Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave)
- Downloads：9804
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-10 10:50:55
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：David Chang
- ISBN：1524759244
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
The chef of Momofuku cooks at home 。 。 。 and that means breaking the rules that chefs， magazines， and everyone else tell you about， so you can get a great dinner done fast。
Being a chef can make you the worst kind of home cook。 Either you’re too fussy when dinner just needs to be on the table or， as Momofuku chef Dave Chang will tell you about his early years in the industry， you just 。 。 。 never cook at home。
But now， with a family to feed， Dave faces the same challenges as any home cook: how to make something as delicious as possible， in the least amount of time possible， with as little mess as possible。 It’s no time for meticulous searing or searching for the perfect medium rare。
This is his guide to the culinary dark arts of substituting， adapting， shortcutting， and sandbagging， like par-cooking chicken in the microwave before showing you seven ways to blast it with flavor in a four-minute stir-fry or a ten-minute stew， because he is as tired as you are of doing things the hard way。
Reviews
Jennyfer
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I LOVE this book。 It's a budget-friendly， no-frills guide to trusting your instincts。and learning to cook the foods you like。There are lists of pantry staples favoured by the authors， and recommended gadgets and utensils that would be idea for someone starting their cooking journey， sections on food safety and the science on why flavours work together。 There are pages dedicated to how to eyeball the foods to know when it's right， and the microwave is acknowledged for being an essential part of a I LOVE this book。 It's a budget-friendly， no-frills guide to trusting your instincts。and learning to cook the foods you like。There are lists of pantry staples favoured by the authors， and recommended gadgets and utensils that would be idea for someone starting their cooking journey， sections on food safety and the science on why flavours work together。 There are pages dedicated to how to eyeball the foods to know when it's right， and the microwave is acknowledged for being an essential part of a home kitchen。 The authors encourage the use of the much maligned microwave， as well as frozen vegetables， because they're all about making great tasting food in a short amount of time。The recipes are more like guides -or the sort of instructions you'd get if you were cooking alongside someone。 You get a vague ingredient list and a rough method， but you're encouraged to make it your own， It's written in a very conversational tone， which adds to the feel of cooking alongside the authors， and there is some banter between the two within the pages， which is refreshing to see in a cookbook。The recipes have a strong global influence， and any recipe based on a traditional one has a reference back to the culture where it originated。It's a fabulous cookbook， refreshing to read， and I look forward to trying out some of these recipes！~Many thanks to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~ 。。。more
Leith Devine
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This is a great book for someone who wants some cooking basics， regardless of experience。 This isn’t a cookbook overflowing with recipes， it’s more about technique with a few recipes and variations。 There’s a lot of helpful reference information。 I love the pictures and graphics， they make a chart look fascinating！ I’ve already tried the chicken and a few of the variations， they were delicious。I highly recommend this book， 5 stars。 Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary This is a great book for someone who wants some cooking basics， regardless of experience。 This isn’t a cookbook overflowing with recipes， it’s more about technique with a few recipes and variations。 There’s a lot of helpful reference information。 I love the pictures and graphics， they make a chart look fascinating！ I’ve already tried the chicken and a few of the variations， they were delicious。I highly recommend this book， 5 stars。 Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book。 Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own。 。。。more
Tanya
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Great and informative book about how to cook and what to cook。 Loved the bright colours and pictures throughout the book as well。 I could see me recommending this to students as they move out of home and have to prep food for themselves for the first time。 The titles of the various chapters were funny and made me chuckle a few times。 :）
MookNana
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The use case for this book is not quite obvious。 It's a useful tome on food science and recipe development， and I appreciate its advocacy for free-form， intuitive cooking （don't get bogged down in measurements/recipes， if it tastes good， eat it。 etc。）， but it' s not really a quick reference guide for harried home cooks。 It takes some dedicated time to read through all of the theory presented here。 It's good information and will help build a foundation of knowledge， but I'm not sure someone looki The use case for this book is not quite obvious。 It's a useful tome on food science and recipe development， and I appreciate its advocacy for free-form， intuitive cooking （don't get bogged down in measurements/recipes， if it tastes good， eat it。 etc。）， but it' s not really a quick reference guide for harried home cooks。 It takes some dedicated time to read through all of the theory presented here。 It's good information and will help build a foundation of knowledge， but I'm not sure someone looking for easy cook-at-home solutions is going to have the time/inclination to parse this text。 It might be a good introductory book for young adults to help them master basic principles of cooking as they're starting out。 Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review。 。。。more
Jason Frasca
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Overall I did appreciate this book and its concept。 I love the idea of presenting more of a 'roadmap' with concepts and themes， rather than specific directions and instructions。 I learned a new appreciation for several methods I've never used， such as boiling meat， and refocusing on cuts of meat I often overlook， like chuck beef。 I appreciate the tidbits from food scientists that that authors have added as well。 I do recommend to most readers has it will add to your fundamental toolbox of cookin Overall I did appreciate this book and its concept。 I love the idea of presenting more of a 'roadmap' with concepts and themes， rather than specific directions and instructions。 I learned a new appreciation for several methods I've never used， such as boiling meat， and refocusing on cuts of meat I often overlook， like chuck beef。 I appreciate the tidbits from food scientists that that authors have added as well。 I do recommend to most readers has it will add to your fundamental toolbox of cooking methods。My main criticisms， though， are as follows:-The organization confuses me。 It seems to break into subsections based off protein， then cooking method， but still seems disorganized overall to me。 -There is a lot of cursing throughout。 A bit here and there I can deal with， especially seeing as the whole goal of this book is to focus on ways to cook efficiently at home。 However， from a professionalism stand point， I highly recommend re-wording multiple sections。-The back and forth from the authors leaves me confused at times。 Why don't the authors combine forces as just one unified narrative voice？-Multiple pictures of cooked meals on display throughout are burnt， and the authors even comment as such。 Now， from the cooking at home standpoint， I can see how having these throughout can show how home meals are often imperfect， yet still delicious。 As a big reader and lover of cookbooks， I'm left wondering， why weren't these remade to look more attractive for print？ I did read this on the NetGalley app， which seemed to have some issues with the exact words and layout - perhaps they will look better in print。Because of the comments above， I have chosen 3 stars， as overall， I think the content is great。Thank you NetGalley for my free copy。 The comments above are mine without influence。 。。。more
Alissa Avilov
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This book is honestly fantastic - it pairs the hot takes and no nonsense attitude you expect from David Chang with Priya’s thoughtful interpretations and， at times， conflicting perspective。 This book is incredibly real， starting with the photos and ending with the essays。 This book is more of an education and a guide rather than a book with recipes。 I did still find it really useful， and I learned a lot！ I especially enjoyed the essays from scientists who shared the intersection of science and f This book is honestly fantastic - it pairs the hot takes and no nonsense attitude you expect from David Chang with Priya’s thoughtful interpretations and， at times， conflicting perspective。 This book is incredibly real， starting with the photos and ending with the essays。 This book is more of an education and a guide rather than a book with recipes。 I did still find it really useful， and I learned a lot！ I especially enjoyed the essays from scientists who shared the intersection of science and food around topics like frozen food。 The general sections included in this book are as follows:- cooking meat -cooking in the microwave （this section really inspired me） -fish （titled Who actually has a local fishmonger？ Not me！ A realistic approach to cooking fish）-cooking vegetables （especially less than ideal produce）-if I’m not eating rice I’m probably eating noodles-a flatbread recipe-condiments-a few other recipes they love After reading through I am excited to play around with tuna pasta salad， choose your own adventure beans， cooking iceberg lettuce （？！）， and cooking corn in corn。I think this is a must for anybody who loves to cook or wants to learn more。 The guidance offered in this book is valuable to anyone with a kitchen。 。。。more
Sara
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I loved the visuals of this book just as much as I loved the content。 It's the kind of book that we should all have on our shelves as a reference book， but it is just as much fun to simply leaf through it for ideas and commentary。 There's no doubt that the authors know their stuff and readers benefit from what they've learned through their own hours in the kitchen。 I ended up feeling actual gratitude towards them for this wonderful attempt to have us all eating well without too much fuss。This is I loved the visuals of this book just as much as I loved the content。 It's the kind of book that we should all have on our shelves as a reference book， but it is just as much fun to simply leaf through it for ideas and commentary。 There's no doubt that the authors know their stuff and readers benefit from what they've learned through their own hours in the kitchen。 I ended up feeling actual gratitude towards them for this wonderful attempt to have us all eating well without too much fuss。This is a book both for the experienced cook and the novice。 Highly recommended！Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to view and read this book pre-publication。 。。。more
Janet
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