It all comes down to ratios
When I started blogging about my culinary courses I wasn't aware of Ruhlman's 1997 book but it appears we covered many of the same bases.
In my top ten list of things I learned at culinary school, number 5 was ratios. They're used everywhere in the kitchen and are at the heart of Ruhlman's new book, Ratios, which is being released today.
On his blog, Ruhlman says he wanted to write a book that "cuts to the core of cooking" and if this is the start of the ratio movement then I'm all behind it.
But for most dishes, recipes are the culinary equivalent of training wheels. And the key to abandoning these recipes is ratios. In my ratio guide, I went over several of the basics -- one gallon water to one pound pasta; three parts oil to one part vinegar for vinaigrette dressing. Ruhlman touches on these and 31 more, including the bread dough one in the video. The other 200 odd pages of the book cover the tweaks and small additions you need to finish the dishes. Really, though, it's those 33 ratios that are important.
Besides the fact that they're easy to remember, the other reason I'm a ratio fanatic is that they are easy to pass along. You're not going to describe every detail of a sausage recipe to a friend over lunch (at least not a friend you want to dine with again) but if you casually mention that you just made some sausage and it was just three parts meat to one part fat, they're more likely to go, "Oh I could do that." And thus, another ratio convert is won.
9 comment(s) / Post a Comment
It should also be mentioned that Ruhlman is very readable. The Making of a Chef and The Reach of a Chef are 2 very well written, entertaining books (you may want to check out the half chapter on Rachael Ray in Reach).
I've been looking forward to Ratios coming out since I'm a fan of Ruhlman. Hopefully he can put a fun face on the basics of cooking that anybody will be able to read and want to read.
Posted On: Tuesday, Apr. 7 2009 @ 11:46AM100 percent agree. He's very good at making it seem you're capable of doing what he's doing and getting people excited about the book.
Posted On: Tuesday, Apr. 7 2009 @ 9:12PMI remember, ratios, like pates 50 percent fat,
puff paste 100 percent flour to 100 percent high fat butter. To make the butter more fat, we would shake the whey out of the butter, water makes the gluten develop in the flour making a less crisp puff paste.
Can't wait to see the book.
Although I don't have a formal culinary degree, I figured this out a long time ago in my quest to learn how to abandon cookbooks and just cook from instinct. I try to teach this approach in all of my cooking classes and you're right people are more apt to remember this approach than a detailed recipe. I'm ordering Ruhlman's book today!
Posted On: Wednesday, Apr. 8 2009 @ 2:48PMIf a "pint's a pound the world around," that means your ratio calls for cooking a pound of pasta in 16 ounces of water. Maybe it works if you're careful to stir and keep the pasta moving, but it doesn't seems right to me. Of course, I like 5 parts oil in my viniagrette, too.
Posted On: Wednesday, Apr. 8 2009 @ 2:48PMThe pint's a pound thing means there is 16 oz in a pound, a pint of water is 16 oz and weighs a pound. In his other article he says a pound of pasta for a gallon of water.
Posted On: Wednesday, Apr. 8 2009 @ 4:03PMWith all due respect to Michael,whom I think is a good student, good cook and great writer.
One pound of pasta will not cook properly in 1 pound (1 pint/16 oz/32 Tablespoons/96 teaspoons...however you might measure it) of water.
I'm wondering if Mr. Morris misquoted him in this article ?
Should it have been one gallon ?
Guess when I see the book I"ll find out for sure ?
It was a gallon of water, not a pound. I mixed that ratio up, which is obviously a big problem when it comes to ratios.
Posted On: Wednesday, Apr. 8 2009 @ 5:16PMbeing a Food technologist who is now involved in culinary education, i had been a ratio/percentage fanatic ever since and am trying to get culinary students into the fold.
The idea of the pasta-water ratio or for that matter food-to-oil ratio in frying is to minimize temperature drop when the food is added, although Harold McGee had an experiment (which I still have to repeat) describing that cooking pasta in less water works as well.
I hope to get Michael Ruhman's new book. he is a terrific writer.
Posted On: Monday, Apr. 13 2009 @ 6:49AM
