The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

I bought this book because I like to improvise when cooking. As I hoped, the ratios are helpful in improvising in more areas (such as sauces and baking). I'm vegetarian, so the section on sausages and whatnot doesn't do me any good; at least the stock section includes tips for vegetable stock as well as meat stocks.

I haven't yet made anything using the ratios, but it's an interesting read and I expect it to be helpful.

This is another book I originally got from the library then decided I wanted my own copy. I volunteer to cook and deliver meals to people in my fellowship circle and I really like having this as a help in my learning to be a better more knowledgeable cook.

very great book for learning some "common sense" about making bread type things. Once you move beyond basic cooking, something like this really shines - it allows you to make your own things without being stuck to a recipe. FREEEEDDOMM!

Mixed feelings on this one. If you are just starting out, this slender paperback might be a fine first cookbook: learn how to do the things in this book and you're well on your way. The selection is idiosyncratic (does anyone still make angel food cake?) but there's good advice here. It's great to see a discussion of stocks, and the author talks you through some key categories of cooking. Most people don't know most of this stuff.

But if you have been cooking thoughtfully for any length of time, you know everything here that you'd want to know, and/or have books that provide fuller treatments. McGee's _On Food and Cooking_ provides much, much greater depth on the whys of ratios, and there are any number of great books on the French cooking that this book distills.

My first two copies were given to friends who, after reading only a few pages, were so impressed they didn't want to return it! Excellent, common sense information written in a way that is clear and accessible.

Worth every penny.

Once you know the ratio of basic ingredients for a given recipe, success is essentially yours and you are free to play with the flavors, etc. - Thank you Michael Ruhlman for another practical useful essential to anyone who really cooks reference book!

This book has been an excellent help in my cooking hobby. It cleared up a lot of questions that I could not find answers in any of the reference books I have. Thank you Mr. Ruhlman for this book, Charcuterie and Live To Cook. Three treasures in my collection.

All cooks need this basic knowledge: it's not magic that makes it come out cake, it's chemistry. Knowing the simple ratios that make the chemistry work is the key to success. This book contains the most important of those ratios.

This book was very enlightening for me. I really enjoyed the fact that by following the essential basic ratios of ingredients, the variations are endless - anything that you can imagine, without having to refer to some recipe.

This is an amazing book and concept. Thankfully, Mr Ruhlman took the time to share it with us. It is an education for beginning cooks as well as those like myself who have been around a few years. Once you understand the ratio of flour to water, to egg to fat, etc it is much easier to adjust the size of your creation either up or down. This is really not a collection of recipes, though with his guidance you can make bread, cookies, biscuits, cookies, brine meats, make sausage, sauces, roast a chicken, make broth, soup, etc. This is more a book to read and reference when you want get ideas for making something just a little tastier than the ordinary. Nothing fancy here, no cans or boxes of stuff to use, just a collection of basic cooking skills that will advance your skills. The cost is cheap for the wealth of information received...alot of food for thought !

I have always wondered how chefs can just jump in the kitchen and bake a cake without a recipe. Once you know the ratios it is pretty easy. I you are going to have only one cookbook in your kitchen this should be the one.

This is a superb work. It is not, strictly speaking, a cookbook in the traditional sense, but a beautifully annotated culinary aide-memoire. The ratios, all by themselves, are not enough (unless you have a good deal of cooking experience behind you). But, if you carefully read the book, you will have, in addition to the ratios -- which are easy to remember -- the techniques and understanding necessary to give them life. I have been using bakers' percentages (formulas for making bread, in which each ingredient is given as a percentage of the weight of the flour) for years, so this appealed to me as a brilliant extension of that concept, and one with which I was immediately comfortable. I can highly recommend this work, and do so without any reservation whatsoever.

I will just say that this is the sort of thing that cries out to be an iPhone app (yes, I own one, so I'm prejudiced ;>) ). Think of it -- the ratios always at your beck-and-call. A nice app would allow you to add your own ratios and annotations. As well, inputting the weight of one ingredient would instantly display the weights of all the others -- instant scaling. The imagination reels at the possibilities...

Keen insight about cooking, especially pointing out a continuum between different dough(pie, cookie, pastry), different sauces and custard(caramel sauce,custard,creme anglais, chocolate sauce) and how others derive( creme brûlée, ice cream, Bavarian cream, pastry cream, mousse, buttercream).
Ratios for these gets you away from recipes and allows more creativity, better understanding of what you can adjust and experiment with.

I first learned of this book during an author interview on the radio. I loved the way he spoke about his work and especially about the love he had of making pasta from scratch. Ghent I got the book I was delighted to discover the writing to be up to the same standard as the interview. Especially the chapter on pasta! Naturally, I had to go out and get a pasta maker and start making my own from eggs and flour. I recommend this book to anyone interested in cooking - not just interested in recipes. I've gifted this book often. It makes an unusual gift book for a cook.

I love all of Ruhlman's books! Writing is concise and informative. A great reference book that gets to the bare bones heart of cooking. I like his writing style and it is a must buy for anyone who likes to cook or bake. An additional perk is it size. It is easy to pack if you need a take along reference in your cooking kit!

I love this cookbook! Ruhlman describes both ratios and techniques, in such a way that one can grasp the principles and then move beyond published recipes.

I found the differences between cakes and cookies- which use similar ingredients but are made in different ways- to be very fascinating.

Plus- many good recipes for basic stocks.

I tend to be a recipe-driven cook, but I really love knowing the lore behind such, and Ruhlman delivers. I love getting experienced and informed enough to craft my own recipes! Maybe someday I will even have a Signature Dish!