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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – According to the Food & Culinary Professionals, a practice group of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, cooking shows are not creating home chefs. In fact, there is declining culinary literacy in the US and recipe writers need to more carefully explain cooking techniques that used to by commonly known. This is where two valuable cooking resources could help fill the gap.
Oh My Gosh? I’m In College and I Never Learned to Cook! by Hollis Ledbetter is a great resource for any college student, young person living alone for the first time, or for newlyweds. It is a simple no nonsense resource that gives novice cooks a roadmap for stocking a kitchen and learning to cook.
The book starts with a Shopping List of must-have basic kitchen equipment starting with aluminum foil and ending with 2 pot holders — one for each hand. This book takes nothing for granted and assumes the reader has little or no kitchen experience. For the true novice, this advice will be appreciated. A novice cook once told me they were making a recipe that called for vegetable oil but they only had corn oil on hand. Could the corn oil substitute for the vegetable oil? For those that cook this is an obvious substitution. For those that are just learning their way around the kitchen this is a valid question.
Hollis Ledbetter understands and talks directly to the kitchen novice. She lays out a list of basic ingredients to keep on hand, defines simple cooking terms such as sift, mince and chop, offers food safety tips, and simple suggestions for decreasing fat, sodium and sugar and increasing fiber. The information is brief but to the point.
The core of the book is recipes and starts with directions for cooking pasta. I would have appreciated a table of contents because the recipes are grouped by topic such as The Dreaded Freshman Fifteen (with lower calorie choices), PhD: Perfectly Hosted Dinner, and Cramming Your Cranium (snacks, study foods and smoothies) but the index is very complete. The book is sprinkled with humorous illustrations, safety reminders, and cooking suggestions making the overall presentation of material light and enjoyable. This book will entice the uninitiated into the kitchen and makes a great gift for someone heading off to college.
The Food Substitutions Bible by David Joachim is a must have for any new cook. I’ve used the first edition for many years and found it well organized and comprehensive. When the second edition was published, my first thought was how can this book be made better. The second edition is definitely better. Joachim has added 1,500 new food and equipment substitutions, bringing the total to 6,500, plus five new tables in the appendix. All substitution entries are listed A (A1) through Z (Zwieback), giving a description of the food or piece of equipment in the left column with options for substitutions in the right column. The layout is set up for quick reference and easy reading.
Joachim has addressed the mushrooming interest in foods and cooking that has happened since the book was first published in 2005. He’s added entries such as agave nectar and XO sauce (a rich, spicy Chinese seafood sauce created in Hong Kong). Among the new appendices added Picking Coffee (which has become more complex than choosing wine) and Alcohol Retention in Cooking (even after 2.5 hours some alcohol still remains) are particularly relevant.
All cooks have found themselves in the middle of making a special dish after the stores have closed only to discover they are missing an ingredient or don’t own a special pan – this book is the answer.
For more information go to: Oh My Gosh? I’m In College and I Never Learned to Cook! by Hollis Ledbetter, 2011, Tate Publishing Company, $22.99 www.tatepublishing.com and www.omgcookbooks.com.
For more information go to: The Food Substitutions Bible, 2nd ed. by David Joachim, 2010, Robert Rose, Inc., $24.95. http://www.robertrose.ca/book/food-substitutions-bible-0.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Diabetes Counter, 4th Ed., 2011
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: YourCompleteFoodCounterApp
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