Cooking From A Cookbook, One Cookbook, One Only?

13 years ago

After the post-holiday steamed veg and salad recovery phase (see http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cooking/msg12012746342.html?7 ) I was thinking about a project.

The idea would be, to pick a cuisine you'd like to know more about, and cook exclusively from a cookbook on that cuisine for a week or two.

I might start with this old book I picked up. ''Manuel Pratique De Cuisine Provencale'' (Practical Manual Of Provencal Cooking), subtitled ''Recueil des Meilleures Recettes Culinaires des principaux Chefs de Cuisine de Provence'' (best recipes of the main chefs of Provence).

But, hmm, what's this. Chapter 1, ''Potages'' (soups), starts with Pot-Au-Feu, and then proceeds through twenty-three different variations on consommÃ¯Â¿Â½. ConsommÃ¯Â¿Â½ Julienne, consommÃ¯Â¿Â½ Royale, consommÃ¯Â¿Â½ Brunoise, consommÃ¯Â¿Â½ Xavier, on and on. Okay, my ambition is wilting already. I'm not an apprentice cook, slaving away in an old-school French restaurant. Why do I care about knowing twenty-three types of consommÃ¯Â¿Â½?

I may still use this cookbook, with some judicious picking and choosing. But maybe a diferent cookbook could be considered.

Would you do something like this? What cuisine would you pick? What cookbook would you choose for that cuisine?

I've done something like this before, with a Japanese cookbook (''Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art'') and a Chinese cookbook (''Classic Chinese Cuisine''). It's always been instructive.

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Comments (18)

country_sunshine
13 years ago
There is one that I used frequently. "Cooking of India" by Santha Rama Rau. I could easily get lost in the dishes in that cookbook for a week or maybe even more. I love Middle Eastern Cuisine...

Carolyn
rachelellen
13 years ago
Years ago, I decided that I eventually wanted to live in a more rural area than that in which I had lived most of my life. Having spent a year in a rural town at one point, and realized how hooked I had been foods one often couldn't get in small towns ( I just about went nuts craving a variety of ethnic dishes I had been used to obtaining with no trouble), I embarked on a mission to prepare!

"Japanese Cooking- a Simple Art" is an excellent primer for Japanese food, I have had it for years. But, for folks who just want to dabble, without actually making their own dashi (fish stock) etc, there is a great 'starter' book titled, "Japanese Cuisine for Everyone" which is part of a 'quick and easy series' published by JOIE inc., author, Yukiko Moriyama.

Likewise, a truly wonderful guide to Chinese Cuisine is, "The Complete Chinese Cookbook," by Jacki Passmore and Daniel P. Reid, published by Exeter Books. BUT, again, it is might be better for beginners to pick up a copy of, "Chinese Cuisine," published by Huang Su-Huei, Wei Chuan's Cooking, author Huang Su-Huei.

For my excursions into Indian food, I've several favorites. The simple starter would be, (believe it or not) Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking, recipes by Raghavan Iyer. Next step is a Williams Sonoma book, "Savoring India," a Murdoch Book, "The Food of India," and then Suneeta Vaswani's, "Complete Book Of Indian Cooking."

When I explore an unfamiliar cuisine, I like to choose a few dishes that I have eaten in good restaurants, and then try a few different recipes for each dish. This way, I discover which cookbooks have recipes tailored (so to speak) to my taste. Also, after making a dish from several different recipes, I find that I don't get 'recipe bound,' and instead learn the dish and can make adaptations to suit myself.
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I do live in one of those smaller towns--just south of Daytona Beach. The land of NASCAR and coleslaw wrestling. Oh, don't forget Bike Week!

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We don't have all the ingredients available, but Amazon is amazing ... it arrives quickly. We have substantial population areas within 70 miles so Whole Paycheck is available ... just not convenient.
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
13 years ago
If I were to take a substantial amount of time to tutor myself in a "cuisine" unfamiliar to me, it would be baking. And within that, since I'm not at all interested in sweets, I would pursue breads and savory doughs.

Can anyone recommend a good tutorial for a very novice baker??

seagrass
grainlady_ks
13 years ago
seagrass -

Go to the library and check out "CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher, and if you have time, next check out "BakeWise", also by Shirley. That should give you a great beginning in the secrets of baking. Shirley is that spunky gal with a twinkle in her eye, often seen on Alton Brown's show explaining some kind of cooking/baking science. She has "salt & pepper" spiked hair.
ci_lantro
13 years ago
I doubt that I could do one cuisine for a whole week, much less two! That said, right now though, I could do several days worth of what I would call 'Island Cooking' (grilled chicken, pork, limes, pineapple, mangoes).
bbstx
13 years ago
If you are interested in classic french cuisine, I would highly recommend Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. It is more of a guide book than a recipe book. Below is a link to reviews posted at Amazon.com. I believe that if you were to cook from this book for a week, at the end of the week, you would have mastered some fine techniques. Maybe I ought to do that too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews of Julia's Kitchen Wisdom
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
13 years ago
Grainlady - thanks for the info - I'll check out Shirley's books. Best to you in the New Year.

seagrass
ghoghunter
13 years ago
I was thinking how nice it would be if I could just focus on one issue of my cooking magazines. I am really enjoying the new issue of Cooking Light. My problem is that my husband and father won't eat anything they are not familiar with and so I often just get to enjoy the recipes in my imagination. Oh well I can dream!
Joann
arley_gw
13 years ago
Dittos on Shirley Corriher's 'Cookwise'--excellent book, although it isn't about one particular cooking tradition. If you have an analytical/scientific approach to cooking, this is just the ticket.

If you wish to learn Louisiana cuisine, I can make a recommendation: an excellent introduction to Louisiana cooking is Richard Collin's 'The New Orleans Cookbook'. Very highly recommended if you want to pursue Cajun/Creole cuisine. I have a hundred or so cookbooks, and this is on my 'desert island' list; if my house burned down tomorrow, this is one of the first cookbooks I would replace. If you want authentic Louisiana cuisine (I grew up there, and I know whereof I speak), get this book and go to town. Gotta admit it's a sentimental favorite in that this is the book that really taught me how to cook.

Hmm. It's out of stock at Amazon and Borders. Hopefully it isn't going out of print; at any rate, lots of them are available at addall.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: new orleans cookbook
seagrass_gw Cape Cod
13 years ago
Arley - I got "The New Orleans Cookbook" as a gift many years ago. I'm famous for my chicken jambalaya and I have that cookbook to thank for the recipe!!! A northerner, no less lol.

seagrass
fearlessem
13 years ago
I'm with ci_lantro in that I like variety so much I wouldn't want one cuisine for a week (unless I was vacationing there!). But for anyone who'd consider picking Italian, I'd go with Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. That book has never led me astray, and has a huge range of mouthwatering options...
Sweetpeasnlimes
13 years ago
A great idea! I did do Asian dishes for a whole week but not from one cookbook. Something NEW to try for 2011:)
jimster
13 years ago
As usual, I find Rachelellen's post full of wisdom. It gives me some of the guidance I want.

Cooking the same cuisine (not the same dishes) for one week straight would be no hardship at all for me. When I returned from a one week trip to Italy I cooked nothing but northern Italian food for at least three weeks. There was nothing monotonous about it. That experience has faded. I need another trip to Italy for a refresher course.

I don't see the need to limit the experiment to a single cookbook, although that could be an effective way to do it, given the right book. Books I would recommend are:

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji
The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo
Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni
The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy

These books are similar in approach and format although about different cuisines and by different authors. They provide a solid foundation for cooking each cuisine.

Again, I say that switching to another ethnic cuisine for an extended period of time is a fine idea. Those for whom that is their native cuisine eat it daily year after year don't they?

Jim
arley_gw
13 years ago
Seagrass--thanks for the comment. If you are adventurous at the end of the summer when sweet corn and tomatoes are in abundance, give the Chicken Macquechoux recipe a try. Incredibly delicious.

As far as my next project, I'm getting a new stove this week with high powered gas burners; the next step will be getting a wok and working my way through 'The Breath of A Wok' by Grace Young.
annie1992
13 years ago
Seagrass, King Arthur flour also has some on-line baking tutorials, if you don't want to go to the library on a snowy day, just fire up the computer!

My favorite bread book is Bernard Clayton's "Breads", Readinglady sent it to me and I've used it more than even the "Beard on Bread" book by James Beard.

One cuisine? Elery would like to try more Indian food, and so far I've not liked anything with curry in it very much. I don't have a cookbook, though, and I already checked for one at my small local library, so it looks like the internet is my source for recipes for that.

Annie
arley_gw
13 years ago
Ditto on Clayton's bread book. I like that he lists timings for kneading the dough with a stand mixer as well as kneading by hand... As my fingers get less flexible over time, I'm not ashamed to have a machine do the bulk of the work.

Annie, try the Italian Batter Bread recipe in that book. Very easy, very delicious.
lpinkmountain
13 years ago
It's funny Annie, I want to like Indian cooking too, and I'm trying to make more of the dishes from that cuisine, but very little of it rings my bell. Do I "like" it yes, but I find it "just OK" at best. One thing for sure, I have discovered I don't like fenugreek, so any curries with that in it I don't like.

I'm sort of doing what you suggest right now John, I'm gradually working my way through "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" by Beth Hensberger. There are 365 or so recipes in it, and I can only eat about a loaf of bread every two weeks, so I'll be working on that project for quite a while!

I can't buy any more cookbooks until I make my way thru all the Internet linked recipes I have in my "Favorites" folder. That will take me about five years. There are several themes there--Indian, Middle Eastern, Czech (for BF), low fat desserts, cookies, some of my favorites from the British Isles (like baram brack or however you spell it), and lots of low calorie ones.

Cooking From A Cookbook, One Cookbook, One Only?

Comments (18)

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rachelellen

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