Cookbook: Quay

Posted on January 31, 2011 by ericriveracooks

I’ve been waiting for this book for almost two months now and it finally arrived in the mail. When this book came out in November it was on my “must buy” list because I saw one picture of a dish that chef Gilmore plated which was his sea pearls and I was mesmerized.

This book, in my opinion, picks up where Michel Bras’ Essential Cuisine left off in 2002. It’s updated with some of the modern cooking techniques but the focus remains on highlighting simple ingredients and putting them in a grand spotlight on a plate. Chef Gilmore’s flavor combinations, plating, and use of micro greens inspires the hell out of me and is pushing me to elevate my own cuisine.

Look at this…..

That’s his warm salad of swordfish belly and octopus with artichoke aioli and chili threads. It’s just beautiful and perfect and when you read the recipe all the ingredients go together perfectly. It’s all very simple and great ingredients but with an artistic touch….those micro greens and flowers add to that higher level of perfection.

That is his salad of mud crab with young coconut, palm heart, sour Mexican cucumbers, and lime. Each recipe is like this….a true work of art. I almost want to rip each page out and take them to be framed.

I was talking with my chef at work about this book and how the restaurant is in Australia and then he asked me, “what, are you going to go work for them too?”.

We’ll see.

Quay (click)

Eric

Cookbook: Tamara Murphy- Tender

Posted on January 20, 2011 by ericriveracooks

Award winning chef Tamara Murphy has a new book out that is sure to be the guide for your next farmers market trip. her book, Tender, is a celebration of farmers markets, fresh and local ingredients, and amazing food pairings sure to make your next breakfast, lunch, or dinner incredible.

The book contains various spice rub recipes, tips for buying tomatoes, great sauces, a cherry/basil/mint salad that would be great under a nice piece of fresh fish or even by itself, blueberry/goat cheese galette which will make Mindy happy, full-page pictures!, and more recipes to cook through every season at your favorite farmers.

Grilled Apricot with Blue Cheese and Serrano Ham…… Hurry up apricots and get to the market apricots!!!!!!! I need to try this now!!!!!

She dedicates 2 pages to one of my favorite spices…..smoked paprika.

If I ever have a chance to meet chef I’m going to high five her about this one. Smoked paprika gets used in my kitchen more than anything else. The color it adds to something and the varying degree of flavors depending on what type you purchase (pimenton dulce, agridulce, or picante) will make a dish explode with flavor. High five chef, high five!

Another great moment in this book was the herb crusted fish with garden tomato sauce and summer vegetables. Herb crusting fish is a great technique that I have used working at Blueacre and it is the real deal. Tons of flavor to the fish and with the addition of that tomato sauce and summer vegetables as a bed for this fantastic fish dish…..yes please!

I really urge you to check out this book as I do with all the books I write about here. They are all shaping my cooking and helping me out to one day become a great chef. Chef Tamara Murphy is a great chef and Tender is a great book for anyone to own and cook out of. Go to the market, find those ingredients, make something amazing…..cook more!!!

Tender (click)

Eric

Bras (Cookbook)

Posted on January 14, 2011 by ericriveracooks

(Keanu Reeves impression) Woah…….

I’ve been waiting a long time for this book and then Rivera Claus’ bought me this for Christmas……best parents ever. Michel Bras is an absolute genius and I talked about him before on this little blog o’ mine (click here!). The book was actually considerably less than the $400-$600 price tag that I found it for a year ago so that’s a bright spot for this lovely economy. Like I said before in my post, if I had my own restaurant then this is definitely a book I would snatch up immediately.

Why? Dishes like this.

Not only are the pictures amazing in this book but the story behind the restaurant is absolutely incredible. He features ingredients local to his area and has really forced himself into cooking from the land….the way it’s supposed to be. I would love to tell you more about the book but #1 I’m being selfish #2 it’s in French so it’s going to take me some time to translate it (hellloooo google translate!).

If you ever come over to my house I’ll let you look at it but you can’t touch it. :)

Eric

India Cookbook

Posted on January 5, 2011 by ericriveracooks

Mindy loves Indian food. I don’t really know too much about it so I’ve been doing a bit of research on the topic and I’ve found Indian food to be very exciting and intricate. I can spice the hell out of anything and I have come up with some pretty cool spice mixes but I’m not even scratching the surface. That p.o.s. mix of garam masala you have used or that curry powder you also have is garbage compared to making your own (well except for that curry powder thing…WTF is that anyway?).

I made a 22 spice garam masala last night and I have read of other variations using 75-90. Some families use spices to show their wealth so when you see one of those 75-90 blends coming up you know you’re about to eat well. I’m happy with my 22 but it needs work. A few of the spices getting ready to toast.

Here it is all blended up and looking sexy.

This book is great. It’s easy to use and has more recipes than I’ll ever cook out of it but it gives me all the right procedures and techniques so I can properly cook the food the way it’s supposed to be. It’s all there and easy to find.

I chose a few recipes to cook up last night and they’re not exactly the way they’re supposed to be in the book but that’s how I roll.

Tonk- Tomato Chutney

This was pretty damn delicious.

Aloo ka Gutake- Potatoes tempered with cumin

Definitely the star of the evening.

Butter Chicken.

This is Mindy’s favorite dish but I didn’t do it justice. I’ll get it right…..

Inspiration! It tastes great but looks like hell….I’m ok with that. This is a mature plantain that I braised in fresh coconut milk with the coconut flesh shaved and diced then braised in chicken stock with garam masala and toasted cumin then finished with minced cilantro.

You’ll start seeing a lot of Indian inspired things from my cooking. I’m in love with the style and spices and I haven’t even gotten to the insane heat spices yet (please get here soon Naga Viper).

India Cookbook from Phaidon Press…..buy it!

Eric

Cookbook: NOMA

Posted on October 7, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I’ve been waiting for this book to come out for quite some time. I first heard of Chef Rene Redzepi in the book COCO (click). He’s one of the 10 master chefs that picked other chefs around the world to be in the book (I currently work for one of the chefs that was chosen…Kevin Davis!).

Chef Redzepi has worked for Ferran Adria and Thomas Keller and at the age of 25 took the reigns of Noma in 2003 and in a short period of time he has taken the restaurant to being rated #1 in the world (click).

His specialty is truly living off the land. The restaurant is located in Copenhagen K, Denmark. In the mornings before the restaurant opens he normally forages through the land and picks up ingredients to feature at the restaurant that evening. This book shows a lot of that and while there are some ingredients that I can’t find here to replicate the recipes I am left to be inspired by them and to search for my own local ingredients from the land.

The layout of the book is different from other cookbooks as well. There are chapters that highlight the name of each dish then go onto show a picture of the dish mixed in with other pictures of the area, restaurant, and finally of Chef Redzepi. The recipes aren’t located next to the pictures, they’re in the back of the book. I think that’s a great idea. It left me guessing as to what I was looking at….it immediately inspired me in my own plating and presentations….fireworks going off in my head…..you could try this…..do this…..oh look at that….wow…..wow….wow!!!!

I’ve looked through the book since I have picked it up and I have stared at the pictures for hours. This is amazing and I can see why a number 1 rating came to Chef Redzepi. He has taken his community, food, restaurant, life, and put it on a plate for all to share…..amazing.

Normally, that would be the end of one of my cookbook write-ups but this one turned out to be a little more exciting. Chef Redzepi came to Seattle and I met him!

Kim Ricketts Book Events held an event at MistralKitchen here in Seattle where the book would be debuted. MistralKitchen was going to do some cocktails and appetizers then Chef Redzepi would make his rounds and talk to people and sign books. I looked at the price of the event and I had to think about it for a few days…………after thinking about it I said, “You missed when Thomas Keller and David Chang were in town because you were working….how often does Chef Redzepi come to Seattle?!!?!?!?!? Oh, and you’ll get to meet him and ask him for a job!….Oh, and you’ll get a copy of the book!!!!”. Done. The voices in my head are good salesmen.

I went to the event and MistralKitchen did a number of dishes inspired by Chef Redzepi. Here are a few pictures.

Yeah, awesome.

While I was there I ran into another cooking legend but I’m saving that for another post coming soon…….

Ok, back to Chef Redzepi and the book. He was so nice walking around the crowd of eager people waiting to shake his hand and get an autograph but I was there for different reasons……Ok, I was there to get a handshake and an autograph too but every person there wanted to talk about eating at his restaurant….I want to cook at his restaurant…..I don’t even care if I just empty the trash there, I just want to see what goes on at the restaurant…..I’m sure it’s incredible. I think the book only scratches the surface but it gives its readers an idea of the genius that is being doled out on a dish on a daily basis at Noma.

My moment finally arrived. I said, “hello chef!”. He immediately asked if I was a cook. I said, “yes, I work right up the street at Blueacre, I go to culinary school, and I’m a huge fan of your work, I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you, the book is stunning. Congratulations on being the #1 restaurant in the world”. He said, “thank you and asked me how much longer I had in school.” I said about a year and then I asked him how I could get into the kitchen at NOMA for a stage. As I was asking this he was writing down an email address and said, “when you’re ready e-mail us, tell them you were at this event, and we’ll get you in”.

What?

Really?

I was beside myself. “Hey self freaking out…calm down….you’re embarrassing us.”

I said, “That’s awesome chef, thanks for your time, and congratulations again” then I left…..what else do you do after something like that?!?!?!

I got home and told Mindy what was going on while she was talking to her mom on the phone. Mindy handed me the phone and said tell my mom, she would love to hear it.

Graduate……..keep working…….go to NOMA……we’ll see what happens.

Eric

Cookbook: Beyond The Pasta-Mark Leslie

Posted on September 29, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I received an email from a PR person asking me if I wanted to interview an author of a cookbook……I’ve never done that before so I was a little nervous. I knew it would be a good person to meet because the always awesome Keren Brown referred the PR person over to me (THANKS KEREN!)

I started doing a little research on Mark Leslie and he has a blog too (click). I researched a bit more and found out that he traveled to Italy and learned how to cook from Italians and not just from a stuffy cooking class or some washed up food writers living in Italy…he learned from a family where grandma showed him the way to true Italian cooking. He took a chance and followed his dreams in order take another step forward in life to achieve the ultimate goal in life…….EAT THE BEST FOOD ALWAYS!!

I met up with Mark while he was in town visiting Festa Italiana. I had a chance to sit down with him and interview him. When I met him I wasn’t nervous at all, we just started talking about food. He was just as excited about this whole food thing as I was. We talked about how people in the United States are always worried about time in the kitchen instead of worrying about how good something could be if they just took a little more time. We both agreed that it’s frustrating talking to people that don’t have simple things down like a simple marinara sauce but those same people can tell you who won American Idol last year. They’ve never made pasta but they have all seasons of “Lost” memorized and on DVD!!!

Mark talked about his journey through life and told me that it’s not about making an extra $20,000 here and there because at the end of the day you can’t take that with you….the only thing you’ll have left is experiences and quality time spent with people you love. He believes that with food and quality time…experiences can be made for the better. Notice, he said nothing about going crazy in the kitchen and making a stuffy French sauce that takes 5 days, ends up being 4 ounces transformed from 2 gallons and makes the entire house smell awesome (how I roll)…. He likes the simple approach to food that gives love and respect to Italian cuisine.

Why is Italian cuisine so good?

He told me because it’s simple. It focuses on great ingredients and there aren’t that many things you need to do in order to make a great dish….maybe just a little elbow grease and some time with grandma.

His book has recipes amazing recipes like Penne with Proscuitto and Peas, Veal Tips, and Polenta, Zucchini and Onion Frittata, and many more that are wrapped in with his story of his adventures in Italy. It’s a very cool presentation of recipes within a story that helps each recipe tell a story.

I suggest you check his book out. My meeting with Mark reaffirmed my own wishes and dreams.

I’m working on it Mark! Thanks again for your time and good luck with the book tour!!!!

BUY HIS BOOK!!!! (click)

Cookbook: Herve This – Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking

Posted on September 7, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Herve This has inspired me to do so many things with my cooking. The science of food fascinates me so much and I am using his tools along with other greats in the culinary world in order to push my food into the stratosphere. A few months ago I spoke a little bit about a book he wrote, “Building A Meal: From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism (click)“, and I talked about how excited I was about the things I learned in that book. That book lead me to do a lot of research into the Chef Pierre Gagnaire (one of his favorite chefs) which has lead me into the world of art in order to help me with my plating and inspiration.

Someone over at Columbia University Press must have found that post because they decided to send me a copy of a book that was recently translated and is now in print in the U.S. I was so excited about the book that I stayed up one night after work in the kitchen and read the entire thing, slept for about 2 hours, then went back to work.

This book gives a lot of simple solutions to everyday issues and questions that arise in a professional or even home kitchen that help the cook/chef/or just science enthusiast unravel the mysteries in the kitchen.

Questions like:

Why do some emulsified sauces fail?
How much pectin should I use in making jam?
Why add vinegar to the water when poaching an egg?
How can I improve wine from a bottle?

There are many more questions answered in this book and before I keep on rambling on and sounding like an infomercial I’ll just tell you that this one is staying in my collection for a long time and it should become a part of yours very soon.

Thanks again Columbia University Press! (click)

Cookbook: The Book of Tapas

Posted on August 27, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Phaidon Press publishes some of the best cookbooks out there. Their books are filled with large pictures and the books are laid out beautifully. I have a few books from them and each one is a work of art to me not just a cookbook.

The Book of Tapas from Simone and Ines Ortega authors of 1080 recipes is a great collection of traditional tapas. This is a great resource for a guy that is planning on spending some time in Spain once he graduates (WHO?!?!).

I’ve had a few tapas parties and this book helped me through my last one with a few bits of inspiration. This is a great resource for learning how to make traditional recipes then you can move your way to the other 1080 recipes in their other book.

Eric

Cookbook: Pork & Sons

Posted on August 27, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Pork is the best thing
I can’t wait to be eating
The next pork dish, yum.

If there is ever a haiku open mic night then I’m ready. Pork makes me do all sorts of crazy things that I never imagined I would do. You might go crazy when you see a picture of Justin Bieber (you’re weird). You might go crazy when you hear about a sale at Nordstrom (bleh). I go crazy about pork!

“Eric, we know you like pork…enough already”.

I found this book called Pork & Sons by Stephane Reynaud. It made me go crazy.

That’s a Pork Confit Tart. I’m not one to bake but I have to make that. There are recipes inside for tons of charcuterie, braised dishes, bbq, kabobs, soups, sandwiches, everything and all about PORK!!!!!! This book is a f’ing porcine gold mine!

That Julie and Julia story is lame. ”I wrote a blog about copying Julia Child’s recipes and then I got famous and stuff and it was turned into a movie” (made up quote). You would have had my respect and attention if you did it with this book. I might make a new blog that just cooks every recipe out of this book. No, I’m not lame.

Pork & Sons is amazing and a definite must buy for the pork addict in all of us. You’re in there somewhere I just need to make some pork for you then you’ll understand.

Eric

Cookbook: The Modern Cafe

Posted on August 27, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I spend a lot of time going through cookbooks. Whether it’s at school, book stores, or just taking a chance on a book that I never looked at in person and buying it because it was a screaming deal on ebay I’m always on the lookout for a great cookbook that will help me on my journey. Found one!

Francisco Migoya is a chef instructor at the Culinary Insititute of America and has written another book called Frozen Desserts. While I liked the other book this was the one I wanted to purchase first. Why? Because if I wanted to open up a “modern cafe” I could pretty much use this as a crutch/resource for my ideas and experiments. He combines modern cuisine with age old techniques and recipes in order to deliver one of my favorite cookbooks ever.

Remember that time I fried parsley? (click) This is the book I got it from. There are so many other great recipes in this book and I’ve barely touched any of the baking or pastry stuff which makes up the majority of the book. You like baking and pastry? This is a must own book.

Eric

Cookbook: Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens

Posted on May 5, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Mindy wants a farm one day. I’m not the farming type but I have to do what she says so I can keep getting amazing micro-greens for my plating. She used to have chickens when she grew up in Lacey so I have always been intrigued with the process.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from NW Trillium Press about this book. I think it’s the perfect time to re-release it. More people, myself included, have interests in controlling their own food supply. The problem is that there is a lot of information but nobody to tell it with a no-nonsense approach.

Minnie Rose Lovgreen does just that in her Recipe For Raising Chickens book. I have read it twice now and I’m pretty sure that you could raise anything using her advice. Roosters acting up? Give them a swat or as my mom would call it, a chancletaso (swat with a sandal for a disruptive Eric). ”The main thing is to keep them happy”. There are all these little gems of information that go beyond raising chickens, it’s pretty amazing.

The book was originally handwritten by Nancy Rekow which in this day is unheard of. I always wondered about those penmanship classes in school but I finally see what they were talking about, Nancy’s handwriting is really nice and ads to the character of the book.

It’s only 31 pages long but there is enough information in it for you to get started with your chicken farming. If you want a copy of your own then just check out NW Trillium Press (click).

Eric

Here is a note from Nancy Rekow:

Hi Eric,
Just saw your posting about our book, MINNIE ROSE LOVGREEN’S RECIPE FOR RAISING CHICKENS. Thanks ever so much for understanding and praising the book. And you’re right. Minnie Rose saw so much beyond just raising chickens. I’m Nancy, Minnie Rose’s friend who tape-recorded the book back in 1975. When she talked into my tape-recorder about getting hens to lay well, she spoke the words, “The main thing is to keep them happy.” What wisdom for all situations! So right away I said, “Minnie Rose, that’s your subtitle for the book.” And so it was. As for my hand-lettering in the book, it’s not so much that I was carefully taught penmanship. It’s more that I was always fascinated with books and words and type, so learned to experiment with handwriting. (Also I’d taught first grade for several years, so had printed a lot of words!) No wonder I’m now a writer, editor, publisher.
Anyway, thanks a bunch!

Nancy Rekow

Edible Seattle’s May/June Edition

Posted on May 5, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I love this magazine. I read it during my physical therapy appointments and I had the pleasure of meeting Alex Corcoran, the publisher of the magazine, at the Emmer and Rye dinner I attended a few weeks ago (click). There is so much great information in it about restaurants, food in season, farmers, and just about everything to keep this food obsession going.

I love the magazine so much that I decided to subscribe to it. I wasn’t going to write a post about this at all but a week ago I received a thank you letter for subscribing to their magazine. This marks the first time I have ever received something from a magazine that wasn’t a renewal notice. Enclosed in the letter was also a coupon for a free bag of coffee…..how cool is that?!?!? If you have never heard of the Edible magazines then check this site out: ediblecommunities.com for a local Edible magazine for you.

I’m excited about this month’s feature on these little guys.

You may or may not see these on this blog soon but you’ll definitely be able to see what I’m talking about in this issue of Edible Seattle.

Eric

Cookbook: Kathy Gehrt- Discover Cooking With Lavender

Posted on March 24, 2010 by ericriveracooks

Discover cooking with lavender. This book would have been extremely helpful when I discovered cooking with lavender. My sister has a cool way of keeping me on my toes in the kitchen. She likes to find random ingredients for me to cook then critiques the hell out of them with her own ideas….sometimes fun…..sometimes not so much fun.

I was over at her house last year and she said, “here, cook something with this”. What is it? “lavender”. Like the flower? “Yeah, cook with it”. Huh, ok….I’ll see what I can do. This lead me to the interwebs to find different ways to cook with lavender….I wasn’t impressed. The only thing I could find was herbs de provence (awesome find) and a bunch of garbage baking recipes. I decided to try a few things with lavender for myself.

First up was a roasted chicken with lavender gravy which happened about 5 days after I started this blog (click). It tasted amazing, I was a huge fan of lavender all of the sudden. Next up, a no-bake style cheesecake (click). It was so rich and it was hard to serve because of that, go smaller next time! Hmm, how about trying it as a garnish….(click)…yup, it works too! How about Herbs De Provence in a carrot soup (click)? Absolutely!

What else? Well, I have learned a lot about cooking with lavender by going to culinary school. We haven’t focused on it but I have learned methods to properly execute times when lavender is needed or not. You can spend $48,000 on culinary school tuition and learn for yourself, kick around ideas on a blog for a year or so, or you can simplify your life by just buying, “Discover Cooking with Lavender”.

The book has a lot of easy to use recipes. You don’t have to be a chef, chef-in-training, blogger, “foodie” :/, or anything else in order for it to be used properly.

Lavender Salt (SUPER EASY!!!)

Lavender Honey (SUPER EASY!!!!)

Herbs de Provence (SUUUUUUPPPPPPEEEERRRRRR EEEEAAASSSYYY!!!)

There are lots of great ideas in the book that I will be using for myself because that’s what I do. Drinks, desserts, crusted salmon, nectarine gratin, and I could go on but I think now is the time for you to check it out for yourself.

Thanks for sending me a copy of the book Kathy, it’s great! Could have saved me $48,000 but we’ll talk about that some other time

The book is available through Amazon.com and Discoverlavender.com

Cookbook: James Peterson-Sauces

Posted on March 2, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I’ve been holding this post back for a few weeks now. Mindy and I have been going through a lot of financial crap over the last few years. We have made decisions to change things and have moved ourselves forward in more ways than one. It was around this time last year that this blog started to take off and it was a few months after that that I decided to start culinary school. I had some expectations of what was to come but what I never expected was the constant reminder of how great people can be when Mindy and I have truly been in need.

I don’t ask for much from people. I give give give and give some more. I know that if I asked a lot more from people then I could have some nice sponsorships for this site and things would be lot more exciting around here. I know that in my career I will need to give a lot more (a few fingers) than I receive until one day I can create my own food that will be respected by other chefs and Mindy. I know a lot more things but I never know how much people really listen or read about what the hell is going on in this site.

I don’t promote this site the way other bloggers do their own. I just can’t bring myself to go full on business mode with this blog. I have done that too many times before and I have ruined so many things because of my need for world domination. This is my happy place. I have days that I work on an elaborate post and it seems like nobody notices then I post a picture of an apple tart and people shoot fireworks and high five me, it’s very humbling and the way the culinary world works.

I have tons of fun with this site and most of it goes unnoticed by others not directly around me. Mindy knows what I’m talking about (tags) and maybe that’s it, that’s fine with me. When someone does notice something and then proceeds to do something for me I am always left in awe.

Less than a month ago I posted this (click). Someone was reading and decided to leave a little gift at my house. Mindy and I have been trying to sell our house for over 8 months because we could no longer afford it…..plain and simple. We were in the middle of getting all of our stuff prepped before we moved out the next day and we were getting home when I noticed something at the door. It was the book above….James Peterson- Sauces. I picked it up and flipped the book open and it said,

“To Chef Eric Rivera,

I look forward to dining in your restaurant one day. Your 1970′s kitchen will surely miss you. I can only hope to, one day, create a meal in it to make it, and you, proud!”

The first thing I said was, “you have got to be kidding me…no way…”. The new owner of my house reads my blog! Also, she thinks I’m a chef! Uh oh… Tons of things raced around my head and I started wondering why someone would do this. This is something you would expect to see in a Disney movie. “He found the amazing book at his doorstep and it changed his life forever”. That’s really what it felt like. It still feels that way.

Over the past few weeks I have been using this book for just about everything on this site. I haven’t mentioned it because I didn’t know how to throw it in without this post. Double stock, triple stock, elaborate sauces, vinegars, simple sauces, etc…. I hope that you have the time to go back a few pages on the bottom of the site and go back a few weeks. You can really see something change in me.

I don’t look at things the same way anymore. I know, dramatic right? I draw pictures of food presentations before I even know what is going to fill in the blanks. I think about sauces like some people think about wine except for I actually do more than just open a bottle and try to take all the credit, sorry wine bloggers.

The person that gave me this book called me a chef. Fine, I’ll take it but I don’t think I’m anywhere close to being called that. I’m fine with being called other four letter words before anyone calls me chef. The day I can talk to other chefs and gain their respect is the day you will hear me call myself “chef”.

I’m changing things around here. I’m not going to post recipes anymore until I think they are great and I have gone over them many times to make sure they are acceptable for anyone to use. You will see more version 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc….until I can make a dish that is acceptable to post a recipe. Dramatic? No, if you want to think I’m a chef then why cook recipes from a chef that don’t work? It’s my responsibility to make sure they work…..it’s what I do.

All this from one book? Well, it’s a bit more than that but with all the changes that have happened over the past month I can honestly say that I was meant to do this……cook. Nobody is ever going to be able to take away the excitement I have for food. Receiving such a great gift from someone who I have never met before is amazing. I have been in so many different situations in my life and I have never had this type of response to what I have been doing. I feel like when I talk to people about food they’re just as excited as I am, I’ve never felt that way about anything that I have been a part of.

Before I go on further I am going to say thanks to Tina for the great gift. I understand you talked with Mindy after and you told her that you had the book in your collection and never really thumbed through it. Well, the book is pretty damn amazing so fair trade, you get the house and I’ll keep the book

1054 words later and still no information about this book……yikes.

What else do you want? Oh right…

I have said this before and I will say this again. James Peterson writes some of the best comprehensive cookbooks out there. I will use his books as a resource forever. They are great and beyond amazing. I have mentioned his other books before so I suggest you check your book store and go buy them. Throw the red and white checkered cookbook away and get to the good stuff.

Eric

The Cookbooks

Posted on February 16, 2010 by ericriveracooks

I’m in a major game of catch up right now. I have been doing this whole cooking blog thing for a little over a year now and this culinary school thing since July 2009 and this restaurant thing for a few months now.

I am way behind so I’m trying as hard as I can to catch up. Cooking is not enough, culinary school is not enough, and work is not enough. I don’t have time/money to go to the restaurants that I want to work at one day so for now I just buy their books. $150+ for dinner or $50-$60 for their book and I can stumble my way through the book…..I’ll take the book for now.

At school we have a pretty nice library but it’s not enough for me. I find a few books I like then I end up buying them; mostly second hand (amazon, ebay, half price books). It’s pretty rare that I find a book that I buy that’s brand new because like I said, I’m trying to play catch up. There are books that are standards that I can buy after they have changed hands a few times and this is ok with me…..a little sauce or stain on the book….well, you know it’s good!

I have seen some new books go for around $950 and I have seen some older collection books go for over $2500. I have purchased a book for $2.99 and I have spent $1200 for books from the Art Institute (not too happy about the way they package their books together but oh well).

Where does this take me? What does it do. I hope you’re starting to see a difference in the way I present and cook things. I notice it, the camera may not pick up the little things but I hope you’re able to see the bigger picture. I look back at old posts and I laugh. I look at posts two days ago and I critique the hell out of them……..”this needs this, that is unacceptable”.

I pick it all apart, throw ideas out, draw things, read, read, and read. I’m not just posting to post something. I’m not cooking to cook something. I’m not doing this all just to do something. I can’t explain it all yet or show you what I can do because I’m just not “good” yet. I get it, I just can’t execute it.

These books help. Here is a list of my culinary book collection (I will add more to the list as I receive them, if you have any recommendations then just post a comment)

Escoffier-The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery (click)

Harold McGee- On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

David Chang: Momofuku (click)

Heston Blumenthal: The Fat Duck Cookbook (click)

Coco- 10 World Leading Masters. 100 Contemporary Chefs (click)

Thomas Keller: The French Laundry and Ad-Hoc (click)

Eric Ripert: On the Line (click)

Mark Bittman: The Minimalist Cooks at Home, Simple to Spectacular (click), Food Matters, and How to Cook Everything (click).

Rover’s: Recipes from Seattle’s Chef in the Hat (click)

James Peterson: Sauces, Fish & Shellfish (Click)

Martin Picard: Au Pied De Cochon (click)

I Grandi: Chef d’ Europa (click)