cookbook club

Cooking Know-How

by Carol Ann Hackley, a reader in Stockton, CA.

Saturday it was “Julie & Julia”---and now “Bruce & Mark”…and me! The “how-to” and “why” of cooking, Cooking Know-How arrived to accompany the desire to cook my way through a really thorough cookbook.
   Aside from the lack of glossary, the book, with its high-vocabulary terms, is meant for the advanced gourmet, sophisticated epicure or cookbook reader! Instead of “Cooking Know-How,” it should be called “Cooking with elan!” (Those who have to look that up, will find themselves scurrying for the dictionary on many occasions with this book!)
   The refreshing commentary tells the “why” of it all, along with the “how-to,” with variations on a theme…
   First step was to find a recipe I could “whip up” for dinner. Not “strolling the stalls” or heading for a gourmet purveyor of gastronomic delicacies…ah, yes, the vocabulary!...I checked for something I could concoct from items on hand.
   Conversing with the chapter on lo mein and checking the larder for appropriate ingredients, I flew full of enthusiasm into the Wok cookery, recommended by “Bruce & Mark.” Didn’t have a wok, so substituted a large sauté pan. Didn’t have peanut oil, so substituted Macadamia Nut Oil (who would have that on hand, eh? A recent trip to Hawaii netted that delicate oil.)
   Second step, the next day, was to take the cookbook to the grocery store, and scout out the ingredients for another two or three recipes. With sometimes sixteen ingredients, it gets complicated and is anything but “items on hand in the average kitchen.” Who, for example, has the required 4 oz. of shredded “Parmigiano Reggiano” sitting there, waiting to be tossed into a recipe for Classic Macaroni and Cheese. By the way, in an endeavor to follow that “classic” recipe to the letter, I purchased the cheese---just one of ten necessities---at $8.15 for a small amount! This “classic” favorite is expensive, when you add the spices you might not have on hand (celery seeds and dry mustard), to make it authentic! Undaunted, I ventured forth!
   The second recipe tackled is a winner for sure! (The Classic Macaroni and Cheese is awaiting assembly…another day…). In fact, the “Packets” became an instant hit!---worth the price of the entire cookbook (not cheap at $34.95)! I always figure that finding one very special recipe in a cookbook makes it a treasured addition to my library of 150+ cookbooks (This is #151)! Not only is this fun to prepare, but relatively economical---if you have parchment in your pantry---and quick-to-the-table, with flair and drama! I used thin Basa filets, with rosemary and thyme (which always bring back that old song of the ‘60s), and tiny cauliflowerettes, broccoli bits, thin fingerling carrots and 1 T of unflavored vinegar. The “explications” are interesting, and the directions easy to follow, aside from the line, “….the doubled sheets of parchment serried across your work surface.” (Back to the dictionary!). Tried them again, with shrimp, and also once with thinly sliced chicken. Each version was a beautiful success! I’ll be serving these impressive packets for friends and family—and relaxing as the hostess who can make them ahead and enjoy the evening with guests! Wonderful!
   Now, back to the Macaroni & Cheese. Who doesn’t know how to make that classic dish? “Buy the blue box---three-for-a-dollar!”---right? Not anymore! I put off making the fancy-dancy version, with four pages of instructions and 14 ingredients---but tonight was the night! It’s Sunday, and it seemed time to tackle the complicated version in the cookbook. Ah, the rewards! My husband named it “best ever” and said he’d never had anything like this! It is gourmet “Mac ‘n cheese”---with subtle variations still to be tried. The thought of tossing $8.15 worth of Parmigiano Reggiano into “Mac ‘n cheese” was tough to reconcile…but results prove its worth. It’s an expensive casserole, but “unlike anything,” as my husband said.
   The only “missing ingredients” in this cookbook are nutrition notations, which, as my daughter pointed out, especially-health-conscious cooks require, and a glossary of terms. The authors’ vocabulary is impressive, and a bit intimidating, as they say, on one page alone, while discussing “Stir-Frying”: “Do not use olive, nut, or especially any toasted nut or seed oil—and, heaven forfend, stay away from unsalted butter.”
   “Heaven forfend?” Who says that? And, “To put it another way, have your mise-en-place done…” and “—no mirepoix here.” Ahem! (As a university professor with a Ph.D., I can state unequivocally that I’ve never used those terms---and pledge never to do so!) On the fly-leaf of the cover, they proudly declare that they will “demystify cooking.” They say they won’t “get ‘cheffy’ ”---and will provide “how-to” shots, with more than 300 photos. They state it is a “beginner’s guide, a pro’s library of favorites, a reader’s cookbook all in one.” Two-out-of-three “ain’t bad!” It is a reader’s cookbook---with lots of wisdom and explanations---that’ll entertain and expand one’s knowledge in the kitchen. A beginner’s guide? Not in my estimation.
   They’ve co-authored 18 books in 12 years, “something of a record in publishing these days,” they state. Indeed! In the well-written, worth-reading introduction, the authors whimsically reflect on food writers, who say, “Wander the stalls at your market and find what’s in season for dinner tonight.” They declare that to be “sticky-sweet romanticism that clings to food-writing in general,’ and call it a “culinary cliché, more food porn than dinner on the table.”
   After cooking my way through the book, I can relate to their admonition: “Following each technique is a chart of specific dishes, 8 or so of our choices…read the rationale…figure out why you’re doing what you’re doing.” And they observe that it’s important to “read the technique’s steps as well as their explications.” They conclude, “At the end of the day, that’s the best news we cookbook writers have: To cook is both to create and to live. So set yourself free in the kitchen—once you’ve got some cooking know-how.”
   “Know-how?” That’s an understatement on the essence of this book. It’s not a basic book, but rather an advanced, well-written, sophisticated compilation of the “how and why” of cooking, with variations on a theme, and a book you’ll want to “read” as well as “use.”
   I’ll always treasure the introduction to “packets”---delicacies wrapped in parchment---and the very gourmet “best ever” Macaroni and Cheese! “Julie & Julia” have nothing on “Bruce & Mark”…and me!