Joy of Cooking

[Jeff W]

I want to learn how to cook. Right now, I suck at cooking. Half of my food comes out bland or dry. Should I read Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker? Will this be enough to transform me into a culinary virtuoso?

Thanks for your advice.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I believe JoC is more a cook book then anything else, but according to my mom, it pwns.

[rmarotti]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe JoC is more a cook book then anything else, but according to my mom, it pwns.

[/ QUOTE ]

What?

[kerssens]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe JoC is more a cook book then anything else, but according to my mom, it pwns.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your mom did not say pwns.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I believe JoC is more a cook book then anything else, but according to my mom, it pwns.

[/ QUOTE ]

What?

[/ QUOTE ]whats confusing?

And kerssens, yes she did.

[Monkeyslacks]

It is not enough.

Only practice will be sufficient. You should make many different things many different times. Go to epicurious.com for recipes.

[rmarotti]

Your sentence does not make any sense, that's what's confusing.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
Go to epicurious.com for recipes.

[/ QUOTE ]no, use JoC.

[Monkeyslacks]

so wrong... and i use both

http://www.epicurious.com/images/recipes/recipe_results/full/photos/231790.jpg

[ThaSaltCracka]

BAH!! what do I know, I make pasta a lot.

[sfer]

Read Simple French Food by Richard Olney instead.

[eric5148]

This is what you need. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471382574/qid=1117081933/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-3863978-1251839)

[7ontheline]

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is a better general cookbook than JoC IMO. Both useful though.

[ethan]

[ QUOTE ]
This is what you need. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471382574/qid=1117081933/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-3863978-1251839)

[/ QUOTE ]

The Professional Chef is probably not a great starter cookbook. I'll second the recommendation for Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything for that purpose. I've also had good luck with Bittman's Fish. Most anything by James Peterson is going to be good, the first book of his I'd get would be Sauces : Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making.

[edfurlong]

Egullet (http://forums.egullet.org/) is a good start. Check out the eGCI forum. I'm not associated with this site etc.

Pro chef is more useful for a profesional kitchen. Joy of cooking is pretty much a must have though. I'm unsure of what book I would choose to "learn to cook" if I had to pick one.

[Shajen]

Watch Good Eats. Alton explains the process of cooking, not just throw X in with Y and sautee for 5 minutes. He explains why you should.

His show is a great starting point for culinary skills.

[Rhone]

This thread is turning into a "this is my favorite cookbook" thread. But that's not really the point. There are a million cookbooks out there, and most of them are just fine. You don't "need" any one of them in particular. Pick one or two that appeal to you, or use a website like epicurious, and begin by following the recipes to the letter. Think about what the authors are telling you to do and why they're telling you to do it. Once you begin to understand their reasoning, and can confidently deviate from their instructions to better suite your own taste, you'll be well on your way to being a better cook.

[on_thg]

Here's another vote for Bittman. I think he even has a version called something like "How to Cook Everything: The Basics" which may be just what you need.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
This thread is turning into a "this is my favorite cookbook" thread. But that's not really the point. There are a million cookbooks out there, and most of them are just fine. You don't "need" any one of them in particular. Pick one or two that appeal to you, or use a website like epicurious, and begin by following the recipes to the letter. Think about what the authors are telling you to do and why they're telling you to do it. Once you begin to understand their reasoning, and can confidently deviate from their instructions to better suite your own taste, you'll be well on your way to being a better cook.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is precisely why I think Olney's book is the best place to start.

[BruinEric]

The current "New" Joy of Cooking is a good book and a must-have for any basic kitchen. Aside from just recipes, you will find several helpful instructions as to method and also on meat/produce/etc selection.

I think this book is a good starting place. But don't "read it," pick out a section and try a simple recipe.

If your food is bland, don't be afraid to season your food. Salt is not evil.

If your meat is dry, you're probably overcooking it. Even cooking meat in water can render it dry. Get yourself an instant-read meat thermometer to help with this.

Good luck.

[Clarkmeister]

My Mom always said, "if you can read, you can cook".

[DBowling]

but macaroni and cheese is so easy to make.

[Boris]

Take this to the QLC forum.

[Jeff W]

[ QUOTE ]
Take this to the QLC forum.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't get it. Must be over my head.

I'm sorry to hear that you ignored me. You are a good poster on the Mid-Hi forum.

Thanks to all the other posters for your advice. I guess cooking isn't rocket science after all.

[theghost]

[ QUOTE ]
Egullet (http://forums.egullet.org/) is a good start. Check out the eGCI forum. I'm not associated with this site etc.

Pro chef is more useful for a profesional kitchen. Joy of cooking is pretty much a must have though. I'm unsure of what book I would choose to "learn to cook" if I had to pick one.

[/ QUOTE ]
eGullet is awesome for discussing both food and drink.

[nokona13]

[ QUOTE ]
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is a better general cookbook than JoC IMO. Both useful though.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've gotta second this. My mom bought this for me when I went to college, and I'm still using it. It's great cause he boils everything down to the essentials, and there are sections overviewing the basics of preparing pretty much every different kind of food. Plus if you like something but think it's not quite exciting enough, you know what's going on if you find a more complex recipe.

[Lawrence Ng]

If you wanna learn to create some simple dishes, watch Rachel Raye's 30 minute meals.

Lawrence

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
If you wanna learn to create some simple dishes, watch Rachel Raye's 30 minute meals.

Lawrence

[/ QUOTE ]

I /images/graemlins/heart.gif Rachel Ray.

[Sen. VernonTrent]

[ QUOTE ]
I believe JoC is more a cook book then anything else, but according to my mom, it pwns.

[/ QUOTE ]

And you can take that to the bank.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

There is a Food channel these days. I suggest you watch it.

IMO, you cannot learn how to cook simply by reading a book. But books are great places to start.

[Pinga]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO, you cannot learn how to cook simply by reading a book. But books are great places to start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I learned how to cook from books. I own JoC and have made many things from it.

Everyone screws up sometimes, but the cookbooks lay out the how-to about as well as you could ask for.

I never went wrong as long as I followed the directions.

My best cooking tip for a newbie is to use measuring spoons. Teaspoon doesn't mean grab a teaspoon out of the silverware drawer.

[Pinga]

I just re-read your post.

Are you talking mostly your meat dishes?

One way of keeping meat moist and tender is to cook it in an enclosed pan. Reynolds sells foil bags. The downside is everything comes out like a roast - this isn't for a nice steak.

Buy a big pork loin. Put it in a foil bag and add a whole bottle of italian dressing. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Turn down the heat to 225. Leave it in there for a long time (1.5+ hours). Take it out and dump most of the liquid. Put it back in (.5 hours). Turn up the heat to 400 again. Wait until the oven gets hot (10-20 min), turn it back down to 200.

Serve whenever you want. The meat falls apart and is very strong in flavor.

This works good with chicken, too. Adjust the time on high/low/high with the oven depending on how much meat there is.

You can use other marinades. It also works good with Jack Daniels. Mix up some Jack and applesauce and try it. JD pork rocks!