Category — Books

I have always loved Japanese food, both in its traditional forms and its more western forms. For about a year now I have made Nori Maki rolls on a somewhat regular basis, but I’ve wanted to learn Japanese cooking more in depth. The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo is an exhaustive source of information on Japanese ingredients and cuisine and a comprehensive collection of traditional Japanese recipes. The book begins with an overview of ingredients, tools, and terms used in Japanese cooking. It then goes into a discussion of staple Japanese ingredients and how to make and use them. For example, there are a few recipes for different kinds of dashi, a delicate but nicely flavored fish stock made from kelp and dried bonito flakes that is used in Japanese cooking as often as chicken and veal stock are used in French cooking.

Shimbo explains how Japan is a country that, because of it’s weather, has always had an abundance of fresh ingredients, especially seafood and vegetables. As a result, Japanese cooks never had to heavily spice foods to disguise rotten flavors. The cuisine revolves around the freshness of ingredients, is minimalist yet discreetly complex in its preparation and presentation, and had plenty to offer in terms of techniques and interesting ingredients. Also, when you’re done eating a Japanese dinner, your body feels great. This is my biggest problem with French food and other cuisines that use large quantities of butter, cream, and meats. It tastes good when I’m eating it, but afterward I feel terrible. Japanese cuisine uses mostly seafood and vegetables, and preparations that offer plenty of interesting sensations without straining your body.

If you’re looking to explore Japanese cooking in depth this is definitely the book to get. It touches on all aspects of Japanese cooking and gives equal attention to all facets of the cuisine.

Links:

Hiroko’s Kitchen

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Bobby Flay’s Boy Meets Grill is one of the first cookbooks I ever remember reading. My dad picked it up for me when we went to Flay’s Mesa Grill in New York City. It’s a great book if you’re the type who likes to follow recipes and if you’re the type who looks for inspiration and ideas from cookbooks. Flay’s first chapter is on burgers and sausages, the two foods people most commonly associate with grilling. However, he offers very creative and unorthodox recipes like Turkey Burgers Filled With Brie and Grilled Granny Smith Apple Slices, and Tuna Burgers with Pineapple-Mustard Glaze and Green Chile-Pickle Relish. The book then delves into more atypical grilled food like Grilled Lobster Tails with Curry Mango Butter, Grilled Mozzarella and Black Pepper Quesadillas with Prosciutto di Parma, and Grilled Asparagus Risotto with White Truffle Oil.

Bobby Flay’s cooking appeals to me for many reasons. First, although his food often is a sort of southwestern cuisine, Flay does not allow himself to be bound to one particular cuisine or to traditional preparations. As an alum of the French Culinary institute, Bobby Flay is familiar with the classics, but he isn’t afraid to throw out the rule book and create a very individualized and exciting cuisine. Second, his cuisine is simple, but in a very good way. He rarely relies on more than two or three central flavor components, which in my opinion is a difficult but rewarding way to cook. Third, his cuisine is always very visually exciting. He uses bright and colorful presentations that often highlight the freshness and quality of the ingredients used. As I mentioned, this is one of the first cookbooks I remember reading cover to cover and Flay’s cooking has definitely influenced me as a cook. Two examples would be the fact that I like to use some of his favorite ingredients including chipotle and ancho chiles and honey, and that I like to incorporate a lot of color into my food. I would recommend this as a must read if you’re looking to go beyond burgers and dogs on the grill.

Links:

Bobby Flay’s Website

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Starting With Ingredients is a very exhaustive cookbook by James Beard Award winner Aliza Green. It is unique because it is a sort of hybrid between a cookbook, because the recipes, stories, and philosophies clearly derive from Chef Green, and a culinary reference book, because the topics and information presented is so comprehensive (the book is 1024 pages). Obviously I have not read Starting With Ingredients cover to cover but I have frequently consulted it before trying a recipe or flavor combination that pops into my head. Each chapter in the book covered one single ingredient or closely related group of ingredients. The chapter on chicken, for example, contains a preface about the history of the chicken, common uses for the bird, and its place in American and world culture. Then follows a reference page that summarizes the types of chickens you can buy (broiler vs. fryer, free range, etc.) and what the best uses for each chicken segment is. Then there is a list of recipes whose star is the chicken. Each chapter in the book is organized in about the same way. The book conveys a simple cooking style that stresses the use of quality ingredients, appropriate preparations, and a variety of techniques. Also, for a book of 1000+ pages, it’s cheap as dirt on Amazon ($27).

Links:



AlizaGreen.com

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I finished reading Culinary Artistry, which is by the same authors of Becoming A Chef. This book is very much a continuation of Becoming A Chef, except deals with more of the food aspects of the business as opposed to a general overview of what is involved in being a chef. Chapters deal with matching flavors, composing dishes and menus, developing an individual cuisine, and keeping a passion for food. In addition to a lot of great insight from great chefs, Culinary Artistry contains quite a few indexes and references. For example, a good portion of the book lists many different ingredients followed by a list of ingredients, flavors, and preparations that lend themselves particularly well to what you’re looking to prepare. Overall I enjoyed both Culinary Artistry and Becoming A Chef very much. Both books give a realistic but inspiring look into the restaurant industry and have certainly convinced me even more that I want to become a chef.

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Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Food is one of two books by Herve This that have been translated into English. This book reads very much as a continuation of Molecular Gastronomy but more general phenomena/topics like bread and sauces. Additionally, This goes into more detail explaining the science and logical thinking behind his investigations. One of the more interesting and enlightening chapters of the book was on osmosis.

Almost everyone has studied osmosis at some point in their lives (I remember studying it in junior high). Osmosis is, very generally, the process of equalizing the distribution of a substance. For example, place a drop of food coloring in hot water and it eventually will spread throughout. Osmosis is discussed in terms of salt and sugar in This’ book. In a braised dish, the salt and flavorful molecules within the meat will seep into the water, increasing the salt concentration of the water and decreasing that of the meat, equalizing the two. If we salt the dish at the outset, less salt is taken from the meat because less needs to be added to the water. So salting a dish like this depends on what you want to achieve. If you want a rich broth/sauce, salt at the end of cooking. If you want flavorful meat, salt at the beginning. If you want both, add a little salt near the end of cooking to give the flavorful juices time to evenly distribute. The same process is at play when cooking fruit. This explains that to prevent fruit from bloating/shrinking when you cook them, make the sugar concentration in the water close to that in the fruit.

Overall the book is a very good addition to Molecular Gastronomy. Both books encourage scientific thinking in the kitchen and give valuable bits of knowledge to improve cooking on all levels. Kitchen Mysteries ends with a chapter listing unanswered questions and untested kitchen myths, encouraging you to take the next step.

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