Being I already own Harold McGee’s, “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen”, I had no problem at all accepting an offer to review his new book, “The Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Food and Recipes”. In fact I welcomed the opportunity!
With all the recipes and food blogs on the Internet, I don’t need another cookbook but what I do need is a good, go to book when I’m trying to figure out why my sourdough starter works with white flour but not with whole wheat? And lets face it I experiment quite a bit when I cooking and baking and I’m not always successful. It’s nice to have a book that just might give me the answer why my cupcakes turned out sticky when they should have been fluffy.
In the Introduction, it states “Some recipes give reliably good results, but many don’t. Some are sketchy and leave us to guess how exactly to proceed. Others are intimidatingly long and detailed. Different recipes for the same dish may give contradictory directions and explanations. Some place faithfulness to tradition above realistic handling of today’s ingredients. And many perpetuate old misconceptions and flawed methods.”
Just to show you the wide variety of topics below is a list of all 24 Chapters.
1. Getting to Know Foods
2. Basic Kitchen Resources: Water and Pantry Foods
3. Kitchen Tools
4. Heat and Heating Appliances
5. Cooking Methods
6. Handling Foods Safely
7. Fruits
8. Vegetables and Fresh Herbs
9. Milk and Dairy Products
10. Eggs
11. Meats
12. Fish and Shellfish
13. Sauces, Stocks, Soups
14. Dry Grains, Pastas, Noodles, Puddings
15. Seed Legumes: Beans, Peas, Soy Products
16. Nuts and Oil Seeds
17. Breads
18. Pastries and Pies
19. Cakes, Muffins, Cookies
20. Griddlecakes, Crepes, Popovers, Frying Batters
21. Chilled and Frozen Foods
22. Chocolate and Cocoa
23. Sugars, Syrups, Candies
24. Coffee and Tea
“The Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Food and Recipes” by Harold McGee, published by The Penguin Press HC and will be available for sale October 28, 2010.
Stay tuned for my book review on November 2, 2010.
AllRightsReserved@BigBlackDog
Oh, I can’t wait for the book review!
I will look forward to it.
Wouldn’t that be a great wedding gift or I guess a gift for any occasion.
I was thinking the same thing Lori! Wouldn’t this book make a great Wedding Shower or House Warming Gift .
I think I may buy a copy for both my nieces.
You have me….
I’ve seen other reviews for this book and it looks fantastic! Now that you’ve given it a thumbs up I definitely have to get it.
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I’m looking forward to this book myself – I love knowing why some thing work and some don’t. Thanks for being a part of the tour – I can’t wait to see what you learn once you get the book!