KitchenSavvy

Dave Recommends "MasterCook"

MasterCook Deluxe 8.0

If you are looking for software to organize and maintain recipes on your computer, take a serious look at MasterCook.  Entering recipes is a snap.  You simply enter the amount, units of measure and ingredients, and any preparation instructions if you wish.  The "FastFill" feature will scan ahead on ingredients and suggest choices.  You can either accept one of the suggestions or continue to type what you wish.

Based on the ingredients of the recipe, MasterCook can then calculate the nutritional content of the recipe.  If an ingredient is not recognized, MasterCook will let you know.  You can add the information if you have it, or link the ingredient to a similar one.  You can also get a report of the nutritional analysis compared to a fixed daily calorie plan.

Dave Recommends "Food Lover's Companion"

The New Food Lover's Companion: Comprehensive Definitions of Nearly 6000 Food, Drink, and Culinary Terms by Sharon Tyler Herbst

Ever wonder what  a Salmagundi is? Or a Salamander? Need to know what cheese is used in Saganaki?

You can learn about these and literally thousands of other food terms in The New Food Lover's Companion.  And companion it is.  You will want this invaluable book by your side to help decode cooking terms (brûlé vs. brunoise), or sometimes just to learn how to pronounce them (broo-LAY and broo-NWAHZ).  Or to find out how to store and handle ingredients like okra and avocados.

Not only does The New Food Lover's Companion have thousands of definitions, it also contains conversion charts and formulas for changing between British, Metric and U.S. measurements.  There are charts for the various cuts of meat, ingredient equivalents (weight vs. volume) and emergency substitutions for common ingredients, as well as sections on reading food labels and on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid.

Herbst has written the reference book that belong on the cookbook shelf of every home gourmet.

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Dave Recommends "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy"

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter C. Willett

Eat, Drink and Be Healthy is not a diet book.  Rather, it is a book that cuts across diets and food trends.  Using detailed dietary information collected from numerous sources over decades of research, Dr. Walter Willett is able to tell you about what is really known when it comes to healthy eating.

A Trio of Bread Books

If you are passionate about baking bread at home, if you aspire to bake the perfect baguette or artisan loaf, then you want to read these three books:

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart
OK, I admit that the first thing that caught my interest about this book was the front cover, the calm look of perfect satisfaction on the young lady's face as she holds a rough artisan loaf almost as big as she is!  It is that kind of calm pride that I want, and sometimes feel, about bread that I bake, too.   I had to find out what she knew.

What I found inside, is the wisdom of  Peter Reinhart, baking instructor at Johnson and Wales University, author of several books on bread and co-founder of Brother Juniper’s Bakery in Sonoma, California.

The book starts with a recount of Reinhart's visit to Paris and his discovery of pain à l'ancienne, a baguette with an ancient name made with the help of a very modern invention, the refrigerator.

Dave Recommends "Cookwise"

Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking by Shirley O. Corriher

If you are a fan of FoodTV's program "Good Eats", then you will recognize Shirley O. Corriher as the food scientist who graced many of the early episodes. Her book Cookwise explains, in easily understood terms, the decisions and processes that make good recipes and great food.

Dave Recommends #1

The New Joy of Cooking by Marion Rombauer Becker, Irma S. Rombauer, Ethan Becker

For the inaugural book recommendation in KitchenSavvy, how can I choose anything other than the foundational  "All New All Purpose" Joy of Cooking.

Originally self-published in 1931 as The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat by Irma Rombauer, updated first by her daughter Marion Rombauer Becker, and now by her grandson, Cordon Bleu-trained Ethan Becker,  this dynasty publication covers the basics for the home cook.  While it may not, by itself, make you a gourmet chef, it is chocked full of the reference information and methods that have been the launch pad for many aspiring cooks.

The "Dave Recommends" Collection

The New Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst	Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter C. Willett
Bread of Three Rivers: The Story of a French Loaf by Sara Mansfield Taber