Jacques Pepin is quoted in “The Quotable Cook” with the opinion that “it’s more useful to have knowledge about cuts of meat than a lot of money.” With the Big Game hovering at $30 million, we’re not in total agreement, but we’ll admit that cooking know-how is a lot easier to acquire. Four new books underscore as much.
All can be valuable allies–though not necessarily while you’re cooking. There’s too much information to divert you from the coq au vin, flourless chocolate cake or cantaloupe smoothie you might be in the midst of making. But they’re well worth lingering over, reviewing information you already know or dispensing tips worth remembering. Each also will prove useful to new cooks.
“Le Cordon Bleu Kitchen Essentials” (Wiley, $35) is the biggest of the bunch. In addition to loads of technical information, it has hundreds of gorgeous, helpful color photos to show what words can only tell. Some examples: soft peaks versus stiff peaks and over-ripe brie distinguished from ripe brie. The book divides its data between “Essential Information” (equipment, cooking techniques) and “Ingredients,” which covers a spectrum of foods. Sprinkled throughout are nuggets of information.
“Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion” (Time-Life, $24.95) takes an encyclopedic approach in its 479 pages, listing in alphabetical order a comprehensive arsenal of useful information, starting with abalone (an endangered shellfish) to the ultimate “z” food, zucchini, and how to buy, store and prepare them. The emphasis is on usefulness and brevity. Well-rendered illustrations offer additional assistance, especially when applied to step-by-step techniques such as peeling pineapples. The margins are lettered, making this an easy book to navigate; an attached bookmark is a bonus too.
The Williams-Sonoma book opens with a wonderful quotation: “Cooking is often one disaster after another. What you learn is the only thing you can’t fix is a souffle.” That bit of knowledge comes from the author of “Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom” (Knopf, $19.95), a companion book to Julia Child’s recent public television special of the same name. If this book doesn’t offer the exhaustive array of facts of the previous two, it delves more deeply into specific techniques and provides recipes that put the lessons to work. For instance, “Breads, Crepes and Tarts” is a 15-page chapter that shows readers how to make and bake French bread, pizza dough, pie crusts and more, and offers several recipes, including apple charlotte and cinnamon toast flan. The vintage black-and-white photos from Child’s public television programs, not to mention her distinctive voice throughout, make this book extra-special.
It’s hard to stop reading “365 Quick Tips” (Boston Common Press, $14.95), from the editors of “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine. This nifty book is designed to keep cooking annoyances to a minimum. Hate cleaning that food processor lid? Cover the work bowl with plastic wrap before applying the cover. Annoyed when cheese sticks to the sides of the box grater? Spray it with non-stick cooking spray first. Its “Why didn’t I think of that?” tricks to streamline cooking get visual assistance from 600 illustrations.
