Reddit mentions of Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto

Ruhlman's Twenty!
http://www.amazon.ca/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

There's a cookbook built around this mode of learning to cook (though he uses "techniques" instead of "skills").

Michael Ruhlman's Twenty. I cannot recommend it – and anything else he's written – enough.

I personally like books by Ruhlman like techniques or ratio they aren't too chefy for me and are easy to read.

That's such a great book idea that Michael Ruhlman already wrote it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

I read in [Ruhlman's Twenty] (http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373518144&sr=8-1&keywords=ruhlmans+twenty) by Mike Ruhlman that you should soak the chicken in water for the same amount of time you overbrined it. EDIT: I've made [his] (http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/12/11/sage-garlic-brined-pork-chops-recipe) brine for pork, but used pork loin in the oven and it and it came out great.

1. Same way you get to Carnegie Hall - practice
   
2. Come home to a clean kitchen
   
3. Prepare your mise en place before you start.
   
4. Keep notes on how each recipe turned out and where you think it went wrong or right
   
5. Like u/NoraTC said, read cookbooks like novels. (I might recommend Think Like a Chef, On Food and Cooking, Ruhlman's Twenty, and Cooking School )

I'd go with Ruhlman's Twenty for some one that needs to learn the fundamentals.

Michael Ruhlman's Twenty discusses twenty techniques and recipes using them. It sounds like exactly what you're looking for.

For strength training, Easy Strength by Pavel and Dan John. There is something in there for anybody.

For cardio training, it's not a book, but Lyle McDonald's series on methods of endurance training, also pretty much anything by Joe Friel.

For diet, Ruhlman's Twenty. It's not about nutrition, but it can teach you all the techniques you need to cook your own healthy (and on occasion not so healthy) foods so that you won't be tempted to go off the reservation and order a double deluxe pizza and chili fries when you don't know what else to eat.

Edit: For something very sport specific, there's also Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribiero and Kevin Howell. It's pretty much the beginning BJJ bible.

A lot of the comments are focused on learning simple techniques and skills, and having a basic understanding of processes. Check out this book by Michael Ruhlman.

From the blurb: " Twenty distills Ruhlman's decades of cooking, writing, and working with the world's greatest chefs into twenty essential ideas from ingredients to processes to attitude that are guaranteed to make every cook more accomplished. Whether cooking a multi-course meal, the juiciest roast chicken, or just some really good scrambled eggs, Ruhlman reveals how a cook's success boils down to the same twenty concepts."

Plan 1: Grab a general purpose beginner's book like Ruhlman's 20, How to Cook Everything: the Basics, or The Four Hour Chef and get cracking.

For the record, I would start with Ruhlman since he's the most oriented towards principles, techniques, and general purpose stuff. Bittman's great, but he mostly teaches via recipe which isn't that helpful when you're just barely starting out. Ferris' book is incredible and I would wholeheartedly recommend it, but it's huge and filled with a lot of rabbit trails about learning styles, foreign languages, memorizing playing cards, and shooting 3 points. If you like watching Tim Ferris ADD on neat stuff (and I do) it's a great read, but it definitely isn't only about cooking.

Plan 2: Get this poster. Ideally here. Get the veggie if you need it. Buy the stuff, make the stuff. This won't be quite as much initial layout as buying a book, and it's not nearly as intimidating. But it's not nearly as detailed so you're going to have to do a lot more guess-and-check type stuff and be ready to throw out your mistakes, which is probably going to cost more and be more frustrating in the long run.

tl;dr - Ruhlman

Disclaimer: links are for convenience only. I receive no benefit other than sharing my favorite sources.

Ruhlman's Twenty. Interesting, informative, and includes some fantastic recipes to illustrate the techniques discussed.

Ruhlman's twenty. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0811876438

Check out most books by Michael Ruhlman. Twenty is a good one especially.

Nice! Life changing book for me, along with his James Beard award winning Twenty (http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438)

Ruhlman's Twenty may not be exactly what you have in mind but is an excellent book. Easily accessible, adaptable, and covers things you may not even really consider.

Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto

The Flavor Bible and Ruhlman's 20 are both good guides to that kind of thing - not really about recipes, more about techniques. Flavor Bible has a really useful section where you can look up different ingredients and it will list the other ingredients or favors that will complement it. Both are also available digitally if that's your thing.

Ruhlman's Twenty.

[Ruhlman's Twenty](Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto https://www.amazon.com/dp/0811876438/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_iI7Nub01N560D) so I knew the basics backwards and forwards when I was done.

Haven't bought/read it yet, but it's the only cookbook I've ever pined for.

This popped into my head. It's not all ingredients, but the main ones are there and how to use them. Some of which are - Eggs, water, salt, sugar, butter...

The first 10 or so are ingredients the second are prep techniques.

http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

Cooking, even good cooking, is much simpler than most people think. the mistake almost everyone makes is to start reading recipe books and following famous chefs recipes, which tend to be overly complicated and not explain the "why" behind the steps. Clearly not the case for a burger, well done in this case.
Cooking is a series of very basic techniques, used appropriately. By far the best introduction to cooking is https://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438. Just 20 basic, universal techniques each illustrated by a simple recipe, will give you a better foundation than 99% of home cooks

You don't have to pretend that you're a woman to get food advice!

If you're looking for recipes, Ruhlman's Twenty is my favorite beginner cookbook - it goes into detail about 20 different ingredients and how to use them, and it also gives you recipes for each. I've found that it's somewhat difficult to eat too terribly when you're making your own food from raw ingredients, and if your little sister is smart, I bet she'll love learning more about what she's doing and why the recipe works.

For actual recipes: How to Cook Everything
For a good education on basics: Ruhlman's Twenty

Those should see you off to a good start.

Also you know, thinking about this, here's my best advice for you:

Try to move away from the idea of needing "recipes" and think about cooking more holistically. You don't really need a recipe for a roasted chicken. You need a chicken and an oven and a basic idea of time/temp. After that it's all in what you like? Coat it with olive oil? Sure. Add lemon pepper? Sure. Use BBQ rub? Why not! Stuff the inside with an onion and some rosemary? Go for it. Use butter rather than olive oil? Absolutely.

So much of cooking is not about adhering to recipes but understanding the basics of how to cook and then applying your own tastes.

A fantastic book, if you're really interested in learning how to cook w/out having to rely on recipes all the time is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

The book takes 20 cooking techniques - things like braising, frying, baking, sauteeing, and explains how and when you would use them. He does provide recipes in each category, but overall you learn how to apply the techniques to just about anything and it really opens your understanding of how to cook ANYTHING.

The great thing about cooking is that there is no template! Do what tastes good to you! That said, there are plenty of cookbooks for beginners that will give you basic ideas. This book by Michael Rhulman will give you several recipes for each of 20 basic cooking techniques. It's a great base to start from.

On wine, I completely jettisoned the idea that whites are for some things and reds are for others. You should drink what you like is the bottom line and be less concerned about pairings. If you like reds then just have a light bodied red, like a Burgundy, with chicken or fish and save the big Boudreaux for your steak. Likewise, there's no reason you can't have a nice oaky Chardonnay with a tomato based pasta, etc.

Tips I find help me out:

• Things where brand names outperform generics: paper products (e.g. toilet paper, paper towels) and soap products (e.g. hand soap, dish detergent). Almost everything else can be the generic brand with no noticeable decrease in quality.
  
• Pay attention to the unit price, not the actual price.
  
• Buy the largest size you can use before it goes bad. That means buy the gallon of dish soap and refill your dispenser. Don't buy the gallon of milk if you can't drink it all (even if the unit price is lower). Throwing food in the trash is equal to throwing money in the trash.
  
• Never shop hungry. You will always come away with more than you need.
  
• If something goes on sale, buy as much of it as you can use before
  
  1. It likely goes on sale again (every week/every month?)
     
  2. It goes bad and must be thrown away (buying 100 apples because they're on special is silly)
     
• Related to above, use the circular to see what's on sale. Make those things into means (salmon is on sale, not tilapia? There's your fish meal.)
  
• Learn to saute, grill, and pan fry. These will let you cook meals in as much time as it would take to deliver them, and for less money. Learn to make sauces and chili. These are meals that just sit there simmering for awhile, and then last for a few meals. The ingredients are always inexpensive (beans and canned tomatoes), and more meals = less money per meal.
  
  I'll recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Michael Ruhlman's Ruhlman's Twenty and Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For the Food. Plain English instructions for very simple recipes requiring few ingredients.

I'd go Ruhlman's Twenty. Does a great job of explaining 20 "things" every cook must know, and why.

https://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

This is great advice. One of the best instructional "cookbooks" in my opinion, is Ruhlman's Twenty. I hesitate to call ot a cookbook, as it is more like a cooking manual. It covers 20 essential principles and ingredients that everyone should know. For example, there is a whole chapter on just salt and how to use it properly. Each chapter also has a bunch of recipes which then utilize the concepts taught in that chapter. On top of all that, the pictures are great. The instructional photos are not glamoir shots. They show how the food should actually look while you're cooking it, and include examples of what it will look like if you do it wrong (overcook, undercook, not stirred properly, etc.)

I bought it for my wife (who was already a great cook,) and her cooking improved across the board. I've never been a great cook, but this book helped me build a foundation that made me confident about how to use eggs and onions, as well as roast the perfect chicken everytime.

I recommemd the book to anyone.

Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques 100 Recipes A Cook's Manifesto

It's an interesting question. One take is Ruhlman's Twenty. It lists what he believes are the twenty essential techniques and, give or take, five recipes for each one. Check it out from your local library, buy it used, new, or whatever. Seems to be what you are looking for.

ruhlman's twenty

One of my favorites, but any of Ruhlman's books are worth getting.

I'd suggest Ruhlman's Twenty, he goes over techniques and then has GOOD recipes you can apply said techniques. http://www.amazon.com/Ruhlmans-Twenty-Techniques-Recipes-Manifesto/dp/0811876438

If you want something more in depth start looking up books by Harold McGee.