The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen

Ruhlman captures the why of cooking - what makes food happen, what makes it work. Rather than providing a set recipe to follow blindly he arms cooks with the basic principal of the art required to start a lifetime of fun practicing and perfecting.

I originally bought this book for my daughter whose enrolled in culinary school and loving it. I started to read it and found it a very fascinating book and enjoyed the writing style of the author. It's a must-have if you're a foodie! It defines so many things clearly and simply so anyone could understand and benefit from. It's helped me define what my kitchen should be like and how to function in it. The other book which I found invaluable is Alton Brown's Kitchen Gear book. I stripped my kitchen of a lot of junk thanks to him.

If this guy is right about salting beef, I've been wrong all my life. This is the first book I have come across to make a case AGAINST iodized salt, just because (1) it tastes bad (2) iodine deficiency is no longer a problem in America. So use kosher salt, or sea salt, and here is the amazing concept: you can salt beef right after buying it. Salt it ahead of time (or WAY ahead of time), and the result will be that the steaks taste "seasoned" rather than "salty." I'm still playing around with this concept, but the first field trial suggests that this book is right!

This book is an essential tool in my kitchen now. I recommend it to anyone who wants to take their home-cooking to a higher level. The glossery does not just contain definitions, but also advise and opinions about several of the terms. The essays do a fabulous job of explaining why each subject is important to the quality of your cooking. They go a long way in helping a novice to intermediate cook develop some fundamental skills that have been proven to produce good results.

This is a solid general book about cooking, the latest of several by a veteran cookbook writer. This unique approach to cooking is directed at clarifying cooking terms. The first 49 pages are the essence of the book to me, a reduction of years of experience, as this experienced cook describes such "secrets" as that of making a stock at a simmer, not a boil, and putting in aromatics in the last 30 minutes, instead of adding earlier, and thus missing their fresh notes. He talks about the value of preparing one's own sauces, and how to best do so. He correctly describes how to salt meats early, and not so late that it needs salt at the table. Adding just enough salt to bring out the taste, and not so much salt that one can taste the salt-that's the art of salting. He tells how to properly cook an egg, several styles, that work, including when to use a non-stick pan to have a finer control over some egg cookery. He recommends his top 15 or so books, and I've not a difference with him on any. This is well written, and ideal for getting beginners up to speed on proper skills with simple processes,and works for intermediate level cooks. Learn useful "pearls" of cooking wisdom, without needing years to gain the wisdom condensed in the first 49 pages of this book. Many books have numerous recipes, few discuss clearly such "basics" as how to properly blanch, saute, or braise. One person's braise may be different than another's, and the beauty of this book is how it descibes and defines cooking terms and techniques. Proper techniques creat the rich layers of flavor in a great soup, or sauce, and mastering a few new techniques allows one to better approach the quality sought in bringing out the best taste and desired textures in that dish.