Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (1) (Ruhlman's Ratios)

Michael Ruhlmanâ€™s groundbreaking New York Times bestseller takes us to the very â€œtruthâ€ of cooking: it is not about recipes but rather about basic ratios and fundamental techniques that makes all food come together, simply.

When you know a culinary ratio, itâ€™s not like knowing a single recipe, itâ€™s instantly knowing a thousand.

Why spend time sorting through the millions of cookie recipes available in books, magazines, and on the Internet? Isnâ€™t it easier just to remember 1-2-3? Thatâ€™s the ratio of ingredients that always make a basic, delicious cookie dough: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour. From there, add anything you wantâ€”chocolate, lemon and orange zest, nuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, or peanut butter, to name a few favorite additions. Replace white sugar with brown for a darker, chewier cookie. Add baking powder and/or eggs for a lighter, airier texture.

Ratios are the starting point from which a thousand variations begin.

Ratios are the simple proportions of one ingredient to another. Biscuit dough is 3:1:2â€”or 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. This ratio is the beginning of many variations, and because the biscuit takes sweet and savory flavors with equal grace, you can top it with whipped cream and strawberries or sausage gravy. Vinaigrette is 3:1, or 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, and is one of the most useful sauces imaginable, giving everything from grilled meats and fish to steamed vegetables or lettuces intense flavor.

Cooking with ratios will unchain you from recipes and set you free. With thirty-three ratios and suggestions for enticing variations, Ratio is the truth of cooking: basic preparations that teach us how the fundamental ingredients of the kitchenâ€”water, flour, butter and oils, milk and cream, and eggsâ€”work. Change the ratio and bread dough becomes pasta dough, cakes become muffins become popovers become crepes.

As the culinary world fills up with overly complicated recipes and never-ending ingredient lists, Michael Ruhlman blasts through the surplus of information and delivers this innovative, straightforward book that cuts to the core of cooking. Ratio provides one of the greatest kitchen lessons there isâ€”and it makes the cooking easier and more satisfying than ever.
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber Illustrated
ReleaseDate 2010-09-07
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781416571728

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	Illustrated
ReleaseDate	2010-09-07
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781416571728

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (1) (Ruhlman's Ratios)