The best Cooking Education & Reference books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Harold McGee's book "On Food and Cooking", has great explanations of the science behind foods and cooking techniques.

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Cooking-Science-Lore-Kitchen/dp/0684800012/ref=sr_1_2

Apologies to anyone genuinely bamboozled. And if you are not already aware of the fantastic <em>Salt Fat Acid Heat</em> (which preceded the Netflix series of the same name), you should really give it a look.

If you're looking for pairing suggestions/ideas, the flavor bible is a great resource for pairing flavors. It can provide great suggestions for flavors to pair with your protein and even great flavors to enhance your current sides.

For anyone that’s interested in these kinds of things, I highly recommend the book <em>A Feast of Ice and Fire</em>, which is an officially licensed cookbook featuring meals right out of the books.

My girlfriend is a pescatarian (who doesn't even eat all seafood) and I am a picky eater with a distaste for a lot of greens. A recipe we both like without substitutions is a rare beast. That's why by far the best cookbook/cooking information for me has been the Culinary Institute of America textbook The Professional Chef. It's not built around recipes at all. The chapters are built around techniques and skills, and recipes are like the homework problems at the end of the chapter/book. Reading through it and learning about technique has allowed us to successfully improvise with the ingredients we do like much more so than trying to substitute liberally in others' precise recipes.

On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is highly regarded as a comprehensive background for history, and science of food. It does not have any recipes though.

When we were first dating, my wife baked a lot and had this cookbook set on her Amazon wishlist. It's basically a set of cooking textbooks for $500. They're really cool (showing the science behind cooking and all), but I couldn't afford it on my own.

I split the cost with my parents and got it for her for Xmas that year. It's been sitting on our kitchen counter for about four years now, but maybe some day she'll get bored and dust them off?

How to Cook Anything replaced Joy of Cooking as my favorite general cooking reference.

Need to know how long to steam a artichoke, or the ratio of stock to rice in risotto, or what to do with that random ingredient you bought at the store. It's got all the basics covered.

Great book. There's a reason Salt is the first word of the books title. It is the most critical ingredient when it comes to flavor.

Edit: non-affiliate link for the book on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fat-Acid-Heat-Mastering/dp/1476753830

The Flavor Bible. Its my favorite cookbook that oddly has no recipes in it.

Its a giant cross reference chart of what ingredients pair with what according to 40 chefs. You can look up eggs for example, and they list everything that goes good with it... meats, veg, fruits, herbs and seasonings, etc. with the best ones highlighted.

On top of all that theres musings from the consulting chefs on how they like to use ingredients in sidebars near the entries. Famous dishes that made good use of the item in question (but no recipes). And other little tips like when certain ones are in season, if they have a strong or subtle flavor that might overpower, or be overpowered by, others. And more.

I have both these books plus The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316118400/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_atIyAbZ73DT45

I can say I open the food lab for just about every meal. Well worth the money!

Sorry for not making that a link. I'm on the app and can't figure out how to change the displayed text of the link.

The Flavor Bible gets thrown around a lot, but for good reason. It's a great resource when trying to formulate your own recipe. It focuses on things like which foods have affinities for other foods, seasonality, and sensations different foods have. It's a great thing to page through when you have whatever the equivalent of writer's block is for cooks.

And if she’s up for something different I highly recommend the game of thrones cookbook, A A Feast of Ice and Fire , There is a blog too , so you don’t need to invest. I love the cookbook and trying out the medieval recipes vs the modern versions. It’s fun and gives perspective on how food and cooking/baking has changed.

And if you pm me an amazon wishlist link I would more than happily gift it (that’s how much fun I find this book).

Also, I’m glad you made caring for yourself a priority it’s a great example for the kids. When they see you making self care a priority they will too. ❤️❤️❤️

I hope you know you're an internet cliché.

The primary difference between a chocolate cake and a brownie besides changing the butter preparation is the higher sugar content in brownies. You can't throw off the moisture ratio by a third and then be shocked you got chocolate cake.

You might enjoy this book:

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking https://www.amazon.com/dp/1416571728/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ugEtCbFYYCPZQ

here's where I break out my copy of The Flavor Bible:

SWEET POTATO Flavor Affinities

1) allspice + Cinnamon + Ginger

2) apples + sage

3) bacon + onions + rosemary

4) chile peppers + lemon zest

5) chorizo sausage + orange

6) cilantro + lime juice

7) kale + prosciutto

8) maple syrup + pecans

yes I know the first 2 don't really fit with what you may traditionally think of when you think of soup. But #3, #4 and #7 sound really good.

The Flavor Bible isn't really what you're asking for, but it might be useful. https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1520779413&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=the+flavor+bible

As a fat guy who loves food, I've always loved his food-porn. Not just because I love descriptions of food, but because I really am able to immerse myself in the scene. Smell and taste are some of the most memory-triggering senses we have, and it puts you right there with the character.

However, you are absolutely right that he's using this as a way to convey the class divisions and the hardship of war, and it's not something that is often brought up.

Also, if anyone doesn't know about it, I highly recommend the Official Games of Thrones Cookbook. It's got excellent, real medieval recipes based on the food in the book:(https://www.amazon.com/Feast-Ice-Fire-Official-Companion/dp/0345534492)

Here are a couple of things that helped me:

Binging with Babish Cooking Equipment- This will give you an idea of the right tools that will help. If you can only afford one of these, get a knife. You can get like a $30 knife on Amazon here. I use this one and it's great. You don't have to spend $150. Some of these tools will be unnecessary for a beginner, but you'll start to get an idea of some of the most helpful tools.

How to Cook Everything: The Basics- I recently bought this book because I wanted to learn some of the easy things (how to cut a chicken, how to make the best eggs, etc). This book is GREAT - it assumes you know nothing. It has pictures of what the recipe should look like during prep, during cooking, and when finished and that is SO helpful. I've made probably 25% of the recipes in it (that's a lot in one book, for me). Read through the summary sections (he also includes a more thorough - and probably more realistic - equipment list) before you start to cook, and it'll give you a great ground level to start on.

It sounds like you're on the right track regardless. Hope these recs help.

If you really want to learn the ins and outs of taking recipes to the next level, I strongly recommend the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat. I've been a pretty serious home cook for about fifteen years, but this book has really opened my eyes to how easy it can be to get amazing, flavorful results with some fairly basic techniques.

There is a great book called Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking that covers the basic formulas for recipes so that you can then riff with confidence.

Philosophy, writing, gaming, art (music, photography, /r/glitch_art). Honestly anything classified as a &quot;soft science&quot; kinda gets my motor going. I also really like anthorpology...specifically food anthro. I just started reading through Salt: A World History, and it's been interesting so far. From Amazon: > In his fifth work of nonfiction, Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It kind of gets into the chemistry behind cooking. I got it for my wife and her cooking skills jumped up significantly after reading it.

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs $23 hardcover on amazon brotha 👌

The Professional Chef. Tons of recipes, no fluff. Definitely more textbook than cookbook though.

Also, an Amazon reviewer of the book said this

>The biggest inconvenience is that the quantities are referenced by weight so it might say 2oz of sugar and I have no idea how much that is. 

Which is just funny to me. The book has measurements in both imperial and metric for each recipe.

The Flavour Bible or The Flavour Thesaurus

pick one of your favorite dishes, and learn to recreate it.

or if you don’t want to go through that much trial and error, check out books like salt fat acid heat for basics.

classic cook book is "How to cook everything: the basics". I believe the first recipe is how to boil water (for later how to boil an egg). It grows in complexity to recipes such as pizza. It details what tools you need and how to wash vegetables

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Basics-Food/dp/0470528060

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YouTube is your friend. Most cookbooks don't have enough pictures whereas, in the video, you can see all the in-between information (ie just how vigorously do you stir it) that the new cook will not know but is easily filled in by veteran cooks.

It's both. He's got some information on kitchen tools, technique, herbs, sauces, then recipes with tips sprinkled throughout. It doesn't have any pictures of finished food though, since he's shoved 2000 recipes into the book. There are illustrations on techniques though.

Amazon has a preview with a good sampling of what's in the book.

There’s a cookbook available:

https://www.amazon.com/Feast-Ice-Fire-Official-Companion/dp/0345534492/ref=asc_df_0345534492/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=266058510895&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=1056461279870548529&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvde...

In the meantime, check out "The Flavor Bible." It's a few bucks on Amazon but it's well worth the price. It shows you which spices/herbs work great with different types of food.