does anyone know of a good book or online course that teaches you the
science behind cooking? i not so much after recipe after recipe
(although i except that maybe the best way to learn is to cook - and
eat!!). by science i guess i mean what flavours/ingredients work well
together. e.g. if i have a vension steak then what vegetable, sauce,
herbs, spices, methods of cooking for each etc etc might work. from
this i can then build my own recipes knowing that fundamentally the
flavours will work. any thoughts?

bob wrote:
> does anyone know of a good book or online course that teaches you the
> science behind cooking? i not so much after recipe after recipe
> (although i except that maybe the best way to learn is to cook - and
> eat!!). by science i guess i mean what flavours/ingredients work well
> together. e.g. if i have a vension steak then what vegetable, sauce,
> herbs, spices, methods of cooking for each etc etc might work. from
> this i can then build my own recipes knowing that fundamentally the
> flavours will work. any thoughts?

Quite a few years ago, before he became such a tv celebrity, Jacques
Pepin wrote two books that would meet a lot of your needs: La
Technique and La Methode. They have recently been combined into one
paperback volume called "Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques." They
don't address your specific interest in complementary spices and herbs
as directly as you might want but I don't know of anything that does.
I learned a great deal from these books and I'm happy to have this
chance to publicize their new incarnation. -aem

bob wrote:

>does anyone know of a good book or online course that teaches you the
>science behind cooking? i not so much after recipe after recipe
>(although i except that maybe the best way to learn is to cook - and
>eat!!). by science i guess i mean what flavours/ingredients work well
>together. e.g. if i have a vension steak then what vegetable, sauce,
>herbs, spices, methods of cooking for each etc etc might work. from
>this i can then build my own recipes knowing that fundamentally the
>flavours will work. any thoughts?
>
>
>
Absolutely the best book is Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking". It
explains the science behind just about everything, and it's perfectly
comprehensible to ordinary mortals. The new edition came out just last year.

Christine

In general terms these days the whole internet is a textbook and can often
provide a more comprehensive and better world-view of food and processes
than a course or a particular book. In the midst of a general approach at
the beginning, more specifc materials that pertain to your tastes will come
to light if you want to narrow down to any particular area of cooking.

For example, I was introduced to Morroccan cooking by eating a "Morrocan
Stew" at a restaurant. All I could remember was that the recipe contained
lamb and olives --I was very impressed by the olives; had never heard of
olives in stew. Even with a pretty well-rounded library of western cookbooks
I could not find a stew with olives. Until I did research on the internet
and was introduced to "tagines" and the rest of Morroccan tastes, I would
never have known of anything Morrocan from all the cookbooks on my shelves.

My suggestion is to surf, surf, surf, beginning with foods you know
something about, and explore every new thing you come across. Sometimes one
Google search can provide a college semester or more worth of material on a
subject. I have found that access to rfc and other groups is better than any
book.

Lefty
--
Life is for learning


"aem" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> bob wrote:
> > does anyone know of a good book or online course that teaches you the
> > science behind cooking? i not so much after recipe after recipe
> > (although i except that maybe the best way to learn is to cook - and
> > eat!!). by science i guess i mean what flavours/ingredients work well
> > together. e.g. if i have a vension steak then what vegetable, sauce,
> > herbs, spices, methods of cooking for each etc etc might work. from
> > this i can then build my own recipes knowing that fundamentally the
> > flavours will work. any thoughts?
>
> Quite a few years ago, before he became such a tv celebrity, Jacques
> Pepin wrote two books that would meet a lot of your needs: La
> Technique and La Methode. They have recently been combined into one
> paperback volume called "Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques." They
> don't address your specific interest in complementary spices and herbs
> as directly as you might want but I don't know of anything that does.
> I learned a great deal from these books and I'm happy to have this
> chance to publicize their new incarnation. -aem
>