Comments for Michael Ruhlman

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by James O'Connell

James O'Connell — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:08:56 +0000

I think the best– or most successful– cookbook you have is the one you use.
For years, my wife and I had recipes handwritten on index cards from our grandmothers (and one great-grandmother), newspaper clippings with Mom’s annotations, and plain notebook paper with recipes hand-copied from god-knows-where — all held inside the cover of an old Betty Crocker hardcover with a couple of rubberbands. It just got to be overwhelming with the eventual addition printouts from the internet.
For the past year I’ve been typing all of these ‘family’ recipes — as well as new ones that we have in our regular weeknight menu rotations — for our kids. One of them is heading off to college in the fall, and is expecting to take a printed copy with him. The nice thing is that I can explain why and how we used certain ingredients or techniques, and it’s targeted directly at the readers: family members.
Of course, new versions will be e-mailed, and shared, and even sent back upstream to Grandma (who is already pleased to see her favorites transcribed from index card to html and PDF forms!).
I’ll consider the book ‘successful’ when I know it’s being used.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by NYC Townhouse, Daphne Guinness Apartment Tour, Existing Home Sales Rise (LINKAGE) | REALTOR.com® Blogs

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:28:45 +0000

[...] What Are The Stupidest Kitchen Tools You Ever Bought? [Ruhlman] [...]

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by James Rosse

James Rosse — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:22:29 +0000

J. Fussell
So what implement do you recommend for hand-mixing a heavy dough?

Um… your hands? Is this a trick question? Am I on camera?

–Jim R

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by J. Fussell

J. Fussell — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:10:57 +0000

So what implement do you recommend for hand-mixing a heavy dough?

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:04:19 +0000

For me, what makes a cookbook successful is two things:
1) Does it inspire me to cook?
2) Does it teach me something or make something more clear?
The Ratio did both. It took the fear of baking bread for me – a process I’d done for years, but had enough mystery in it that I was afraid to deviate from the recipe at all. (Thank you, Michael!) And it made me want to experiment. There were lots of 1/4 lb cakes while I experimented with techniques for pound and sponge because I just couldn’t believe the difference the technique made in the exact same ingredients. (I had more fun in my kitchen after The Ratio came out than I’ve had in years.)
For a normal “recipe” book, great photos and interesting flavors help with inspiration – I reach for those books when I feel like I’m in a rut with what I’m making for dinner.
Finally, you can tell the successful cookbooks in any home – it’s the one that you tried to steal from your mother when you left for college (she actually found me my own copy in a junk shop because I needed the same edition she had) and its one that has pages stuck together from actually being used in the kitchen.

Comment on The Hidden Health Hazards of Lettuce by Joan Bishop

Joan Bishop — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:02:12 +0000

Hell yes! When we lived in the UK (tiny island off France called Jersey), my local grocery store sold bricks of lard and jars of goose fat right next to the butter. Then we move back to a burb of Chicago, and I had to drive an hour to an ethnic market to find my lard! How am supposed to make a pie crust or roast potatoes without lard??! Stupid mainstream grocery stores. Thankfully here in Cleveland, my local carries lard. Keep up the great work spreading the gospel-natural fat is GOOD!!

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Maureen Sancez

Maureen Sancez — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:51:50 +0000

I SO AGREE! I actually have been in arguments with my mother in law about this – no,please don’t try to stir my risotto with a rounded wooden spoon. They are a waste of space in the kitchen. Except when my kids get too close. Or too naughty. THEN, my foodie friends. THEN the rounded one has purpose.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Ben

Ben — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:49:40 +0000

Arguing that a flat wooden spoon is more useful than a round one does not mean the round one is useless. My dog tends to get wooden spoons out of the sink and eat them. During my time between wooden spoons, I tend to wish for one on an almost daily basis. Metal spoons can scratch pans, and plastic ones are too weak and can melt. In my mind both the metal and plastic ones are far less useful than one made of wood no matter what the shape.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Michael Ruhlman

Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:49:11 +0000

they didn’t have one! but they do now, these—watch the video: http://ruhlman.com/2012/02/stupid-kitchen-tools/

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Clay

Clay — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:34:41 +0000

I let me one year old play with the round ones.

And for my mother it was her paddle of choice when I was little.

Other than that, not much use.

And those paddle ones that are for rice are even less useful.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Efusco

Efusco — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:31:52 +0000

Isn’t a flat edged wooden spoon called a spatula?
And if rouned wooden spoons are so bad, should we condem all round edged spoons?
While it’s true they’re not good for scraping the bottom of a pan, they hold up much better to heat than plastic spoons, I do use it to taste and it works great b/c it’s shallower than most plastic spoon bowls (home cooking, if guests I will get and dirty another tasting spoon).

I do have a wooden spatula and some silicon/rubber spatulas that I use to scrape, but I think the rant on wooden spoons in general is sort of silly (and I’m a fan, own about 6 of your books, and don’t usually disagree with you). They’re sturdy, don’t bend when hot, are good for tasting, and are more convenient, IMO.

I would have liked to have heard you cover a lot more items in the rant, but you got off on the spoon tangent.

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Adam

Adam — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:30:14 +0000

A successful cookbook to me is one that can compete with the internet. For my tastes this involves instruction, innovation and inspiration (that wasn’t supposed to come out alliterative…).

I don’t need another book full of basic recipes, I have google for that. It is far easier and cheaper to google “traditional buttermilk biscuits” and let the search algorithm and reviews pick the best classic. Books like Ratio (hey, didn’t you write that?) teach me how to create, not assemble. What happens if I swap out the 2 parts liquid with a mixture of bourbon and water, for example?

I’m generalizing, of course. I love ‘classic’ cookbooks too, they certainly have a place in my kitchen, but the internet has been the biggest influence on the new books that I buy.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Erica

Erica — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:21:07 +0000

Regarding the wooden spoons, it’s sometimes more important to look marvelous than it is to be marvelous.

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by John Verville

John Verville — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:20:56 +0000

When you speak about a flat-edge spoon, why don’t you show the audience what you are speaking rather than just verbalizing it? I’m just saying…

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by ruhlman

ruhlman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:20:29 +0000

well, at least you’ve got one useable one there!

Comment on Something To Say: Stupid Kitchen Tools by Laura @MotherWouldKnow

Laura @MotherWouldKnow — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:16:50 +0000

If you’re gonna do wooden spoon interventions, guess you’ll be coming to my house. http://motherwouldknow.com/journal/3-reasons-to-love-wooden-spoons.html

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Annamaria Settanni McDonald

Annamaria Settanni McDonald — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:39:30 +0000

I understand exactly what you are saying. I have been taking a long time to write my own cookbook but not for the sake of getting noticed or making money but for the fact that it’s for me and for my family. I see tons and tons of Italian cookbooks out there, all geared towards this type of Italian cooking that is mainstream, but not what the real Italian cooks. So many of my mother’s cooking I have not seen in cookbooks including the desserts. I have looked in so many Italian cookbooks and can tell you I haven’t eaten 3/4 of what is in those Italian cookbooks. So I am trying to focus on the foods we eat at home, what real Italian mothers and wives cook. I hope with that people will notice the real soul/comfort food of Italians. There are indeed so many cookbooks out there but I hope to always find those that stick out. I have found many and some of the unique ones at garage sales that are so old as well. Those are the gems for me!

Happy Eating,
Annamaria

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Jan

Jan — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:59:32 +0000

Thank you for your many thought-provoking posts, including this one. I love to read cookbooks to get ideas, and although I love a good photo, the cookbooks I go back to are ones that don’t have any or hardly any photos. They have recipes that actually work and turn out really nice dishes, but at the same time are simple enough to make at home. How many recipes do we actually make from one cookbook? Which is why online recipe sites and food magazine websites are so popular, not to mention free! That’s also why books like Ad Hoc at Home and Ruhlman’s Twenty, which include techniques, are invaluable.

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Will J

Will J — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:31:09 +0000

I agree with your idea “Does it make me want to cook?” Elizabeth David’s writing makes me want to cook and gives me the idea. But I turn to Mark Bittman, James Beard or Marion Cunningham to get me started.

Comment on So You Want To Write a Cookbook by Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:38:24 +0000

I adore cookbooks, own hundreds and read them like novels, but seldom find any new ones these days that interest me. Present company excluded, of course (and in this household we love Charcuterie particularly), cookbooks all seem to be either too restaurant-y, too Food Network-y, or way too limited in scope (you know, like the cooking of ABC province of XYZ country on Wednesday afternoons). I miss the days when you could just become immersed in somebody’s interesting point of view. Perhaps that’s why Ottolenghi’s books are so popular—though, I guess I’m in the minority as I like the first one much better than Plenty.