Proper cook books

octatonic

mgaw said:

North Cornwall   but i do go to see my eldest in Farnham pretty regularly could maybe nip up to yours do a day of cooking and guitaring..?

Sounds good to me.

ThePrettyDamned

I've started learning more about cooking and my steak/chop cooking has been revolutionised by the ditching of non stick pans. 

I now have a carbon steel pan, which is on its way to being well seasoned. 

It made me realise that, although I can cook, I know nothing about good cooking - equipment, technique, theory... I'd like to learn but I've got enough on my plate. 

It's a bit like an intagrammer being handed a large format camera and a light meter. Good fun, but perhaps for another time. 

Rocker

mgaw said:

Rocker said:

cruxiform said:

I'm a decent cook and I have to ask why fine dining? You're filling people's stomachs and keeping them happy. I've cooked for 12 people, 3 courses and enjoyed the praise when they all enjoyed it. All presented well and fresh ingredients. I've found picking the right booze is usually more important. In my opinion, anybody who cooks in that manner is wasting time and money. Oh, and it's unbelievably pretentious. 

Well said my friend, Wiz awarded. My cooking philosophy is to keep it simple and plain. To taste the food and not the sauces/gravy. No salt added, the guest can add it if they want to. No pressure on guest as they are there for a meal and not so called "fine dining". Food they enjoy, what more do you need?

well i like a bit of flavour in my food..and especially enjoy what a well made sauce brings to the dish

Yeah, the question is do you like the taste of the food or the taste of the sauce?  If you used no sauces or salt for a couple of weeks, you would find the food bland and pretty ordinary tasting.  Until, that is, you get to the stage when the taste of the food becomes apparent.  Suddenly you can tell the difference between free range and factory chicken, wild and farmed salmon etc. You will see sauces for what they are, disguises to make average food/ingredients taste like something else. The use of curry sauce for example.  Curry sauce was created to hide the fact that the meat was a bit 'off', who is to say that is still not the case?

Free yourself.  Give up sauces and start to taste food as it actually is.

octatonic

Rocker said:

mgaw said:

Rocker said:

cruxiform said:

I'm a decent cook and I have to ask why fine dining? You're filling people's stomachs and keeping them happy. I've cooked for 12 people, 3 courses and enjoyed the praise when they all enjoyed it. All presented well and fresh ingredients. I've found picking the right booze is usually more important. In my opinion, anybody who cooks in that manner is wasting time and money. Oh, and it's unbelievably pretentious. 

Well said my friend, Wiz awarded. My cooking philosophy is to keep it simple and plain. To taste the food and not the sauces/gravy. No salt added, the guest can add it if they want to. No pressure on guest as they are there for a meal and not so called "fine dining". Food they enjoy, what more do you need?

well i like a bit of flavour in my food..and especially enjoy what a well made sauce brings to the dish

Yeah, the question is do you like the taste of the food or the taste of the sauce?  If you used no sauces or salt for a couple of weeks, you would find the food bland and pretty ordinary tasting.  Until, that is, you get to the stage when the taste of the food becomes apparent.  Suddenly you can tell the difference between free range and factory chicken, wild and farmed salmon etc. You will see sauces for what they are, disguises to make average food/ingredients taste like something else. The use of curry sauce for example.  Curry sauce was created to hide the fact that the meat was a bit 'off', who is to say that is still not the case?

Free yourself.  Give up sauces and start to taste food as it actually is.

I do find it slightly hilarious you are trying to 'educate' a professional chef.

I'd love to see you meet Julian Lage.
"Hi Jules, let me show you this cool new chord I learned. It is an A major triad..."

mgaw

Rocker said:

mgaw said:

Rocker said:

cruxiform said:

I'm a decent cook and I have to ask why fine dining? You're filling people's stomachs and keeping them happy. I've cooked for 12 people, 3 courses and enjoyed the praise when they all enjoyed it. All presented well and fresh ingredients. I've found picking the right booze is usually more important. In my opinion, anybody who cooks in that manner is wasting time and money. Oh, and it's unbelievably pretentious. 

Well said my friend, Wiz awarded. My cooking philosophy is to keep it simple and plain. To taste the food and not the sauces/gravy. No salt added, the guest can add it if they want to. No pressure on guest as they are there for a meal and not so called "fine dining". Food they enjoy, what more do you need?

well i like a bit of flavour in my food..and especially enjoy what a well made sauce brings to the dish

Yeah, the question is do you like the taste of the food or the taste of the sauce?  If you used no sauces or salt for a couple of weeks, you would find the food bland and pretty ordinary tasting.  Until, that is, you get to the stage when the taste of the food becomes apparent.  Suddenly you can tell the difference between free range and factory chicken, wild and farmed salmon etc. You will see sauces for what they are, disguises to make average food/ingredients taste like something else. The use of curry sauce for example.  Curry sauce was created to hide the fact that the meat was a bit 'off', who is to say that is still not the case?

Free yourself.  Give up sauces and start to taste food as it actually is.

when i make a sauce they tend to be very delicate in flavour when needed and they are all there to enhance the main ingredient...tie things together if you like...i hear what you are saying a visit to a great restaurant will illustrate my point well...the ultimate aim of any chef worth his salt (pun intended) at the top level is to make an ingredient taste MORE of itself, its not about disguising things more about illuminating what already lies within....that my friend is the definition of true high end cooking....the arguement about a sauce being a disguise is probably true in a lot of restaurants...that is not what we are talking about here though...take the plunge and try a 2star or 3 star michelin restaurant that is modern and still ambitious

you may have an epiphany as well as a very large hole in your wallet:)

mgaw

octatonic said:

mgaw said:

North Cornwall   but i do go to see my eldest in Farnham pretty regularly could maybe nip up to yours do a day of cooking and guitaring..?

Sounds good to me.

it will be a Friday in all probably i will PM you next time i am planning a trip...i am guessing about an hour from Oxford to Guildford?

octatonic

mgaw said:

octatonic said:

mgaw said:

North Cornwall   but i do go to see my eldest in Farnham pretty regularly could maybe nip up to yours do a day of cooking and guitaring..?

Sounds good to me.

it will be a Friday in all probably i will PM you next time i am planning a trip...i am guessing about an hour from Oxford to Guildford?

That sounds great.
Bring a guitar with you and if you have any tunes you want to learn (and need help to transcribe) it would save time if you send them to me in advance.
I'll try to come up with a cooking technique that I'd like to master- probably sauces, I struggle with them at times.

mgaw

toescantalk said:

Try the David Everitt-Matthais books @Axe_meister

good shout right here...brilliant chef spends his time doing the cooking as well 

mgaw

octatonic said:

mgaw said:

octatonic said:

mgaw said:

North Cornwall   but i do go to see my eldest in Farnham pretty regularly could maybe nip up to yours do a day of cooking and guitaring..?

Sounds good to me.

it will be a Friday in all probably i will PM you next time i am planning a trip...i am guessing about an hour from Oxford to Guildford?

That sounds great.
Bring a guitar with you and if you have any tunes you want to learn (and need help to transcribe) it would save time if you send them to me in advance.
I'll try to come up with a cooking technique that I'd like to master- probably sauces, I struggle with them at times.

sauce is a good one, hopefully mine are better than yours cos i am fucking sure my guitar playing is fairly shit:)

Axe_meister

A sauce should complement a dish. Think pork & Apple. Lamb and mint. Beef and radish.
Now take a pearl (small sphere full of flavour) that explodes in say a citrus taste together with a nice piece of shell fish.
Add in a nice bit of crunch from a crumb of some sort and you have a wonderful dish.
Why does a roast pork with crackling and apple sauce taste so good? Because of the contrast in flavours And textures 

mgaw

Axe_meister said:

A sauce should complement a dish. Think pork & Apple. Lamb and mint. Beef and radish.
Now take a pearl (small sphere full of flavour) that explodes in say a citrus taste together with a nice piece of shell fish.
Add in a nice bit of crunch from a crumb of some sort and you have a wonderful dish.
Why does a roast pork with crackling and apple sauce taste so good? Because of the contrast in flavours And textures 

absolutely right...the trick is balance and proportion...in both quantity, and intensity of flavour there in lies the art...taste taste taste as you go and good with a light touch...season EACH stage of the preparation  enjoy

Axe_meister

One thing I find with a lot of home cook book (Jamie Oliver/Nigella) is far too much salt

capo4th

Chicken shish Lamb kofte combo with garlic and chilli all the salad hold the chillis extra lemon wedge and a doctor pepper thanks 

mgaw

Axe_meister said:

One thing I find with a lot of home cook book (Jamie Oliver/Nigella) is far too much salt

only use the amount of salt a dish needs...i.e. if you can clearly taste salt its probably too mich...its most definately a personal preference but seasoning food is where pro chefs are really set apart from amateurs

rainer2859

Fretwired said:

 and was an early adopter of sous vide -

My mum pioneered that method 30 years ago.....ahhhh, that boil in the bag fish when we were kids....heaven;-)

octatonic

rainer2859 said:

Fretwired said:

 and was an early adopter of sous vide -

My mum pioneered that method 30 years ago.....ahhhh, that boil in the bag fish when we were kids....heaven;-)

That isn't a sous vide.
You don't boil- the water is usually around 50-55 degrees C.

Jalapeno

If you want to learn how to cook things, Delia's books are great no-nonsense books.  She gets a lot of stick, but her books are excellently written.

When I moved into my first flat I bought Delia Smith's Cookery Course in 3 BBC paperbacks - I still use them today 35 years on !  (you can get them for virtually nothing 2nd hand these days)

She's got a more recent set - her How To Cook (3 volumes) - takes you from boiling an egg onwards .....

rainer2859

Mmmmmm, so that's why it was slop, i'll let her know the error of her ways.

ToneControl

Jalapeno said:

If you want to learn how to cook things, Delia's books are great no-nonsense books.  She gets a lot of stick, but her books are excellently written.

When I moved into my first flat I bought Delia Smith's Cookery Course in 3 BBC paperbacks - I still use them today 35 years on !  (you can get them for virtually nothing 2nd hand these days)

She's got a more recent set - her How To Cook (3 volumes) - takes you from boiling an egg onwards .....

I have those 3 later ones, very useful

a few others too
tend to be guide to :.... Fish, Meat, a cuisine
rather than just recipes

For cuisines, I love the Culinaria series

hungrymark

Rocker said:

cruxiform said:

I'm a decent cook and I have to ask why fine dining? You're filling people's stomachs and keeping them happy. I've cooked for 12 people, 3 courses and enjoyed the praise when they all enjoyed it. All presented well and fresh ingredients. I've found picking the right booze is usually more important. In my opinion, anybody who cooks in that manner is wasting time and money. Oh, and it's unbelievably pretentious. 

Well said my friend, Wiz awarded. My cooking philosophy is to keep it simple and plain. To taste the food and not the sauces/gravy. No salt added, the guest can add it if they want to. No pressure on guest as they are there for a meal and not so called "fine dining". Food they enjoy, what more do you need?

Salt does far more than just add a salty taste. It draws moisture out of ingredients, amongst its many other talents. 

Test this: gently saute some onions without salt. Then do it with a touch of salt using the same heat and pan. Another one, fry a steak to your liking. Then try it again having seasoned it slightly for a couple of minutes beforehand. The differences are tremendous. 

Phil Howard put it best: if you season wisely whilst you cook your food will generally taste nice. If you season it afterwards it will taste of dull food with salt added. It needs to permeate the ingredients to have an effect.  

As to whoever said why fine dining, well, why not? It's not at all pretentious if you're cooking what you enjoy. If it's fancy presentation you're objecting to (some people do object) then I think that's wrongheaded too. Food does have more impact if it's presented with care.