Category Archives: Tips

So You Want To Write a Cookbook

A collection of cookbooks. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

So so so many people tell me they have a cookbook to write, asking for advice, and I almost always do my best to discourage them, with Asian delicacy and Germanic firmness, I hope. Because I believe that there are too many cookbooks out there already and the ones so often published add nothing new. So when writer and educator Dianne Jacob asked me what does define a successful cookbook, it got me thinking. She’s written an excellent post collating many, many responses from people in the industry. The responses are surprising in their diversity. The first and obvious answer is, a book is successful if it makes money for the publisher and author.  And there are many ways this can happen, meaning that a book that sells ...

Click to Continue Reading

DiggShare
Also posted in Books, Business, Food Writing, Guest Post, Writing | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Stress Free Key West Menu 2012

Beef short rib, cooked sous vide 48 hours at 140F/60C, finished on grill. Photo by Donna

It requires a certain amount of stress to cook for a lot of people. Otherwise you won’t get it done. Too much work, and therefore too much focus and efficiency to both get everything done and also enjoy yourself. You’ve got to like this very peculiar kind of stress.  Or like the release that inevitably follows. And it’s not the same kind of release as it is for the guy who, when asked why he’s banging his head against the wall, responds, “Because it feels so good when I stop.”  But it’s close. You’ve just got to have that kind of love-the-pressure, love-the-release to cook for a lot of people night after night. If you do, you can make ...

Click to Continue Reading

DiggShare
Also posted in Food Adventure, Technique, Travel | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Ruhlman’s Twenty: Food Tools

I did two promotional videos for my new book, one a general description of the book (love that that one has a shot of Donna photographing, and one about an idea I thought people might call me out on. Even my recipe tester/organizer/overseer, Marlene Newell, had issues with this. Can food be a technique? I say it can. A technique is an action that has multiple applications. So while yes, an egg is an egg, it’s also an emulsifier, a leavener, a binder, and enricher. Therefore using an egg can be considered a core cooking technique. Knowing how to use salt, is one of the chef’s greatest assets. Learning how to think about these foods as tools makes you a better cook. Disagree? I’ve heard ...

Click to Continue Reading

DiggShare
Also posted in baking, Books, Elements of Cooking, Food Writing, From Scratch, ruhlman products, Technique | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Turkey Stock For Gravy: Start Soon

Mise en place for turkey stock/gravy. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman

In preparation for Thanksgiving, America's biggest home-cooking day, I'll be addressing a few of the most common issues and frequently asked questions about the basics: roasting turkey and making gravy. Friday, I'll be introducing an innovate and  in my opinion the best possible way to roast a whole turkey (it involves a dual method and resulted last year in Donna's saying, "This is the best roasted turkey we've ever had.") But first things first: make turkey stock now so that you have it on hand to make gravy. I don't know where we got the idea that a roasting turkey results enough juices to make gravy. It doesn't. And you certainly want to have way too much gravy on Thanksgiving so that you have leftovers. ...

Click to Continue Reading

DiggShare
Also posted in aromatics, Holiday, Recipes, sauce, stock, Technique | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

How To Roast a Suckling Pig

The start of the pig roast. Photo by Joshua Kulp

Chefs Christine Cikowski and Joshua Kulp, among the growing legions who are making our food better and helping us to appreciate it more, call their moveable feast Sunday Dinner Club because it evoked a time when their families shared a long meal together.  Sharing meals with the people you love is far more important than I'd ever realized, a fact that deepens the more I cook, read, and listen to other cooks, both home cooks and professionals.  I love that spirit. Sunday Dinner Club is an unusual Chicago-based business created in 2004.  What the chefs do is host dinner parties in their home and invite people on their mailing list to attend. The mailing list has been cultivated over ...

Click to Continue Reading

DiggShare
Also posted in aromatics, Charcutepalooza, Charcuterie, grilling, Guest Post, outdoor cooking, Pork!, Recipes, Salumi, Technique | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed
  • Welcome to Ruhlman.com where I blog about food, cooking, recipes and technique, because the world is better when we cook for ourselves. Thanks for visiting and I hope you’ll join the conversation.

    Follow Me on Pinterest

     

     
     

     

     

     

     

  • Kitchen Tools

    Click here to see my favorite kitchen tools.
    Go to my Open Sky store.


  • Recipes

  • Category Archive

watch full movies online for free on watch-funny-movies.com