Wish List: The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen

The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman

The other day I was thinking about how one becomes a good cook, and I kind of panicked. To become a good cook, one needs practice. Unfortunately, cooking can be both expensive and, you know, filling, so one can only practice so muchat home. I owe 90% of my cooking ability to working at Cafe Phoenix in Grinnell; I would have no idea how to know when salmon is grilled all the way through or how to tell a steak's level of doneness if I hadn't.

But I'm probably not going to work in a commercial kitchen again. I've made a firm move toward office work and going back to school. I'm going to lose practice. What if someone asks me to make them a medium rare steak and it comes out medium? OH MY GOD HOW DO I MAKE PLUM TOMATO RELISH? (Little Phoenix joke there that no one will get because no one who worked there reads this blog. Sigh.)

Then, horrors, I started thinking about other people, people who never cooked in a professional kitchen. How on earth did they learn to save sauces that had begun to clump? OH MY GOD THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO MARK CHICKEN. I began to panic. I wanted to save each and every one of them from the horrible fate of only ever cooking food one intends to eat. I...didn't know how to do this.

Apparently Ruhlman does. Good one, Ruhlman. Thanks.