another in a series

[madbaker]

mad_duchess asked:

1. Besides the amazing restaurants, what's your favourite thing about living in SF?
   We have good neighbors.


2. Follow up to #1, what's the least favourite?
   Sadly, there are lots of competitors for this one - politicians who don't live in the real world but spend my money; homeless bums who use doorsteps as toilets in plain view and then panhandle me for drinking money (and the lobby that perpetuates them in that situation); high taxes for low return; political correctness and process over outcome. But my top one is more prosaic: finding parking. I loathe, loathe, loathe looking for parking.


3. What do you consider your finest theatrical performance?
   Either the high school performance of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was incredibly intense (a short German exchange student played Nurse Ratched, brilliantly, and the guy cast as Murphy was just as good) or more recently, Peermalion.


4. I love reading your recipe resolution posts (or whatever you call them) what prompted you to begin those?
   An easy one! A few years ago I was in a cooking rut and had been accumulating modern cookbooks that I wasn't using. This was a way to force me to try new things and, if I found I wasn't using/didn't like the recipes, get rid of cookbooks. The first has worked very well. The second, not so much. I got rid of a few books but I've gotten more.


5. What are the top 3 cooking techniques you think every aspiring chef should learn?
   Having just read Michael Ruhlman's books, I have to say "brown stock". It's the foundation for Fronch cuisine starting with Escoffier. Knife work (something I could improve). And presentation, which is both under- and over-rated, but is still fundamental to how we perceive a meal.

Comments

Cookbooks

[serendipity17.livejournal.com]

A cousin on the east coast is looking for basic cookbooks with foundational technique to get her started on American food; she rolled from college to teaching English in Japan so she's got Japanese food solidly already. At the library book sale I found the 1950s Gourmet hardcover two-volume set and the 1963 Good Housekeeping cookbook (total $3), so that's heading her way. I have room in the box for one more book, and I'd like to get her something contemporary. Would you recommend Mark Bittman or Alton Brown?

Re: Cookbooks

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I'm not that familiar with Mark Bittman, but Alton Brown is always a solid choice.

[j-i-m-r.livejournal.com]

Aw shucks :-)