What can you learn from a cookbook?
Can cookbooks teach people to cook? New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik decided the answer was 鈥渘o,鈥� and ignited a virtual flamb茅 of debate.
recently that 鈥渢he first thing a cadet cook learns is that words can become tastes, the second is that a space exists between what the rules promise and what the cook gets. It is partly that the steps between 鈥� the melted chocolate鈥檚 gleam, the chastened, improved look of the egg yolks mixed with sugar 鈥� are often more satisfying than the finished cake. But the trouble also lies in the same good words that got you going. How do you know when a thing 鈥渏ust begins to boil鈥�? How can you be sure that the milk has scorched but not burned? Or touch something too hot to touch, or tell firm peaks from stiff peaks? How do you define 鈥渃hopped鈥�?
Food writer Monica Bhide, author of the recent cookbook 鈥淢odern Spice,鈥� debated Gopnik on the radio, and delved into the issue on . She felt, as I do, that some cookbooks do indeed teach people how to cook 鈥� and yet that isn鈥檛 always their purpose, or their true benefit.
Readers and other writers further stirred the pot on Bhide鈥檚 blog. Author Michael Ruhlman commented that 鈥淚 think it takes a certain sensibility to teach yourself to cook from books. [Y]ou've got to be very aware. [A]nd you've got to store what you learn each time.鈥� (He took on a similar question in last year.) David Leite commented that, when writing his cookbook, "The New Portuguese Table," 鈥淢y editor and I had long discussions about who the book was geared to. What level of cooking skill would she have? That would determine how much and what type of material to include in a recipe 鈥� therefore not all books are created equal. So bottom line, yes. But get thee to a basics cooking class, too.鈥� The discussion continued on , and former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl took it up on .
Gopnik鈥檚 thoughtful piece covered many aspects of cookbooks, but the whole debate would have resonated more with me a few years back, before my own definition of a cookbook began to change. Andrea Nguyen, for instance, has delightfully demystified Asian dumplings in her new book of the same name 鈥� but anyone still struggling with her recipes can watch her step-by-step , or ask her advice via . How was I convinced to pick up Bhide鈥檚 new cookbook, and start avidly following her work? Through a review on a . How do I know, as Gopnik asked, how an author is defining 鈥渃hopped鈥�? Often, these days, it鈥檚 through a photograph online. Sure, nothing substitutes for hands-on experience in the kitchen 鈥� but what we can read and see gets us closer to that point now than ever before.
Rebekah Denn blogs at .
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