[Master-chef]

Hi  one of the books i read was Heston Blummental on Cooking and tried the recipes which was lemon tart it was splendid, i don't what else to buy. please help me I need a list of books that are for

Reference, recipes, knowledge and research also inspiration.

I am grateful for your anwsers and thank you so much for your help

 

[chefmc]

Anything by Thomas Keller would be a great place to start. I recommend either Bouchon, The French Laundry Cookbook, or Ad-Hoc at Home. Under Pressure is great but mostly dedicated to sous-vide cooking.

 

[evanroa]

a couple books that helped me were

food lovers companion

food bible

ad-hoc

garde manger (CIA)

the silver spoon

designed for the beginning cook, the first two are more reference oriented

the rest have good recipes with thorough, understandable descriptions

 

[pete]

Mal, if you look at our Cookbook Review section, there are many threads asking this same exact question.  I would check out all those threads for ideas about what books you should own.

 

[chefwriter]

I'll recommend James Peterson's Sauces, Ruhlmans' Ratio, and Jacques Pepin Techniques. For general information and knowledge, the Joy of Cooking is a great reference.  

Many great chefs have been putting out cookbooks and you can find them in used bookstores if you want to save a few dollars.  

 

[Master-chef]

i will give them a try but are there books that are more sophisticated, more professional to use also if you know books that have flavor pairings or flavors per country. i am sorry i demand too much but i need these. i am an alumni but i need to know a lot more than what i do now. please i appreciate your help and if there is anything i can owe back this gratitude feel free to ask.

 

[grande]

Well there's the Flavor Bible and Culinary Artistry, both good books. But some of the books recommended are by the top people in this field in the states. There is no "Working Chefs guide to Flavor Combinations", no modern equivalent of "La repertoire de la cuisine"

 

[pete]

Mal, not sure who you addressed your last post to, but so far everyone has given you a good bit of advice.  All the books mentioned so far are pretty much standards on most chefs' shelves and again, I urge you to look at the many threads, in the cookbook section, that ask this same exact question.

 

[chefwriter]

     Mai, if there is something more specific you are looking for, you will have to say what it is. Many of the books mentioned are very sophisticated. You can't get much more sophisticated 

than Thomas Keller. 

     As for flavor pairings, you learn these by reading recipes and actually cooking them so you can taste what the results are. Read recipes from different cultures, make them and taste the results. 

Nothing will teach you better than experience. That takes time. You can't develop as a cook overnight. Read, cook and learn.