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What is this book never existed? What if Julia Child never went to France? Yes, that would be sad. After all, wasn’t it Julia Child who introduced French cooking to the American public? Wasn’t she the one who made it seemed easy to whip up French sauces? Some people would say that the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Julia Child actually saved American families from TV dinners and leftover casseroles. This bigger-than-life woman actually ushered in the culinary revolution in the United States in the 70s.
With the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child, along with her co-authors Louisette Berthlle and Simone Beck, successfully introduced authentic French cooking to American kitchens. What makes this book unique is that the ingredients used in preparing the recipes can actually be found in any American grocery store or supermarket. When Child prepared the book, she wanted to offer recipes with ingredients that people can actually find – and that’s she did. This is quite a feat considering how relatively young American cuisine was. Some would say that it was a wasteland. People were quite content with TV dinners.
The book was written over 40 years ago – and it’s actually high time that you buy your own copy. Julia Child is an engaging, witty and funny author. The language used is clear and the recipes reflect those of any French cookbook.. This is actually what makes this cookbook incredible – the fact that it was written 40 years ago. It was the first of its kind and it changed American culinary culture.
It is a definitely a must-have book. It offers basic understanding of French cooking. In fact, you could say that it offers understanding of the most basic cooking techniques, methods and skills. Julia Child – bless her heart – possesses this incredible way of communicating with her readers. She makes the most complex tasks seem easy!
If you love to cook, this is your book. The only drawback to this cookbook is that it does not offer 10-minute meals. You have to devote a couple of hours to one recipe. The recipes are typically longer than usual and they are really detailed. You will definitely know what to do from start to finish. Despite the long recipes, however, you will have no difficulty looking for the ingredients. Child made sure that you can find everything in the supermarket. If you have always wanted to whip up French food like an expert, this is definitely your book..
This book will teach you all the fundamental techniques of French cooking. In fact, you will learn how to sauté, chop onions, dice, mince or add egg yolks to a hot sauce to avoid curdling. Basically, you will learn how to whip up mouth watering dishes. French cooking is all about good food. It’s not just about combining ingredients or plating – it is primarily focused on awesome food that tastes great! This is exactly what Mastering the Art of French Cooking offers.
They say that with the right instructions, anyone can whip up the most delicious meals. This cookbook offers plain step-by-step instructions, from purchasing the readily-available ingredients to assembling them and cooking them. You will be surprised at how easy French cooking can be.
The book has the recipes organized according to themes. You will also find numerous variations. Key recipes, however, are presented in a way that you will first learn the basics of cooking before you actually proceed to learning the more intricate techniques and methods. You will find valuable tips like how to buy the right cuts of meat, right beans or seafood. You will find suggestions on side dishes or wines to match particular dishes. Would you like to know the secret of famous recipes? The book has them all.
Guess what, your kids will even like your food. You will even have them nagging you for it. The book may seem intimidating at first, but you will soon see that the recipes are really quite easy to do once you have tried one or two. It is quite obvious that Julia Child and her co-authors put a lot of thought to this book and every one of its recipes.
Cooking is an art, but it can be fun too. This book is Julia Child’s legacy. It’s worth every penny.
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It doesn’t matter if you are a parent or not – you will love “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
If the cover is any indication of the content, then the content is definitely worth every penny you will have to dish out for this cookbook. It also promises fun – lots of it! You would not have to worry about complex instructions, unobtainable ingredients and difficult procedures. Despite being quite simple, this is definitely not an ordinary cookbook.
If you are a parent, you have to get this book. Seinfeld’s cookbook will help you get your kids eating healthy food – as the title of the promises. This will help you trick your kids into eating broccoli and actually love it! This cookbook offers pages after pages of clever recipes.
Basically, you will be able to create healthy purees made of vegetables like cauliflower, spinach (seriously, spinach!), beetroot, butternut squash – and have your kids exclaiming their enjoyment with every bite. It’s ingenious. Your kids wouldn’t even mind that they are eating beetroot with their chocolate cake. You will not even feel guilty about allowing your kids to have seconds.
This is the reason why many parents – particularly mothers – love this cookbook. It’s really a huge relief to finally prepare meals and not have their kids exclaiming their distaste. It’s a relief not to resort to coercion just to get their kids eating healthy. For someone working in the culinary industry, this cookbook is definitely a revelation!
The recipes are definitely sensational. In her attempt to hide the taste of the vegetables, she was able to create flavourful dishes. The vegetables actually add depth and richness to the food. Yes, the taste is subtle, but it’s definitely there. Just take her chocolate cupcake recipe for instance. Despite the presence of avocado and cauliflower, that recipe is without a doubt one of the best chocolate cupcake recipes out there! It’s the same thing with her chocolate cake. Despite the presence of beetroot, it is actually incredibly light, moist and delicious. Her lasagne, burgers and chicken nuggets are simply incredible – it’s not surprising why kids tend to forget their eating vegetables.
Parents – particularly mothers – will enjoy the conspiratorial tone of Seinfeld’s writing. Her seemingly animated personality is quite evident in her prose. She has also made sure that all her recipes are healthy by employing Joy Bauer, a nutritional expert, to check out her recipes and see if they are indeed balanced and healthy. If you are a bit of a “health freak”, you will definitely enjoy the information she provides on things like what nutrients each particular vegetable or fruit offers, how to prepare certain meals in order to prevent loss of nutrients, how to stock your pantry or what foods you can use as substitute. The recipes are nicely set up and they are divided into several categories. They include breakfast meals, desserts and main courses. Needless to say, this book is definitely a winner!
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Two words come to mind when it comes to Kitchen Confidential
The book offers a glimpse at the “crazy” life of this famous chef. In one section of the book, he relates how he and his sous chefs, strung out on dope and amphetamines, would re-enact the opening of the movie Apocalypse after a day of hard work. For a finale, they would empty a half a pint of brandy to ignite the range. Oh, crazy, happy days!
He actually wrote a litany of his failures. In truth, this is actually one of the many things that distinguish him from other celebrity chefs. For most of his career, he was just some guy who was good with knives. You would not think that of him these days. After all, he is an established figure in the culinary world. Who would have thought that he used to work odd jobs, tumbled from one kitchen to another and slaved away inside doomed restaurants? Perhaps, this was just as one could expect from someone addicted to heroin as he was.
Chef Bourdain understands that food is all about what pleases the mouth and what satiates the stomach. Cooking has become incredibly cerebral and this is not how he views culinary arts. He learned to appreciate the sensuousness of food at aged nine when his family visited France – and he never truly got over his experience.
As a result, he is obsessed with prime ingredients. He also seems to express a certain disdain or lack of reverence for things that are revered by many chefs. Accordingly, Kitchen Confidential offers pages and pages of warnings. The book offers mind-boggling accounts of practices in some of the most reputable New York restaurants where steaks are cooked ahead of time, heated up and slapped with generous serving of sauce later on. Yes, this book is definitely an eye opener! It’ll hook you and you will find yourself wanting to know more about how literally “dirty” it can be in the culinary world.
Oh, the book has its “ho-hum” moments. He included materials that are not really necessary or even interesting. Overall, however, there are a lot of extraordinary insights, written with surprising clarity. His account of an ordinary life of a kitchen chef would make you think there is nothing at all ordinary about this life! Often, chefs would scoff at books written by other chefs – except of course if it’s a book written by one of the greats – but this book, it’s for you. It’s something that you would definitely enjoy reading especially if you are a fan of Chef Bourdain.
Needless to say, Kitchen Confidential is a must read.
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How It Came About
Nathan Myhrvold is the brain behind Modernist Cuisine. He was at his 40’s when he decided to retire from working as a chief technology officer at Microsoft. . Thereafter, he directed his attention to culinary arts and he began contributing to culinary discussions in egullet.org. He was notably interested with “sous vide”, a culinary technique which means “under vacuum”. It is actually not a new culinary process. It has actually been around for quite some time. It was first introduced in the 70s, but it has become quite popular in high-tech kitchens in recent years. Curiously, Myhrvold is quite fascinated with this cooking technique. In truth, this is not surprising because he is an amateur cook, a quite serious one.
He actually studied at La Varenne Cooking School. He even competed in the 1991 World Barbecue Championship and he, along with the rest of his team from the same school, won several awards from this competition. Along with being the founder and chief operating officer of Company Intellectual Ventures, he is also Zagat Survey’s chief gastronomic officer. Zagat Survey is a company that regularly publishes restaurant guides. With his culinary background in culinary arts and in technology, it is not surprising that he would be the man behind cuisine moderne.
When sous vide caught his interest, there was still no book in English on this topic or any similar topic in science cooking. Having piqued his interest, he resolved to publish a book on the subject. He thought of researching on the science of cooking with focus on techniques in relation to food safety.
Safety is a major consideration when it comes using sous vide technique because food is cooked significantly slower than usual. Bacteria love foods that are held in non-freeze cold or non-oven hot temperature. This is the reason why there are many people who are wary of this technique. Myhrvold was aware of this. He was approached by Sean Brock, a South Carolina chef to help the latter convinced local food inspectors that the technique is safe. Thereafter, he was contacted by safety officers and they were impressed by the information he provided them and even asked for more information that he can gather.
This was when the idea of the Modernist Cuisine cookbook was born.
He thought that aside from food safety, he would include other information about heating processes in relation to physics. This is how the application of physics and chemistry in traditional cooking came into the picture. He also thought of including newer cooking techniques that are currently used in modern kitchens. This is what he calls the “modernist” form of cooking.
Subsequently, he hired two chefs, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet, who used to work at Fat Duck who worked with him, doing various high-tech culinary experiments to create the Modernist Cuisine. They did all the work and experiments in a restaurant in Bray, England. They worked on the project for three years until they finally got it right. The work they put into creating the book can be likened to the work an author of a textbook would have to put in.
The Modernist Cuisine Review
“Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking
The book offers overview of nutrition, food history and microbiology in Volume 1. It also covers traditional and modern cooking methods and techniques in Volume 2. The science of cooking meat and plants is basically covered in Volume 3. Thickeners, gels and foams are thoroughly discussed in Volume 4. Recipes are covered in Volume 5.
This project is both scientific and gastronomic. It is an encyclopedia for everyone involved in the culinary arts. It is a visual treat and it offers more than 1,000 of new recipes. It is an affirmation of the revolution that was started by cuisine moderne. There are many cuisines, but this one utilizes science to discover new innovative cooking techniques.
This high-tech cooking was pioneered by Grant Achatz in the United States. It was introduced by Ferran Adria in Spain and by Heston Blumenthal in England. These people introduced the revolution in cooking techniques. One could say that the term “modernist cuisine” perfectly describes that these people are trying – or have been trying to do.
Myhrvold is the only one who can pull of this kind of project. Some would say that he is the only one with enough money to undertake such huge project. It’s so big it took him three years to complete the whole thing. Not surprisingly, his project received an equally healthy dose of admiration and criticisms. In truth, before Myhrvold, no one seems strong enough to undertake science cooking.
This is not an easy book to read. Despite pages and pages of mind-blowing picture, the volumes inspire frustration, fascination, infuriation and amazement – all at the same time! You cannot possibly read or absorb them all in one seating. It is not easy to give a review of this book. Obviously, however, the goal of the authors is to present clear and thorough information. One could say that the information is, in fact, too thorough. Still, chefs can still find useful and valuable original insights. Just take for example their discussion of temperature and their temperature tables for killing salmonella. The authors can be arrogant sometimes, for instance, dismissing the government’s suggestion for temperature in relation to food safety. There are a lot of concepts that are familiar to most chefs but these concepts are reintroduced in a new way.
I’d agree that this is the most thorough culinary “encyclopedia”. It is packed with information that you will not likely find in other culinary books or cookbooks. For instance, do you know how to balance the centrifuge? Get this book and you will find all the information you will need on that topic. You will find detailed reports on what exactly happens when you roast something in the oven. You will understand why some food tastes better or worse than others. You will learn how to cook your dried beans properly.
Photo cuisine at its best – that’s what this book offers. The food photography is riveting. You will find yourself staring and perusing every photograph, marvelling at their perfection. They are just amazing. Of course, one can say the same thing about the recipes.
These are all express in metric weights and they are quite exact down to the last 100th gram. The book has its own unique recipe format. Many of the recipes covered actually use techniques design by various chefs like Alice Waters and Tetsuya Wakuda.
There are a lot of recipes you can easily prepare inside your kitchen. There are also a lot of recipes that home cooks will find quite difficult. Not only because of the technique but also because the ingredients and equipment required may not be things that home cooks have in their kitchen. Still, the barbecue sauces are simply divine and the pressure cooker recipes are easy and flavourful.
“Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking
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Australian Chef- Matthew J. Goudge is the mastermind behind the formation of the ProChef360 platform.