you want a valuable collection of recipes and have $50 to spend, get Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe. It's supplanted The Joy of Cooking on my shelf.

For Indian cook books I would recommend these two: Book 1 and Book 2. Just use the internet to find reasonable substitutes for the more exotic ingredients, most of the time there is some workaround. For the rest of it I have a few general reference books but mostly I just wing it. What ever you do you probably want to start by cooking the hell of of an onion. A good caramelized onion will go a long way in making things taste more like food than merely sustenance. Also worth noting if a recipe says your beans will take an hour and a half to cook plan on at least two or three. Have fun with it and good luck.

Nothing particularly good in this bundle.

If you want take up cooking and treat yourself, I would give my highest personal recommendation to The Food Lab and Bravetart. They are great because they go over technique and fundamentals and provide a good base that you can build from once you get more comfortable in the kitchen. Once you hit that point The Flavor Bible is also a great resource for experimentation.

Summary

I got the dough making technique from a book called The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner (https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Making-Staples/dp/1607746778)

If you are interested in some hardcore vegan cooking, I STRONGLY recommend that book. It's worth the $15. I also used it to culture my own cheddar, and sweet Jesus... just... just trust me on this one.

You do need a pizza stone and a pizza peel for this recipe to work.

The pizza on the right used a sauce I improvised with two cans of tomatoes, two tablespoons of tomato paste, 7 cloves of garlic, half a white onion, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar, a tsp of salt, and a tbps of raw sugar. I just put them in a food processor.

I got the pesto on the left from this recipe here: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/artichoke-and-spinach-pesto-pizza/

Toppings included sliced white mushrooms, marinated artichoke, vegan sausage, fresh basil, and Daiya mozzarella (not much, just a sprinkle). The pesto is so rich, it doesn't need the cheese IMO.

The trick is not to let the dough rise until it hits the oven. What you need to do is put a pizza stone in, and let it warm up with the oven at 500F. After an hour, you can transfer the pizza onto the stone with a pizza peel and leave it in the oven for just 10 minutes.

The Flavor Bible gets thrown around a lot, but for good reason. It's a great resource when trying to formulate your own recipe. It focuses on things like which foods have affinities for other foods, seasonality, and sensations different foods have. It's a great thing to page through when you have whatever the equivalent of writer's block is for cooks.

There are two books I highly recommend you check out. One is called "The Flavor Bible" ( https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative-ebook/dp/B001FA0P86/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+flavor+bible&qid=1565833128&s=gateway&sr=8-1 ) and the other is "Herbs and Spices -- The Cook's Reference" ( https://www.amazon.com/Herbs-Spices-Recipes-Marinades-Spice/dp/1465435980/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=herbs+and+spices%2C+the+cook%27s+reference&qid=1565833243&s=gateway&sr=8-3 )

They'll help you learn how all the senses and flavors work together to extract the maximum enjoyment of food.

Also, try recipes from other people! As you become proficient with cooking in general and learn more about flavor combinations, you'll be able to try a recipe and think of ways to improve it and make it your own. Try different and unusual cooking methods. Ignore convention (I made a coconut cream pie on a barbecue smoker recently. It was awesome!) Don't be afraid to mess up, just don't experiment when you're having people over. :)

The main thing is to get in the kitchen and keep the beginning sentence "I wonder how it would taste if I..." in your head.

Have fun!

I've been meaning to buy [this book, "Cooking with Tea" by Lise Stern] (http://www.amazon.com/Culinary-Tea-Recipes-Steeped-Tradition/dp/0762437731) - the recipes look amazing, and I want to start using tea infused flavored foods in my afternoon teas.

But I can tell you that I have ad a lot of luck using teas in cookies, and pastry, such as flavored teas (lemon, bergomot), or strong blacks. I have also used steeped black teas when making fruit cakes, or walnut rum cams. You steep the dried fruits and nuts in a black tea so it acquires the flavor. DELICIOUS! :D

• Since answer number one is wine, and that sounds the same as whine, here is my related item. Many friends and family can attest to the fact that when I am whiny and grumpy, I am nearly always grumbling and pouting over a cup of tea. And what does tea go into? Mugs! Since I am a a Slytherin, I do believe these green and black mugs are quite befitting of me.
  
  
• Riddle number two is broom, of course. What is a frequent (at least in the movies) activity done when using a broom? Why pretending it is a microphone of course, while you sing and dance (cough I mean clean cough)! How can you listen to someone singing without going to their concert? By buying their music! But wait, you would probably need headphones to listen to the music you bought, right? Well, I have you covered!
  
  
• The answer to the third is a hat! Hats are quite lovely, very stylish, you know. Who is stylish? Why royalty, silly! (Well, sometimes). What does royalty like? Pocket watches! And what a fabulous watch this is.
  
  
• The fourth riddle is a book. Books are like being another person. Conmen pretend to be other people. That is a crime. Committing crimes makes you go to jail. Jail makes you buff. When you gain a lot of muscle, you have to buy new clothes. Clothes like this.
  
  
• The final official riddle is a trunk. Trunks fit everything, and take them to different places. What other household items can fit a lot of things and transport them? Wardrobes, particularly wardrobes that lead to Narnia! Narnia has evil witches, and fauns. Fauns are magical creatures, just like dragons and phoenixes. What do those have in common? Fire! Fire is hot. Do you know what else is hot? Sauces made out of peppers, like these.
  
  
• The answer to the bonus riddle is capes. Villains wear capes. Lady Macbeth is a villain. Lady Macbeth had a weak husband. Babies are weak. Kids are baby goats. Goats will eat anything. Fat Albert liked to eat. He is a cartoon, you know what is also a cartoon? Anime, like this.
  
  Mischief Managed

What kinds of foods are you interested in cooking? There are a ton of great recipes for cooking with tea. It's most commonly used in desserts like ice cream and cookies, but there are lot of savory things you can do with it as well. A couple of good cook books for getting started are Culinary Tea and Cooking with Tea. I also have a few recipes if I know what you want. :-)

Get yourself Julia Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking book. It's a great place to start. If you're primarily into veg, another place to go would be Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine which is a positively massive cookbook that is great and vedic (no onions, etc. only hing).

Also, Manjula's Kitchen has some good videos.

From The Flavor Bible, these are the flavors that go particularly well with coffee & espresso:

• almonds
  
• amaretto
  
• anise
  
• bananas
  
• barbecue sauce
  
• beverages (What the… ? —Ed.)
  
• bourbon
  
• brandy
  
• caramel
  
• cardamom
  
• cheese, ricotta
  
• cherries
  
• chicken
  
• chicory
  
• CHOCOLATE, ESP. DARK
  
• chocolate, white
  
• cinnamon
  
• cloves
  
• COCOA
  
• coconut
  
• cognac
  
• CREAM
  
• curry
  
• custards
  
• dates
  
• fennel seeds
  
• figs
  
• game birds
  
• gravy
  
• ham (e.g., with red-eye gravy)
  
• hazelnuts
  
• honey
  
• ice cream, vanilla
  
• Irish whiskey
  
• lamb
  
• lemon
  
• lime
  
• liqueurs, coffee (e.g., Kahlúa, Tia Maria)
  
• macadamia nuts
  
• maple syrup
  
• milk, including sweetened, condensed
  
• nutmeg
  
• NUTS
  
• oats
  
• orange
  
• pears
  
• pecans
  
• persimmons
  
• pork
  
• prunes
  
• raisins
  
• rum
  
• star anise
  
• SUGAR: brown, white
  
• VANILLA
  
• vinegar, balsamic
  
  avoid: lavender
  
  recommended flavor affinities:
  
  
• coffee + bourbon + cream
  
• coffee + caramel + chocolate
  
• coffee + cinnamon + cream + lemon + sugar
  
• coffee + mascarpone + rum + sugar + vanilla
  
  Hopefully, you find some inspiration in here. (Maybe a signature latte with mascarpone, BBQ sauce and chicken?)
  
  If you're comfortable in the kitchen, I highly recommend this book. It's not a cookbook — you look up an ingredient and it suggests complementary flavors.
  

All sorts of herbal stuff will work. Various mints, catnip, lemon balm, lavander, chamomile, rose, hibiscus are all great. You can also use (or make your own) syrup for added flavoring. A light maple syrup is my favorite.


I found The Flavour Bible to be a good resource for mixing blends of teas. I can pick an herb that interests me and look up other complimentary flavours to blend with it.

As an avid cook and collector of cookbooks, I have three recommendations -

1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
   
2. The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez Alt
   
3. The Flavor Bible
   
   The first two will teach you the essentials of cooking. How salt, fat, acid, and heat work together to make delicious food. J Kenji Lopez Alt has a popular serious eats blog and his book will teach you everything you need to know about cooking perfect meat, eggs, burgers, etc.
   
   Once you learn all of the basics from those books, use the Flavor Bible to be creative.

I would recommend to anyone looking for food pairings to buy the book The Food Bible. It is a great reference that list an ingredient and then list all the other foods that go well with it. It even emphasizes certain pairings over others by either italic or bold font. I love it.

For Indian, I love Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries. (Ugly mobile link: http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449666007&sr=8-1&keywords=660+curries+raghavan+iyer ).

It has an almost ludicrous number of recipes from across India, including much more than just curries. He has how-to guides for naan, paneer, ghee, a ton of spice mixes; all the hard to source ingredients that are simple to make. It also has nice explanations of techniques that are not common in European cuisine, an awesome glossary of food, tools, and tech, and a substitutions guide to replace ingredients you might have a tough time finding. I've used it to cook for several Indian friends, who have all been complimentary of the authenticity (and deliciousness) of the recipes.

So you've made a bunch of recipes, you should be familiar with basic knife skills, slice, chop, dice, batons. Everything else is a variation on those.

You probably are familiar with some dry heat cooking methods, sautée, pan fry, roasting, broiling.

You should also be familiar with wet cooking methods, simmering, steaming, boiling, braising perhaps. If not look them up.

Use these methods together with a flavor profile you're looking for, think regionally, then about what kind of flavors you really want, like garlic and rosemary, fresh tomato and basil, ginger and scallions.

If you think you've got the basic techniques down, pick up , The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316118400/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_xyfywbD9B71BM

And go from there. It's a really good book

The first to come to mind are:

• Avocado and Balsamic
  
• Arugula and Blue Cheese
  
  You might check out The Flavor Bible. It's a great reference. Look up the ingredient you're interested in and it tells you complimentary ingredients. Great book.

This recipe is from Smoke and Spice by Bill and Cheryl Jamison. This is a tried and true cookbook for me, I have tried many recipes and all of them have been smash hits. This recipe is no different. It is a mix of 1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground beef, 1/2 c chopped peppers, 1/2 c chopped onions, 1.5 c bread crumb, 1 egg yolk, cumin, salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. I combined all of the ingredients and put it in a loaf pan. Once in the loaf pan I added cajun seasoning to the top. Once the smoker was ready I smoked it on 250 for 45 minutes. At the end of the 45 minutes I took the loaf out of the pan and set it directly on the rack for 1.5 hours. In the second picture you can see I did have to cook it to finish it in the oven before dinner time for 15 minutes to get it up to temp. I was happy with the final product and even got a nice smoke ring! We are glad we will be having this for dinner a couple of times this week.

Check out The Foodlab from Seriouseats. It wont really teach you the basics, but their recipes explain HOW and WHY certain things work and certain things dont.

Also check out /r/cookingforbeginners

And if you wanna know what flavors go well together, check this out. Great book.

First off, if you haven't heard of the flavor bible yet it sounds like something you would get a lot of value out of. Very useful when coming with a new meal/recipe as well as seeing what interesting combos out of whatever is left in the pantry and the book as a guide.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

Second, I don't think what you have experienced is a problem at all. You've simply developed higher standards than our current society. This is not a bad thing. Societal standards in all areas need to be brought back up, IMO.

Oddly, enough it's my birthday today and instead of having my parents pay the bill at an expensive restaurant I decided I would rather stay in and cook a meal I really want to enjoy with my family.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

I highly recommend this book, I think it's the followon to Culinary Artistry. Not only does it include optimal pairings, it "ranks" them in effectiveness (i.e. more people agree that apples pair well with cinnamon than the people who would pair apples with Bay). It's easily my favorite "cookbook".

I know this isn't a yogurt flavor, but The Flavor Bible is pretty amazing. You might find some cool combinations for preexisting flavors, & I think they have a section on yogurt.

I love making Indian food! Don't give up! I love this cookbook so so much. My boyfriend and I try a new recipe out of it almost every week, there is an excellent variety of flavors and bases (chicken, beef, veggie, potato, lentil, rice etc). We've had a couple that were meh but for the most part they are very tasty and quite a few have just blown us away. The spices are a bit of an investment but well worth it if you want good results. We have found it much cheaper to buy them whole from penzeys.com than from our local grocery store and a necessity for spices that they don't stock at all (I'm looking at you, fenugreek).

I guess to someone who has eaten Indian food their whole lives the recipes might not be so amazing but I have eaten at quite a few Indian restaurants and a couple of these recipes blew anything else I have tried right out of the water.

dude. one book.

http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874

that's it. I'm Pakistani. this is what friends in the states use for their cooking, and it is awesome.

EDIT: curry mixes wise, SHAAN is your go to. the ones you get in the states are actually better quality.

> How are you supposed to make changes if you dont even know what the end product is going to taste like?

start with these two. there are more books in-depth on these topics, but, if you want to learn how to freestyle in the kitchen these two books are pretty much essential. i keep mine in the cabinet over my range hood and pull them out pretty frequently

There is a site called Nouveau Raw that used to have a nicely laid out chart of flavor pairings that I found very useful, but, they've pay-walled it this year.

THIS might be helpful for a quick fix, but, I wholeheartedly recommend grabbing a copy of The Flavor Bible, because it's downright inspiring to paw through, and will up your mixing/cooking game considerably.

I'm not saying it's easy to find a .PDF/.EPUB file through nefarious means, but, I'm not not saying it, either.

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs $23 hardcover on amazon brotha 👌

It's more of an accessory to leveling a skill faster but I love the book The Flavor Bible. It has almost every cooking-skill recipe component and lists what other components go well with it. I have leveled my cooking skill so quickly because it's helped me discover more flavors, especially those that are in regions other than mine, like India and Mexico.

There isn't one Indian cuisine. There's a few dozen, at least.
For a somewhat US focused book:
http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874

For a somewhat worse printing, with better recipes: http://www.amazon.com/India-Cookbook-Pushpesh-Pant/dp/0714859028

Reading the reviews will probably help.

I like the "Essential Cookbook" series from Penguin. These are definitely closer to what I would eat at home than the recipes in the more popular cookbooks.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Kerala-Cookbook-Vijayan-Kannampilly/dp/0143029509

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Marathi-Cookbook-Kaumudi-Marathe/dp/0143068024

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Andhra-Cookbook-Hyderabadi-Bilkees/dp/0140271848

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pondicherry-Kitchen-Lourdes-Tirouvanziam-Louis/dp/9381626995

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Sindhi-Cookbook-Aroona-Reejhsinghani/dp/0143032011

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Cookbook-Maria-Teresa-Menezes/dp/0141000872

http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-North-East-Cookbook/dp/0143030272

http://www.amazon.com/Saraswat-Mahila-Rasachandrika-Second-Paperback/dp/B00RWSJ7M0

SAMAITHU PAR (vol 1-4) is a book aimed at Tamil Iyer vegetarian cooking.

If you want authors more aimed at an occidental cook, I would suggest Madhur Jaffrey, Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal, Vikas Khanna and Julie Sawhney

FWIW, I learned to cook what my parents cooked first, then I went to Italian-American (spaghetti with red sauce, then more, using Henry Hill's cookbook called The Wiseguy Cookbook, which is actually better than it looks), then onto French which was a big step.

Start small, and learn how to spice properly. Then once you start getting good, move onto cooking completely from scratch. Then start making homemade stocks. Try different ethnic cuisines. Once you get the basic theory of different cuisine down, you'll be able to experiment. At that point, get The Flavor Bible. That's really advanced. If you take to cooking, you will love this book.

I don't unfortunately. I eat it when I find it but it's so rare to see good Turkish food in the wild that it's just a cuisine I know I like and a few dishes I'm familiar with.

You might really dig The Flavor Bible if you don't know much about seasonings but want a good introduction to them. That book is what took my cooking from following recipes to modifying them.

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Indian-Cooking-Julie-Sahni/dp/0688037216/
This is the only book you'll ever need on Indian cooking. Every single dish I made from this book was just perfect. It has no pictures, only a few drawings but if you stick to the recipe you'll be rewarded with the most delicious Indian food.
http://www.juliesahni.com/

Not to be nit-picky, but the word seasoning generally refers to only salt and pepper in the culinary world. The word you're looking for is either spice, for whole or ground spices, or aromatics, for fresh herbs and vegetables.

The Flavor Bible is a great resource that covers everything, and the cheat sheets posted by others work well too.

Crock pots work best with cuts of meat that take a long time to cook/tenderize. Some cuts of beef work great, like chuck, shank, brisket, and round. There are a ton of chicken stew and soup recipes, both classic and contemporary. I would avoid seafood in the crock pot, as it cooks so quickly and over cooked seafood is terrible, in my opinion.

http://www.amazon.com/Herbs-Spices-The-Cooks-Reference/dp/0789489392

This book's pretty cool. I actually liked it better than the Flavor Bible because it's got a lot of pictures so you can see what this stuff looks like if it's not familiar, as well as grouping things together and providing suggestions/recipes.

The Flavor Bible

Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe--it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Drawing on dozens of leading chefs' combined experience in top restaurants across the country, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg present the definitive guide to creating "deliciousness" in any dish.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

https://www.amazon.com/Truly-Mexican-Essential-Techniques-Authentic/dp/0470499559
Truly Mexican by Roberto Santibanez is a great book. It's not as encyclopedic as Bayliss or Kennedy but it's a good a taxonomy of salsas,moles, pepians as you could hope for.

Check out the lemon curd/bar recipe in The Homemade Vegan Pantry! It's made with a base of cashew cream, which apparently thickens in the same way eggs do into that glossy, thick curd, without the worry of accidentally scrambling them. I wish I could find a blog post of something to link, it's seriously amazing. Minimalist Baker has some good lemon bars, too, that are cool and creamy - a little less true to a traditional lemon bar, but definitely worth an evening to bake!

Most phallic looking item:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NH3BU4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=I1HTVHTJQMR8MX

Most "oh god, I would never be seen with this in public" looking item:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567187072/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=IR47146VJO5LT

Item which would most make you seem like an old posh Englishman:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0688037216/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=I1TV3AAMPQQJZY

Most geeky item:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004X6FM8W/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=I3TPK6ULWW4ZZB

Item which would most help you achieve a goal:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0136807453/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=I3AM5LIMTP9Q3B

Best item to bring to a deserted island:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026SUCDE/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2TKA3DHDIZYOU&coliid=I3BV00J05UR92C

Here A friend of mine actually found the recipe shared online. The blogger pulled it right out of the book and shared it. Here is the cookbook. It has some great recipes and sauces.

In the meantime, check out "The Flavor Bible." It's a few bucks on Amazon but it's well worth the price. It shows you which spices/herbs work great with different types of food.

Sunny SoCal... For flavor profiles there's a great book called The Flavor Bible. Lots of great info...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sriracha-Cookbook-Rooster-Recipes/dp/1607740036 :)

My roomy got this for me for my bday because I love anything spicy. I've made 2-3 of the recipes so far (Sriracha Ranch Dressing, Sriracha Crab Rangoon, etc) and they've all been amazing.

Well, I was going to type some stuff about learning to cook and then experimenting after that...but u/kaidomac did a far better job than I could have ever done.

So instead I'll just add the recommendation of my favorite book for flavor experimentation: The Flavor Bible

Happy cooking!

I used the rib recipe in The Homemade Vegan Pantry and Annie’s Organic BBQ sauce. We loved them but realized that they tasted even better the following day. My husband had a friend over when I made them who quickly dismissed them but took a few home to his wife to try. They asked for more the next day!


The recipe can be found here: Unribs

The The Flavor Bible pushes dill, cilantro and mint (a combo for which which I do not care, personally) and dill, cucumber and salmon as their headliners.

My personal favorite with dill in an onion flavor, so I would think about a kalonji (nigella) seed tarka/tempering poured over the veg and under the salmon. I have a mustard oil source that I trust to fry the kalongi seeds, so I would use that oil to fry the seeds; if I did not I would fry black mustard seeds with them in a neutral oil. It will really set off the dill and create a lot of flavors in the combinations.

Bitter is the other way to make the sweetness work with the dill to good advantage. I would consider coarsely chopping a bunch of black walnuts and toasting them to mix with the roasted veg bed to up the bitter and provide textural contrast if you like bitter direction better.

There are just too many foods to have one big list. Something related to what you're looking for might be the flavor bible. It's matches hundreds of ingredients with other ingredients/flavors that go well with it. It's an amazing resource if you like inventing recipes. With it, you could get a lot of ingredients that are sure to go well together at least.

The The Flavor Bible came recommended to me from a friend. It has an index which helps you determine what other ingredients to best pair with an ingredient.

More info here: https://karenandandrew.com/books/the-flavor-bible/

The cookbook Smoke and Spice has a great recipe for a knockoff of Big Bob Gibson's sauce.

Alabama Great White Sauce:

1 Cup mayo (real stuff not miracle whip)

2 tablespoons vinegar (preferably cider)

1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon of salt

pinch or two of onion powder

pinch or two of cayenne

*Whisk all ingredients together and you're all set. Use it as a dipping or basting sauce for pretty much anything.

I liken it a lot to a southern ranch dressing.

I think the Basmati Rice is a fantastic idea but for future "pairing" questions I have a process I use. You should look into buying The Flavor Bible. It is great for designing dishes around ingredients. In this case you would look up shrimp and it would give you a list of things that pair well with shrimp.

I've been on the BBQ train for some time now. As a New Orleans native living in Michigan, it's hard to find good smoked meats up here, so you end up having to do it for yourself. And every time we throw a shindig, that's really all that gets requested.

My suggestions are as follows:

Franklin Barbecue
I love this book. It's not a recipe book, although it has a few basic ones in the back. He tells the story of how he came to BBQ, and then breaks down each individual aspect of BBQ process. You'll learn a lot.

Herbs and Spices
This book is really more fun than anything else. It's essentially wikipedia for herbs and spices, but there's so much in it that you can always come back and find something new.

The best advice I can give you is to never stop trying something new. When I first got in to BBQ/Grilling, I went to Amazon and bought a mess-load of books for $1-2 a piece about the basics, recipes, processes, and ideologies. Bobby Flay was my first read. I've strayed away from him now that I have my own style. And that's a phrase you'll here a lot among people. "Style". I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just light a fire and put some meat on it. Worst case scenario. You've got cooked meat.

Try smoking a Turkey with a Cajun rub (that you make, don't use prepackaged Cajun rubs) over hickory or apple wood. Patience and eventually it'll all be second nature too you.

Welcome to the game.

I like Pushpesh Pant, India: The Cookbook. However, it isn't a beginner's cookbook, and might be hard to get into if you haven't cooked Indian food before.

For a great beginner's cookbook: Monisha Bharadwaj, The Indian Cooking Course.

Not as comprehensive as the first one above, and not as beginner friendly as the second, but a nice cookbook with some very good recipes: Priya Wickramasinghe, Food of India.

Yeah, artichokes are pretty much the filet mignon of vegetables. And what about mushrooms? Mushrooms are genetically more similar to animals than to plants, and have that glorious meaty taste and consistency. Not just portobellos, but the wealth of culinary mushrooms that everyone seems to forget about: oysters, maitakes, morels, cloud ear fungus...

Eggplants rock too, especially when slow-roasted or baked with a high-end vegan nut cheese (I like Miyoko's brand).

Pro tip: if you're a meat-loving vegan, this cookbook will change your life.

Probably my favorite:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0761137874/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511546773&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=660+curries+by+raghavan+iyer

Easy, delicious recipes and after cooking a number of them, you won't even need a cookbook anymore!!

Read about building flavor profiles.

There are a couple of good books on the market: The Flavor Bible and The Flavor Thesauraus. They both have a lot of information on what ingredients go well with each other.

Also, learn by doing. Try things you think may go together well, even if it's not conventional. Even if the things you try don't come together, you can still learn from it. Try to understand WHY it didn't work (cooking method, flavor profile, preparation all have an affect), think about what you can do to correct the mistake, then implement that the next time you try that dish. I don't own a copy of it myself (yet), but Cook's Illustrated Magazine's The Science of Good Cooking would probably help in that regard.

In general, I consider Alton Brown, Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country, America's Test Kitchen, and Julia Child to be very reputable in the information they convey.

RemindMe! 3 days "Food pairings"

Not a sub, but I have a copy of this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

Very useful book! :)

660 curries by Raghavan Iyer is great. It has a whole chapter dedicated to spice blends, as well as pastes and other building blocks you can pre make to make cooking take less time. A very useful book, I cook out of it about 5-6 times a month.

Get him "The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs"

http://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

One of the most amazing books on cooking, ever.

Have you tried cashew milk? For me that's the most realistic tasting one, especially the chocolate one. I'm not a fan of cheese alternatives either. So I've been making a lot of ethnic food that doesn't require cheese - like Indian, Chinese, Thai w/ coconut milk, Mexican (with guac + chipotle mayo), and Italian with pesto. I find that the biggest thing with vegan cooking is exploring different tastes with spices. It makes you a better cook. Before, when I was omni, I would add cheese to everything because it's the easy way to create taste. But, there are so many other ways to make your dishes feel tasty, rich, and creamy. I just bought the book "The Vegetarian Flavor Bible" and it has so many great tips for making your dishes flavorful without cheese and they have a vegan tip for the cheese ones.

Madhur Jaffrey is really the source for Indian cookbooks. But I'd actually like to mention two others as well:

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is a big one, with recipes covering all levels of complexity. Some are great, some aren't, but there's just so much content in this book that it's hard to beat for the price.

[The New Indian Slow Cooker by Neela Paniz] (http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Indian-Slow-Cooker/dp/1607746190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411415629&sr=8-1&keywords=neela+paniz) is a brand new book, but I've had access to a couple of the recipes for a few months now and here's the deal: Neela's recipes are occasionally complex. I've taken a few cooking classes from her and her "normal" vindaloo, for example, is really too long for anyone to do unless you have the whole afternoon to devote to it. But this book, due to its "slow cooker" focus, dumbs down a lot of steps without sacrificing much of the flavor, so it's a good compromise. What's more, even though it's focused for a slow cooker, you can easily convert it to a stovetop with very little effort.

The Flavor Bible is an excellent resource for this. You look up an ingredient and it shows a general "scale" for commonly paired ingredients. There are no recipes, but if something piques your interest there's the whole Internet for that :)

Smoke and Spice by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. This is a true BBQ/smoking book that lays it out in clear language. There's great recipes, tips, history, and notes of interest. Most of the recipes are traditional, but there are a few more adventurous combinations.

I love Budget Bytes for her affordable, family-sized recipes. Most of her dishes are vegetarian because it's just cheaper than buying meat. Also, investing in a book like The Flavor Bible, Herbs and Spices, The Flavor Thesaurus, or Ratio can really help someone learning.

I love books that read like a dictionary or encyclopedia. Another good one for herbs would be Herbs & Spices.

It isn't really a cookbook, but The Flavor Bible is a phenomenal book for anyone trying to understand what flavors work well together. It is just a stellar book and has allowed me (with knowledge of a variety of cooking methods) to create dishes on the fly with what we had around much more easily. I have a leg up in that I was a prep chef at a high-end inn/restaurant for several years, but I think any nerd will appreciate the format and specificity the book offers.

660 curries is fantastic. The author is a James Beard winner as well.

When looking for inspiration for Indian food I always reach for Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries or Monisha Bharadwaj's The Indian Cooking Course.

The latter has become a house favourite. We ended up buying 5 extra copies to gift friends and family.

If you are willing to make a bit of an investment, you can't beat The Flavor Bible.

My other favorite book for cooking is How to Cook Everything.

Between those two books I can pretty much figure out how to make any meal I want in any style that sounds good to me.

The term curry describes a vast array of dishes, it would be comparable to say casserole. A curry is basically any dish in a spiced sauce. There are many commonly used spices but you don't have to use a certain one for it to be a curry.

My personnel favorite cook book for this is 660 Curries.

There are many kinds of chicken curry. Some well known ones would be Chicken Vindaloo (spices and vinegar), and the British curry Chicken Tikka Masala.

The Flavor Bible is a must-own. Gives not only descriptors for every ingredient you can imagine--spice, protein, produce--but also lists of commonly used ingredients in particular cuisines and for seasonal cooking as well. I love this book and find it indispensable for creative off recipe kitchen endeavors.

You really should get The Flavor Bible. It's been a fantastic tool for me. I've owned it for a few years and still refer to it frequently. It would definitely be helpful to you in your search for unique flavor combinations.

On Cooking is a great textbook

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-MyCulinaryLab/dp/0133103196/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347481964&sr=1-1&keywords=on+cooking

For flavor creation I recommend the Flavor Bible

http://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347482072&sr=1-1&keywords=the+flavor+bible

Great suggestions. To add to these, I also really like The Flavor Bible, though it's for when you already know how to cook, but need a bit of inspiration for what to incorporate.

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is my favorite curry book.

My favorite Thai curry paste is Mae Ploy. My favorite Japanese curry is House Brand.

1. Basically rice/quinoa/grain with beans & lentils. Sauteed/roasted veggies on that, too. I make my own seitan, too. As far as butter goes - you can make your own! The Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner is honestly priceless. Has so many homemade recipes for butter, sour cream, etc and always tells you what to do with the "waste" (like the pulp after soymilk).
   
   
2. I have three pairs of shoes, some vegan new balance sneakers my work makes me wear, Dr. Martens, and Sanuk sandals. Also, Zappos lets you search for vegan shoes.
   
   
3. I just prefer to make really thick smoothies. If you use a frozen banana and frozen fruit (I literally buy all the fruit... pineapples, peaches, raspberries, etc) and throw 'em together, it's very good.
   
   
4. Don't wear makeup, found this store that has like 30+ vegan lipsticks in tins. She also ships them in just a paper envelope at your request. Also, Pacifica which is found in more stores (Whole Foods, Target) sells lipsticks with 100% recyclable packaging. Seems they also only source boxes, packaging, etc locally so they aren't ordering the tube from overseas or anything.
   
   
5. Dried fruit, roasted chickpeas, homemade "lara" bars (just processed dates, peanuts, and cocoa powder basically).

If you're looking more for ideas on being creative when cooking, you might be interested in The Flavor Bible - which has been described as a cookbook without recipes. It is more about flavors that work well together, so you can work with what you have. Might be worth checking a local library (in keeping with the cheap part!)

Check out The Flavor Bible book- when I am stuck I would do a quick peruse through it and will always find a great, new combo.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

You can do roasted stuffed bell peppers with mashed sweet potatoes assuming you have other ingredients such as onion, garlic, herbs or meat. You can go for a Caribbean vibe too and do a pepper sauté with onions and jerk seasoning cooking them down longer to make them more jammy, and top your roasted sweet potatoes with that mixture.

Miyoko Schinner's Homemade Vegan Pantry includes recipes for fancy vegan cheese that may be exactly to your liking. My boyfriend has a cashew allergy so I have not tried making them myself, but everything I have tried so far has been great!

Hey there. I've built a web app as a project for my resume, the link is here: https://areeves87.shinyapps.io/flavor-bible/. You can search flavors and get recommended flavoring pairings. You can even search multiple flavors at once and it will return the set of flavors that pair well with all the flavors you've inputted (i.e. the intersection of all searched flavors). The recommendations are based on content from a book called The Flavor Bible.

I'd really appreciate any feedback you can give me about how it comes off as a resume project for a data analyst/data scientist role. Thanks.

The book you want is [On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen] (http://www.amazon.com/On-Food-Cooking-Science-Kitchen/dp/0684800012/ref=pd_sim_b_11) by Harold McGee, which is a classic for a reason! Start with that one, devour it, learn it, live it, love it.

Once you've done that, pick up a copy of The Science of Good Cooking from the hardworking angels at Cook's Illustrated and then a copy of The Flavor Bible as mentioned by /u/pjdias below.

I got the book Herbs & Spices: the cook's reference by Jill Norman.

Haven't really used it though. How did you find out which herbs & spices fit a specific dish best or how to vary them effectively?

How do you deal with spices that lost a bit of aroma compared to when you first bought them?

Activity: Refreshing RAoA's newest posts.

Movie: The Truman Show, American Beauty, State & Main

Book: I like non-fiction. I'm sure I'm in the minority.

You say potato, I say po-tah-to.

As a complement to some of the suggestions here you may like The Flavor Bible. It focuses more on flavor combinations and ingredients and why they work together more than recipes. It has a neat index of different ingredients and other ingredients/flavors that go with them. Very helpful in freestying.

In addition to looking at flavor combos in recipes, I use this book to learn more about what flavors go well together. It's fantastic for things like "I have a squash I need to use, what should I do with it?"