Brown, Alton - I'm Just Here for More Food
Fri, Jan. 6th, 2006 03:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterUsually I don't review books that I use as reference, unless I read them from cover to cover. Even though I started cooking about a month ago, when I got this book, I got it purely for entertainment value and not for the recipes at all! I mean, I did plan on using some... eventually... down the road... when I decided to use my kitchen again. So I've actually only tested out one of the recipes.
For those of you who have not been subject to my multiple ravings about Alton Brown, he's the host of the Food Network show Good Eats, which is also one of the shows I watch religiously. And in case people think that this is just because I started cooking, I would just like to note that I have been watching it since I randomly caught it on the air two years ago. And I didn't do it because I wanted to cook, I did it because he's funny as hell and geeky and I get to learn random things about how food works.
I'm Just Here for More Food covers more than his previous cookbook, I'm Just Here for the Food, which focused on heat application (aka, broiling, grilling, frying, etc.). This one is on food + heat + mixing = baking! I have no idea how most cookbooks are organized, since I just randomly grab recipes off the internet, but this one is actually organized by mixing method. Brown's thesis is that different mixing methods are the core differentiating factor among different types of baked goods.
I had a lot of fun just reading the introductory section, which divides most baking ingredients up into categories and proceeds to explain what part each ingredient plays. It's not like I am good enough to modify baking recipes (though I, er, try and mess up anyway), but with this in hand, I feel like I can play around with things and figure out why my biscuits turned out too soft and not flaky enough, or how my cake turned into a muffin. He then goes on to separate mixing methods (aka, "The Biscuit Method" or "The Muffin Method"), which largely differ in how they mix various fats into the batter. And I will love him forever for explaining just why I should "cut" butter in instead of melting the darn thing and just pouring it in, which is so much less trouble that I used to do it. Eh heh, yes.
I mean, I may do it anyway, but at least then I know that I will be making whatever I'm baking less flaky and more fluffy.
Also, he's just funny. I, uh, seem to be a giant food science dork, because I actually made this into my fun bedtime reading.
Also also, my scones didn't turn out so great, but I suspect that was more the cook's fault than the book's.
Also also also, the mixing methods are on little flaps, so that you can fold them over your current recipe and refer straight to them.
Aka, I really like Alton Brown!
(whee! Last of the 2005 book entries, with the exception of manga, which I am not quite sure how to blog)
For those of you who have not been subject to my multiple ravings about Alton Brown, he's the host of the Food Network show Good Eats, which is also one of the shows I watch religiously. And in case people think that this is just because I started cooking, I would just like to note that I have been watching it since I randomly caught it on the air two years ago. And I didn't do it because I wanted to cook, I did it because he's funny as hell and geeky and I get to learn random things about how food works.
I'm Just Here for More Food covers more than his previous cookbook, I'm Just Here for the Food, which focused on heat application (aka, broiling, grilling, frying, etc.). This one is on food + heat + mixing = baking! I have no idea how most cookbooks are organized, since I just randomly grab recipes off the internet, but this one is actually organized by mixing method. Brown's thesis is that different mixing methods are the core differentiating factor among different types of baked goods.
I had a lot of fun just reading the introductory section, which divides most baking ingredients up into categories and proceeds to explain what part each ingredient plays. It's not like I am good enough to modify baking recipes (though I, er, try and mess up anyway), but with this in hand, I feel like I can play around with things and figure out why my biscuits turned out too soft and not flaky enough, or how my cake turned into a muffin. He then goes on to separate mixing methods (aka, "The Biscuit Method" or "The Muffin Method"), which largely differ in how they mix various fats into the batter. And I will love him forever for explaining just why I should "cut" butter in instead of melting the darn thing and just pouring it in, which is so much less trouble that I used to do it. Eh heh, yes.
I mean, I may do it anyway, but at least then I know that I will be making whatever I'm baking less flaky and more fluffy.
Also, he's just funny. I, uh, seem to be a giant food science dork, because I actually made this into my fun bedtime reading.
Also also, my scones didn't turn out so great, but I suspect that was more the cook's fault than the book's.
Also also also, the mixing methods are on little flaps, so that you can fold them over your current recipe and refer straight to them.
Aka, I really like Alton Brown!
(whee! Last of the 2005 book entries, with the exception of manga, which I am not quite sure how to blog)
James Beard Foundation Award
Tue, Jan. 10th, 2006 04:36 am (UTC)http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/awards.php?year=2003&category=1#9
a very geeky picture indeed!
and his acceptance speech
http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/2003/multimedia/ckbkRef.mov