This is my small collection of cookbooks that I bought recently.
The Flavor Bible by Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg is really great cookbook without recipes. It is a massive reference guide to ingredients, cooking techniques & how you can combine them for the best tasting food. Some of America’s most innovative chef’s share their wealth of knowledge on great flavour combinations. The cover of the book features the wrong spelling of the word flavour…. lol
Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook This is collection of recipes from Anthony Bourdain’s french bistro Le Halles. The food in this book is classical french bistro food. I have been a longtime big fan of Mr Bourdain & his tv shows. About his tv shows, they don’t show on free to air tv anywhere that I have lived. So I have been rather resourceful in sourcing his shows on the internet. My purchase of the book should be my little contribution to his pension fund & put conscience to rest….
Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques is like a cooking technical manual. It is a really great collection of techniques from how to use a chef’s knife to skinning a rabbit. Some of the techniques are really old school, you don’t see them in modern cuisine, but the knowledge of which is rather useful. The only beef I have with this book, all the pictures are in black & white, thats how old this book is… Bought this book on recommendation from Mr Bourdain (I read Kitchen Confidential)
Justin North’s French Lessons is a great introduction to modern french cuisine. Justin North is the accomplished chef owner of Sydney establishments Becasse, Plan B Cafe & Etch. Modern french is my favourite cuisine at the moment. This book is great for beginners, it goes over all the basics of french cuisine such as stocks, sauces, soups, roasting, sautéing…. the whole gamut
Harold McGee’s McGee on Food & Cooking is my favourite cookbook, it does not contain recipes. Its a kitchen science reference, it explains the science behind cooking. It is my “go to” book when mishaps start happening when cooking, the other day I was having problems with a creme brullee. McGee set me straight & I tweaked my recipe based on the science of how baked custards work.
Ok now for some food porn
I made this the other day for lunch. It was all random & quick. It is pan fried red snapper, with crushed potatoes speckled with diced red pepper for taste & appearance. The sauce for the meal was a lemon vinaigrette made of olive oil , lemon & a bit of seasoning. Now this is what fast food should be.
