Reddit mentions: The best hospitality, travel & tourism books

Greetings from Santa Cruz!

I think I may be the perfect person to help you here. My bar staff is about the same size as yours, and I've been doing exactly this and lending out books from my personal collection each month.
Everyone else has had some great answers, so I'll try and bring something new to the table:

How's Your Drink? by Eric Felten is my favorite easy introduction to cocktail culture. It's written by the cocktail columnist from the Wall Street Journal and reads in a very conversational way. Can be finished in one sitting. Quick read that I recommend you have anyone new start with.

The Cocktail Chronicles by Paul Clarke is a relatively comprehensive overview of the current state of cocktails. It is based around recipes, but I wouldn't call it a recipe book as each recipe has a lot of commentary that goes into context and history.

Meehan's Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan just came out and is incredible. His previous book, The PDT Cocktail Book, is an invaluable resource for recipes, and the Bartenders Manual is a complete guide dealing with all aspects of the job.

Distillled by Joel Harrison & Neil Ridley is a good introduction to different spirits and goes chapter by chapter from vodka to whiskey with an overview of production processes and other factors that influence the flavor of the drink.

Straight Up or On the Rocks by William Grimes is a history of cocktails in the U.S. starting with the first use of the word and going through the early '90s. The author is a food writer for the NY Times and the book is very well researched.

The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan does a good job of explaining how cocktails are related to each other by putting them into families. His taxonomy may be a little odd, and in and of itself is not the last word in cocktails, but it offers a good perspective.

The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler addresses technique. It's an opinionated book but he's usually right. Lots of great information. If I were starting off as a bartender and could only read one book, this is the one that would probably best set me up for success.

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh is based around historic recipes, but each of them has a lot of history incorporated and you also get a good introduction to some of the more obscure ingredients that have come back into fashion recently.

I've reached eight, so I'll stop there. If you would like additional recommendations in the future, please feel free to reach out. I've been collecting bar books for the last six years and have amassed a fair few and even read one or two.

You sound like you're in an enviable position. It's great to have support for making learning a big part of working with food/beverage. Pretty sure I've read a couple of your owner's books and have loved them and found them very useful. It seems like a really great company to work for, as well.

I'd also like to quickly mention Imbibe Magazine, which comes out every two months and is a great way to keep up with what's going on in the beverage world. I keep the most recent couple issues available for my staff to look through.

If there's anything else you'd like insight on related to bringing bar staff into the fold I'd be very happy to help.

I posted this in another thread so sorry its just a copy paste, but very relevant---


I dont recommend bartending school. i haven't been personally, but you dont need to pay for the education if you work at the right bar. I learned everything while getting paid.

Death and Co makes amazing books to teach and inspire how to make great unique cocktails. The modern classics covers the fundamentals of bar tools and all the philosophy, plus theres a bunch of neat recipes. They also have a codex thats super interesting in that they simplify and break down the origins of most cocktails. Everything is a riff on a classic, in one way or another.

Another one I like is from Smugglers Cove in San Fransisco (i think?) This book touches more into tiki and tropical cocktails, but its a lot of fun and there are plenty of great cocktails without super esoteric ingredients.

On the opposite end of the relax tiki book is this book from Grant Achatz, 3 Michelin starred chef of Alinea in Chicago (hence the pricy book). He also owns bars in Chicago and New York, and have some of the most exceptional drinks I've ever had. He's big on molecular gastronomy, wether its juice filled caviar balls, dry ice used to chill your drink tableside (with lots of smoke) or this tableside infusion. A lot of it is super over the top and not necessary, but for presentations sake its incredible. really innovative and inspiring

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I suggest that if you want to get into cocktails and mixology, find a nice restaurant with a cocktail program. If you're near a big city, try bar backing at a nice cocktail spot or restaurant, it'll help you kind of see things from the outside for a bit and will make it all less daunting.

cheers

This is going to be the opposite of what you want to hear. But, you asked for it and I respect that. I think that there's no substitute for going about this old school and traditionally. The good news is that you can mostly do this for yourself, by yourself.

If you're disinclined (due to time or for another reason) to enroll in a culinary program get yourself either The Professional Chef or Martha Stewart's Cooking School

I know what you're thinking, "Martha Stewart? What am I? A housewife from Iowa?" Fuck that. I've been fortunate to have met and worked with Martha Stewart she's smart enough to know what she doesn't know and that particular book was actually written by a CIA alum and very closely follows the first year or so that you'd get in a program like that. It starts with knife work and then moves on to stocks and sauces. This particular book has actually been criticized as being too advance for people who have no idea what they're doing so, despite appearances, it may be perfect for you. If you want to feel more pro and go a little deeper, get the CIA text but know that it's more or less the same info and frankly, the pictures in the MSO book are really great. Plus, it looks like Amazon has them used for $6 bucks.

These resources will show you HOW to do what you want and they follow a specific, traditional track for a reason. Each thing that you learn builds on the next. You learn how to use your knife. Then, you practice your knife work while you make stocks. Then, you start to learn sauces in which to use your stocks. Etc. Etc. Etc. Almost like building flavors... It's all part of the discipline and you'll take that attention to detail into the kitchen with you and THAT'S what makes great food.

Then, get either Culinary Artistry or The Flavor Bible (Both by Page and Dornenburg. Also consider Ruhlman's Ratio (a colleague of mine won "Chopped" because she memorized all the dessert ratios in that book) and Segnit's Flavor Thesaurus. These will give you the "where" on building flavors and help you to start to express yourself creatively as you start to get your mechanics and fundamentals down.

Now, I know you want the fancy science stuff so that you can throw around smarty pants things about pH and phase transitions and heat transfer. So...go get Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking THAT is the bible. When the people who run the Ferran Adria class at Harvard have a question, it's not Myhrvold that they call up, it's Harold McGee. While Modernist Cuisine always has a long, exciting complicated solution to a problem I didn't even know I had, when I really want to know what the fuck is going on, I consult McGee and you will too, once you dig in.

Another one to consider which does a great job is the America's Test Kitchen Science of Good Cooking this will give you the fundamental "why's" or what's happening in practical situations and provides useful examples to see it for yourself.

Honestly, if someone came to me and asked if they should get MC or McGee and The Science of Good Cooking and could only pick one and never have the other, I'd recommend the McGee / ATK combo everyday of the week and twice on Tuesdays.

Good luck, dude. Go tear it up!

Hey there. I'll give you a little summary of what I think most people on here will tell you in response to your questions.

Books: Blue Bottle ,Coffee Comprehensive and Uncommon Grounds are all good books to cover most of coffee and its processes.

This Capresso Infinity is considered a pretty decent burr grinder for the price. It will not do espresso but will be good enough for most other coffee brewing methods.

Getting a set up that is acceptable for "real" espresso is kind of expensive. A Gaggia classic is considered the bare minimum espresso machine for a "real" espresso. A Baratza Virtuoso is considered bare minimum for a decent espresso grinder. Now, you can (and many people do) find these items used, which obviously reduces the cost greatly. But depending on your area, finding these items up on craigslist or similar sites can be pretty rare.

I'm not from Rhode Island, but googling local roasters will provide some results. As for online ordering, tonx, blue bottle and stumptown are favorites around here for their price and quality. Beans are broken down on what region they came from, how they were processed and how dark they are roasted. Each region has different flavor profiles in their beans. African beans are known for being more fruity than other beans, for example. A little warning, most people on this subreddit believe Starbuck's espresso roast coffee to be too dark. However, many of Starbuck's light/Medium roast coffees have been reviewed as pretty decent. Most websites that sell the beans will list a flavor profile of the beans. The basic saying on this subreddit is that if you have crappy beans, no matter what, your coffee will be crappy. If you are going to overspend anywhere in the process, overspend on quality beans.

The espresso machines that you will be using at starbucks are machines that will basically produce espresso at the push of a button. They will grind, tamp and extract the espresso without any input from you. You should just know right off the bat that there is a whole other world to espresso making that is the exact opposite, with people grinding the beans to the right size, tamping by hand, and extracting shots with a lever that controls pressure. Neither way is right or wrong, you should just know that there are many different types of espresso machines and baristas.

I'll share a little bit of advise, take from it what you will. I was an ambitious college student coffee drinker just like you. I asked for a Breville espresso machine as my first real coffee making device (even before a grinder, how silly of me). I just wanted an espresso machine because that was all I was getting from these coffee shops. Since then I've gotten a nice grinder, a melitta pour over, french press, gooseneck kettle, aeropress, V60, moka pot, and chemex. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't turned on my espresso machine in over a year. There is so much more to coffee than espresso. There are so many methods to brew coffee that are cheaper, more complex and more interesting. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I'd buy the burr grinder I linked, and an Aeropress or any french press (Starbucks sells some pretty nice ones. You could get one with an employee discount) and just learn to love coffee on its own, without frothed milk and flavorings.

There is a ton of info on this subreddit if you stick around for awhile. Questions like yours are posted all the time and answered by very knowledgable people. Your enthusiasm for coffee is extremely exciting to see. Please don't let any of my advise subtract from your enthusiasm. Everyone takes a different path while exploring coffee. That's part of the excitement. You will learn a lot at Starbucks and you will learn a lot if you stay here. Enjoy your stay.

I pretty much only read non-fiction, so I'm all about books that are educational but also interesting :) I'm not sure what your educational background is, so depending on how interested you are in particular subjects, I have many recommendations.

Naked Statistics and Nate Silver's Book are both good!

Feeling Good is THE book on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is good, as is Eating Animals (granted, Eating Animals is aimed at a particular type of eating)

Guns, Germs and Steel is very good.

I also very much enjoyed The Immortal Live of Henrietta Lacks, as well as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman :)

edit to add: Chris Hadfield's Book which I haven't received yet but it's going to be amazing.

I could have swore I replied to this, but I guess my comment got lost because I keep like, fifty fucking tabs open at a time. My bad.

ahem Anyway, it's hard for me to say if my taste differs much from an NT's sense of taste. I do feel like I taste things with more complexity(?), but I don't have much to compare it to. I can say that I started learning to cook and bake after reading and memorizing large portions of [The Professional Chef] (http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355) and people love my food. And I taste-test it throughout the cooking process to make sure it's good, so apparently there's nothing wrong with my sense of taste. Maillard is one of my favorite words.

I hate the taste of liquor in things. I like alcoholic drinks where the taste of alcohol is completely disguised.

My favorite food is ice cream. My least favorite food is caviar.

I'm picky about the textures of foods, and I can't eat anything that smells bad (like kimchi). My sister-in-law makes this Filipino soup with tamarind and cellophane noodles that absolutely disgusts me. The smell of it drives me from the house. (Don't tell her I said that.)

I have a very strong sense of smell, which I think makes my sense of taste stronger than the average bear, but I'm not sure. I do know that certain smells which bother other people (skunk, gasoline, burning rubber, a catalytic converter) do not bother me at all. I actually think they smell pretty good. Meanwhile, some things which people think smell good (like certain flowers and perfumes) smell awful to me. I CANNOT go near a Bath and Body Works store.

I love to try cooking new and exotic things, but I personally have very simple tastes. I could happily live the rest of my life taking in nothing but coffee with milk and sugar, iced sweet tea, iced water with lemon, plain turkey sandwiches on white, and Campbell's chicken noodle or tomato soup.

Cilantro tastes like cilantro to me. Not soap. :D

I make a lot of cocktails for friends and so I've found the following ingredients to be useful for making a ton of cocktails:

• Costco bag of limes - a gigantic bag of fresh limes for less than 6 bucks and it should keep in the fridge for a few weeks. Most rum drinks use limes vs lemons, though there are a few. With this, you can make daiquiris, use the limes for garnishes, etc.
  
  
• Pineapple Juice (Multi-pack) - The cans of pineapple juice are so convenient for making quick cocktails. A lot of tiki drinks feature pineapple juice (Painkiller, Missionary's Downfall).
  
  
• POM juice - You use the pomegranate juice for making homemade grenadine, possibly one of the easiest and best tasting syrups. I've used this recipe for years and I extend its life by adding a T of brandy. I love the Shrunken Skull drink made with this: 1 oz Gold Rum, 1 oz Demerera, 1 oz lime, 1 oz grenadine, and ice - potent and so good!
  
  
• Angostura Bitters - a feature of most tiki drinks. There's even a cocktail (that I haven't tried) that uses this as it's main spirit!
  
  
• Books that are packed full of wonderful recipes:
  

1. Smuggler's Cove
   
2. Beach Bum Berry's Remixed
   
3. Trader Vic's Tiki Party
   
   Fair Warning - You will want to make ALL of the recipes in these books, and then you will want to buy more different types of alcohol (Jamaican, Demerera) and ultimately the recipes. It's a vicious, expensive cycle, but it's all worth it when you discover your new favorite drink. Eventually, it will hopefully lead you to something complex and wonderful like the Puka Punch recipe, one of my favorite cocktails. I think it features more than 10 ingredients, and it's amazing!

Don't give up buddy. I'm 39 and I am a franchisee of a chain my father started up. Being partners with your dad is a blessing and a curse. I have gone through every battle you have described with your old man. Every stinking one. From the massive overwhelming menu to the insane resistance to new technology. It was a soul draining slog for a long time. I tried to gently coax ideas into the conversation, I tried to point out the competition was employing these same tactics against us, I tried to use logic & reason.... nope, nope and more NOPE.

After barely getting by for 4 years listening to his "I've been in this business 30 years speech" about how things should be done, I went rogue. I stopped asking permission and started doing things the way I wanted. I bought a POS system, I added a second drive thru window, optimized the kitchen for speed & efficiency & redecorated the lobby. Sales responded in a big way... which is what I thought we all wanted, to make money, right? No. I was wrong yet again. The modest success of my shop drives him crazy because it's all the things he said would never work working out beautifully. It's a huge threat to him and his ego but, I'm not a kid anymore. I need volume and sales now. entertaining his antiquated ideas just doesn't rank very high on my priority list any longer. We never really got along great but, now that I'm starting to make decent money with my rogue shop we barely talk and he never visits. Which is fine. I'm going to continue to max out my sales volume, build my war chest and open a few more concepts. It would have been great to do it together with my dad but, oh well. Life without daily arguments at work is pretty sweet. I can live with it just fine.

Things turned around for me when I started reading. Start reading books of people you look up to. I would suggest reading Danny Meyer's (Shake Shack, Union Square hospitality group) book "Setting the Table". Excellent insights on hospitality and acquiring the correct mentality on serving people. For tons of good nuts and bolts operations info, you can't go wrong with this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0910627975/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481377874&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=restaurant+managers+handbook&dpPl=1&dpID=51jXHNnpfML&ref=plSrch

Good luck!

Damn dude, if you haven't already I would cut out all soda, like seriously only drink water. I don't know if you already do or not, but add high fiber foods to every meal, and it will help you feel fuller longer. A good green to eat is spinach loaded with nutrients for only a few calories.

Whole wheat bread may have a few more calories than white, but it is much better for you, plus it has the fiber! Beans are good for fiber too. Try to increase your intake of monounsaturated fat to lower your ldl and perhaps increase your hdl.

This is one of the best websites you will find on healthy foods. Also, ExRx is great for nutrition and exercise info.

The Eat this not That Books are a great resource and over the course of a year you will lose weight just by making simple changes.

Hell you may know all of this already, so just good luck with whatever you do.

For intro sociology, I'd recommend some preachy nonfiction. They are written for laymen but introduce the sociological style of approach. Something like Fat Land or Uninsured in America.

Freakanomics is not exactly sociology, but could be an interesting read for someone interested in social economics / group behavior. Jonathan Kozol is a reporter, not a sociologist, but his stories mix investigative reporting with a human element to focus on topics of interest to the field of sociology. I remember Nickel and Dimed also being a good read.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is not a book about sociology, but rather a specific example of culture clash within the context of medical care. That being said, it is a big reason why I decided to become a social worker (which is a profession in line with the two fields mentioned in your post).

A Place at the Table is a movie that might fit the bill.

Note: I'm American. I imagine other places would have different topics of interest.

Edited: add movie and fix format

An excellent book for you at this point would be Jacques Pépin's Complete Techniques. From the description:

"Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques features everything the home cook needs to perfect: poach an egg, whisk a perfect hollandaise, knead a crispy baguette, or bake an exquisite meringue with the perfection and efficiency of a professional chef. Featured throughout the book, Pepin's classic recipes offer budding masters the opportunity to put lessons into practice with extraordinary results."

It also covers things like knife technique and other fundamentals, which you mentioned.

As far as French cooking goes, although they've been around awhile, two books that are still definitive on the subject are Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Volume One and Volume Two. All three of these books (Pepin plus these two) are foundational to learning about cooking. There are others, but these will give you a very good start, and will increase your cooking skills and knowledge exponentially.

If those aren't enough, you can also check out The Professional Chef, which is a fantastic book of recipes and techniques put out by the Culinary Institute of America. It's a bit spendy, but worth it if you want to learn. The Amazon links are provided for reference; if money is an issue you can quite easily find all these books used.

Not sure if you can get Cachaca there, but the capirinha is a very 'beginner friendly' cocktail that's clearly international.

Seconding maximswim's recommendation on tiki cocktails, they're basically all strong and generally on the sweet side, plus they can have cool garnishes/mugs. If you're willing to do complicated drinks, Smuggler's Cove is a great resource.

I'll tackle some of the resources. As a Writer, I'm sure you'll appreciate some of these.

• Best book for tiki cocktails & rum, and a bit of history: Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki
  
• Best book for tiki history: Tiki Pop
  
• Best website to peruse tiki mugs: Ooga Mooga
  
• Best bulletin board for general tiki culture: Tiki Central
  
• Best website for locating tiki bars and shops: Critiki
  
• Largest U.S. tiki convention: Tiki Oasis
  
• Web list of other tiki conventions: Tiki Festivals

Photo of the Finished Product

This recipe is from San Francisco's Smuggler's Cove, which is absolutely one of my favorite tiki bars.

The bar's creator released a fantastic book loaded with Smuggler's Cove recipes but also history of tiki, a breakdown of different rum classifications, and even how to decorate for a tiki bar. I highly recommend it.

Recipe:

• 0.75 oz fresh lime juice
  
• 0.25 oz fresh grapefruit juice
  
• 0.25 oz homemade cinnamon syrup
  
• 1 tsp homemade grenadine
  
• 0.5 oz John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum
  
• 1.5 oz blended aged rum (I used El Dorado 12)
  
• 1.5 oz column still aged rum (I used Zacapa 23)
  
• 1 oz black blended overproof rum (I used Lemon Hart 151)
  
• 2 dashes Herbstura (1:1 mixture of Angostura bitters and Herbsaint)
  
  Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake, open pour into Zombie glass or other tall drinkware. Garnish with mint. (The original recipe calls for a flash blend, open pour with gated finish.)
  
  Obviously, this is a very strong drink, so being able to make it at home is nice, even if a little prep-work is required! It packs a punch but it is extremely complex, flavorful, and not cloyingly sweet. If you have the patience, it's a worthwhile, serious tiki drink.

X-posted to r/tiki as well

It's been hot in northeast Georgia, hot and humid!! To me, that means Mai Tais!

I've been drinking quite a few lately, because I'm also putting together a side-by-side overview of four different orange liqueurs to be posted on r/cocktails soon. This is a fantastic way to experiment a bit.

I start with the Mai Tai recipe from Smugglers Cove and tweak just a little...

• 1 oz Doorly's 8-year old Barbados Rum
  
• 2/3 oz Denizen 3-year old Aged White Rum
  
• 1/3 oz Smith & Cross Navy Strength Rum
  
• 3/4 oz Lime Juice
  
• 1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
  
• 1/4 oz homemade Mai Tai syrup
  
• 1/4 oz homemade Orgeat
  
  Combine in a shaker tin with 12oz crushed ice plus a couple large cubes and shake until the tin frosts up. Dump everything into a double Old Fashioned glass and garnish with a spent lime shell and a sprig of spanked mint.
  
  Notes on my Mai Tai:
  The book, Smugglers Cove, is simply brilliant in how it handles rum. I've been a whisky guy for many years, and just in the past 6 months or so have begun exploring rum. The Smugglers Cove book, and the subreddits, r/rum, and r/tiki have all been fantastic resources.
  
  As outlined in Smugglers Cove, the original rum Trader Vic had access to when he created the Mai Tai (J. Wray and Nephew, 17-year old Jamaican) is not available today. Fortunately, the tiki gods are generous and gave us Martin and Rebecca Cate, who go on to describe the history of the Mai Tai in fantastic detail. If you are a fan of rum, or tiki, or just general booze-lore, I cannot recommend the book Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki highly enough.
  
  With that being said, the book describes mixing various rums to achieve a profile similar to Vic's original. I do not claim to have recreated the original with my mix of Doorly's, Denizen, and Smith & Cross, but based on some trial and error (is it really an error, when the result is still a damn good Mai Tai?!) I did find a flavor combination I absolutely love!
  
  My "tweak" is to use 1/2 oz of Clement Creole Shrubb in place of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao. Nothing at all wrong with the Ferrand, it's just that, to me, the extra little bit of spicy funk from the rhum agricole base adds a perfect note to a Mai Tai.
  
  The Mai Tai syrup and Orgeat are both recipes from Smugglers Cove as well. The syrup is a 2:1 Demerara with a bit of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt added. The Orgeat is pretty standard stuff, almonds, water, sugar, orange blossom water and rose water. Both are well worth making and keeping around in the refrigerator.
  
  ~Cheers!

Sorry for the delayed response!

• The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz is the backbone of any book collection on the topic of fermentation, and has inspired many other others.
  
• Fermented Vegetables by Christopher Shockey is my favorite book for most of my ferments. It's a super-practical recipe book for a ton of awesome krauts, kimchees, etc.
  
• The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher opened me up to a whole new world of making my own yoghurts, cheeses, etc., and more importantly, to kefir.
  
  Kefir has been the most wonderful source of probiotics for me. My lactose-intolerant wife has been able to drink it without problem. I've actually even heard of people being able to cure their lactose intolerance with the stuff. If I drink as little as a cup of homemade kefir every day, I have zero G.I. tract problems. I've noticed that if I stop using it for long periods of time, they frequently return. If I were to select one thing to try, it'd be kefir. The best source of information on kefir came from a series of webpages (1, 2, 3)from a guy named Dom. He has a ridiculously crazy sense of humor, but he's done more experimentation with kefir than I've seen anywhere else. I'd encourage you to buy some kefir grains off of Craigslist for $5 and experiment with it for a while.
  
  I hope this helps. Please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.

Smoking and obesity are 2 different things. I think I liked everything you said except for that comparison. Smoking is not healthy in any form or volume. Food is essential. It's not food, but the quantity and specifics of the food that is the situation at hand. So let me rant about what you already said:

People are fat because today we have RUINED our reality about nutrition. As a poor, uneducated person, which would you buy: a full meal of enchiladas and rice for $4 or a dozen tortillas for $1.79, tomatoes for $1.19/lb, onions for $.89/lb... etc.That's the choice that is given to America.

Now imagine you are a middle class person with some amount of disposable income. Which would you rather pick, having someone hand you a meal for $5 or a dozen tortillas for $1.79, tomatoes for $1.19/lb, onions for $.89/lb... etc.

Point is that every person needs to take control of their health. YOU ARE RIGHT! But when you dangle a carrot in front of a mule, don't get mad that they seem to maintain a diet of only carrots. Corporatism, commercialism, convenience and general laziness have all had their hand in contributing to this "epidemic"

I am a cook, as a hobby and as a job. I love food and I will sous vide the crap out of you. But I also love sociology and I have a sub-hobby of reading books like Fat Land and Food Politics and An Edible History of Humanity. I find it interesting to learn about the reasons people flock to fast food as well as the reasons they "flock" away.

I 95% don't blame McDonald's for pushing their food into the standard home in America. But that 5% is kinda what Super Size Me was about. McD's has many different opinions, but the marketing department has made the goal that EVERY person should eat McD's for EVERY meal. They aren't wrong. As a marketing exec, I too would say that my goal is not just increased awareness, but saturation of the market. But Morgan took them at their word and said, "Fine then, you get your way... let's see how this works out."

I think everyone knew how that would work out before watching the movie... and the movie did its fair share to make everything bad into TERRIBLE!!!!!!! (dramatic much?)

TL,DR; I hate Democrats and Republicans, but I hate lobbyists more than all of the other guys combined!

Cocktail Kingdom is located in NYC.

36 West 25th Street, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10010

Go check it out, good stuff there.

Honestly, if he has his OWN bartending equipment, a really nice leather bar roll-up would be nice.

http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/all-barware/bags-case

Depends on your budget.

If he wears an apron at work...

http://butcherandbaker.com/

I love their aprons.

Books are always good for inspiration.

https://www.amazon.com/Smugglers-Cove-Exotic-Cocktails-Cult/dp/1607747324

This one came out recently and I couldn't recommend it more. The people who wrote it are probably the foremost tiki and rum experts in the world. It's the best cocktail book since Death and Co.

Tight budgets are understandable. I live as a college student and don't usually have much to spend on food. The important things to look at here are what foods are being bought. It may be vital to have a conversation with your mom about why certain foods are being purchased. Salad greens and boneless skinless chicken breasts are almost always on some sort of weekly sale at my grocery store. Shoved in the corner, usually by the deli counter, is the "Reduced Produce" section that includes all of the already ripe fruits and veggies that may have a ding or bruise on them. It's a great way to get whole bushels of bananas for $0.69 or a pound of squash of $1.00. By reducing the high carb, high fat ingredients coming into the house, it'll be easier to make healthier choices. I bought this book in the beginning and it gave me some good insight as to what to eat and what parts of the store to avoid.

Like HeyZuesHChrist said, you cannot outwork a bad diet. Read up on the FAQ and have a talk with your family about what changes can be made. Good luck!

Edit: formatting

I love your last point BopCatan! It's awesome to see the confused looks and stutters from the ignorant people when they see a strong fit person tell them they're vegan.

As for my motivations I'd say I'm a bit of a mix of both. I was inspired to look into it because someone I have a lot of respect for decided to become vegan. In short, what I found was that a lot of the animal products we ingest are far from the simple collection of healthy nutrients and proteins that they were sold to me as. I had already mostly phased out red meat based on previous health risks I had researched, but my initial response was to switch to eating only locally produced meat where I could be confident in knowing where and how it was produced. Over time I kind of just stopped eating that all together too as I noticed how much better my body was feeling after vegan meals. I used to get stomach aches quite regularly or feel tired and sluggish after eating and those problems vanished almost instantly. Plus my girlfriend was a vegan before me anyways so I was learning to cook some awesome vegan meals to impress her anyways!

My ethical motivations sort of developed alongside my already growing veganism. A big part for me came from focusing on the damage mass production of animal products does to our planet. There's so many aspects to this and I don't want to write a short story on here but I'd say my introduction to these thoughts began with factory farming. I had a discussion with someone where they explained how these methods are often so stressful to the animals being slaughtered for consumption that huge amounts of meat and milk was being spoiled by the animal’s own stress hormones and that products that were still being pumped out of these factories were causing disease and poor health significantly more then ever before. This was a big deal to me, but the kicker was later reading an article about how researchers for some company were attempting to genetically modify the cows so they wouldn't have a stress hormone to release in the first place. This just seemed like such a ludicrous response to me. Rather then recognizing that hey, maybe what we're doing is pretty bad after all, we decide to mess with the genetic composition of our food even more? Really? And that says nothing for the ethics of putting animals in a situation where they feel so much terror that they are destroying their own bodies from the inside out.
(I can't remember the exact articles I read but just did a 5 second Google and here is one that talks about the stress response of animals).

There are many more environmental factors to my ethical “motivations”. Another big one for me is the massive amounts of C02 created from all the production and shipping we do. But ya, there are people way better qualified then me to talk about this stuff.

If you’re looking for a good articulation of ideas and facts I’m currently reading a really cool book called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated) discussing his research into food production preceding the birth of his first child. I dunno if it’s the best book ever, and I haven’t even finished it, but I figure maybe it’s something people haven’t heard of rather then suggesting people go read Michael Polan or watch Earthlings etc. (not saying those aren’t worthwhile!).

I read "The Case Against Sugar" and it brought me to research replacing the amount of sugar I was eating. I chose to try Keto because besides sugar, "keto" is all I ate, so it was easy for me.

I said I would trial run it. I had limited keto flu. I had a health screening at work in February, so I just used that as a benchmark. I have another screening next week, so I will see what this lifestyle has done over 2 months.

I enjoy rowing, lifting, and playing basketball. I have seen a decrease in performance. Some of this is due to not having a ton of energy while acclimating my body off of sugar. For the same reason I was pretty stationary for a week or two, which also added to the decrease. I am seeing progress, but I am also transitioning from SKD to TKD and seeing if that can help out.

I am also visibly happier, but this is most likely due to breaking my sugar addiction.

TL;DR I got rid of sugar, fell into Keto, and love it.

Well, on the extreme side, "The Professional Chef" textbook I believe is the one used by the culinary institute of America. I picked one up off Amazon for $36 just for the hell of it. It's really interesting and reads more like an academic text than a cook book. It can be quite intense though.

A much more popular choice and a much easier read would be "The Food Lab" by Kenji Lopez-Alt who is a writer for serious eats. The book has plenty of recipes but does an unbelievably amazing job explaining the science and reasoning behind the choices that are made as well as various "experiments" that kenji does to answer cooking questions. It definitely teaches technique and really helps put you in the right "mindset" for cooking without a recipe.

Here are links to both.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087

You make valid points too. Everyone has red lines they refuse to cross. For some it is the environment, others health, and others their hearts.

For those who make the moral argument, it is hard to stay logical and be free of emotions. It's almost a religious argument at that point.

The book "Eating Animals" is a good read and it tries to take a balanced view of the issue. The author used 2 independent fact checkers to make sure he keeps truthful. It also contains chapters from people who work in the industry on their viewpoint.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SSBD6W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

For me, the biggest new idea in the book was that small farms are being put out of business by large corporate farms. It's similar to how Walmart has taken over small businesses in many towns.

It's a hard problem to fix. Just like the environment, people don't take it seriously until it personally impacts them. A 99c cheeseburger sounds great, but the true cost has been externalized to the environment and the community.

I appreciated hearing your thoughts! Good chat!

Although it is most probably water, i would like to add another factor that might help: Sugar.

Just finished A case against sugar about it, and it lays out a really great case against sugar (who would have thought with that title). Hopefully it is obvious that sugar is no good, but a lot of people still have this idea that a carb is equal to all other carbs. Not really true. Some are better than others.

BTW, quick recap of the book: Sugar increase insulin, insulin tells the body to store fat, people get fatter. There is also some hints that well processed flour can be a culprit as well, mainly white flour. There are a lot more details, but that is the gist. So it might be water, but if you have cut out specifically sugar calories, then it could also be that that's in effect.

BTW, incase your not a reader but a listener, you can listen to sam harris interviewing the author on his podcast, or here on youtube.

Good luck on the weight loss.

Maybe others who actually finished their degree can chime in here, but there are a few basic textbooks that'll be of good use to you.

This was the intro book we used; it's a solid textbook and covers WAY more than one or two classes' worth of info. Feel free to buy dirt-cheap just like you would with any textbook, it's expensive as hell just because they know students need it... so get an older edition and get it used; brand-new it's damn pricey (and there's even been a few newer versions since then, wholly unnecessary for your needs)

You should also get a ServSafe book eventually; if you get it used it should be REALLY cheap (they make their money by including the required test sheet with the book, it's of no use to formal culinary students without it so students will resell for 1/10 the price without the test materials) You'll want to get a fairly new edition though, as food laws are constantly updated. That book is less important unless you get a job where they want you to get ServSafe certified, and if so they really should pay your expenses for that anyways.

If you want to get into baking, I'd recommend On Baking from the same people as the On Cooking textbook. Again, tons of info, very pricey so buy used and buy an old edition.

Actually, you said your uncle went to culinary school; maybe he still has textbooks packed away somewhere? Obviously reading alone is no substitute for actually doing it in a commercial kitchen; but you can learn a hell of a lot in your own kitchen, such as proper cuts and whatnot (which WILL require a LOT of practice!) that you'd never know without a bit of knowledge first. Feel free to PM me if you're curious about anything specific and I'll try to help, or make a post as there are definitely more knowledgeable people here than I am :) Good luck!

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.

If you really want to learn to cook i would suggest getting the text book than many professional chefs use while in school, something like this:
The Professional Chef https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470421355

You dont have to read it cover to cover but you should use it ad a reference to learn the fundamentals and establish a basic set of skills that you can use as you continue to learn and try new things. Like many endeavors you can save a lot of time by learning the tricks of the trade in the beginning.

Also like others said youtube is an awesome way to learn, also check out Americas Test Kitchen on PBS.

A cast-iron skillet. Soon, your awesome searing skills will be no match for your puny kitchen fan. Just make sure you look into how to care properly for the thing.

As for cookbooks, like other people in the thread mentioned, Joy of Cooking and Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything are great tomes of quality recipes. I would also recommend something along the lines of a culinary school textbook. I'm a big fan of The Professional Chef. This cookbook focuses a lot on technique and theory, but it's very thorough and still has plenty of recipes and delicious looking pictures.

Dude, that's fantastic news. This comment immediately got me subscribed for updates.

Some other source recommendations off the top of my head...

Tiki drinks:

• Just about anything Jeff Berry has put together for tiki drinks. I would argue that Mr. Berry is as responsible for the modern resurgence of tiki cocktails (and their re-elevation to being carefully crafted, quality drinks) as anyone in the industry.
  
• Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove
  
  General cocktails:
  
  
• Dave Wondrich's Punch and Imbibe - note that you may have to do a bit of reading to arrive at the recipes, as these (and several of the other books I'm about to mention) spend a good bit of time on history and/or technique in addition to "just" containing recipes.
  
• Dale Degroff's Craft of the Cocktail
  
• Jeffrey Morgenthaler's The Bar Book
  
• Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology
  
• Kevin Liu's Craft Cocktails at Home
  
• The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual
  
• Dave Arnold's Liquid Intelligence
  
• Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails
  
  
  ...that's... not a bad list to get started. Good luck! I'll be interested to follow along with development.

I LOVE to travel. Road trips, more than flying though. I enjoy the time in the car, to explore as I please. This RoadFood book has been incredibly awesome to have, and always make sure you have something to occupy your time.

Im heading to Nashville next month, for no reason other than it'll be over Record Store Day and I want to check that city out.

May is my much awaited trip to Carolina Beach. Ive been looking forward to it since we went last summer.

June is an 8 hour drive to Rothsbury, MI for Electric Forest Festival

July is a trip to Chicago for Pitch Fork.

In August. We rest.

Restaurant Success

This book should do the trick. When I was seriously considering opening a restaurant earlier this year, I read a ton of books on it. This one happened to be the best. And also the Restaurant Bible The first one is more of a general idea of opening a restaurant but a great read. The second one gets extremely specific. I have the restaurant bible barely used if you want a used copy for half price. It is a ridiculously big book, but if you are serious about this then you need it. Let me know and good luck!

I recommend reading The New Becoming a Vegetarian and Eating Animals. The first one will get you up to speed on how to get what your body needs without meat, and the second one will help you learn how to talk about it when your family and friends give you shit. Good luck and congratulations!

If you can find a copy of "The Professional Chef", snatch it up! It's the textbook used by the Culinary Institute of America. It has a ton of recipes, but also explains the different methods of cooking in detail. It's broken down into chapters like dairy, seafood, meat, grains and legumes, etc. I found an older edition at a garage sale for $1. It's a great resource to have. The only thing is that recipes are sometimes made for large-scale batches, so you'd have to do a little math to break it down into a reasonable amount. Nobody needs 40 poached eggs in their home at a time.

I have this one and this one. I like the first better, it's the one I used in my culinary school. The second is the one I got at the garage sale.

No, but I've read Managing Ignatius: The Lunacy of Lucky Dogs and Life in New Orleans, a memoir of a guy who worked at Lucky Dogs off and on from high school well into his 40s. I read it back in 1999 - or so Amazon's "You purchased this item on February 20, 1999" banner tells me - but I remember thinking "man, if even half the stuff in this book is true, it's amazing!"

Amazon link

I wanted to cook but was unable to take time off to attend a school. I'd been enraged with a crap meal in an expensive countryside resto at a dinner for someone, so the next day I went up the High Street and found THIS.

I wasn't smart on cooking but I realized as I think you do that learning technique rather than reciting recipes is the way to a happier kitchen future.

After that, I eventually got an edition of THIS. It helped expand on, but not replace, the lessons from Cordon Bleu.

I went through those before this day of Internet videos and information sharing occurred; you are a beneficiary of more modern times being able to search for a solution to your problems.

I wanted to ask a question about your relationship, but hesitate. I mean, (blushing) how much stock do you put into your ability to please your husband with cooking? I only offer that as a point of consideration as a long-time married man. Restaurant-quality food at home won't make or break a marriage (although horrendous food at home can contribute to a break-up); other aspects of a marriage more than compensate for the quality of home-cooked food. Take it from a long-time married person. An offer of a PM stands, and best wishes in your journey to moving your already-good home cooking to a higher standard.

the book eating animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a great source for information about vegetarianism being a better solution for the planet.

it has an extensive bibliography of credible sources, and is an entertaining read (he also wrote everything is illuminated and extremely loud and incredibly close).

i find having some books as sources in research papers feels a little more substantial than all internet articles!

Get 3-4 tools;

A Japanese-style jigger or a 50ml graduated cylinder

Ice. (And learn how it is made properly)

A cocktail shaker.

A strainer comes in handy too.



The cheapest way to practice; mix whatever booze you have on hand that is around 80 proof with some form of sugar, (honey, 1:1 sugar-to-water, 2:1 sugar-to-water, agave, Demerara sugar, etc...) and some form of citrus (fresh lime/ lemon juice). Just play around with the ratios of each (booze, citrus, sugar) till you learn how each affects one another.

For beginning bartending, I recommend familiarizing yourself with how alcohol is synthesized, the different distillation processes, and the types of booze from around the world.

From there, look on YouTube.

u/CocktailChem has a nice playlist for beginners called Basic Cocktails

Here is a couple of other playlists for you

The Educated Barfly YT

Steve the Bartender 365 days playlist

How To Drink

United States Bartenders Guild (USBG) seminars


Additionally, look for some books;

Cocktail codex(here)

Savoy Cocktail book (here)

Liquid Intelligence (here)

Smuggler’s cove (here)

Tiki (here)

The Aviary Cocktail Book (here)

Worked for several bar owners and even planned to open my own bar at one point (still do but it's more of a pipe dream now). Food in a bar is almost ALWAYS sold at a loss, in some places you're forced to do it, other's you just use it as a incentive to bring a few more people in. Profit margin on beer and liquor is MORE insane than soda.

What OP here didn't account for is true "Pour cost." Pour cost on a soda is more like $1 not $0.21 once you factor in ALL costs (rent, utilities, labor, insurance). Pour cost on a $9 drink could be about $2....insanely more profitable. Don't get me started on beer....woo boy....beer will make you rich...

EDIT: Wanted to bring this book up. It's wonderful and quite accurate. I used this while working with the bars and crunching numbers and it's formulas are damn accurate. https://www.amazon.com/Restaurant-Managers-Handbook-Financially-Successful/dp/0910627975

The Keto Diet - Leanne Vogel - she also has a podcast, if you like them.

Why We Get Fat - Gary Taubes

The Case Against Sugar - Gary Taubes

The Keto Reset Diet - Mark Sisson

The Ketogenic Bible - Jacob Wilson and Ryan Lowery

If you are looking for cookbooks, Maria Emmerich, Kyndra Holley, Carolyn Ketchum, and Amanda Hughes have great stuff. There's also a TON of sites for great keto recipes. Just let me know if you need some.

Pretty sure she can rent it if she has cash and a LARGE deposit.

The other thing you guys could do is buy a beater car off craigslist for cash and then sell it when you get to your destination. Here I found you some beaters.

Also, get this book for your roadtrip, it's the bomb- all local specialties throughout each of the regions of the US and helps you avoid the ever pervasive chain stores.

They also have an interactive website with maps to help you plan your routes.

Rum is a slightly more complicated topic than, say, whiskey or tequila. The legal standards for rum vary by country. Remember that most individual islands in/on the Caribbean are independent nations. There are more than 200 rums bottled in North America alone. The U.S. federal definition of rum is abysmal and not enforced as it is. OK. Where to start? Here are some links to further your pursuit.

This is a good general overview as only Wikipedia can give. Rum - Wikipedia

Here's a reasonable intro to rum guide put together by VINEPAIR Rum Guide - Learn About Rum

This is Drink International's Rum Supplement from last December. It discusses a lot of the topics surrounding rum today. Download it (free) and put it on your phone/tablet. Rum Supplement - Drink International

Here are some books that are generally well regarded by the rum community. I've linked to the eBook versions. The most expensive is $11.99

Rum The Manual
Rum Curious
And A Bottle of Rum
Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki

Have fun chasing rums!

~Cheers

Here are the only books you need:

1. Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki
   
   
2. Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean
   
   
3. Beachbum Berry Remixed
   
   
4. Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari
   
   They're all fantastic. But if you only buy one, start with Smuggler's Cove. It's just an incredible wealth of information and it's a lot more current than the others. It's also very useful if you're looking to expand your tiki repertoire since it has a lot of information on bar equipment, rums, syrups, etc. that the other books lack.

I think this is an interesting point, (and I suspect you already know this) but there's a fair bit of evidence that the amount and frequency of carbohydrates we are eating now is now what we evolved to eat. Most of our shelf-stable breads, sugary products, and whatnot that are very high carbohydrate did not exist until more recently in our evolution. If we look at sugar specifically (which is the most common carbohydrate to over-consume as it is highly palatable), until the last 100 years it was physically impossible to industrially produce anywhere near the amount of sugar that our society consumes on a daily basis today. [See The Case Against Sugar.] Sugar used to be expensive and rare, now it is a staple of our everyday diets, even for young children.

​

I think ketogenic diets and similar ultra-low-carb diets would be mostly not necessary if we had not already developed fatty liver and impaired glucose tolerance from a combination of neonatal exposure to high levels of testosterone and amh and excess childhood sugar (and high fructose corn syrup) consumption from sugary cereals that did not exist at all in our diets until the last few generations. [See The Diabetes Code.]

​

Also even if there was a higher level of exposure to carbohydrates which is the case in some cultures that predominantly survived on rice or potatoes, there were regular amounts of famine which would reduce any insulin resistance that had developed fairly quickly, as they do in individuals who undergo bariatric surgery.

Hey! I'm in a similar position to you – trending veggie since last Thanksgiving, officially no meat since April 1, hoping to be vegan eventually. Initially I started down this path for health reasons but was having similar lapses... "just this once" / "I'm so hungry" / "it's all we have in the house" etc. etc. etc... I know how you feel!

Not everyone can stomach it but I found it really helpful to start looking into the environmental and animal welfare side of things. I read Eating Animals to get real familiar with the downsides of factory farming. This has really helped me avoid the animal proteins altogether, even when I'm really craving them. Hope that helps!

This is also a great read on AB InBev's impact on craft brewery buyouts. This one focuses on Goose Island. Easily one of the best beer books I've read.

https://www.amazon.com/Barrel-Aged-Stout-Selling-Out-Anheuser-Busch/dp/1613737211/

Just curious, is there a specific type of farm you're involved in?
You make a good point that there are many other arguable reasons. I've been vegetarian for over 15 years but only recently became interested in the potential environmental issues related to meat production after reading Eating Animals.
I would highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the topic of meat production in the U.S. I felt the author really tries to take an unbiased look at the industry and does a great job of offering different viewpoints. He has a chapter about pig farms that is particularly the most memorable regarding waste problems. Overall, though, he covers a wide range of other issues as they relate, including health, social, economic, and moral issues.

If you start by learning some basic cooking techniques or basic recipes, as you progress it will become easier for you to build on those basics and to start improvising meals or to create your own recipes. In addition to watching videos, I also bought a used copy of a culinary school textbook.

For some solid videos/shows, I recommend the following:

• Alton Brown's Good Eats Link to all episdoes
  
• Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live link
  
• Jacque Pepin link
  
  Edit: Also, not sure what kind of kitchen equipment you have, but you definitely want a decent chef's knife.

If you want to know the science as well as anecdotal evidence supporting low carb and against the Standard American Diet, here's a list of books for you to read:

• The Art and Science of Low Carb Living
  
• Why We Get Fat
  
• The Big Fat Surprise
  
• Good Calories Bad Calories
  
• Fat Chance
  
• Keto Clarity
  
  Jimmy Moore is a lot more anecdotal but it's a good place to start if you want a simple way to understand keto, in my opinion. The rest contain lots of studies and evidence to convince you.
  
  Taubes is also bringing out a new book. I've not yet read it but I've certainly pre-ordered!
  The Case Against Sugar
  
  
  
  
  
  

And a Bottle of Rum is absolutely the book you're wanting.

Smuggler's Cove has several decent sections on rum, including some history and a lot of subdivisions and classifications.

Potions of the Caribbean is another great book more focused on the influence of cocktails in the Caribbean, but has some good insights on rum as well.

In terms of bang for your buck, this is the best one out there. Not only does it have every recipe you could want, it also covers the why and how of every basic step. Published by the Culinary Institute of America (the best culinary school in the world.)
https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

If you want a fantastic deep dive of this exact issue, read Josh Noel's book Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out, Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business The story of Goose Island.

From the details: Goose Island opened as a family-owned Chicago brewpub in the late 1980s, and it soon became one of the most inventive breweries in the world. In the golden age of light, bland and cheap beers, John Hall and his son Greg brought European flavors to America. With distribution in two dozen states, two brewpubs and status as one of the 20 biggest breweries in the United States, Goose Island became an American success story and was a champion of craft beer. Then, on March 28, 2011, the Halls sold the brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, the least craft-like beer imaginable. The sale forced the industry to reckon with craft beer’s mainstream appeal and a popularity few envisioned. Josh Noel broke the news of the sale in the Chicago Tribune, and he covered the resulting backlash from Chicagoans and beer fanatics across the country as the discussion escalated into an intellectual craft beer war. Anheuser-Busch has since bought nine other craft breweries, and from among the outcry rises a question that Noel addresses through personal anecdotes from industry leaders: how should a brewery grow?

1. Go to a bar with a good selection of rums
   
2. Taste some rums that you and the bartender agree are dark
   
3. Have your mind blown at the variety of what you experience
   
   Others have recommended Martin Cate's book from Smuggler's Cove. Get it. :)

I've read a couple of good books on the recent history of AB, which I'd recommend:

Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business

I'd welcome any other recommendations.

I was excited by the Culinary Institute of America's The Professional Chef. http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=zg_bs_4254_20

This looks more creative and scientific. Congrats.

I'm really enjoying the Stone Brewing book. Lots of great photos of their operation, stories from when they were getting going, and recipes for their beers at the end. It's $16 on Amazon.

Edit: non-mobile URL added

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safron Foer. Great book, really interesting perspective on factory farmed animals. You won't be disappointed.

Amazon link

Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry Published in 2013 by a Miami University professor who runs a small coffee shop that roasts, in Oxford, OH. This book is a wonderful resource for all things coffee: cultivation, roasting, preparing, the industry and many other aspects, etc. I was fortunate to know Dr. Thurston and can tell you he is extremely knowledgeable about coffee, among other things.

Culinary student here. For our Skill Development class we use On Cooking. It's a really great resource and it teaches the basics: names of equipment, proper knife techniques, the mother sauces, etc. It also has a wealth of recipes that use fundamental skills, nothing overly complicated.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-5th/dp/013715576X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322589391&sr=8-1

It will save you an unreal amount of money. I’ve worked as a chef for going on 15 years now. If you’re interested in learning to cook and have the time you could get yourself a beginner culinary school textbook like On Cooking or The Professional Chef. It’ll teach you a ton and is chock full of beginner recipes with explanations of why everything is done the way it is.

https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-5th/dp/013715576X


https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

This is a pretty great book about fermentation and raw milk: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Natural-Cheesemaking-Traditional-Non-Industrial/dp/1603585788/

My copy is at least 10 years old, but the information is still solid today. The Professional Chef.

I would also contend Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is an excellent source for understanding basic flavors, mother sauces, etc.

Buy this book! This is the exact book they use in schools. Very in depth and super easy to understand. http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

While these are not coffee specific they are outstanding nonetheless and most of what you are asking about is not coffee specific anyway

http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Service-Charlie-Trotter-Edmund/dp/1580083153/ref=la_B000AP7VF2_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451444335&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Excellence-Charlie-Trotter-Clarke/dp/0898159083/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=411aK7gBhqL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=1KNTVVTBBAGQTTJ0N7BC

These as well for general FS management and food cost
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Kitchen-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470508965/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451444627&sr=1-10

http://www.amazon.com/Restaurant-Managers-Handbook-Financially-Successful/dp/0910627975/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451444745&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Beverage-Cost-Control-Dopson/dp/0470251387/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451444776&sr=1-2

Download and watch every episode of the first two or three seasons of good eats, for starters.

Get The Joy of Cooking, read it cover to cover.

If you want to get even deeper, get a copy of On Cooking <http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-only/dp/0131713272>

https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-5th/dp/013715576X

This is honestly one of the better text books I have seen/read. A lot of information in it, along with literally thousands of recipes. You get access to their online recipe book as well.

The New Professional Chef

There is a newer version called The Professional Chef that Paul Bocuse calls "The bible for all chefs".

I agree with u/mirepoixmatt, I like the older versions a bit better. You can get an older version of the New Professional Chef for 75 cents

Well, there's the old saints:
https://www.amazon.com/Hawaii-Tropical-Drinks-Cuisine-Beachcomber/dp/1566474914
https://www.amazon.com/Trader-Vics-Bartenders-Guide-Revised/dp/B000LY5HJY

And the new testaments:
https://www.amazon.com/Smugglers-Cove-Exotic-Cocktails-Cult/dp/1607747324
https://www.amazon.com/Beachbum-Berrys-Potions-Caribbean-Berry/dp/1603113800

Knowing rum is good. Knowing orgeat and falernum is better.

Get a textbook which explains the basics instead of a shitload of specific recipes. Once you know how to make a sauce thicken and a dough rise, cooking becomes a beautiful, creative hobby instead of a chore.

Try e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-3rd/dp/0130452416

I used this book: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

it has a lot of step-by-step basic techniques with pictures, and some scientific explanation. it doesnt have as much personality as the books mentioned by other commenters - i think it's intended as a cooking school textbook - but it's pretty comprehensive.

Here it is. Excellent deal for the content. If you want to "cheap out" you can preview any page in the book and snag the recipes. I do however suggest buying it. Nice coffee table book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1607740559/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1382240061&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

I highly recommend The Craft of Stone Brewing Co. It's one part history of the brewery, one part recipes for their beer and one part recipes from their Bistro.


I haven't read Brewed Awakening but it's got some good reviews on Amazon (and one oddly, scathing review so who knows?)

I would look at this book:
Paul Bocuse: The Complete Recipes https://www.amazon.com/dp/208020095X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rkkjybM2R3694
It contains many recipes for traditional French dishes like onion soup, sole meunière, bœuf bourguignon.
As far as techniques go, I found this book to be the best:
The Professional Chef https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470421355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_vmkjybW84N5YZ
Especially the section on stocks. It also has a lot of French recipes.

Cool, thanks for the rec Jester.

Another couple that I like:

Nine Lives

Managing Ignatius

The Bar Book - Jeffrey Morgenthaler teaches no bullshit techniques, recipes, and the reasons behind those techniques and recipes.

Liquid Intelligence - Dave Arnold goes full on science nerd on the art of making perfect cocktails.

Death and Co. - Excellent modern classic recipes.

Smuggler's Cover - Pretty much the only Tiki book you'll need nowadays.

Meehan's Bartender Manual - I just bought this as a present for someone, been flipping through it, really nice new book from Jim Meehan.

Take a recipe you've followed a few times and then do it differently. Start with something small like dicing instead of slicing something. Then try using chicken stock or wine instead of water. Do something you know you're not supposed to do but you're not sure why. Maybe have a fire extinguisher on hand.

Buy a bag of onions and a sack of potatoes. Look up the difference between a chop, slice, dice, etc. Practice those methods. Then cook those onions and potatoes different ways at different times and temperatures. How does a diced potato cook in the oven at 500 degrees or 300 degrees for 10 minutes? What happens when you toss the potato in oil? Does adding salt prior to cooking change the outcome? Form a hypothesis and determine why your hypothesis was right or wrong after you run the experiment.

Just like anything in life, if you want to learn about it, study it. Some people learn better from books. Others from doing. It's frustrating but I appreciate my failures in the kitchen. It means I learned something that day. As far as books go, I'd recommend The Professional Chef. It's a little advanced but it covered a lot of the basics. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470421355

I'd also add that if you're able to follow recipes you already know how to cook. "Knowing" is relative.

I also completely agree with /u/buttunz, The Professional Chef is a must have if you're planning on a career in the culinary field. What I like the most about the Cuisine Foundations text book is all the pictures of the knife cuts. It really helped me improve my knife skills.

read.
this is the book i used for culinary school. when you learn the basics, you can build on that foundation and start messing with flavor combos and stuff. i also recommend the flavor bible for flavor combination. we use this is culinary school too and it is SO Helpful.

I would definitely recommend getting Professional Cooking or The Professional Chef, then. Either of them will give you the solid foundation you're looking for.

Most anything coming from the Culinary Institute of America is trustworthy, as is Alton Brown and Julia Child. America's Test Kitchen (and Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country Magazines) is fantastic... they do a lot of recipe and product testing, which saves you the effort, energy & resources. They give you a recipe, but also go into a bit about WHY it worked.

My understanding is that the soft cheeses are supposed to be the ones to begin with, but I'm really interested in the stinky aged stuff. I found this book on Amazon but am not sure if there's something better.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1603585788/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

A good starting point might be Saison du BUFF. It has all 3 of those herbs, IIRC. I think the recipe is in The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance. When Greg and Sam did the G+ hangout w/ Wil, Greg mentioned that they'd publish the recipe on the Internet, but I don't think they've done it yet. We should bug Greg about it. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069906

Unbiased, honest, well-written.

PeTA can also help you out:

The Dairy Industry

The Egg Industry

> What are some good cookbooks or preferably online resources that I can use to learn some of the basics?

My favorites:

Good Eats

America's Test Kitchen

Serious Eats

On Cooking

>Stories and techniques are what I want.

For these reasons, this is the best cookbook I have ever owned

http://www.amazon.com/On-Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals/dp/0131713272

That one's sweeeeet. Also Alton Brown. Every now and then if there's something I'd like to see demo-ed outside of work (butchering, searing, ginger stuff, etc) I'll see if there's a Good Eats episode on it.

This book is amazing if you really want to learn the this and that of culinary arts. It's the place I learned about various starches for the first time.

If you really want to get into making tiki drinks, you should buy the Smuggler's Cove book to get a good grip on what you're doing. The book also has recipes for most of the common syrups in the back. It is under $20 on Amazon, so it costs about the same as a decent bottle of rum.

Here are a handful of books along the lines youre looking for. They hold a wealth of knowledge that should give you some direction on how to proceed.


https://www.amazon.com/Institut-Bocuse-Gastronomique-step-step/dp/0600634175/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046182&sr=8-1&keywords=institute+paul+bocuse

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Good-Cooking-Illustrated-Cookbooks/dp/1933615982/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046072&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Science+of+Cooking

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Lab-Cooking-Through-Science/dp/0393081087/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046072&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Science+of+Cooking

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Cooking-Understanding-Biology-Chemistry/dp/1118674200/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046072&sr=8-5&keywords=The+Science+of+Cooking

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Spices-Herbs-Discover-Understand/dp/1623156289/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046139&sr=8-1&keywords=essential+spices+and+herbs

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046163&sr=8-1&keywords=the+professional+chef

Have you ever read Managing Ignatius?

Cause it's hilariously awesome.

Meehan's Bartender Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607748622/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6rB3DbAYJZ3RK

if possible check out this book, it has great info about different bar layouts and designs. it lays out everything you’ll need to open. as for drinks it will depend on the community sounding your location.

I'd recommend learning how to cook, rather than learning how to make specific things.

Try The Professional Chef, which, misleadingly, is not just for professionals.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/

Failing that, find a good Youtube channel which covers the basics, rather than just specific meals.

I should note, recipes and actual meals do become good resources, once you can interpret why they work, etc.

what you really want are recipe inspirations with common ingredients, not necessarily techniques. There are tomes out there like the CIA's Professional Chef or Pepin's New Complete Techniques which go into minute details on very classical preparations expected at high-end restaurant kitchens, but for the avg home cook that's overkill.

I think your ultimate goal is to develop a set of protocols to guide you in creating dishes on the fly, which actually is a really difficult thing to do even for skilled cooks. The only advice i can give is to cook broadly, learning preparations for various cuisines, from Italian dishes, to Lebanese/Israeli, to Indian, Chinese and Japanese. Many ethnic/cultural cuisines have a certain flavor profiles, with specific spices and ways of combining proteins & starches. But you need to read & practice so these protocols come instinctively.

What about Professional Chef by CIA or On Cooking by Sarah R. Labensky? I've never tried them but I've heard of them and would like to hear confirmation before spending a lot of dough on these expensive textbooks.

Assuming you're from the US and primary deal with US, English and French culinary styles, I think what you're really looking for is an in‐depth guide to the principles of cooking. Sure, it's good to have cookbooks/recipe books as well, but if you want to study theory a book on principles of gastronomy is more what you're looking for. The golden standard in US culinary schools are books by the ACI, such as: https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=sr_1_1

Altitude is only indirectly responsible for high quality, the direct reason is temperatures. Arabica attains a higher quality when it is grown at cool, stable year-round temperatures, and it can never frost. Where are these conditions found? Generally, at high elevation, near the equator. There are exceptions, for instance Hawaii is further from the equator than many other coffee regions, and there specialty coffee is often produced at significantly lower elevations.

Source: multiple authors within this book

You need to educate yourself sir. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the mother and grandmother's consumption of sugar and passed to the baby. Type 1 diabetes has increased dramatically over the past 200 years, Type 2 diabetes has dramatically increased over the past 200 years in concert with mass consumption of sugar (directly) and indirectly (added to food by manufacturers).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xvZuOlP61I

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/secrets-sugar/

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Sugar-Gary-Taubes/dp/0307701646

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-conspiracy-robert-lustig-john-yudkin

Here is a list of studies conducted on Sugar and diabetes

This is a very well written book about eating animals without (thankgod) vegetarian/PeTA sensationalist/fundamentalist approach. And, yes, the book tells about gestation crate and piglet banging in details.


I recommend it to those who haven't read it yet. I haven't become vegetarian after reading it, but it totally changed my view on eating animals and eating animals (=carnivores).

Get yourself a copy of this used.

It's the book they would give you at culinary school. This edition is old, but it has all you need to learn in it. I've had my copy now for like two years.

-All of Scott Rao's books, including the Espresso e-book.

-Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/046501836X?pc_redir=1412274560&robot_redir=1

-Coffee: A Comprehensive guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1442214406?pc_redir=1411853065&robot_redir=1

-The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman
http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/products/the-world-atlas-of-coffee

-Coffee: Growing, Processing, Sustainable Production by Jean Nicolas Wintgens
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/3527332537?pc_redir=1413970300&robot_redir=1

Ha, not a bunch more. I was looking at books on amazon and this came up in a recommendation or something. It's currently on pre-order.

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Smugglers-Cove-Exotic-Cocktails-Cult/dp/1607747324?ie=UTF8&colid=2RWGZCCTUJPKG&coliid=I3RVGB3429Y92Z&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

Have you read "The cast against sugar"? If yes, what do you think of it?

Nå folkens, der er snart gået et år siden Skodbil sidst mæskede sig i fødselsdagskage, og det betyder at successen skal gentages. Fødselsdagsgaver er for lang tid siden gået fra at være Lego og våben, til at være sokker og bøger.

Derfor skal der nu nogle gode kogebøger på listen. Jeg er ikke så meget på udkig efter opskriftsbøger, men mere ude i at ville have kogebøger som jeg rent faktisk kan lære noget af. Jeg har allerede følgende på listen, men hvis DU kender en helt vildt god bog jeg bør læse, så sig til.

Sølvskeen

The Food Lab, Kenji Lopez

Chocolate at Home

Paul Bocuse Institut Gastronomique

The Professional Chef

The Flavour Bible

Mastering Cheese

Der er med vilje ingen vinbøger på listen, for det gør jeg mig ikke specielt meget i - endnu.

Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry is a great resource. More technical than many other books, but not prohibitive to a hobbyist.

Don't bother! They're too expensive, vs. just getting a job in a restaurant and working your way up. Buy the CIA's textbook, and work your way through that while you have a kitchen job. Make sure that it's for you before you spend the tens of thousands of dollars needed to get a culinary degree.

I read the book "The Case Against Sugar" by Gary Taubes. Lots of information, other sources, and motivated me to continue without sugar.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

Once in a while I get together with a friend (or two) and try some Tiki cocktails that we haven't tried before. Here's links to all the other times we've done this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Port Light

• 1 oz. egg white
  
• 2 oz. bourbon
  
• 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
  
• 3/4 oz. honey syrup (1:1)
  
• 1/2 oz. Passion fruit syrup
  
  Combine egg white and bourbon in a drink mixer tin and flash without ice for 10 seconds. Then add remaining the ingredients. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small "agitator" cubes. Flash blend and open pour with gated finish into a footed pilsner glass and garnish. (from Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki)
  
  Kona Castaway
  
  
• 3 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
  
• 1 oz. aged Jamaican rum
  
• 1 oz. light rum
  
• 3/4 oz. coffee syrup
  
• 2 drops Bittermen's Tiki bitters
  
• Lime wedge
  
  Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with crushed ice. Shake until well-chilled and pour everything into a chilled wine glass or highball. Garnish with a lime wedge. (from Putney Farm)
  
  Coffee syrup:
  Combine a 1 to 1 ratio of coffee (preferably Kona coffee) and sugar. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer until it reduces by 1/3. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
  
  Don's Special Daiquiri
  
  
• 1 oz. Jamaican rum (Smith & Cross)
  
• 3/4 oz. aged white rum
  
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
  
• 1/4 oz. passion fruit syrup
  
• 1/4 oz. honey syrup (1:1)
  
• Garnish: Maraschino cherry
  
  Add all ingredients except cherry to cocktail shaker. Shake with ice until well-chilled. Strain into chilled cocktail coupe and garnish with cherry. (Adapted from Don the Beachcomber original)
  
  Manoa
  
  
• 1 1/2 oz. (45 ml) Bacardi Carta oro rum (we used El Dorado 8)
  
• 1 oz. (30 ml) Arcane cane crush rum (we used Real McCoy white rum)
  
• 3 ml Absinthe
  
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) Pimento dram liqueur
  
• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) Passion fruit syrup
  
• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) Homemade falernum syrup
  
• 3/4 oz. (~20 ml) Grapefruit juice
  
• 3/4 oz. (~20 ml) Lime juice
  
• Mint
  
• Sugar cube
  
• Ground cinnamon
  
  Add the rums, lime juice, pimento dram, both syrups, and grapefruit juice to a blender with 6 oz. crushed ice. Flash blend for 10-15 seconds. Pour into Tiki mug or highball. Garnish with fresh mint. Place spent lime shell (cut side up) onto the ice with an absinthe-soaked sugar cube inside. Light the sugar cube on fire and dust with ground cinnamon. (from A Mountain of Crushed Ice)

I think "Eating Animals" was a much better book - you should check it out http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer-ebook/dp/B002SSBD6W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415253966&sr=1-1&keywords=eating+animals

I hope he also reviews The Case Against Sugar.

I'd go for it. If the chef is in charge of hiring and is vouching for you, then she probably has already figured out that they are just going to take her word for it and leave it at that. An associate's is just a 2 year program, likely from a community college; I've worked with plenty of such graduates that don't know which end of the mop goes on the floor.

The more important question is whether you can do the job. If you have the potential but just lack the experience, then start cramming. Start reading at night to make up for your lack of education. Teach yourself; thousands of people do it every day. Go through used bookstores and look for The Professional Chef, ATK Cooking School Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, etc.

The best cooks I've worked with, whether certified or not, read cookbooks, continue to read cookbooks throughout their career, and are constantly scouring the internet for new trends and ideas.

This is seriously a MUCH bigger and more prevalent concern. Here is a very enlightening book about the issue.

Alton brown and this book have been very helpful to me.

The CIA book is helpful too

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421961861&sr=8-1&keywords=the+professional+chef

What you're talking about is a culinary school textbook. But much of it is demonstrated in the classroom, and some things don't come through so well just verbally, you need a visual.

The problem with food is it is so eclectic. So if you're cooking Italian, your needs are different than if you're cooking Italian-American, and your needs are different if you're cooking American. Even then you're needs are different if you're Southwestern Tex-Mex, Midwestern Casserole, New England Seafood, Or Texas BBQ. Asian styles are not really comparable to European styles/tools/processes, despite cross over ingredients.

Any good chef will tell you, the more you know, the more questions you have. The beauty with food is that it is endless.

Look at the CIA textbook as a starting point: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

But stop trying to over simplify things.

Will check it out. If you want to get further into the Tiki side of things, I recommend Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607747324/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xrV7ybVRKN7FJ

buy this book

http://www.amazon.com/The-Restaurant-Managers-Handbook-Financially/dp/0910627975

and read it. it says restaurant manager, but it means restaurant startup.

I go to a top 3 hospitality school in the us, and this was our textbook for a restaurant business class. it covers everything you need in detail, and dissuaded every single person in class that wanted to start a restaurant from doing so. the book doesnt aim to do that, and its actually really motivational at times, but all the facts are there.

restaurants are the most work, with the highest failure rate, and the lowest margins.

If you do go ahead with it, i imagine this book will be a lifesaver. If not, the price of the book will be a worthwhile investment.

If you like learning from books I would highly recommend buying a used copy of a Professional Cooking book that Culinary colleges use.

New ones cost about $50-75 but older editions with 98% of the same content can get found for $20 and can be used as a culinary bible.

Amazon: The Professional Chef

I've found Gary Taubes' books on carbohydrate intake, and sugar's effect on our insulin mechanisms really fascinating and illuminating on the topic of diabetes.

Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It on Amazon.

The Case Against Sugar on Amazon.

He's done a couple AMAs here on Reddit too.

(I know not everyone agrees with what he says, but I found it informative nonetheless. Just a perspective that happens to makes sense to me and jives with my general take on diet + nutrition.)

Cocktail Codex for understanding builds



Death and Co for technique, classics, and variations



Liquid Intelligence for understanding the “why” to the “how”



Smuggler’s Cove because tiki is sort of its own thing in a lot of ways



Imbibe! for historical context




Some honorable mentions include Jim Meehan’s Bartender’s Manual, Regarding Cocktails, and The Dead Rabbit: Mixology and Mayhem.

Order and read this book. The 4th edition is apparently hard to find as it was printed better. If you are a visual person, maybe try the video version. EDIT: That link has the book as well...

Also, watch America's Test Kitchen all the time.

Start with the section on knife skills. You'll thank me later.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals/dp/013715576X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344546738&sr=8-1&keywords=on+cooking

This book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Craft-Stone-Brewing-Co/dp/1607740559

Has updated versions of the recipes which they apparently felt were more on-target for home brewers. Either that, or they like selling books.

I would recommend getting a copy of the Sippin’ Safari 10th Anniversary and a copy of Smuggler’s Cove.

That should cover most of what you’re looking for.

Sounds like you're looking for a cooking school book. Not sure if there is a vegan one already.

The America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook

The Professional Chef

"Sugar is bad" is the converse of "whole food is good." There are many resources that you can find by searching, but the TLDR is: it rots your teeth, it doesn't fill you up, it spikes your blood sugar, it overloads your liver, it causes insulin resistance, it makes you fat, and it's addictive.

Here's a book that's popular: https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Sugar-Gary-Taubes/dp/0307701646

Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques is worth a look. If you want something more professional (and a lot more expensive), the Culinary Institute of America's book, The Professional Chef is very thorough.

I used this book in school and it is highly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals-5th/dp/013715576X

Just a some that likes cooking alot here. Maybe pick one of these bad boys up and start playing.

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-1&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Bakery-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579654355/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-2&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/French-Laundry-Cookbook-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579651267/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-3&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Bouchon-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579652395/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-4&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Sous-Vide/dp/1579653510/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-6&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373677797&sr=1-9&keywords=thomas+keller+cookbooks

http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373678139&sr=8-1&keywords=ratio

Started out on a dare (much like yourself), then kept going for health, then I read "eating animals" and now I'll be vegan until I die.

(I also like that it's better for the environment, but I found that out later)

I recommend you read Gary Taubes's latest book. 'The Case Against Sugar." It's very damning. Sugar is almost certainly the cause of the obesity epidemic.

This textbook is used by the top culinary school in the United States. It is a steal at this price. The only problem I've had is the recipes our for serving a lot of people, so you have to scale them down. It's a good skill to learn anyways. The Professional Chef https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470421355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_JB3Lzb3P564CZ

buy On Cooking if you're feeling out of the loop. read it through a few times. will set you on the right path

1. Python Programming - An Introduction to Computer Science
   
2. The Film Experience: An Introduction
   
3. Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing: Structure, Strategy and Style
   
4. On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals
   
5. Integrated Chinese Level 1 Pt. 1, 2nd Ed. Textbook: Simplified Character Edition
   

The Professional Chef. Tons of recipes, no fluff. Definitely more textbook than cookbook though.

Also, an Amazon reviewer of the book said this

>The biggest inconvenience is that the quantities are referenced by weight so it might say 2oz of sugar and I have no idea how much that is. 

Which is just funny to me. The book has measurements in both imperial and metric for each recipe.

I used to teach cooking classes (don't let my username fool you). My #1 piece of advice for all inexperienced cooks is to learn how to use salt (use kosher salt, not table salt). Taste your food, add some salt, taste again. Pay attention to the changes that you notice. You can learn as many techniques and fancy tricks as you'd like, however if your palette sucks and you can't season food properly then it's all for naught.

Secondly: liberate yourself from the slavery of recipes. (Unless you're baking). Learn TECHNIQUES, not RECIPES. Understand WHY you do everything in cooking and you'll be able to cook with intuition. Having good food intuition is what makes someone a good cook, not just having a memory bank of recipes. I'd suggest picking up the Culinary Institute of America's textbook's The Professional Chef. This is the textbook for one of the best Culinary Schools in the entire world.

If you move the decimal over. This is about 1,000 in books...

(If I had to pick a few for 100 bucks: encyclopedia of country living, survival medicine, wilderness medicine, ball preservation, art of fermentation, a few mushroom and foraging books.)


Medical:

Where there is no doctor

Where there is no dentist

Emergency War Surgery

The survival medicine handbook

Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine

Special Operations Medical Handbook

Food Production

Mini Farming

encyclopedia of country living

square foot gardening

Seed Saving

Storey’s Raising Rabbits

Meat Rabbits

Aquaponics Gardening: Step By Step

Storey’s Chicken Book

Storey Dairy Goat

Storey Meat Goat

Storey Ducks

Storey’s Bees

Beekeepers Bible

bio-integrated farm

soil and water engineering

Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation

Food Preservation and Cooking

Steve Rinella’s Large Game Processing

Steve Rinella’s Small Game

Ball Home Preservation

Charcuterie

Root Cellaring

Art of Natural Cheesemaking

Mastering Artesian Cheese Making

American Farmstead Cheesemaking

Joe Beef: Surviving Apocalypse

Wild Fermentation

Art of Fermentation

Nose to Tail

Artisan Sourdough

Designing Great Beers

The Joy of Home Distilling

Foraging

Southeast Foraging

Boletes

Mushrooms of Carolinas

Mushrooms of Southeastern United States

Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast


Tech

farm and workshop Welding

ultimate guide: plumbing

ultimate guide: wiring

ultimate guide: home repair

off grid solar

Woodworking

Timberframe Construction

Basic Lathework

How to Run A Lathe

Backyard Foundry

Sand Casting

Practical Casting

The Complete Metalsmith

Gears and Cutting Gears

Hardening Tempering and Heat Treatment

Machinery’s Handbook

How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic

Electronics For Inventors

Basic Science


Chemistry

Organic Chem

Understanding Basic Chemistry Through Problem Solving

Ham Radio

AARL Antenna Book

General Class Manual

Tech Class Manual


MISC

Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft

Contact!

Nuclear War Survival Skills

The Knowledge: How to rebuild civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysm

I got my numbers from on cooking

http://www.amazon.com/On-Cooking-Textbook-Culinary-Fundamentals/dp/0131713272

Here you go!

On Cooking

its a text book that I used in Culinary school. It gives you the why and the how.

I suggest reading The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes and also The Obesity Code by Jason Fung.

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Sugar-Gary-Taubes/dp/0307701646

This book by Gary Taubes explains in depth, factually everything that you are purporting. Less Conjecture.

Maybe check out this book:
Jonathan Safran Foer - Eating Animals

Any fact checks/critiques of this are encouraged! Eating Animals convinced me that over fishing was a problem but I can't speak to the specific facts quoted in the video.

For reference, go to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, or this book. For flavours, I'll usually go with the Flavour Bible or the Flavour Thesaurus.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486308362&sr=8-1&keywords=cia+cookbook

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355/

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Cooking-Wayne-Gisslen/dp/1118636724/

Is this the same one?

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

this is what you are looking for

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America/dp/0470421355

Cant beat The Culinary Institute of America The Professional Chef unabridged. The CIA does it right.

The Professional Chef. I think we were using the 6th edition while I was there, but they're up to 8th edition now.

For those who don't already know what this means, Pro Chef is referring to The Culinary Institute of America's textbook The Professional Chef.

The Professional Chef (ProChef), you can also get this in ebook/ App form!

Wine:

Windows on the World - Kevin Zraly

The Wine Bible - Karen MacNeil

The World Atlas of Wine - Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson

Cooking:

The Professional Chef - The Culinary Institute of America

The Culinary Institute of America book page on Amazon

The Flavor Bible - Karen Page

9th Edition Is newer, cheaper, and prime eligible.

Start here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470421355/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518328836&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=cia+cookbook&dpPl=1&dpID=41rNtxGGDYL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316118400/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518328931&sr=1&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2972396462&pd_rd_wg=nq5yM&pf_rd_r=YWY3G2TH6PPKJDW69WQG&pf_rd_s=mobile-sx-bottom-slot&pf_rd_t=9701&pd_rd_i=0316118400&pd_rd_w=Ra06B&pf_rd_i=culinary+school+book&pd_rd_r=6d45f769-fe0f-4f25-870c-9833a3a902fb&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1579129110/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518329071&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=jacques+pepin&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ob6blpRqL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0778802566/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518329157&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=knife+skills+illustrated&dpPl=1&dpID=513Oqyg2uPL&ref=plSrch

This completely changed my view on food in the US:

https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Land-Americans-Became-Fattest/dp/0618380604/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480170795&sr=8-1&keywords=Fatland

4 sets of these.... $17.44 with shipping

If it has to be one item, this is $17.40, if you have prime!

Stone actually released a book with recipes for some of their beers a few years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Craft-Stone-Brewing-Co/dp/1607740559

Is tiki considered "advanced"? If not, I'd add [Smuggler's Cove] (https://www.amazon.com/Smugglers-Cove-Exotic-Cocktails-Cult/dp/1607747324) by Martin Cate.

Buy a copy of the Smuggler's Cove book and go from there.

Here is the mobile version of your link

This was a thought provoking book that made me think more carefully about what I eat. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SSBD6W/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_XWqKub11FT03B

If you want to learn how to cook, as well as recipes you can grab a copy of The Professional Chef though it may be a little bit intimidating.

If you're serious about it, The Professional Chef, the textbook of the Culinary Institute of America is available. It takes you from the very basics - the first recipe is 700+ pages into the book.

Here you go mate, there seems to be a newer edition

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470421355/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/184-9271667-0334449

Sorry of this shows up weird, I'm on mobile

You fucking serious?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTH3a_2zb1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGUoxBV0Tck
https://www.amazon.com/Barrel-Aged-Stout-Selling-Out-Anheuser-Busch/dp/1613737211/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1J7HTKD1DEJVA&keywords=barrel+aged+stout+and+selling+out&qid=1571619650&sprefix=Barrel+A+stout+and+selling+out%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-1

https://www.fooddive.com/news/ab-inbev-unit-paid-retailers-and-bars-to-push-its-beers-massachusetts-repo/442989/

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2015/12/big-beer-wants-take-away-your-craft-beer/

But I have a recommendation for you, if you are too stubborn to listen.

Read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Restaurant-Managers-Handbook-Financially-Successful/dp/0910627975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293665280&sr=8-1

This article is not only wrong it's dangerous. The author dismisses Gary Taubes hypothesis as "not tested." The Case Against Sugar is a compilation of centuries worth of nutritional research. It's also a scathing look at the field of nutrition research that explains fully why it would be so difficult to prove. The basis of his hypothesis was even proven last year when evidence was uncovered that the sugar industry paid off scientists to downplay the link between sugar consumption and health problems.

Würde "The Professional Chef" empfehlen.

Steht unheimlich viel Hintergrundwissen drin. Und auch echte gute Grundrezepte (Fonds, Saucengrundlagen etc.).

Rezepte sind auch drin, die sind, und das ist der einzige Haken, etwas schwer zu lesen, weil sie aufeinander aufbauend geschrieben sind.

Jetzt als aus dem Kopf konstruiertes Beispiel:

Braten mit Sauce: Rezept für braune Sauce benutzen.

Rezept für braune Sauce:

• Rezept für Mirepoix benutzen
  
• Rezept für Rinderfond benutzen
  
• Das ganze Mischen.
  
  Aber insgesamt wahnsinnig viel Hintergrundinfos und Kochen wirklich von grundauf und auf anspruchsvollem Niveau.
  
  Wer wirklich Lust hat in der Küche auch anspruchsvoll zu kochen, dem kann ich das Buch voll empfehlen.
  
  Ansonsten noch "Aroma - Die Kunst des Würzens". Ist von Stiftung Warentest und geht in Teilen fast in Richtung Lebensmittelchemie (aber wirklich nur grundlegend).
  Das Buch erklärt, wie Aromen entstehen, auf welcher chemischen Basis, und wie sich Geschmack zusammensetzt bzw. wie unser Körper überhaupt Geschmack wahrnimmt.
  
  Dann gibt es ein großes Kompendium aller möglichen Aromen, chemisch analysiert, so dass man dann genau weiß, welche Aromen man miteinander kombinieren kann. Gibt nochmal ein sehr gutes Hintergrundwissen, wie Geschmack funktioniert.
  
  Außerdem lernt man wirklich interessante und neue Aromakombinationen.
  
  ~edit~ Deutsche Version von TPC kostet 200 irgendwas Euro. Ich weiß nicht mehr wo ich es gekauft habe (ggf. Amazon.com bestellt und mir schicken lassen), aber das ist natürlich zu viel. 50 Euro wird man aber schon dafür ausgeben können.