The Elements of Cooking

Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen

By: Michael Ruhlman

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Hardcover | 6 November 2007

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.24 x 1.91

Hardcover

$43.25

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Americans are on a roll in the kitchen -- we've never been better or smarter about cooking. But how does a beginning cook become good, a good cook great?

Modeled on Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style," "The Elements of Cooking" is an opinionated volume by Michael Ruhlman -- the award-winning and bestselling author of "The Making of a Chef" and coauthor of "The French Laundry Cookbook" -- that pares the essentials of good cooking into a slim, easy-to-take-anywhere book. It will also stand alongside a handful of classics of the kitchen, just as Strunk and White's book sits on the desk of every writer and every English student.

Not only does this book deconstruct the essential knowledge of the kitchen, it also takes what every professional chef knows instinctively after years of training and experience and offers it up cleanly and brilliantly to the home cook.

With hundreds of entries from acid to zester, here is all the information -- no more and no less -- you need to cook, as well as countless tips (including only one recipe in the entire book, for the "magic elixir of the kitchen") and no-nonsense advice on how to be a great cook. You'll learn to cook everything, as the entries cover all the key moves you need to make in the kitchen and teach you, for example, not only what goes into a great sauce but how to think about it to make it great.

Eight short, beautifully written essays outline what it takes not merely to cook but to cook well: understanding heat, using the right tools (there are only five of them), cooking with eggs, making stock, making sauce, salting food, what a cook should read, and exploring the elusive, most important skill to have in the kitchen, finesse.

Industry Reviews

More than a culinary dictionary, "The Elements of Cooking" is the essential codebook for young cooks and culinary students who want to learn the secret language of the kitchen." -- Paul Kahan, chef, Blackbird The combination of content and size makes "The Elements of Cooking" simply the best reference book and educational tool available for anyone interested in the basics of the culinary arts." -- Eric Ripert, chef, Le Bernardin, and coauthor of "A Return to Cooking" "The last few decades have seen an explosion of interest in cooking as well as a serious breakdown in the language of the kitchen. The result: chaos. In "The Elements of Cooking," Michael Ruhlman seeks to clear the babble and put us all on an even playing field. His explanations of terms and especially techniques are concise, clear, even diplomatic. Best of all they make sense." -- Alton Brown, host of the award-winning Food Network show "Good Eats" "A useful, well-thought-out, clear, and precise collection of cooking terms, The Elements of Cooking is essential for cook apprentices and necessary and enjoyable for seasoned chefs." -- Jacques Pepin, author of Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook The combination of content and size makes The Elements of Cooking simply the best reference book and educational tool available for anyone interested in the basics of the culinary arts." -- Eric Ripert, chef, Le Bernardin, and coauthor of A Return to Cooking "Michael Ruhlman plainly intends for "The Elements of Cooking" to be a staple of the amateur home cook's bookshelf, wedged somewhere in between "The Joy of Cooking" and Marcella Hazan. It has earned its spot."-- Jesse Wegman, "The New York Observer"

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