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Mandatory Reading – Page 2

Culinary Connect | Cook Like a Chef

Chefs and Foodies all Around the World Sharing Cooking Wisdom and Culinary Tales

Mandatory Reading

On Food and Cooking

Cookbook Review: On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee

on food and cooking

On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee is an excellent account of how science integrates into the culinary world. It describes the evolution and history of modern foods we love and cooking techniques chefs use every day, providing valuable information about cooking, flavor, ingredients and the simple joy of a delicious meal.

In On Food and Cooking, McGee offers a thorough and vivid description of the complete process of crafting a meal. On Food and Cooking isn’t just a recipe book, it’s full of information that helps chefs, home cooks, and everyone who loves food understand what our food is really made out of and where it comes from. It is only through this type of knowledge that we can learn everything about the process of cooking, from the beginning to the final product.

“It is the book that has had the greatest single impact on my cooking.” – Heston Blumenthal

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

Cookbook Review: The Food Lab, Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt


This New York Times Best Seller is a great account by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt that describes the science of culinary arts. With over a thousand stunning images, The Food Lab teaches you how to create top-chef quality meals at home with unconventional techniques.

The Food Lab lives up to its title by outlining the scientific interactions that happens while you’re cooking any meal – energy, heat, molecules, moisture and more. All of these factors add up to the quality of your final dish.

With cooking tips on how to develop surefire methods for creating your favorite meals, The Food Lab is a great resource for anyone who loves to cook.

The French Laundry Cookbook

french laundry cookbook

The French Laundry Cookbook is filled with exquisite cooking techniques straight from legendary Chef Thomas Keller’s Napa Valley restaurant. His methods are innovative and unique – like how to use vinegar to create the best flavor, how to get a perfectly poached egg, and how to flawlessly sautee a fish to perfection. Still, they are amazingly simple methods for cooking that let you re-create the French Laundry experience right at home.

This collection of 150 amazing recipes doesn’t skip over anything – these cooking techniques and tips are exactly what Thomas Keller uses at his renowned Napa Valley restaurant. Also included in The French Laundry Cookbook are a variety of unique stories, photos, biographies and more notes from French Laundry that come together to showcase a fantastic profile of both the chef and the impeccable food he creates.

So if you can’t get to Napa Valley anytime soon, The French Laundry Cookbook is a great option to help you create what Wine Spectator calls “as close to dining perfection as it gets.”

Charlie Trotter Lessons in Service

Charlie Trotter’s former Chicago flagship restaurant delivered far more than just an impeccable dining experience. Trotter mastered the art of delivering the complete dining experience with a precise synergy between food, wine, ambiance, and service. Charlie Trotter and his service crew ran what many consider to be one of the best restaurants America has ever seen. Having received the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant Award, Trotter was a known and very well-respected chef in the restaurant industry throughout the world. In Lessons in Service, journalist Edmund Lawler unveils the secrets of Trotter’s unparalleled success and advises other businesses on how to enhance their operations. 

From unusual motivational approaches, employee empowerment, and mentoring to role-playing, preservice meetings, and an obsessive pursuit of excellence, Trotter left nothing to chance. As a chef, you are doing a disservice to your craft if the quality of service does not match the quality of the food. Dinner service was a nightly ballet that left guests feeling pampered, enlightened, and, of course, delighted.

Charlie Trotter's book "Lessons in Service"

Great service starts with a great staff, and this book outlines a variety of techniques such as how to motivate your staff, effective meetings, and how to empower the whole team to come together and create the absolute best experience for everyone who steps into the restaurant.

Alinea by Grant Achatz

Alinea by Grant Achatz, a revolutionary figure in American culinary arts, is a fantastic collection of 600 complete recipes with 600 corresponding photographs. Grant Achatz has a unique approach to cooking, combining flavor with fundamentals to produce an immaculate finished product unlike anything a guest has ever tasted before.

Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz

Besides the amazing recipes and photographs in Alinea, this book also includes three features that explain Alinea on a deeper level. Mark Ruhlman discusses the distinct part Alinea plays in the restaurant scene on a worldwide level. Mark McClusky describes the integration of technology in Alinea’s kitchen, and Jeffrey Steingarten provides a wonderful account of his own experience dining at this celebrated restaurant.

Alinea is the perfect coffee table cookbook with its amazing photography that showcases every dish to perfection.

Try out the recipes – your cooking may reach another level in terms of quality, flavor, artistry and passion.