Cookbooks
The Best Of Chef At Home
18/11/09 08:59
We’re back with another segment featuring Chef Michael Smith; last time he was here as Prince Edward Island’s ‘Culinary Ambassador’ with a smoked salmon pasta recipe that was as easy as it was tasty.
This time Julie is in the kitchen with Chef, and they are talking about his new cookbook ‘The Best Of Chef At Home’. There is a lot of freestylin’ and they really tear into a roasted chicken. The idea of freestyle cooking is one that I can really relate to; sure recipes are a great base - a place to start - but to really cook, you need to make them your own. This cookbook is perfect for that, offering suggestions on how to make changes, and how to make the flavours suit the tastes of you and your family.
So take a look at the video interview with Chef Michael Smith, and look here for the Roast Chicken with Apples and Rosemary recipe.
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Cookbooks
12/08/09 10:04
Cookbooks are something that I enjoy, and I have lots of them. Some are old and worn with notes in the margins and ingredient lists; that let you know that it really needs more time in the oven, or a giant X which I presume my Great / Grand / Mother meant to say “This is awful”. There are also little bits of paper stuck into the pages and between the covers, these have a list of ingredients and an instruction that says “cook for 3 hours” nothing more.
These older books, are less about method and more just an ingredient list with a couple of directions. Most don’t have pictures, and all accept it as fact that the person reading the book knows how to cook - I mean really cook, not follow a recipe.
At the other end of the bookshelf are the newer cookbooks from the last 10 years or so. These are filled with glossy pictures, and minute detailed instructions on method. Most of these books are based on the presumption that the art of cooking has been lost and we now need to follow a recipe very closely if there is any hope of it turning out. These books are great, but I feel constrained and it’s not the way I cook. In fact I struggle a bit with writing out my methods here on the site, because I usually don’t cook the same dish the same way twice. Or I substitute ingredients based on what I have on hand, or because it’s raining...
This is a cookbook that actually allows you to cook, not follow recipes and that is an important distinction. If you love cooking, and creating you could make these recipes over and over again; each time would be new. Not radically new, after all I tend to do certain things the same way and lean on some ingredients more than others.
Since the publisher was so kind and sent us two copies, we’ll be giving one away. Head on over to our contest page and enter between Aug 12 2009 and Sept 12 2009, one entry per household per day.