#73 in Cookbooks, food & wine books
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Reddit mentions of Ad Hoc at Home (The Thomas Keller Library)
Sentiment score: 13
Reddit mentions: 26
We found 26 Reddit mentions of Ad Hoc at Home (The Thomas Keller Library). Here are the top ones.
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- Artisan publishers
- Language: english
- Book - ad hoc at home (thomas keller library)
Features:
Specs:
Height | 11.31 Inches |
Length | 11.31 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | November 2009 |
Weight | 5 Pounds |
Width | 1.31 Inches |
Ad Hoc at Home.
http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774
You can also use a blowtorch to caramelize the outer portion of the meat. I tried it on the last prime rib I did at home and it turned out great. Thomas Keller mentioned this method in Ad Hoc at Home. I find it to be both more convenient and less messy than pan-searing, especially for larger cuts of meat.
America's Test Kitchen complete TV show book or their Cooking School book are both excellent as large compendiums of a variety of recipes all of which have been thoroughly tested, are well-written, and have two or three paragraphs explaining why the recipe is the way it is. These are books I would recommend to anyone looking for a big book of recipes to cook at home and get good results.
My personal favorite is Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. The food in that book is just so wonderful -- pretty much perfect examples of every dish attempted -- and the recipes execute it perfectly but are generally not too complex or difficult for a home cook. If we had to eat food from just one cookbook for the rest of our lives I think we would all give priority to huge compendiums with 500+ recipes in them, but if we had to choose from single-author cookbooks with ~100 recipes or so, I would pick Ad Hoc at Home.
Have you seen the Ad Hoc Beef Stroganoff recipe by Thomas Keller? That is some demanding shit. Man doesn't use ground beef. Thomas Keller's secret to buttermilk biscuit? Cake flour. Yeah, the low gluten content makes it softer but I find it's too cakey. White Lily AP flour is ideal. Disclaimer: other than fried chicken I don't understand southern cooking and I've never understood the appeal of biscuit. Gimme a buttery croissant filled with almond paste, any time. Paula Deen is the devil.
Invest in some professional chefs cook books. I recommend this one. super delicious recipes, but not impossibly complicated. Also the photos are spectacular.
You could also try getting a cookbook and cooking your way through it. Ad Hoc At Home is pretty accessible. Check out French Laundry At Home for some inspiration.
As The Flavor Bible has been mentioned already, I'll add Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller
https://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51QkBbNStmL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=E6S63V8X7MYR2V32N7V9
Ad Hoc at Home:
Check out the video on the Amazon page here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1579653774/ref=oss_product
The do look amazing, the funniest thing is that I looked up the book and on Amazon's website they have the recipe, enjoy!!!
This particular recipe happens to be one of my family's favs - and it's incredibly easy. It is from TK's book Ad Hoc at Home. Every recipe I've made from the book is amazing. Even better, the book is full of very insightful kitchen tips that you can apply in everyday cooking, no matter the recipe.
Watch Good Eats, for a start. I think pretty much every episode is up on youtube, and S1E1 (Steak) was what got me started on cooking. The show feels pretty corny sometimes, but it's full of great information and flexible recipes.
When you're good on basic techniques, you can pretty much pick up any cookbook and make things work. I suggest Keller's Ad Hoc at Home for some mind blowing (and thoroughly explained) stuff, and Mark Bittman's How to cook Everything series for pretty much everything else.
The best fried chicken I ever made was from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home book. The amazon page includes the fried chicken recipe, so you don't even need to buy the book. It was a lot of work though, and required brining the chicken overnight. http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342457237&sr=8-1&keywords=ad+hoc+at+home
Thomas Keller does something similar to this in Ad Hoc at Home. He has a creamy polenta recipe (if you don't have the book, here's an adaptation of it) that he pan fries once it's cooled. I've tried it, and it's delicious and totally firm. I cut mine in wedges, and it works perfectly.
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
So most of my cookbooks are either text dense reference manuals or obnoxiously difficult like The French Laundry Cookbook, but here's a few that are relatively simple with excellent photography:
La Cocina - Cookbook from an organization in San Francisco that teaches low income people to successfully grow food businesses. Photos are incredible.
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The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook - Excellent photos with a lot of obscure produce.
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Ad Hoc at Home - Thomas Keller's family style recipes with wonderful photography.
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Flour Water Salt Yeast - Focused on baking bread and making pizza, but a lot of step by step photos and some awesome pictures of the final product.
Well, I'm half-Chinese. I'll give you two cookbook recommendations which are full of recipes which really resonate with that part of my background:
In addition to the aforementioned Chinese food, I'm just a fat piggy who loves to eat. Here are a few more recs:
Feel free to drop me a line if you need more recommendations. I've got quite the cookbook collection (I love to cook, it's not just cookbook porn) and love to share my thoughts.
Ad Hoc at Home: Family-Style Recipes I think this is one of the best options, beautiful as well as lots of information and many different methods.
Sweet, here it is if anyones interested: http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774
It's a recipe from a book called Ad Hoc:
http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774
Any of the Thomas Keller books, French Laundry, Ad Hoc at Home, Bouchon, and Bouchon Bakery. The only one you'd probably want to avoid is Under Pressure.
Also, Heston at Home and In Search of Perfection are great books.
If you're into southern food, check out Sean Brock's Heritage and Ed Lee's Smoke & Pickles.
Finally, I'd suggest Modernist Cuisine at Home if you're up for splurging.
I just got a copy of [Ad Hoc at Home](http://amzn.com/1579653774 from the library and it's got a toooon of good easy recipes.
I'm all over that homestyle comfort food.
Either Miracle Fruit Tablets or Ad-Hoc at home Only the second cookbook I have actually wanted... Alton Brown's was the first.
Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller
http://www.amazon.com/Ad-Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256231136&sr=8-1
Just came out, GREAT cook book and learning tool.
Recipe here! It's an Amazon page, but this exact recipe is reproduced there.
I like to cook French and Asian/Indian foods the most. Here's my base list for any type of cooking: kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil, canola oil, eggs, flour, potatoes, onions and shallots, cream, butter, bacon, cheese, rice, canned diced tomatoes, garlic bulbs, red and white wine, vinegar (rice wine or balsamic). Root vegetables can be added too, but I prefer to get them specific to the meal.
A few extras I tend to use a lot are ginger root, oyster sauce, and red cabbage. Not exactly stock-worthy to some people though.
But actually, I think this is the wrong approach. I suggest finding a good cook book, perhaps Ad Hoc at Home, and just start reading it. I did this with Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles book and it revolutionized how I think about cooking. I wish I had done it from the start to develop the thought process first, which then leads to better food preparation. When you cook a specific meal you can go to the store and look at each food separately for the meal you're preparing. When I'm at the market looking for specific ingredients and not "grocery shopping" I'm able to think about the food in a different way. Gradually, you can build up foods and spices over time, but in doing so you'll build good habits, good recipes, and a more mature approach to food in general. My approach before was very much like a shotgun blast of spices, whereas now I'm able to more precisely pinpoint the flavor profile I'm going for.
A word on spices: Buying in bulk will save you lots of money. People suggest dating them, so as to know when they're going bad, but this might be out of your scope right now. I know Central Market here in Texas has a pretty nice bulk spice section, and I imagine other whole foods places do as well.
Herbs: Fresh herbs are key. You want something to have at the ready? Fresh herbs you can get from the store. But really you should invest in a $.25 pack of basil seeds, rosemary seeds, and thyme seeds. These plants are hardy and tough to kill (maybe not so much with basil) and will make everything taste more expensive.