Two Books Your Kitchen Must Have

Out of all the cookbooks I have, there are two that I look to most often. They are like having your grandmother, culinary instructor, best friend and your favorite celebrity chef with you in the kitchen at all times.

We have an interesting relationship, my cookbooks and I. When I get a new cookbook, I read it cover to cover like a novel. When I’m done, the book goes on my shelf with the rest of my collection. When I’m in a rut, I go to my shelf for inspiration and direction. I rarely follow the recepies in a book (or online) step-by-step, ingredient-by-ingredient. Instead, I get a general idea of what goes into a particular dish and how to cook it, then I shut the book and improvise. The only time I fully obey the cookbook is when I’m baking.

The two books that  inspire and educate me the most, are books that I wholeheartedly believe every kitchen needs. Do yourself a favor and buy both of these books. Once they are in your kitchen, you will have a new confidence when you approach cooking (and eating) adventures.

The Professional Chef by The Culinary Institute of America

The Professional Chef is a textbook from one of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world. Some would argue that The CIA is the most prestigious culinary school. I did not attend The CIA (wouldn’t that be an honor?), but I did use this book in my culinary classes at Virginia Tech.

Steve bought this book for me as a gift twice. It wasn’t required material for my classes and it was quite expensive, so I prepared myself to work without it. Steve knew that Ireally wanted it because he had watched me drool over it every time we went to the bookstore, so he bought it for me one day as a surprise. A few weeks later, we didn’t have money to pay a bill, so I returned the book. It was a sad day. Later, Steve handed me the book again and forbade me from returning it, no matter how badly we needed the money.

Yes, I am a bit bias about the book because of the love story behind it, but this book saved my rear several times in culinary class, helped me brainstorm for events when I used to work as a catering manager and has inspired me on a regular basis as a home chef. I say chef not because of my expertise (I lack expertise big time), but because I am the head honcho in our home kitchen. The Professional Chef has hundreds of classic recipes and is packed with beautiful pictures. Gorgeous pictures. It covers cuisines from around the world, how to identify foods, cooking techniques, food safety and a ton of other vital kitchen knowledge. This book has a sections called things like, “How to Cook Potatoes” and “How to Saute.” It takes some of the most complicated cooking techniques and breaks them down into easy baby steps that anyone can follow. The Professional Chef is truly the Bible of the kitchen, and like every home needs a Bible, every kitchen needs The Professional Chef.

The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst

I just bought this book a few weeks ago. I have been a fan of this book for years, and I can’t believe I’ve gone my entire life without having a copy of my own. When I was a catering manager, I would steal the chefs’ copies all of the time when I needed to look something up. It got to the point that I would walk in one of the chef’s office, and he would just hand the book over without even looking up from his desk or speaking. If I would have purchased a copy of the book for myself then, I would have saved myself a lot of trips up and down the stairs. At least I was getting my exercise.

The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion is the dictionary of food. It’s nothing fancy, just a book filled with thousands of definitions and descriptions of foods and cooking tools and techniques. The first part of the book is a-to-z listing of every culinary term you can imagine, and the second part is one glossary after another. There are glossaries of things like cheeses and sausages and so on. Throughout the book, you will also find cooking tips and random facts about food.

Even if you don’t cook, you should own this book. It will make you wise. Your friends will be impressed when you go out to eat and are able to carry on an intelligent conversation with the chef when he stops by and asks how the duck confit was.

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