Amazing cookbook

[NoisyDante]

Cooking is a hobby of mine, and I love cookbooks.  I picked up Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home" a couple weeks ago, thought I'd recommend it here.

Everything I have made from it so far has been incredible.  Check out the Blowtorch Prime Rib recipe, nothing to dislike about that one.  The carrot cake, fried chicken, and roast chicken were also successful.




His French Laundry and Bouchon books are great too.

[DucNaked]

My wifes been after me to pick this one up.

[superjohn]

Keller is amazing. I bought that cookbook a while back but haven't cooked anything out of it yet since I've been on sort of a diet.

[SacDuc]

I've heard nothing but good things about this book, but I've never looked at a copy. Is it just recipes and step by step instruction or does it discuss technique, food chemistry and each dish's history/inspiration as well?

sac

[NoisyDante]

It's got a little of all of that in it.  Each recipe is written not as a list but as a guide with logical explanations for the decisions made and why the steps are important.

[SacDuc]

It's got a little of all of that in it.  Each recipe is written not as a list but as a guide with logical explanations for the decisions made and why the steps are important.

I love cookbooks like that. You've convinced me. I'll get a copy


sac

[NoisyDante]

 

[SacDuc]

If you are interested in cooking, food chemistry, what foods are and are made from and what happens when you apply heat to them I highly recommend "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee. Amazing book. It can be dry and most people use it just as a reference, but if you are big dork like me you'll just read it over and over again.

A small example of what is contained in the book:

You know that green ring that happens when you boil eggs sometimes. That is ferrous sulfide. This occurs when the sulfur from the whites reacts with the iron in yolk. This reaction takes place at around 205 degrees. So to avoid the unsightly green ring when you boil eggs, don't boil them! Boiling water is of course 212 degrees. A low rolling boil does the trick. The yolks won't be grainy and the whites won't be rubbery either.   Eggs from the fridge into the water at 190ish degrees for 11-12 minutes. Done. Older eggs will be easier to peal than very fresh eggs.

The book also destroys bullshit myths like the often heard "searing seals in the juices." No. No it doesn't. Cooking at the wrong temp is what dries out the meat, not lack of searing. Or that butter must be added slowly bit by bit to a hollandaise. Not true. Now I just toss all my hollandaise ingredients in the pan and whisk away. It turns out the same as it did before.

There aren't many recipes per se, but the book really helps give you a better understanding of what happens to food when you cook it.

Cheers.

sac

[Triple J]

Sounds like a cool book.   

with the iron in yolk. This reaction takes place at around 205 degrees. So to avoid the unsightly green ring when you boil eggs, don't boil them! Boiling water is of course 212 degrees. A low rolling boil does the trick. The yolks won't be grainy and the whites won't be rubbery either.   Eggs from the fridge into the water at 190ish degrees for 11-12 minutes. Done. Older eggs will be easier to peal than very fresh eggs.

If the water is boiling, whether it is a heavy boil or a low boil, it is at 212 degrees (if I remember my chemistry right). The key to avoiding the ring is to not allow the internal egg temp. to get up to 205. That is more a function of how long the egg is left in the water, as opposed to how hot the water is. Eggs cooked in a heavy boil for 10 minutes also won't form the ring because they are removed before the internal temp reaches 205.

The book also destroys bullshit myths like the often heard "searing seals in the juices." No. No it doesn't. Cooking at the wrong temp is what dries out the meat, not lack of searing. Or that butter must be added slowly bit by bit to a hollandaise. Not true. Now I just toss all my hollandaise ingredients in the pan and whisk away. It turns out the same as it did before.

Alton Brown also killed this myth a couple years ago on Good Eats. It was funny because he also was honest enough to show himself saying that searing does seal in the juices from a show back in 2001 or 2002. He then disproved it by weighing some meat prior to and after cooking (both seared and not seared). Very interesting. He now recommends searing the meat after cooking...for developing the nice carmelized flavors.

[Grampa]

all this talk of meat and eggs is make'n me horny

[SacDuc]

Sounds like a cool book.   

If the water is boiling, whether it is a heavy boil or a low boil, it is at 212 degrees (if I remember my chemistry right). The key to avoiding the ring is to not allow the internal egg temp. to get up to 205. That is more a function of how long the egg is left in the water, as opposed to how hot the water is. Eggs cooked in a heavy boil for 10 minutes also won't form the ring because they are removed before the internal temp reaches 205.

Alton Brown also killed this myth a couple years ago on Good Eats. It was funny because he also was honest enough to show himself saying that searing does seal in the juices from a show back in 2001 or 2002. He then disproved it by weighing some meat prior to and after cooking (both seared and not seared). Very interesting. He now recommends searing the meat after cooking...for developing the nice carmelized flavors.

The trick with keeping the water temp around 190 (it will just be rolling slightly on the top) is that there is no possible way the egg can ever get hotter than the water, thus it can't form the dreaded green ring. Its fool proof and doesn't rely on exact timing. At a full boil (212 degrees) the whites can turn rubbery before the yolk is cooked through. And if you miss your timing a bit (perhaps the eggs warmed up on the counter a bit, or one was smaller than the others) then you get the green ring.

sac

[Triple J]

Makes sense.

Found this on Wiki...pretty interesting:

In Chinese cuisine, particularly tea brewing, one distinguishes five stages of boiling: "shrimp eyes, the first tiny bubbles that start to appear on the surface of the kettle water, crab eyes, the secondary, larger bubbles, then fish eyes, followed by rope of pearls, and finally raging torrent [rolling boil]".

In detail:

shrimp eyes
about 70-80°C (155â€"175°F) â€" separate bubbles, rising to top
crab eyes
about 80°C (175°F) â€" streams of bubbles
fish eyes
about 80-90°C (175â€"195°F) â€" larger bubbles
rope of pearls
about 90-95°C (195â€"205°F) â€" steady streams of large bubbles
raging torrent
rolling boil, swirling and roiling

[il d00d]

If you are interested in cooking, food chemistry, what foods are and are made from and what happens when you apply heat to them I highly recommend "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee. Amazing book. It can be dry and most people use it just as a reference, but if you are big dork like me you'll just read it over and over again.

I have been reading articles from his website today.  It is like America's Test Kitchen, except more technical (in a good way) and less WASPy.  It really appeals to my inner (ok, outward) geek.

This is a good one:  Rats prefer organic to conventional produce

"What do phytochemicals have to do with flavor? Phytochemicals are chemicals created by plants, and especially those that have effects on other creatures. Plants make many of them to defend themselves against microbes and insects: to make themselves unpalatable, counterattack the invaders and limit the damage they cause. Most of the aromas of vegetables, herbs and spices come from defensive chemicals. They may smell pleasant to us, but the plants make them to repel their mortal enemies.

Why should organic produce have higher phytochemical levels? The current theory is that because plants in organic production are unprotected by pesticides and fungicides, they are more stressed by insects and disease microbes than conventional crops, and have to work harder to protect themselves. So it makes sense that organic produce would have more intense flavors. For some reason, taste tests haven't consistently found this to be the case."

[superjohn]

I like McGee's book as well as Alton Brown and Michael Ruhlman for the explanations of things. Apparently Shirley Corriher is also great for a scientific explanation of why cooking functions as it does.

[NoisyDante]

I also have a lot of cookbooks from Michael Chiarello.  I like his Tra Vigne and Easy Entertaining books.  They really do contain a lot of good ideas for a cook who entertains a lot so you're not stuck in the kitchen the whole time, as though he took restaurant prep techniques and adapted them for the home.

Seems I like chefs from the Napa Valley area.