Remember when your mother or grandmother told you that you can change things in a recipe when cooking, but do NOT change a thing in a recipe for baking because disaster will be right around the corner! “Baking is a science; the recipe is a formula that can not be changed!” And of course, like most of us, you didn’t listen and you substituted magazine for butter, or used three eggs instead of one, or changed the melted chocolate to powdered chocolate and the results were a total flop. So how did the person who came up with the darn recipe in the first place figuring out the ingredients and correct quantities. Was it a dedicated trial and error process? But if it is science, well then like a scientist who understands the chemistry and physics of transforming a plant resin into rubber; if you understand the chemistry and physics of flour, water, yeast, and salt then it is reasonable to say that you can make bread from your own recipe.
Well, Shirley O. Corriher has written the “chemistry/physics” text book for cooking… “CookWise”. As Ms. Corriher says in her book introduction, “CookWise focuses on how and why things happen in cooking so the roles that ingredients and techniques play are of paramount importance.” This gives you the “rules” of cooking and the reasoning behind them. Once you know the “rules”, then you can understand what can change in a recipe and how it will affect the outcome.
As I said in my other blog entry, Frank Dono, told me about this book. He let me peruse his copy, and it was only after 15 minutes, that I knew I needed this cookbook on my shelf. CookWise covers everything from the rise and fall of cakes, to understanding the mystery of eggs, to how the difference in the protein content of flour affects the final product. Shirley has talked to various scientists and chefs to understand the dynamics of the cooking process. She has not just developed her recipes and published them for us to use, but she has also shared all the knowledge she has gained in the process of putting them together.
Elliot Essman of Style Gourmet reviewed Cookwise and said, ”It will suffice that Shirley Corriher (who, by the way, is a benevolent, cherubic presence who frequently pops up as a guest on Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” television series) has pulled all the science together into a package I can use every day in my own kitchen.” Visit his website at http://www.stylegourmet.com/reviews/006.htm.
And yes, for all of you Alton Brown fans, Shirley not only appears on his Food Channel TV show “Good Eats”, but it is quite evident that Alton as learned quite a bit of what he knows about cooking from Ms. Corriher.
So, if you know someone who loves to cook, this would make a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift. I constantly recommend it to my guests at the Oakwood Inn during breakfast. I tell them how I used Alton Brown’s recipe for the puffy chocolate chip cookies I bake, with some modifications that I added. Alton’s recipe is in Corriher’s book…. Or is it Corriher’s recipe was on Alton’s show. Doesn’t matter, understanding some of the basics of the type of flour and oil to use, help me master the cookie that is wonderful, and the developed a recipe that I can call my own.
You can get CookWise at bookstore or order it online at Amazon.com.
Bon Appetit
Gary
Well, Shirley O. Corriher has written the “chemistry/physics” text book for cooking… “CookWise”. As Ms. Corriher says in her book introduction, “CookWise focuses on how and why things happen in cooking so the roles that ingredients and techniques play are of paramount importance.” This gives you the “rules” of cooking and the reasoning behind them. Once you know the “rules”, then you can understand what can change in a recipe and how it will affect the outcome.
As I said in my other blog entry, Frank Dono, told me about this book. He let me peruse his copy, and it was only after 15 minutes, that I knew I needed this cookbook on my shelf. CookWise covers everything from the rise and fall of cakes, to understanding the mystery of eggs, to how the difference in the protein content of flour affects the final product. Shirley has talked to various scientists and chefs to understand the dynamics of the cooking process. She has not just developed her recipes and published them for us to use, but she has also shared all the knowledge she has gained in the process of putting them together.
Elliot Essman of Style Gourmet reviewed Cookwise and said, ”It will suffice that Shirley Corriher (who, by the way, is a benevolent, cherubic presence who frequently pops up as a guest on Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” television series) has pulled all the science together into a package I can use every day in my own kitchen.” Visit his website at http://www.stylegourmet.com/reviews/006.htm.
And yes, for all of you Alton Brown fans, Shirley not only appears on his Food Channel TV show “Good Eats”, but it is quite evident that Alton as learned quite a bit of what he knows about cooking from Ms. Corriher.
So, if you know someone who loves to cook, this would make a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift. I constantly recommend it to my guests at the Oakwood Inn during breakfast. I tell them how I used Alton Brown’s recipe for the puffy chocolate chip cookies I bake, with some modifications that I added. Alton’s recipe is in Corriher’s book…. Or is it Corriher’s recipe was on Alton’s show. Doesn’t matter, understanding some of the basics of the type of flour and oil to use, help me master the cookie that is wonderful, and the developed a recipe that I can call my own.
You can get CookWise at bookstore or order it online at Amazon.com.
Bon Appetit
Gary
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