Cooking techniques: eight books for professionals and non-professionals
This time we have decided to share with you a selection of eight books on more or less advanced cooking techniques. Volumes capable of satisfying both the needs of professional chefs and those of amateur chefs who want to learn more and experiment with new methods.
How many times on television, in restaurants, on various social media have we heard about "vacuum packing", "drying", "smoking", "cooking jar" and have we asked ourselves what these words exactly mean?
A few minutes of reading for a guide on how much it is possible to experiment and have fun in the kitchen today.
Beautiful and instructive books for you or for a special gift. Not just to read, but to always keep on display in your well-stocked culinary library.
Full siphon
Generator of the perfect foam, the siphon has entered the domestic kitchen battery. Anyone who doubted that it could be welcomed with enthusiasm did not take into account the irresistible qualities that have always accompanied it: it is technological, it stimulates creativity and, using it, you have too much fun. After the bold foams of avant-garde chefs, second generation ones have arrived: foams that arise from the desire to add flavor, but with lightness. Twenty-eight recipes, very easy to execute, but refined in their conception, seduce the eye, invite tasting and reward healthy gastronomic curiosity with substance.
Smoking
In an era in which cooking is increasingly closer to science and the hearth to the laboratory, smoking is one of the few techniques that retains something mysterious. Deeply evocative, the taste and aroma of smoke recall a more atavistic bond with food, even when used with great discretion.
Do you need a cabin or at least a fireplace? Not necessarily. There is more than one way to smoke (cold, semi-hot, hot) and a wide range of tools to do it. From basic methods, which use normal kitchen equipment, to semi-professional ones which use dedicated tools. There are woods and foods more suitable for smoking and with a different and delicate relationship between times and temperatures. Discover the many ingenious ways to combine cold smoking with traditional and modern cooking techniques to achieve amazing results.
In recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts, the most ethereal and elusive substance can present layered and complex but, in some way, profoundly familiar organoleptic sensations to the palate.
Cooking Blast chilling Return to temperature - Food Management of the 21st Century
The digital revolution has not spared the professional kitchen. Trivalent ovens and blast chillers are equipped with touch pads and USB ports, programmable cooking and cooling cycles eliminate the need for manual interventions to adjust temperatures and multi-point probes remove any doubt from the concept of "cooked". Yet much of this technological efficiency remains underutilized by chefs who don't fully understand the potential of their equipment.
Cook, blast chill, reheat (CAR): the cycle described by these three simple words is made possible by that same under-exploited technology. The CAR system, explored in detail in this work, offers chefs a range of benefits that extend far beyond restaurant kitchens. Catering organisations, pastry shops, butchers, delicatessens: everyone can benefit from the CAR system.
With practical examples taken from direct experience, a selection of diversified recipes and important technical data, we demonstrate the many ways in which the CAR system and the technology that makes it possible constitute every chef's greatest allies. From improving the organoleptic qualities of food to saving time, from reducing waste to saving money, the CAR cycle is no longer simply an alternative to traditional cooking methods. It represents the key to a level of efficiency essential for the success of modern gastronomic activities.
Dry
Dried, dehydrated, freeze-dried, crumbly, crunchy: in the gastronomic universe these words also communicate very specific visual, gustatory and auditory sensations. The removal of the water contained in foods, due to heat or the passage of air, is a well-tested preservation method, but also a system for changing their consistencies in a radical way.
This work examines various techniques for depriving foods of their natural moisture. Results obtained from different tools: the traditional oven, the microwave oven and the dryer. A range of recipes to demonstrate how dried ingredients can play surprising roles in signature dishes.
In the kitchen with the blast chiller
Blast chillers for domestic use radically change the way we are used to preparing meals and organizing work in the kitchen.
Latest generation machines allow you to quickly cool cooked and uncooked foods, freeze them, defrost them and cook them slowly at low temperatures, as well as chill drinks, let bread and cakes rise in optimal conditions and keep dinner warm until ready to eat it. All with a single appliance, about the size of a microwave.
Thanks to the combined action of blast chilling, freezing and controlled thawing, the quality of the products remains intact: the nutritional properties are not lost both in the preparation and conservation phases. The advantages don't end there: you save time, reduce waste and achieve perfect food preservation.
The possibility of cooking dishes or individual ingredients in advance allows you to bring refined and appetizing dishes to the table even at the last moment. In practice, you can organize yourself at home or at a restaurant.
In this book you will find recipes, tricks and suggestions for making the most of all the potential of this revolutionary appliance.
Advanced vacuum technique
The current climate of high interest in the role of science in cooking has brought sous vide technology back to the foreground. In the hands of the most skilled it produced unexpected results, triggering a phase of experimentation that left some basic principles behind. Thirty hour cooking, cooking at very low temperatures: these are the inventions of a new generation of users, but are they safe? Do they have a scientific basis or economic sense? The range of equipment has expanded significantly. How to choose the ones best suited to your needs? Catering, collective catering and delicatessens: can vacuum packing make a real difference in these sectors too? The time has come for a general review, for an updated analysis of the vacuum system with its advantages and also its limitations.
This volume retraces all the phases of conservation and cooking (direct and indirect) in a vacuum. Concrete parameters are offered to choose the most suitable equipment and use it correctly. The advantages of the 'vacuum system' for the organization and efficiency of the professional kitchen are demonstrated and its relationship with food costs is considered.
A unique work that combines theory and practice, rigor and creativity, science and recipes: it will soon be the most consumed book in every professional kitchen.
Jar cooking
Anyone who wants to add jar cooking to their skillset will find theoretical and practical notions in this book as well as a selection of recipes specifically chosen to illustrate particular applications to be customized as desired. There is no shortage of detailed notes on the use of individual preparations and their conservation. Finally, tables on cooking times and temperatures complete the work.
For many, the glass jar is associated with preserves. From jams to tomato sauce, it has kept supplies for over two centuries. Those who use vacuum packing know that the jar is able to replace the plastic bag, becoming, in many cases, also a cooking container. Vase cooking also represents a coherent choice to reduce the consumption of polluting disposable materials in terms of sustainability. The vases can be used many times and their glass is 100% recyclable for an unlimited number of uses without loss of quality or purity. The benefits are not limited to environmental impact. Jar cooking offers all the advantages of sous vide: flavor enhancement, nutrient preservation, precise control of the degree of cooking, production flexibility and cost reduction. Furthermore, it is adaptable to different types of catering: it can produce semi-finished products or finished dishes.
Molecular cuisine
Molecular cuisine, a movement characterized by particular attention to the physical and chemical processes that govern the cooking and interactions of ingredients, is no longer the fixation of just a few star adepts. Today its legacy can be found in the dishes of trattorias and bistros, even in cocktails. Once the period of controversy and misinformation that accompanies every avant-garde current has passed, what remains? This book shows how chefs with different types of venues or gastronomic activities have adopted the techniques, particular ingredients and aesthetics of the movement. Through 48 recipes it is possible to identify the contours of the legacy of molecular "thought" and discover how its focus on science has pushed chefs, barmen and pastry chefs to create differently.
Enriched by an introduction by Hervé This, scientist and popularizer par excellence of studies in the sector, the volume offers a series of questions that find their answers in the recipes: a practical approach that allows the reader to hypothesize applications in their own kitchen.
