Notes on Cooking: A Short Guide to an Essential Craft
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About this ebook
The notes provide explanatory commentary, helpful examples, and insights from Alice Waters, Daniel Boulud, Georges Auguste Escoffier, Leonardo da Vinci, and many others. They also include life lessons about how to bring delight, how to recognize quality, and how to see beauty in simplicity. For the beginner wanting to improve, the seasoned expert looking to review the highest culinary standards, or the food lover seeking a fascinating glimpse into the pursuit of epicurean excellence, Notes on Cooking provides a unique and invaluable apprenticeship.
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Reviews for Notes on Cooking
18 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is like having a no nonsense friend who really wants to help you become a wonderful cook. It is well organized and beautifully written.
Book preview
Notes on Cooking - Lauren Braun Costello
PRAISE FOR
Notes on
COOKING
"In Notes on Cooking, Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich bring you indispensable advice, experience, and know-how of many great chefs. This handsome book is both inspirational and practical, and a superb addition to the library of any passionate cook."
– DANIEL BOULUD, CHEF, RESTAURANT DANIEL
"Concise, focused, and sensible. Notes on Cooking is full of useful advice for young chefs. Well worth reading."
– JACQUES PéPIN, CHEF, COOKBOOK AUTHOR,
AND PBS–TV COOKING SERIES HOST
"Notes on Cooking is exactly what it says it is: a short guide to an essential craft. There’s enough wisdom here to inspire any home cook or seasoned professional."
– DAN BARBER, EXECUTIVE CHEF/CO–OWNER, BLUE HILL
"I wish Notes on Cooking had been written about 35 years ago, when I started cooking professionally. It is an excellent source of level-headed, practical, and essential advice; an indispensable and wonderfully succinct compendium of knowledge for anyone, both veteran and novice, who is involved with food preparation."
– MICHAEL ROMANO, CHEF,
UNION SQUARE HOSPITALITY GROUP
Every cookbook should have this short book as a preface. It is the unmeasured recipe for the systematic, creative, and fun act of cooking. The message and guidance of this book is invaluable to all who dare to enter the delicious world of food preparation.
– LIDIA MATTICCHIO BASTIANICH, HOST, LIDIA’s ITALY
An abundance of tips, ideas and caveats. The list of food adjectives is one I’ll refer to myself and the list of recommendations is indispensable. The food pairings are the most insightful I’ve ever seen. Work well done.
– JAMES PETERSON, FIVE–TIME JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER
"I love the short statements that lead to long reflections. They bring me back to basics that pare away the ‘nonsense’ in the kitchen…. Listen to the common sense of Notes on Cooking and you will find yourself a happier cook."
– DOROTHY HAMILTON, FOUNDER & CEO,
THE FRENCH CULINARY INSTITUTE
It’s amazing how much cooking wisdom, sense, and technique is crammed into this little book. It’s like Mom, James Beard and Julia Child, Harold McGee and Escoffier all together in the expurgated version.
– GAEL GREENE, INSATIABLE–CRITIC.COM
Also co-authored by Russell Reich
Notes on Teaching
Notes on Directing
Notes on Cooking: A Short Guide to an Essential Craft
by Lauren Braun Costello and Russell Reich
© 2009 by RCR Creative Press Incorporated. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. First printing 2009.
Published by RCR Creative Press Incorporated, New York, New York
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. Contact via RCRcreative.com
Although the authors and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistencies herein.
IMPORTANT: The authors cannot accept responsibility for any medical, nutritional, or food safety issues. If in any doubt whatsoever, seek advice from a certified doctor, nutritionist, or food safety expert.
NOTES ON is a trademark of RCR Creative Press Incorporated and may not be used without written permission.
Jacket design by Julia Reich and Daniel Tamman. Illustrations by Eric Kittelberger and Daniel Tamman. Interior design by Pneuma Books, LLC.
Also by Lauren Braun Costello
The Competent Cook: Essential Tools, Techniques, and Recipes for the Modern At–Home Cook
Cataloging–in–Publication
(Provided by The Donohue Group)
Costello, Lauren Braun.
Notes on cooking : a short guide to an essential craft / Lauren Braun Costello,
Russell Reich; [afterword by Dorothy Hamilton].
p. : ill.; cm. -- (Notes on--)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-9724255-3-7
1. Cookery--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Cookery--Quotations, maxims, etc.
I. Reich, Russell, 1963- II. Hamilton, Dorothy M. III. Title.
TX652 .C67 2009
641.5 2008939351
PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on acid ∞ free paper
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
DEDICATED TO
MARCIA S. COHEN
AND IN MEMORY OF
FRANK HAUSER
Table of Contents
Notes on Notes on Cooking
More Notes on Notes on Cooking
I. Understanding the Recipe
1. Read the recipe
2. Read it again
3. Read at least three similar recipes
4. If it’s in the title, leave it alone
5. Target the result more than the timing
6. Recognize that recipes are often compromises
7. When you’re ready, mess with the recipe
8. Do it again
9. Do not be surprised by surprising results
10. Your soul is in the food
II. The Cook’s Role
11. The cook’s first job is to delight
12. Feed others as they wish to be fed
13. Feed others as only you can feed them
14. Work from your strength
15. Aim at mastery of craft, not at art
16. Don’t TRY to be different
17. Embrace the mundane
18. Cook globally
19. Justify your food in at least two ways
20. Please, PLEASE slow down
21. Above all, do no harm
22. Dare to do less
23. Preside happily over accidents
24. Don’t be grim
25. The best compliment for a cook…
26. Eat
III. Tools & Equipment
27. Nothing about a kitchen should be dark
28. Cook for the kitchen you’re in
29. Obtain the basics
30. Care for your knives
31. Hold the knife’s handle and blade properly
32. Dress for the job
33. Carry two towels
34. Do not wear perfume or cologne while you cook
35. Banter down
36. Use your hands and fingers
37. Never use your hands and fingers to taste
38. Be wary of single–use gadgets
39. Use wet measures for liquids, dry measures for solids
IV. Procurement & Storage
40. Use what you