master chef

[katster]

So, for about a month or two now I've been responsible for making meals for the family. And the truth is, I'm starting to get really bored with it. I've proven to myself that I can make edible stuff, and I think it's time to branch out. The problem is, I don't have a clue where to go next. I can do real basic stuff, and I can follow a recipie, provided that I can get a translator for some of the far out cooking terms. (Sautee? Broil? ...okay, I guess they're not far out, but hey, I grew up in a house where high cuisine was Olive Garden, give me a break.)

Anyway, I guess, where do I go to learn some of this? In particular, I'm curious about what all those spices and things do. Also, I'm looking for something to break the routine of stuff. I get a couple nights where I'm allowed to play with new recipies the family's never tried, but they tend not to go over well. (The pea soup is an exception.)

So yeah, any help y'all could give would be wonderfully great.

Comments

[salinn.livejournal.com]

Slashfood. It's fun, at least. :)

[koyote.livejournal.com]

french women don't get fat. Not because it is a diet book, but because it discusses food in a very open way and the place various foods have in one traditional french diet. THIS IS AN OFF THE WALL SELECTION, but I think you'll have fun reading it and learn some of the "unspoken basics" of food.


big ass book- "The Mediterranean Diet" again, technically a diet book but that's not why you read it. It a book about the diet eaten in a part of the world. (the different definitions of diet here are KEY) it's a comprehensive examination of a munge of the traditional mediterranean diets (diet meaning eating patterns)

Those give you a start. And you can go a long way with the ideas in just those, but you want to grab a few food science books for longer reading.


I wouldn't use any sort of book or even probably a website for mexican/indian/spanish foods. I'd just learn it from people.

[lirazel.livejournal.com]

Well, you might want to look at improcook. It's me and the Wonder Offspring right now, but that's mostly because chamelaeon is shy.

Go to the library and get out the 1975 Joy of Cooking (NOT the latest version!) and read the chapter on Foods We Heat. It discusses all the things that happen when heat is applied to ingredients. Then read the chapter called "Know Your Ingredients". The whole book is great--old school, but great.

But (other than my mom and my home ec teacher in State College, PA, peace to their bones!) the book that taught me to just jump in there and start flailing away was The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. It's a semi-mystical treatise on what we're doing when we cook well and offer our cooking to others, as well as a fun and practical cook-book.

The best cooking magazine around unless you're trying to lose weight is Cooks Illustrated. No advertising, ingredient and tool tests ala Consumer Reports, and very clear recipes.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

Go to the library and get out the 1975 Joy of Cooking (NOT the latest
version!)

seconded! That book has been my cooking bible since, um, 1975...

Another favorite, if you can find it, is the Alice's Restaurant Cookbook (ca. about 1969), with a wonderful attitude of "just because you have four plates, six chairs, and two bowls doesn't mean you can't invite twelve guests for dinner" (quote is approximate, my copy is still buried in the storage locker).

[koyote.livejournal.com]

I'll have to read SUpper of The Lamb. I recall a similar experience after reading Brother Juniper's first bread baking book.

Up until then I hadn't been really big on bread/pastry baking because it always seemed too exact and had all these recipes that you Do Not Deviate From. Gag. (I leanred to cook by cooking and travelling, reading and tossing stuff together. I don't think I've ever used a "dinner recipe" for more than a brain storming starter).

After readinf Br. Juniper, I got into the flow of the process and feel of baking, and then it became easy.

[fb.livejournal.com]

Well, a sautee is a quick, hot cook of small chunks of food in relatively little oil in order to brown them. Broiling is direct, dry heat from above, usuall also hot and quick; essentially upside-down grilling. I could go on, have you tried braising yet? ;)

You can use bittorrent, right? There are several cooking shows available at digitaldistractions.org. One of my two favorites and probably the show I've learned the most from is there, it's called Good Eats; its host is the sort of guy who says "arrr!" every time he puts the dough hook on his mixer. If you can't get it from digitaldistractions, I could put a couple episodes at a time on my webserver or sandwich/tmp. Or, if you have cable, they probably still run old (and new) episodes on FoodTV as well as the other show I've learned a lot from, Molto Mario.

[happymomof2.livejournal.com]

An easy one that always goes over well in my house is my version of chicken parmesean. I bake chicken breast in the oven covered in spaghetti sauce, then for the last few minutes top it with cheese (usually colby jack-my favorite) then serve with noodles and broccoli. It is by no means fancy, but everyone loves it. Another is pork chops covered in bread crumbs. I buy the ones in a can with italian seasoning. It is so easy to make and tastes so good. Let me know if you want details.

[spitgirl.livejournal.com]

Of course I recommend www.recipesource.com... (used to be SOAR), but I also hear great things about this site: www.savingdinner.com

[leto-bucher.livejournal.com]

If you need any help, feel free to call, and any specific questions or whatever email if I'm not around. I can cook pretty well, so I can probably help. ;)