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Any "introduction to your kitchen and food" cookbooks?


katlinm

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Hi All,

 

I'm on Day 9 of my Whole30. I know there are plenty of suggestions of Whole30 friendly cookbooks on the forum. But I'm looking for a bare bones basic introduction to kitchen, cooking techniques, ingredients, etc. So what I mean is I'd love a cookbook that...

  • Tells me about tools to use in the kitchen, their purpose and uses, and how to correctly use and care for them. For example, when do I use a glass baking dish versus a metal dish? What are the uses for a cast iron and how can I take care of it? Should I have rimmed baking sheets or unrimmed? What are the different types of knives and what do I need?
  • Tells me about the ingredients in my kitchen - how to pick them, store them, clean them, cut them, prepare them. What do I look for when getting kale? How do I store cilantro? How should I clean cauliflower? What are the ways to prepare eggplants? When do I buy organic? When is it in season?
  • Tells me about basic cooking techniques and how to develop them. When should I sautee and when should I bake? 

You of course could find many of these through Pinterest, infographics, etc. In terms of cooking techniques, I've found this as a great resource. So this is kind of what I'm looking for but with all the above! 

 

http://www.thekitchn.com/collection/cooking-school-373

 

I'm really looking for an all-around educational/practical book or collection of books...

 

 

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I have an old version of this book that has a lot of information. It's not exactly what you're looking for, because I don't think such a book exists (it would be huge if it did), but it's a nice reference when you hear a term you're not familiar with, and it's kind of fun to just flip through and read. That said, I rarely use it anymore, because when I wonder what a term means, I just google it. If I want to know how to do a technique, I search for youtube videos. Most of the, what kind of pan do I use? what kind of knife? sort of stuff I've picked up by looking through recipes, reading cooking blogs, watching cooking shows, just trying whatever makes the most sense to me at the time, or when all else fails, texting my sister who went to culinary school (which I realize is one of those cheats not everyone has access to, but you probably know someone who cooks, or if you plan far enough ahead, you could ask here in the forum).

 

All of that is just to say, you're probably not going to find a book that has everything. You're going to probably have to pick a lot of it up from reading, from talking to other people, and trial and error, which is what all of us who didn't have someone teaching us to cook did.

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