Reddit mentions of Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

Try Ruhlman's ratios too. It provides with the "fishing techniques" you mention: not how to make one bread, sauce, cake but the ratios to make any bread, sauce, cake you want.

I am not sure this would be exactly what you are looking for but Michael Ruhalman's book Ratio seems sort of up your alley.

>I'm trying to be more scientific in my selection of spices, instead of just (more or less) randomly adding stuff. Are any other spices multipurpose? Are there any general guidelines for what works well together?

I feel like this strange obsessive need for people (especially technical people) to try to apply rules/laws to cooking is silly. I am not saying that knowing why something like Brining works isn't a good idea. Understanding the underlying science to cooking is definitely important. But that is like expeting that by knowing the science behind making paints you will know how to paint. Knowing the science may make you a better painter but it won't teach you to paint. I would say learn about flavor profiles and what kind of things taste good together (salt + sweet or Fatty + acid)

TL:DR Cooking is more art than science just go with what tastes good. If you want science check out baking it is functionally chemistry

This sounds like an extension of Ruhlman's book, Ratio which mostly talks about the foundation recipes of meals (doughs, batters, sauces, meat mixtures, etc.) I do think that the cultural history would be quite interesting. There is a lot of history hidden in our food, I would read about that.

I may be late to this thread, but as someone who is also on the same journey as your girlfriend but quite a bit further along, I hope you read what I have to say:

1. A decent knife. Ideally a chef's knife AND a paring or utility knife, but with theright knife skills, all you'll need is a chef's knife for quite a while. She'll need to learn how to use it properly and how to take care of it and keep it sharp. Books are good, but if you can find a class or two in your area, even better, since knife skills are very much about a physical technique which is difficult to learn from a book.
   
   
2. A good, reliable pan. Cast iron is nice, but hard to take care of and not necessarily as utilitarian as a beginner might desire. Just big, solid, thick, and not teflon. Something without "hot spots." Something she can beat up. Something you can go straight from the burner to a hot oven with. Cook lots of meat it in to start to really season the metal well.
   
   
3. Cook books. There are a few that are key. Art of French Cooking is a must. Joy of Cooking is another must, as it is a sort of go-to for damn near anything. The recipes are classic. Many aren't great, but they're all very this-is-how-it's-been-done. Larousse Gastronomique is the Art of French Cooking on Steroids. If she'd like to branch into Italian, french cooking's rustic sister, The Silver Spoon is a good catch-all. I'd recommend any cook worth their salt learn and understand both italian and french because they are opposite ends of the spectrum: They each have a different way of presenting a core set of ingredients to you: French is transformative, italian is representative.
   
   Many people have recommended McGee's Food and Cooking and I certainly concur, but it can also be incredibly overwhelming. You might want to save that till you find she's asking a lot of questions in the kitchen. It is very much a food textbook. It's dry and contains very few recipes. It simply gives you a wealth of information about various ingredients and techniques.
   
   lastly, I'd recommend Ruhlman's Ratio book because it, more than any other cookbook, will help her understand what a recipe really is. All of the above books, save McGee, will give her a core set of recipes to work from. Ratio will give her a core set of bases to create new recipes. Definintely go for it.
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416566112

For baking I would recommend Ratio by Micheal Ruhlman. It not only explains the how of baking but the why as well.

The book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking Michael Ruhlman

>Ruhlman, offers an illuminating read on the magic numbers that lie at the heart of basic cookery. He divides the book into five parts (doughs, stocks, sausages, sauces, and custards). In each section he explains what essential properties make the ratios work and the subtle variations that differentiate, for instance, a bread dough (five parts flour, three parts water) from a biscuit dough (three parts flour, one part fat, two parts liquid).

Ratio provides a fantastic starting point to learning the ratios behind cookies, breads, cakes, and biscuits. The guidelines are in reference to weight, so a kitchen scale is essential :)

Published recently: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman

It boils down a lot of foods to their essential ingredients. Not only does knowing the ratios make it easy to throw together something you've never seen a recipe for, it also gives you a deeper understanding of food. It shows how tweaking the ratios changes the quality of the final product or turns it into a different kind of food altogether. You start to see foods connected in a continuum instead of as distinct collections of ingredients.

Personally, I would look into getting this book: Ratio

I am a little biased towards Micheal Ruhlman and a few of his cooking cohorts he teams up with, but this book definitely sounds like the direction you are trying to travel. Not necessarily 'culinary theory', but this book basically gives you a decoder ring to recipes. By starting off with basic ratios to begin your foray into constructing a recipe, you can put away other recipes and play with your own tastes!

I highly recommend "The New Best Recipe". It applies a laboratory method to cooking and, backed by America's Test Kitchen, they almost always vet their recipes thoroughly. It's also fun to read when you're not cooking, so that's a major plus.

But to get the best grip on everything, try "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking".

These two tomes will have you a pro about the kitchen in no time.

Get the book Ratio. It'll free you from the recipe trap.

edit: If you can, buy the iPhone version of the book. It contains a reference and a calculator.

The Bacon Cookbook, Ratio, and because I'm obsessed with New Orleans food, The Court of Two Sisters Cookbook.

Also someone else mentioned the Cook's Illustrated cookbook which is absolutely amazing.

I would suggest Ratio if she would like to become a more independent cook and not always have to rely on recipes. Probably the smallest and most useful cookbook I have.

http://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416566112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253289699&sr=8-1

The infographic was the cover of the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman

As it was talked about in the last thread, it's a great book, and comes highly recommended. I own it myself, and it set me off on a journey of learning with bread recipes. :)

I did a google images search and found a high res copy of the book cover, but to save that poor soul's bandwidth, stuck it up on imgur: http://i.imgur.com/I0oJi.jpg

Enjoy!

Most of the recipes we cook are from the Cooking Light magazine, they have tons of good recipes. As far as a fun cookbook, I like Charcuterie, it's all about smoking and curing meats (ie bacon). I also want to check out Ratio by the same author. Ratio teaches how to cook many different things using ratios of flour, water, and fat.

Simple ratio (by weight) for pancakes, from Michael Ruhlman's book Ratios:

2 parts flour : 2 parts liquid : 1 part egg : 1/2 part butter

Whisk together liquid, egg and butter; add flour.


You could use soda for the liquid if you want.

Ratio: The Simple Code Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

As stated before: Michael Ruhlman has a book entitled: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

Found on this page: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-free-yourself-from-recipes-with-a-few-golden-coo-1450617561