Cookbooks:
Tips For Finding the Best Cookbooks
Cooking can be a hobby, an art and even a very reliable business. The best chefs
basically combine all of the above. Despite of this, everyone has to start somewhere. You can
start using cookbooks and simple recipes which can provide step-by-step instructions for
coming up with a very delicious meal.
For those who get tired and frustrated by being picked on because of their cooking, you
can basically go on your nearest bookstore and choose the best cookbook. If you aspire to be a
great cook, worry no more because you can achieve your dreams with the help of cookbooks.
Who would not want to cook a meal and get praised for it.
If you are just starting in the culinary area, whether you just like cooking or love it so
much that you want to begin a career out of it, you basically have to start somewhere. Starting
out somewhere can definitely be through finding the recipes of the best professional chefs. You
can basically start out on family cookbooks because they teach basic cooking. You can easily
learn about cooking methods, cutting and measurements.
You can find many cookbooks on different bookstores all over the country but you need
tips when it comes to finding the best ones. There are so many cookbooks that focus on
different specialties. If you want to find the best healthy cookbook, then you must read on to get
tips in finding one. It is basically a cookbook that contains healthy recipes and provide
information with regards to cooking healthy meals.
People mean varying things when they talk about healthy meals. There are those who
consider anything that is healthy as long as it's cooked at home. There are some who follow
much stricter dietary guidelines. While some people are vegans, or desire less meat on their
diet, there are also those who look for organic foods. Basically, there are so many different
kinds of diets which in turn goes with specific cookbooks. They provide ample information for
each particular diet. Usually, each cookbook promotes a healthy output.
You must take note though that healthy cookbooks are not created equally. There are
some cookbooks which claim to be healthy despite using processed ingredients. These
ingredients contain high calories and much sodium or sugar. The point is that there are those
which do not really support a healthy diet despite claiming that they are.
Nowadays, experts have leaned towards a healthier diet that relies on low sugar, high
quality protein and avoids processed ingredients. If you really want to find the best healthy
cookbook and same with other cookbooks, you should take note of the following points:
- Reaches Where You Stand Now
- The cookbook should be able to help you relate whether you are a beginner or not. It must be
able to assist you easily, especially if you are just a starter in cooking.
- Easy to Understand
- A great cookbook is something that can be read with ease and comfort. You don't need to
consult a dictionary or go online just to clarify something in the cookbook.
- Solid Information
If you are looking for a healthy cookbook, it is a great one if that cookbook provides
information regarding what are the foods that are good and the foods that are not advisable to
eat. It is a good one when there is enough solid information, which could widen up your horizon
when it comes to healthy foods.
Basically, when you want help in finding the best cookbooks, it is best that you go online
and read reviews. With the help of internet, you can find many information regarding the best
cookbooks that should be on your list. You can also join forums on cooking. You can find many
online tips from these forums as well. Maximize the potential of the internet because this is one
information hub that can raise your overall awareness and knowledge about cooking.
When you have found and started mastering the basics, you can then further your own
cooking skills by looking for more reliable cookbooks. The best tip in finding the best cookbooks
is that you must go for the ones that provide recipes from famous restaurants. They do not only
provide great recipes but they are also tried and tested ones that people have really liked
through the years. You can also get several professional tips with regards to food pairing,
making desserts and drinks, plating your dishes, etc.
As you move forward, you can easily practice and as time goes by, you can eventually
make your very own recipes. Take it one step at a time. All you have to do is start by finding the
best cookbook that you can ever find. Follow all of the tips mentioned above and you'll be a
great cook in no time.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/JR_Gautreaux/642834
How to Find Cookbooks You
Will Like and Use
What can help propel the novice home baker towards baking cookies and enjoying it so
much they want to return again and again to the scene of the crime (a la the kitchen)?
A few good cookbooks.
I've read, collected, borrowed, bought and loved quite a few cookbooks in my life. Some
are great. Some have been less than desirable.
When I made a major cross country move, I had no idea of the mass of cookbooks I had
collected. Because all of my earthly belongings had to fit in the car I was driving, I could take
only a few (I suppose some people would have even considered that as elaborate).
It took a long time (and a few tears) to shed some of my beloved cookbooks. Many were
given away to friends and family. My sweet best friend holds on to a few for me that she has
promised to return when I come and visit (we'll see- she may have become quite attached to
them at this point!)
good cookbook.
After reading so many cookbooks, I started to think about what makes a
Excellent cookbooks are more than recipes and pictures slapped together. The
cookbooks we fall in love with have something special woven into the pages, a mixture of love
and deep caring and passion for the food being prepared and shared.
A good cookbook can be read through like an addictive fiction novel.
ualities of an excellent cookbook.
Here are 4 essential q
The Essential Qualities of an Excellent Cook book:
Appealing Recipes I can Replicate
Including recipes that are yummy and turn out well seems a bit redundant but we've all
had stinker cookbooks that seemed to yield no good thing.
More than yummy recipes perhaps it is better to state and an excellent cookbook will
have recipes that I actually want to try.
And when I try them, they work out. If they don't work out, I'm usually in the know why
they didn't. Either I am inexperienced in a technique or didn't have all the ingredients and tried to
short cut a way.
However, if I follow the recipe instructions to a T and it still doesn't work, something's up.
If this happens too many times, the cookbook gets a stamp of disapproval and is put out to
pasture.
Useful explanations to go with the Recipes
There are good reasons why some cook books stand the test of time. Yes, the recipes
themselves are important but the home cook needs something besides a list of ingredients and
basic numeric instructions.
The more complicated the recipe the more important and helpful having a background to
accompany the recipe. Do the instructions answer the question, "What does the home cook
need to make this recipe and have it turn out successfully?"
I remember when I got together with a group of girlfriends to make chocolate croissants.
We compared baking books and read through explanations a few times over to make sure we
understood the process and order we needed to follow to make chocolate croissants half as
good as the ones we remembered eating in our coffee shop days! We ended up settling on a
recipe from Julia Child's cookbook.
Julia Child is an excellent example of writing descriptive instructions that are very useful
and understandable. She writes almost as if she is your friend and she is sending you a long
hand snail mail letter.
Julia really wants the reader to understand
the process and engage with the food during the
creating process.
People like Julia Child and Dorie Greenspan
are so effective in their cookbooks because of the
way they write. It's not just a conglomerate of
endless recipes. The way they write about the food
and the process of creating the food they make
reveals their passion and expertise.
Proof the cook or baker knows what they are
doing
It's the elusive strand that connects
everything together. Often it is in the culmination of
the other i ngredients of an excellent cookbook:
good recipes, stories, useful advice and
instructions and some well-placed pictures. These
things create a picture of proof and credibility.
Stories of their own experiences with the recipes
A so-so cookbook can be transformed with very good stories. One cookbook that comes
to mind is Gwyneth Paltrow's first cookbook, "Food from my Father."
I had my doubts about the veracity of a woman who I had heard was very focused on
macrobiotic eating and other extreme diets. One day I found myself flipping through the
cookbook while I was exploring the Aisles of Wonderful Things in Target. The pictures and the
stories won me.
Granted, I tried making some of her healthy versions of desserts and was thoroughly
disappointed (never try to make a brownie with agave syrup and "healthify" it- it's meant to be a
luscious bit of pure chocolate pleasure) but the fish and other entrees were surprisingly good.
Ultimately, the pictures and the stories won me.
Ms. Paltrow's connection with her family, especially the account of one of the final
special dinners with her dad in Italy, stole my heart.
Conclusion
Does this list mean I won't stand in Barnes & Noble bookstore and pore over a half
dozen cookbooks for an hour? No, wandering through the cookbook aisle of a bookstore is done
for the pure enjoyment.
But when it comes to serious shopping and searching for recipes and books that will help
me grow as a home cook and a home baker, I use these points to help me make better buying
decisions.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Melissa_L_AuClair/1199034
Cookbooks:
Finding the Best Cookbooks
When going to a bookstore, you always see a line of cookbooks, each different from one
another. You always have a hard time choosing one, since they all look appetizing and written
by experts. You choose one, go home, and learn that the cookbook isn't suited to your lifestyle
and experience.
This is the problem with many people, particularly moms. They don't know the tips for
finding the best cookbooks. Before you buy, there are some questions you have to think about.
This could save you a lot of time and effort in cooking a dish not really meant for you. It will also
save you money better spent on b uying a better-suited cookbook.
First of all, how much cooking experience do you have? If you have absolutely no
previous experience with cooking, start with the basic type of cook books. That way, you start
with the basics, like cooking scrambled eggs, rice, or even boiling water. On the other hand, if
you have a long history of cooking, something more complicated would be better. It will
challenge you and at the same time let you cook a great dish.
Next thing to think about is the food preference of the people you're cooking for,
including yourself. This is very important, because some people are vegetarians and wouldn't
eat food made with any meat. If that's the case, then a cookbook especially written for
vegetarians would be the best choice. For the people who prefer chicken or any other type of
meat, there are cookbooks which are more concentrated on one type of ingredient. Of course,
for people who'll eat anything, this is no problem.
What you should look at then, is the inside of the cookbook. Are the recipes easy
enough to follow? Are the ingredients within your budget? Do the pictures of the finished food
look appetizing and are they something you will like doing? These are questions you need
answered beforehand, because some people regret having bought a cookbook after realizing
the foods aren't really meant to be cooked by them. You might also prefer buying a spring
bound book, since you have to read while cooking. Hardbound books, as you might know, easily
closes. It would be hard to hold the book and exerting effort when unnecessary.
After finally thinking these through, you might see that several cookbooks are within
those categories. Since you can only buy one, it's time to compare prices. Which one is worth
the money you'll spend? You might like to try counting the number of recipes in the book before
comparing.
Choosing a cookbook isn't really hard; you just have to know a few tips here and now. If
you have no time for any of these, just ask your friends which they would recommend. Of
course, your friend must have the same level of skill as you have, so it wouldn't be too easy or
too hard on your part. So what are waiting for, buy the most suitable cookbook for you now.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/JR_Gautreaux/642834
Choosing the Best Cookbooks
For Your Collection
Every cook knows that good cookbooks make everything understandable and fun to
make. The kind of cookbooks you choose will depend upon your skill level as well as your tastes
in food. Some of the best volumes of recipes come from well known chefs, while other good
cookbooks have a more generic
appeal.
Some very basic
cookbooks are available for cooks
who are beginners in the kitchen.
These books have instructions on
every aspect of the simplest
recipes, right down to the last
detail. Some, like Food Network
Kitchens HOW TO BOIL WATER,
go one step further and add
embellishments to liven up the
original recipe.
Robin Miller's QUICK FIX
MEALS is one of the best
cookbooks for people who have
little time to spend in the kitchen.
NOT YOUR MOTHERS SLOW
COOKER RECIPES FOR
ENTERTAINING offers delicious meals to prepare with little fuss. All you have to do is some
advance preparations and let the slow cooker take over from there.
Famous chefs have their ways of offering cookbooks with unusual techniques for
producing mouth watering meals. The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, has offered many
cookbooks over the years, the most recent one featuring intimate at home recipes.
The popular Emeril Lagasse has several cookbooks, from the elegant meal plans in the
DELMONICO cookbook to the down home eats in EMERILS POTLUCK COMFORT FOODS
WITH A KICKED UP ATTITUDE.
Bobby Flay made grilling a major phenomenon, and now he has a cookbook outlining
recipes from his famous Mesa Grill Southwestern Kitchen. Paula Deen also offers a recipe book
based on her restaurant fare. Her sons, the Deen Brothers, have a book of foods gathered from
their road trips. These recipes are all of a quality that is suitable for serving at a fine restaurant.
With Rachel Ray, the key is nearly always speediness. She is known for her different
variations on the 30-Minute recipes, of which JUST IN TIME and EXPRESS LANE MEALS are
two of the most recent cookbooks. Rachel Ray cookbooks are flexible in that the instructions
can be altered for two or many.
If you are concerned about health and fitness, there are plenty of cookbooks available
that have health tips along with nutritionally sound fare. You cannot go wrong with good health
focused cookbooks that combine the expertise of a health and nutrition expert with the talents of
an inspired chef.
Cookbooks are fun to read as well as being great additions to a kitchen. Just learning
about all the different preparation methods and plating techniques is interesting in itself. When
you have begun to use the recipes to feed yourself and your family, you will find that you are
delighted with the results.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bob_Schmitt/194744