selecting cookbooks
when my students had to pass a class whose subject matter didn't interested them, i found that they preferred to learn a bag of tricks rather than learn the concepts that could generate all of the "tricks."

if you go to a bookstore and look at the cookbooks, most of them are bags of tricks, with pretty, pretty pictures. they show you how to create something that resembles the picture, but do not give much guidance if you want to improvise or make your own recipes.

so to be picky about cookbooks, look for ones that have been awarded:

James Beard Foundation

International Association of Culinary Professionals

Gourmand Awards (French)

other ideas for finding good cookbooks?

- posted by Jesse @ 8:38 PM