The best Wine & Spirits books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I can recommend <em>A History of the World in Six Glasses</em> if you want some light, fun reading on this topic.

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.

That is one of the best series I have ever watched. I really wish there were more. The writing, design and cinematography was so flawless. I even ended up buying the book Feeding Hannibal that showed how the show's chef prepared such beautiful displays of cuisine. For Hannibal fans, it is well worth checking out.

https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Hannibal-Connoisseurs-Janice-Poon/dp/1783297662

I have tried to use the application a few times. From my experience, it seems limited. I think as more information is added you will begin to see more depth.

If you are interested in flavor pairings I suggest you check out the book Culinary Artistry. It has a huge sample of flavor pairings. It is a great book that is easy to navigate.

https://www.amazon.com/Culinary-Artistry-Andrew-Dornenburg/dp/0471287857/ref=nodl_

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.

Just counted and I currently have 31 books. I've cooked out of every one of them, even my Feeding Hannibal book, but in general I regularly use only about 10 of them.

My three Thug Kitchen, now Bad Manners I believe, books and Serena Wolf's The Dude Diet do a lot of my heavy lifting though.

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

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 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.

Buy a copy of the Smuggler's Cove book and go from there.

Not so much the management, but Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's Culinary Artistry has a lot of good reading about plate and menu design, flow, etc. Also from them, The Flavor Bible is a great inspiration.

If you really want to get into making tiki drinks, you should buy the Smuggler's Cove book to get a good grip on what you're doing. The book also has recipes for most of the common syrups in the back. It is under $20 on Amazon, so it costs about the same as a decent bottle of rum.

Love the cookbook.

https://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Hannibal-Connoisseurs-Janice-Poon/dp/1783297662?pldnSite=1

so far I've made the blood pudding, the bloodorange salad, the 'snails', the sweetbreads, and the heart-tartar. Everything turned out amazing

Ya know! I wish I could tell you. It was given to me by an amazing friend for Christmas

I found this link however it doesn’t appear it’s available right now. I’m sorry to see that! https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0789331144/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_XUO-Fb8J9QNEQ

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

Before you go buying a bunch more rums, you need to get a copy of Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove book. The chapter on the different types of rums alone is worth the price of the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Smugglers-Cove-Exotic-Cocktails-Cult/dp/1607747324

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.

For anyone else looking. They sell the Holy Grail on Amazon for $12.

I'm a bit late, but as a really really quick look at something similar to that is:

History of the World in 6 Glasses

Probably one of my favorites that is similar to what you asked for. I can direct you to more if you want, but that one is mainly the 6 drinks that changed the world

Ale/Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea, Cocacola

Second vote for Katz's The Art of Fermentation more accessible for the home cook than the Noma one.

For sausages though, The Art of Making Fermented Sausages by Stanley Marianski is legendary in charcuterie circles.

Rum wise, you need something Jamaican. I would recommend Appleton. Smith and Cross can also be fun. Overproof also gets used frequently; Plantation Old Fashioned Traditional Dark (OFTD) is popular.

Personally, I would also consider my copy of Smuggler's Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki to be essential.

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.

Not sure if this is the same book, but did find a BB Cookbook on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Burgers-Burger-Book-Recipes/dp/0789331144

I highly recommend "Culinary Artistry" for the "why" ...

https://www.amazon.com/Culinary-Artistry-Andrew-Dornenburg/dp/0471287857/ref=sr\_1\_12?dchild=1&amp;keywords=plating+food&amp;qid=1624467141&amp;sr=8-12