OK, so you would think that as Head of Technology at a company that predominently creates websites I’d be able to use a blog. Well, clearly not as I managed to publish this article the other day before I’d finished writing it! Ahem. Any way, here we go again…
I own a lot of cookery books – too many I’m told. There’s a smattering of celebrity chef books and recipe books for different cuisines, but the books that I keep coming back to are the general technique books. I refer to them whenever I want to do something “classic” or just don’t know how to work with an ingredient I’ve somehow ended up with. Here are my favourites, new and old:
The Cooks Book: This is an extensive book with around 550 pages of techniques. The list of authors is impressive including such diverse chefs as Marcus Wareing, Ferran Adria, Atul Kochhar and Ken Hom. It has sections for different foods (e.g. sauces, poulty, pastries) and world styles. For me, its worth comes from the sheer coverage of techniques and in its value for money including sections by so many renowned chefs.
The Flavour Thesaurus: This innovative book is a relative newcomer. The clue’s in the name – look up an ingredient and it will tell you what goes with it; or go a flavour section such as “Green & Grassy” to get inspiration. It has cultural references (e.g. why certain herbs go with particular dishes in south-east Asian cooking) and scientific notes (it stands to reason that blue cheese and mushroom go together given that the former gets in distinct flavour from fungi). I got it for Christmas and have already learnt a lot that I really want to try out.
Le Cordon Bleu’s Complete Cooking Techniques: I love this book, though it is very American (expect measures in cups). It is from the famous cookery school, and is quite amazing for covering so much in just 350 pages. You’ll find colour double spreads covering all you need to know about ingredients and how to use and cook with them, for example the pages on eggs list all the usual (and some unusual) ways to cook them and how to use in cooking (I defer to it for the perfect poached egg every time).
Practical Cookery (Book & DVD-ROM) & Advanced Practical Cookery: A while back I was wondering what it would have been like to have gone to catering college and learn to cook “classicly”. So rather than jacking in the day job and starting my career all over, I thought I’d invest in one of the core text books that many professional chefs cut their teeth with. John Campbell is a prolific writer of catering texts. These two books cover a truly massive number of techniques and classic recipes taught at many a catering college. It isn’t overly pretty, but you get masses of information on how to cook professionally. I have had these for a while and haven’t even scratched the surface.Happy reading…