The Best of Gastronomic Literature

As an introductory disclaimer, it’s amazing how simply using the word “gastronomy” to describe ones hobby rubs some people the wrong way. They seem to think it’s some elitist way of saying “cooking”, so in the off chance some of those people have found their way here, I would invite them to read the Wikipedia entry on gastronomy and in the process learn a new word.

Anyhow, I realized the other day that I’ve amassed quite a few books on food and cooking etc. Some of them are wonderful, some are decent and some are downright bad, so I thought I’d highlight my personal favorites. I’ll also point out, where applicable, some Finnish books – some as good books in their own right, some as options to better English-language books. These are marked with the Finnish flag: []

On Food and Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen

If there is one authoritative guide to the science of food and all that goes with it, it’s this updated classic by Harold McGee. It is difficult to think of a historic or scientific topic on food and cooking that isn’t covered in this book. From microbes present in fish and the composition of fruits and vegetables down to the cellular level to the atomic structure of sugars, On Food and Cooking contains everything you ever wanted to know about foodstuff – and likely much more.

It’s not exactly a book that one would want to read from cover to cover, but it’s an unparalleled reference when you need to look something up. To get an idea of the depth this book goes to, there’s a whole chapter on eggs – 50 pages. The information ranges from the purely theoretical like the etymology of the word egg, to the highly practical like what are the exact conditions and methods crucial to making a perfect omelet or scrambled eggs.

If there’s one thing that’s lacking from McGee’s wonderful work, it’s pictures. There are very few and they’re all black-and-white, so I’d like to see many more illustrations and preferably in color, but considering the wealth of information that’s stuffed in the 800+ pages of this book I’m fine with this omission.

[] The Finnish book Utelias Kokki: Elintarviketietoa ruoanvalmistajalle (by Kirsti Pakkanen and Kaija Rautavirta) is an attempt at something similar, but while nice enough and also informative, it’s a vastly inferior and a much narrower text. Still, if you want to learn about foodstuff, the basic chemistry and all that and must do so in Finnish, I can recommend it.

The Cook’s Bible

Le Cordon Bleu’s “The Cook’s Bible” is, first and foremost, a book about techniques and the basics. Slicing, dicing, roasting, baking, grilling, pan-frying, peeling etc are all covered with great color photos of all the important steps. It also includes some recipes dotted around the instructions, but shouldn’t be bought for those.

As a technique-book, the Cook’s Bible can easily be used as a helper along many cookbooks that are less than stellar in describing how each step is accomplished correctly. As such, it’s not only an excellent learning resource but a perfect “side guide” to books that lack color photos or clear step-by-step instructions.

One of the difficulties when grocery shopping is picking the ingredients right; i.e. what kind of melons are the best? What qualities to look for when selecting meat or fish? How should a perfect apricot look like? The Cook’s Bible also answers these kinds of questions, helping to choose the best ingredients at hand. Though for selecting fruit only, Kate Whiteman’s “The New Guide to Fruit” is a more comprehensive option, even if it doesn’t include the more exotic varieties either.

[] There’s also a Finnish book detailing some of the basic techniques – “Ravintolakokin käsikirja” by Jari Hämäläinen and Tatu Lehtovaara. There’s a good introduction to techniques for the first 80 pages or so, but the rest of the book is devoted to basic food recipes. In general it’s a good book with nice recipes, but I hate it when books don’t have an index and this one doesn’t. Very annoying and makes finding stuff difficult.

At Blanchard’s Table

If I had to pick the single best “cookbook” that focuses on delicious recipes, this would be it. One cannot really praise Blanchard’s wonderful book enough – without exception, all the recipes here have been incredibly delicious. It’s quite impossible to say what “style” of food the book contains; it’s not Caribbean, it’s not American, it’s not Italian or anything like that with a clear definition. That’s 100% a good thing as the end result is a mix of many influences and while the food defies a categorization, delicious is the one category it absolutely belongs to.

To top it off, most recipes come with mouthwatering photos and the book’s interspersed with fun anecdotes from the Blanchard’s restaurant and their lives.

What’s Cooking-series

Many cookbooks nowadays come in a series format; one of the best is in my opinion the What’s Cooking series. All recipes are accompanied by good photographs of the food and sometimes also the most important steps of the preparation process. In some versions, the measurements are also listed in all three major measurement systems which is sometimes convenient. Of course, the most important part is also in good order – the food tastes great. The books may not be filled with stellar recipes but the vast majority are still very good and reasonably easy and fast to make, which in everyday cooking is often a good thing.

Unfortunately as the world moves on fast with cookbooks, too, and most parts of this series being from the late 90′s, many parts have since become quite difficult to find.

The Ultimate Party Drink Book

Over the years, I’ve also gathered some books on one of my semi-related hobbies, bartending. While the Ultimate Party Drink Book is not really a bartending book per se, in usefulness it easily trumps the classic but rarely used The American Bar. It also beats the comprehensive but somewhat boring The New New York Bartender’s Guide hands down, though the latter has an impressive collection of recipes.

The illustrations are not the strong point of this book – there are none. While I generally dislike books without photos of the real end product, the recipes in The Ultimate Party Drink Book are so good I can overlook the missing photos easily.

The Cook’s Practical Encyclopedia of Spirits and Liqueurs

What do you get when you combine cooking and drinks? As it happens, alcoholic liquids can be used remarkably flexibly in cooking and baking, though the alcohol is often consumed in the process. This is an area that I haven’t explored that much, but this one book by Walton & Miller I use as an informative all-around guide to alcoholic liquid stuff in cooking. Divided into two parts, the first is devoted to explaining the background, contents and usage of all the most important alcoholic liqueurs and spirits in the world. The second part provides some tasty recipes where the ingredients detailed in the first section are used generously.. Unfortunately this great book is also a little difficult to find currently.

[] There’s also one great Finnish book on combining alcohol and food in a delicious way; Juusto & Viini, published by the usual suspects in Finland (i.e. Alko and Valio) skillfully combines cheese and selected wines in an array of wonderful dishes. After an introduction to wine and cheeses, recipes are grouped over the four seasons, so it’s easy to find the right recipe with the season’s best ingredients – along with excellent wine recommendations.

A conclusion

Learning about food and all the other things that goes with the term gastronomy may seem a little strange. However, the truth is that books that are simply collections of recipes will not take you very far, especially if your goal is to become a better chef, as they don’t really cover the essentials of cooking or even the techniques. Basic techniques like how to cut an onion right make life in the kitchen surprisingly much easier. Of course it isn’t strictly necessary to know things like why hot milk is added to eggs when making custards and not vice versa, but it helps. Not to mention the fact that it’s interesting to know these things, or at least I think it is. YMMV of course.

One more book is worth a mention; like the Ultimate Party Drink Book suffers from the lack of illustrations, on the cookbook-side, the classic Joy of Cooking has a similar “problem”. It’s filled with hundreds of delicious, traditional American recipes but the lack of photos sometimes deters me from choosing a recipe from it. More recently the Joy of Cooking has been re-packaged in more attractive, full-color books that each cover a tiny portion of the original massive work. I don’t have experience with many of these, but if you’re not put off by the lack of photos, do have a look at The Joy of Cooking also.

Finally, I suppose it would be unfair to write this long a post about food without including a single recipe, so here’s a simple one based on the cover recipe from What’s Cooking: Pasta:

Tagliatelle with Chicken Sauce

Base ingredients:
• 250g fresh green tagliatelle
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt
• fresh basil leaves to garnish

Tomato sauce ingredients:
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 400g chopped tomatos (fresh or canned)
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper

Chicken sauce ingredients:
• 60g unsalted butter
• 400g boneless chicken breasts, skinned and cut into thin strips
• 90g blanched almonds
• 300ml heavy cream
• salt and pepper

1. To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry until translucent. Add the garlic and fry further for 1 minute. Stir in the garlic, tomatoes, parsley, oregano, bay leaves, tomato purée, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until reduced by half. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the bay leaves.
2. To make the chicken sauce, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and almonds and stir-fry for 5-6 minutes, until the chicken is cook through.
3. Meanwhile, bring the cream to boil in a small pan over a low heat and boil for about 10 minutes, until reduced by almost half. Pour the cream over the chicken and almonds, stir and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Also meanwhile, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to boil. Add the tagliatelle and olive oil and cook until al dente. Drain and transfer to a warm serving dish. Spoon over the tomato sauce and arrange the chicken sauce down from the center. Garnish with the basil leaves and serve immediately.