Cookbooks I want!

One thing is for certain, people don't go into the restaurant industry to get rich, unless you're the owner of the establishment. As a recent culinary student grad from New England Culinary, I still as of yet, have not amassed a very good library of books. I spent today drooling threw 100s of cookbooks and culinary texts on Amazon.com this afternoon and have chosen 7 that I am most interested in purchasing or receiving as a gift. If you have one of these books and DON'T WANT IT anymore, let me know.

If you HAVE one of these books, and aren't looking to give it/sell it away tell me your thoughts about it. Was it worth purchasing, do you ever use the book, do you or don't you recommend paying full price for the book. The very first book on my list is Sauces by James Peterson. This book isn't a casual how to make a good BBQ sauce "Hi I'm Rachel mindless Ray" kind of book. The first several chapters go into detail about sauces and can be a bit technical for the average cook. What the book does though is help take meals to the next level. I stumbled on this book in my culinary school library and have been wanting it every since. However it's about $50 at Barnes & Noble. I know you can get books online on ebay etc for "half" price but I don't really like getting things used unless they're in excellent condition. I'm going to have to save up for it I guess.


The 2nd book on my list is the Flavor Bible by Karen Page. I have always been very unartistic when it comes to pairing food flavors. That is a major problem if someone wants to be chef. You have to be creative all the time, and it can get tiring or boring if you are uninspired, which happens to me frequently. I have to constantly be motived and curious. This book, I want because several people have recommended it to me as a guide to pairing flavors and recommendations on how to own the recipe as we say in the industry. Or, make it your own, make it different which can be hard if you don't have creativity. This book apparently helps with that with advice from Chefs from all over the country.


Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis is pretty much a no brainer why I want this book. Italian food made by a gorgeous 1st generation Italian cook with her own show? Yeah, plus it comes highly recommended. She's one of the very few people on The Food Network, who can actually cook in real life. Most are just personalities like Rachel Ray. I love italian food, it would be fun to get this and try out some of the recipes.






These 2 books I have lumped together for a reason, they are both culinary classics, tried and true. Generations of people have learned how to cook using these 2 books. The first, The Joy of Cooking has been around 78 years! It's gone through 9 revisions and has nearly 4000 recipes in it. Any decent chef should have a copy, for some reason I don't yet... On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is a super classic book that should be used as a reference guide in a kitchen. Yet another classic book, I don't know why I haven't bought a copy of yet.


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJD21Rr1dl7lRzg4yY7awENUrP6wYpAiyH6tiY_cJq1R5C82WhyphenhyphenPeRV1c-mHJ1nAxqKNp7plWALv35Ot1-zbE-dZ45grEUBbUzHgGPicNsttNETILrMmQpafrQ9R3o29DHUQZ-NIlsZCM/s1600-h/images_7.jpeg">Charcuterie The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing is a book about a subject I am very interested in learning more about. At New England Culinary, I had a Meat Fabrication Chef who was incredible at Charcuterie. He spent 3 days once curing and making his own bacon and smoked it. It was by far the most spectacular bacon I ever had. I could only dream to ever make bacon like that again. This book is a highly recommend guide to the topic, so I'm interested in knowing your thoughts, do you own it? Have you ever heard about it?


href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7oSGiQzLX0HbUWCwd2s-HuVdSvaf-p-3A39nd8FBAG5H3SkAte6NBYSSDeBGiche102sB8s-KXAbFp7uJChlWgfDVc1Y30ltkQ51V8errtaCDZI8TBoVhdahENZPIOcscT4ABioHv8Tg/s1600-h/images_2.jpeg"> Alice Waters The Art of Simple foods has been on a list of mine since I started Culinary school and I haven't ever gotten a hold of it, mostly because of lack of cash. However, I find her very inspirational. She believes in taking the absolute highest quality of natural good food, and making simple food out of it. If you have read my post about The Best Pizza Restaurant Ever post about American Flatbread in Vermont, they emulate her passion and style. Her book explains things simply and teaches how to modify and substitute which is very important to being creative.




To eat meat, or not to eat meat? That is the question of this book. It examines the meat industry from all angles from what the animals eat, to how they're slaughtered etc. I've heard people call it a strong argument for becoming a vegetarian. My interest is purely curiosity. Among foodies this book comes highly recommended to educate oneself about the world of food.

So this is my current list. Do you have any of these? Do you have them and not want them? Send em to me! I'll take them off your hands. Do you have them and love them? Tell me why I should buy them. Are they so-so and should only get them used? Tell me your thoughts,

Until later,

Mormon Chef,

Matthew Glenn