Amazon was here! - Democratic Underground

Tab

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Tue Mar-24-09 01:35 PM
Original message

Amazon was here!

Two new books...

and

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Lucinda

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Tue Mar-24-09 02:13 PM
Response to Original message

1. They both look interesting! My two interlibrary loan books are here

The cheese book rocks

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D2GBZ8G3L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

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Tesha

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Tue Mar-24-09 02:40 PM
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2. Improv...

the images are beautiful - and it's the perfect cooks' book - learn the basics, then adapt

let us know how it works for you, K?

http://www.anewwaytocook.com/Pages/TIC/look_tic.html

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Tab

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Tue Mar-24-09 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. I haven't cracked it open yet

I think the cooking world cleaves into two skews - one is cooks, the other are bakers. One is not necessarily better than the other, they're just different mindsets.

Within cooking, you're usually either improvisational or a recipe fiend. Myself, I'm improvisational, so I go for stuff like this.

We'll see, but it looks good. I don't want a coffee-table top book. I don't give a shit about photographs (although I appreciate them, particularly being a former photographer). What I want is information. We'll see what this can give. I have pretty high hopes though.

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Tesha

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Tue Mar-24-09 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #3

5. Way back in the dim dark past...

I was given a book on Chinese cooking. It was divided by technique, and under each there were options - the chicken option, the pork option, etc.

It was a perfect way to learn about cooking, it sort of said... Start Here... like a treasure map.

Have fun!

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Tab

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Tue Mar-24-09 09:40 PM
Response to Reply #5

9. Can you remember what book that was?

Asian cooking has always mystified me - not that there's anything magical about it, but it's just different than western cooking, and no one's ever said "these are the tricks"... so if you have a book on the concepts, I'd love to know what it was...

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Tesha

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Wed Mar-25-09 06:19 AM
Response to Reply #9

11. Jim Lee's Chinese Cook Book

I found it! Tucked away in the cooking library. 1968! 40 years old! there's a star on the first thing I made- Stir-fried Clams with Red Sauce. aka honest-to-goodness Ke'chup Chow Heen

the recipe starts...
This simple dish is a double gift...

I was going to offer to loan it to you but Amazon has it reeeeealy cheap! $1.38!

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Lucinda

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Tue Mar-24-09 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. I don't agree. Even with something like bread where the basics matter

there is still enormous opportunity for improvisation. Give 100 bakers the same sweet dough recipe and you'll get 300 ideas for what to do with it. At least. The dough is the platform that allows the improvisation and imagination to make something unique.

I think the personality may have more to do with it than cooking vs baking. Bills is a minute detail kind of guy. He is a carpenter, he writes computer programs, and does 3d design. But when he cooks he LIKES to wing it because it's different than his normal methodology.

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Tesha

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Tue Mar-24-09 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #6

7. I think most bakers follow the recipe

at least up to the point you have a dough, then make additions, chocolate or cinnamon, or peanuts or well, endless opportunities await. The real issue with baking is you have a reaction you need to have happen - rising or setting or crisping..

now cooking has a few reactions too - like thickening or marinating but far fewer and this leaves more leeway

does this seem right?

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Lucinda

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Tue Mar-24-09 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #7

8. In a way...but meats need to cook to a certain temperature for safety

You still need to know how to cook and egg to make an omlette, cook a potato to make potato salad.

I believe people learn the basics without even thinking about it, but they still had to be learned. Most families don't do a lot of baking anymore, so I think it seems alien in some ways...

Just my perspective on it . :)

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Tab

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Wed Mar-25-09 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #8

17. Well, it's not an arbitrary free-for-all

You have to follow certain rules, regardless. In baking, it's a little more stricter, but even in cooking, you have to at least obey the basic temps. Beyond that, there's a lot of room. I'm not going to speak on baking. I'd probably be a good baker, but it's just not where my head is at, and I won't presume to speak about it.

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Tab

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Wed Mar-25-09 06:54 AM
Response to Reply #6

12. Oh, I wasn't saying there weren't improvisational bakers

In fact, I think there's a lot of room for improvisation there.

It's just that I'm not a baker myself, so I can't really speak for it.

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Lucinda

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Wed Mar-25-09 10:42 AM
Response to Reply #12

13. You should bake!

Unless things go horribly wrong it's therapeutic. And a wee bit magic.
And when they go wrong it's a lot of fun for those around you. :)
Win/win.

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Tab

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Wed Mar-25-09 10:53 AM
Response to Reply #13

14. I like homemade bread

and I've done it, and I'm not bad at it myself, if I do say so, but as a rule I don't gravitate toward baking.

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Lucinda

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Wed Mar-25-09 10:56 AM
Response to Reply #14

15. I didn't either, until this year.

You would be a good baker. I can feel it in my bones.

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Tangerine LaBamba

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Tue Mar-24-09 05:00 PM
Response to Original message

4. Oh, gorgeous ........

Enjoy them both. They look awfully good.

I just took down a bunch of cookbooks that have been on the shelf for a long time until I got the time to read them - I like doing that, as if they were novels - and now I have a two-foot-high stack beside my favorite leather recliner. I found a receipt in one - 1993.

There's something so positive and life-affirming about opening a new cookbook. It's just the best thing ...................

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housewolf

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Tue Mar-24-09 10:31 PM
Response to Original message

10. Enjoy your new books, Tab

Looks like they'll be a lot of fun for you to explore. Hope you get some great ideas from them, and maybe learn a new trick or two, too.

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hippywife

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Wed Mar-25-09 11:16 AM
Response to Original message

16. I've ordered that first one from our library to

Edited on Wed Mar-25-09 11:40 AM by hippywife

check it out. I don't skew one way or another. I improvise on both cooking and baking. :D

Amazon should be here today or tomorrow with my Ain5 book order. I ended up not ordering the package deal with the cambro. They wanted $14.99 shipping on the $16.27 book, the $4 cambro and the $1.50 lid. Nonsense! I'll just run over to the restaurant supply.

On edit: The package just arrived here at work. :D

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hippywife

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Fri Mar-27-09 05:23 PM
Response to Original message

18. Picked up my books from the library.

Edited on Fri Mar-27-09 05:23 PM by hippywife

Got The Improvisational Cook. Just kind of flipped through it so far. Saw a pic on page 12 labeled "A fish roasted in salt." The pic is of a lobster. LOL Looks like it will be a good book, tho.

Also got the cheese making book Lucinda got, too.

Will have some new reading at bedtimes which is the only time I get to read, really.

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