Most cookbooks are useless

a reply to: edaced4

Care to share your jambalaya recipe?

We like using Serious Eats website and have Kenji Lopez-Alts' kitchen guide The Food Lab.

We cooked our first whole turkey last year for Thanksgiving using a mix of techniques from those two sources. We spatchcocked it and laid it out on a rack on a cookie sheet in the oven, basted it with some butter and applied a paste/rub with butter and seasonings under the skin we stole from an Ina Garten recipe. In a couple hours it was done with perfectly crisp skin and not dry at all.

Generally these days, I know what we like and sort of cobble stuff together out of recipes we have, ingredients we like, techniques I know work well and see what happens.

a reply to: ketsuko

That's a good book. Fun to read. I love to spatchcock chicken when I grill.

Throw it in a nice marinade for a few hours then throw that sucker on a grill. It's my favorite way to grill a whole bird.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

Gladly!

Make a dark roux...however much you want...for this again I will use a cup and a cup...(freeze the rest...)

First, the "Trinity" (for those that don't know...the Cajun trinity typically consits of diced onions, bell peppers and celery...) sweated in a bit of oil til cooked down...add some garlic...I tend to use the minced garlic from a jar...

Add about a pound of pork butt, cubed into approx 1 inch pieces...stir it all around till pork is browned...

Add about 1/2 to 3/4 pound andoullie...depending on your taste. I like the spicyness of the andoullie and tend to add more...

Cook for a bit...stirring constantly again...

Add 1/2 pound chicken, if you want...stir for a few minutes...

Add a couple cups of broth (either canned or fresh beef or chicken broth...) and a cup or so of water

At this point add also stir in about 1/4 cup of your roux

Stir around...simmer for a bit...just til it comes together...jambalaya wants to be slightly thick...so if needed add some more roux

I make roux in a dutch oven...

a reply to: edaced4

How long do you cook your roux for? I've done both the long cook and high and quick roux.

Have you ever made your own andouille?

I have a few of those on your list. And a few more I will never give up but probably know by heart anyway. That said, cookbooks are fairly obsolete now. If you neec a recipe, it's on line. Maybe even with a video. We had a garage sale recently . We started with two boxes of cookbooks. We finished with two boxes of cookbooks. Mellinials don't care. They just Blue Apron. Or more likely grubhub

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
a reply to: edaced4

How long do you cook your roux for?[/quote/]

Honestly I learned from my mom how to make roux...blond is about this much.....while dark is about this much..............
I have learned that typically once the oil is hot enough and you add the floor, about five minutes (give or take) for blond (gotta make sure the flour taste is gone...) to about 8-10 for dark. STIR CONSTANTLY!!!

Have you ever made your own andouille? [/quote/]

Unfortunately I have not...but I try to get authentic andoille when I can. The local mega mart (alton browns words) typically has local sausages...

I've never had grilled peaches ?.... I tried watermelon grilled and hated it ....but I love grilled pineapple slices ... Topped with cinnamon ! Yum !!!

a reply to: kosmicjack

It's also about having the right books. I have three charcuterie books on my list. Those books have invaluable info that just isn't really online. Most charcuterie books don't have great recipes and the pink salt amounts are way off. Home cooks don't make hundreds of pounds of sausage like I do. They aren't making cappacolla, beef and lamb pastrami and hams like Tasso. This is where the right books come into play.

Then as you surely know they are the books that teach you technique on how to properly braise, or roast or smoke. It's not all on the internet, only traces of it. There are so many sources that if one doesn't know what they are looking for they will never find it.

a reply to: Meldionne1

Grilled peaches are fantastic!!!

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

Have you heard of Food Lab? Kenji Lopez combines science with the art of cooking. It has helped to perfect a few issues for me. Normally I would lean toward cooking as an art or a passion but he solves some common cooking pitfalls with hard science....and it pays off in yumminess.

a reply to: kosmicjack

That's assuming they know anything about cooking to begin with.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman


www.seriouseats.com...

a reply to: kosmicjack

I have flipped through that book a few times.

It's a fun read. Any book that gives you that aha moment is a good thing.

What issues where you having?

We don't buy cookbooks anymore. So much is available free online!

As you know by now: Cooking is a creative art. The recipe is only the list of limitations. The pre-game plan.
When things start bubbling and reducing: it then becomes an interactive dance. The rules go out the window, and one just goes with the flow.

If you follow too closely a soup recipe from an old book: your soup might end-up tasting like an old book!

Excellent thread, and a great to have around as a reference!
I don't have much by way of cookbooks but am very interested in learning more.

I do have

The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos which I have yet to try out, lol, but looks good.

I often use Pioneer Woman's recipes online sometimes with a few tweaks of my own. I'm also seeking out the best way of making spaghetti and meatballs lol which takes a lot of trial and error from a lot of different recipes online. Cheesy but I usually google Grandma's Meatball recipe or something predictable like that and check it out to see if it looks good.

All but once (when I found a recipe suggesting putting a raisin in the center of the meatballs... yuck! bad idea) it turned out really well. But I'm still searching I guess for perfection.

On occasion I have an idea for a recipe and google certain ingredients which often results in a great meal!

Thanks for the delectable and informative thread.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

The fine tuning. Like consistent rice, every time. A perfectly boiled egg. Just the right mashed potatoes. A good sear. Texture. Doneness. Flavor is never my issue. It's the actual heat or preparation or technique that can be difficult to manage. It's been years since my grandma taught me and, truth be told, she didn't exactly always nail it.

a reply to: Nothin

Unless you are a baker then you need to measure.

There are some amazing international cookbooks I've yet to get my hands on that have recipes for dishes we wouldn't think of making. Those are the new books for savory I have now become interested in.

I'm a cook! I love books! I can't help it.

originally posted by: TheAlleghenyGentleman
Unless you are a baker

then you need to measure.

That's why I prefer cooking over baking. While I can bake it's not as much fun.

a reply to: kosmicjack

Exactly. Serious Eats and The Food Lab are more for kitchen reference purposes than they are for recipes although I will pull recipes off them too.

Thing is that once you develop your list of recipes for your basic components, then a recipe is just assembling your set of ingredients and your go-tos.

You look at the formal recipe and think something like "That's nice ..." and then proceed to cut out whole chunks to work in the flavors you prefer.