The best Entertaining & Holiday Cooking books: Reddit reviews

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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.

I think this is what you're looking for.

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.

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher is my go-to response to this question. There are a ton of great beer books out there, but this one covers all the basics in a concise format that's easy to read and can be read either cover-to-cover or in parts as a reference. If you don't already have it, I can't recommend it enough!

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&qid=1520779413&sr=8-2&keywords=the+flavor+bible

The best thing I can recommend is to pick up a copy of the book "The Joy Of Cooking" This book has recipes for everything you could ever want.to cook, but more importantly it teaches you the why's of how cooking works. A lot pf recipes just tell you 'Knead the dough and let it rise', but Joy goes into detail. It is a foundational work and should be on ever6 cook's shelf at least as a reference.

Just so you know I tend to like your comments. You seem to write what you are thinking and how you view and feel about certain topics. sharing your insights into things that I find pretty interesting and educational really. Instead of just repeating the same stuff I see all over reddit and the main subs all day long

I'm right there with you even if my experiences were probably quite different I still missed out on so many life skills. I feel like I'm always catching up. I'm 35 with 3 kids and I'm still learning things I should have learned at 18. I get so overwhelmed with things.

I don't know if this is something that interests you but I got this book in a cookbooks gift exchange and it has so many basic cooking things in it. If you are interested and look at the used section they have a bunch of books for 7 and 8 dollars including shipping.

how to cook everything the basics

Thrift books has it too

The guy who wrote this takes nothing for granted. Down to teaching you how to properly boil water and noodles. How season food and scramble an egg to some basic but more advanced stuff. This book is a good idea for someone like me. He even shows you in the front step by step preparing and cutting things and basics things you can refer back too. There was even a pickle recipe me and my son did.

If you can, get a copy of Randy Mosher's Tasting Beer, along with all of the other suggestions (Somm, describing what you're tasting) this is a great resource.

Additionally, depending on your location - see if there is a BJCP competition that is happening. Either volunteer to judge or steward. If you judge, you will be paired with an experienced judge (assuming it is a well run competition) and then talk with your partner judge(s). If you decide to steward, then be attentive and hover while working. Listen to what others are saying, and when the flights are done, sample the same beer.

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher is a good place to start. I'd buy the book, then start reading the style descriptions. Buy a beer from each style (listed in the later chapters) and read the earlier chapters while drinking these beers. When you get to the chapters on styles, finish out whichever are left. That'll allow you to use the beer you're currently drinking to understand the various aspects of tasting beer each chapter covers while trying a wide variety of styles. This should let you know what you like and what you don't as well as giving you an appreciation and understanding of what each style is. You don't necessarily need to do all that, but it's a fun way to cover a lot of ground and give you first-hand experience.

Also, going to a good beer bar and trying a sampler tray of 3-4 oz tasters is a great way to try a lot of different things. Most good beer bars have good beer bartenders who can help with descriptions and recomendations, too.

I recommend Heroes' Feast. It has over a dozen in universe feasts and even a few tavern menus.

It also has some great recipes that taste delicious.

I strongly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Joy-Homebrewing-Fourth-Revised/dp/0062215752/ Charlie is considered by many to be the father of home brewing. This book has so much great information in it. I can't recommend it enough.

The Hero's Feast official DND cookbook

There's a whole bunch of video game, tv show, and movie based cook books. I personally recommend the Elder Scrolls one

From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg's Kitchen (Snoop Dogg Cookbook, Celebrity Cookbook with Soul Food Recipes) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1452179611/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_61VDMRYT5CTAQRRRBQV2

The difference between what you typically find in the US and what you had here is the actual fermentation process. The original sauerkraut gets the taste from the fermentation process, as is written in the excellent recipe by u/FatBoy_87. I would advise you to follow this recipe and yes, it will take a week to develop true flavor.

Btw: loads of other veggies greatly ferment. Fermentation is kind of fashionable these days, Noma f.e. is very famous for its use of fermented product. If you are interested in this, this is an excellent book:

https://www.amazon.com/Noma-Guide-Fermentation-lacto-ferments-Foundations/dp/1579657184

Your best bet would be to learn about fermentation like what they do at Noma

The Noma Guide to Fermentation: Including koji, kombuchas, shoyus, misos, vinegars, garums, lacto-ferments, and black fruits and vegetables (Foundations of Flavor) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1579657184/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_ClwaGb87BRH4Z

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 Flavour Bible or The Flavour Thesaurus

Have you read any homebrew books? The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian and How to Brew by John Palmer are in most homebrewer's collection and excellent starting points. Charlie's book is a nice relaxed approach to homebrewing. John Palmer's is also easy to read but more packed with knowledge.

I recommend starting simple by purchasing beer recipe kits or using pre-made recipes on the net. You don't need to worry about formulating your own recipe until you're ready to tinker.

That and "hey, remember me?? Here's a random assortment f recipes I've collected and put my face on the cover of!"

Some people, like Snoop, can just sell anything on pure novelty.

here it is, small tip: double-dip the chicken in the batter, recipe doesn’t call for this but I think it’s generally accepted that double-dipping is the way to go

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.

The book is phenomenal and everyone should buy it, BUT this is the regular Amazon price (since late April), so there's no need for everyone to click through a Facebook page (and affiliate link) to get it.

Here's a direct link to the book on Amazon.

This'll probably get buried, but you should consider getting them The Flavor Bible. It's basically a guidebook for experimenting with flavors in a way that won't kill taste-testers. ;)

A Kitchenaid mixer if you don’t have one already! I got one for my bf’s birthday this year, because he’s a chef and loves to cook, too! You can get so many cool attachments for it to make homemade pasta, sausage, all kinds of stuff. I also got him a cookbook with recipes all from his favorite video game, Elder Scrolls! I’m sure there’s a DnD one out there!

Edit to add: DnD Cookbook!

I was a very a picky eater through my late teens. Becoming a vegetarian actually made become less picky, as it forced me to try new things.

It's hard when you live at home and don't cook. You may want to also try veg a few days a week and always outside the house. I also recommend this cook book, which is good for beginners and (I'm sure) has many things a picky eater would like.

Yup - and it’s not even that expensive. It’s also a nice read completely separate from the recipes. It’s not going to be campaign changing and it’s not going to let you avoid that TPK that your DM is secretly planning, but it’s cool to sit and read while your red wine sauce reduces.

Heroes' Feast (Dungeons & Dragons): The Official D&D Cookbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/1984858904/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabt1_6TjQFbA873PV8

I see this recommended a lot too: https://www.amazon.com/Noma-Guide-Fermentation-lacto-ferments-Foundations/dp/1579657184/ref=pd_bxgy_2/131-9574775-2355808?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1579657184&pd_rd_r=7414aed1-a4e0-4d8b-b8d0-27141943d192&pd_rd_w=mUaBa&pd_rd_wg=nCMy9&a...