Kitchenwise

"The James Beard Award-winning, bestselling author of CookWise and BakeWise delivers essential cooking know-how based on her expansive understanding of food science. Want to cook fluffier scrambled eggs and more flavorful sauces, keep your greens brilliantly green, and make everything taste more delicious? KitchenWise combines beloved cookbook author Shirley Corriher's down-to-earth advice with scientific expertise to address everyday cooking issues. Whether you are a beginner or a professional chef, Shirley's guidance will save you time and money, and help you know exactly what to do at the stove. A gifted teacher with a degree in chemistry, Shirley takes readers through the hows and whys of what she does in the kitchen, explaining the science behind common problems and offering solutions for how to fix them. (For example, salt has an amazing ability to suppress bitterness and allow other flavors to emerge.) In KitchenWise, which is filled with more than thirty of Shirley's favorite time-tested recipes, readers will learn why certain ingredients work well together and what makes good food great. Amazingly informative, approachable, and packed with proven techniques, KitchenWise serves up new ways to get the most from your meals"--

The James Beard Award–winning, bestselling author of CookWise and KitchenWise delivers a lively and fascinating guide to better baking through food science. Follow kitchen sleuth Shirley Corriher as she solves everything about why the cookie crumbles. With her years of experience from big-pot cooking at a boarding school and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley looks at all aspects of baking in a unique and exciting way. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing your puff pastry with ice water—not just brushing off the flour—to make the pastry higher, lighter, and flakier. She can help you make moist cakes; shrink-proof perfect meringues; big, crisp cream puffs; amazing pastries; and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes. Restaurant chefs and culinary students know Shirley from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise, an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous “At-a-Glance” charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirley's signature “What This Recipe Shows” in every recipe. This scientific and culinary information can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears. BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge; Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their tips with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House pastry chef for twenty-five years; and Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry. Shirley also retrieves "lost arts" from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch of science—“better baking through chemistry.” She adds facts such as the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time. Beginners can cook from BakeWise to learn exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing pastries from the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream) and Religieuses, adorable “little nuns” made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing. Some will want it simply for the recipes—incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream; flourless fruit soufflés; chocolate crinkle cookies with gooey, fudgy centers; huge popovers; famed biscuits. But this book belongs on every baker's shelf.

Can you tell whether a recipe will work before you cook it? You can if you really know what's cooking. In the long-awaited CookWise, food sleuth Shirley Corriher tells you how and why things happen in cooking. When you know how to estimate the right amount of baking powder, you can tell by looking at the recipe that the cake is overleavened and may fall. When you know that too little liquid for the amount of chocolate in a recipe can cause the chocolate to seize and become a solid grainy mass, you can spot chocolate truffle recipes that will be a disaster. And, in both cases, you know exactly how to "fix" the recipe. Knowing how ingredients work, individually and in combination, will not only make you more aware of the cooking process, but transform you into a confident and exceptional cook -- a cook who is in control. CookWise is a different kind of cookbook. There are over 230 outstanding recipes -- from Snapper Fingers with Smoked Pepper Tartar Sauce to Chocolate Stonehenge Slabs with Cappuccino Mousse -- but here each recipe serves not only to please the palate but to demonstrate the roles of ingredients and techniques. A What This Recipe Shows section summarizes the special cooking points being demonstrated in each recipe. This little bit of science in everyday language indicates which steps or ingredients are vital and cannot be omitted without consequences. Among the recipes you'll also find some surprises. Don't be afraid of a vinaigrette prepared without vinegar or a high-egg-white, crisp pâte â choux. Many of the concepts used here are Shirley's own. Try her method of sprinkling croissant or puff pastry dough with ice water before folding to keep it soft and easy to roll. CookWise covers everything from the rise and fall of cakes, through unscrambling the powers of eggs and why red cabbage turns blue during cooking but red peppers don't, to the essential role of crystals in making fudge. Want to learn about what makes a crust flaky? Try the Big-Chunk Fresh Apple Pie in Flaky cheese Crust. Discover for yourself what brining does to poultry in Juicy Roast Chicken. No matter what your cooking level, you'll find CookWise a revelation. Different people will use CookWise in different ways: Home cooks will value CookWise as a collection of extraordinarily good recipes. The busy chef can use CookWise as a reference book to look up and solve problems. Major headings are shown in the Contents and 42 At-a-Glance summary charts make problem solving quick and easy Beginning cooks can use CookWise as a howto book with easy-to-follow recipes that produce dishes looking and tasting like the work of an experienced chef. Food writers and test-kitchen chefs who are developing recipes can find the formulas and tips for successful recipes, Anyone who wants to improve a recipe can use CookWise as a guide. Here is how to make cakes moister, a pate A choux drier and crisper, a dish lighter or darker in color; how to make muffins peak better, cookies spread less, or a roast chicken juicier. Everyone who cooks needs to be able to spot bad recipes and save the time, money, and frustration that they cause. Many of the At-a-Glance charts point out specific problems. CookWise is not only informative, it's engrossing, and many sections react like a mystery story. The knowledge you gain from its pages will transform you, too, into a food sleuth, an informed and assured cook who can track down why sauces curdle or why the muffins were dry -- a cook who will never prepare a failed recipe again!

Eating both plentifully and nutritionally for less...includes 150 recipes The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Eating Well on a Budget is packed with tips, strategies, ideas, and more than 150 recipes for those who are either new to food budgeting or have had to greatly tighten their food budgets. Readers will not only learn how to do savvy grocery shopping, they will learn how to eat out on a budget. • Features preparation and cooking strategies • More than 150 budget-conscious recipes • The current tough economic times more Americans than ever need to watch what they spend on food • Addresses the challenge of buying healthier foods—which are often more expensive—and maintaining a careful budget

In Sara Moulton's Home Cooking 101, Sara helps answer that eternal question, "What's for dinner?" This must-have resource combines 150-plus all-new recipes with time-tested methods that elevate meals from everyday to extraordinary. Sara guides readers every step of the way, from including detailed instructions in every recipe to ensure the dish comes out perfectly every time to tips about selecting ingredients and balancing flavors. Bright color photographs and straightforward techniques show how easy it is to build flavors in a pan for a one-dish dinner, bake seafood in parchment for a quick healthy meal, and turn fresh seasonal produce into scene-stealing side dishes. Readers will find recipes to please every palate, including a whole chapter of vegetarian and vegan options. Enjoy fresh-tasting classics such as Sautéed Lemon Chicken with Fried Capers, Steak with Pickled Salsa Verde, and No-Knead Walnut Rosemary Bread, along with inspired new dishes such as Smashed Crispy Jerusalem Artichokes and Seared Scallop Salad with Spicy Watermelon Vinaigrette. Home Cooking 101 also features contributions from some of Sara's favorite fellow chefs, including Rick Bayless, Amanda Cohen, Hiroko Shimbo, Jacques Torres, Marc Vetri, and Grace Young. Sara's signature mix of energy and warmth makes this invaluable resource a joy to cook from, proving that even a quick weeknight meal can be fun and easy.