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The flights gave me a good 5 hours of reading time. So I buzzed right though Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. From what I gather, he’s one of the who’s who in the food biz. I like food science and the why’s and how’s of what makes good food happen so this book piqued my interest. The concept is that a chef (or home cook in my case) armed with these standardized ratios will be freed from recipe slavery. I have to say that, having read it, I do feel oddly liberated. Not that I have it all committed to memory quite yet, but understanding what proportions of flour to liquid to fat to baking powder to etc., etc. goes into making certain types of foods that we create with regularity has given me instant confidence. My balls are feeling brassier already. The book really helps take the mystery out of the standard preparations for things like bread, cookies, pasta, batters, stock, sausages, and some basic sauces. He does a great job of making cooking and recipe creation accessible to the masses. Of course, there’s a learning curve and you have to be willing to relinquish long held fears like measuring by weight as opposed to volume. This required that I purchase a scale, which I did. I even measured stuff on it and it was easy. READ MORE »
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