The Way to Cook
by Julia Child · first published 1985
100% recommend
A one-of-a-kind, brilliant cookbook which has sold half a million copies. Julia blends classic techniques with free-style American cooking, emphasizing lightness, freshness and simpler preparations. More than 800 recipes and 600 color photographs.
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…cooking style, memories of the food made from it, or the book itself? Is the book still in the family? I once had a copy of the Alinea cookbook, it's a wonderful object. For mere mortals like me, 'The Way To Cook', by Julia Child is the cookbook I refer to most often and suggest most often to those looking for 'the best cookbook.'
on “Why We Are Self-Publishing the Aviary Cookbook” ↗…Using my past experience and intuition, I distill my own recipe tailored to the exact ingredients and tools available to me. Other than Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, I can recommend On Food and Cooking, The Way to Cook and The Joy of Cooking, The Professional Chef, Essentials of Italian Cooking, Ratio, Food Lab. If you're looking for a reference on combining flavors see The Flavor Bible [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernist_Cuisine
on “Ask HN: How do you learn (not copy/paste) cooking?” ↗…I'm familiar with. More importantly, I've made my wife, family, friends, strangers, and myself, happy at my table and via gifts of food. In terms of books, the biggest difference-makers have been 'The Way to Cook', Julia Child, 'The French Laundry Cookbook', Thomas Keller, et al, and 'The Flavor Bible', Page and Dornenburg.
on “Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?” ↗…ounce/gram scale and a thermometer have changed how we cook). Learning is the other key. I've spent too much on cookbooks, but Alton Brown (e.g. 'I'm Just Here for the Food'), Julia Child (esp. 'The Way to Cook'), and Thomas Keller (esp. 'Ad Hoc') all have a lot to teach that applies in day-to-day cooking. I like Thomas Keller's baking trick (from 'Bouchon Bakery'): Use a single measuring bowl with a scale,…
on “Ask HN: Hackers who cook” ↗The Joy of Cooking is a great reference, but for learning, I prefer The Way to Cook by Julia Child. The recipes are classics, yet adapted a bit to be relatively simple and light. It's well-illustrated, and I really liked the organizational method of presenting very detailed, beginner-friendly…
on “What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?” ↗I have a different take. Cooking for status is a gateway to cooking for other reasons, kind of like how people start working out to look hot and then stick with it for the other benefits. Also, when you start out, it inevitably feels like a big complicated formal…
on “Show HN: Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking” ↗