I haven't written anything on this site, or any other for that matter in some time, mostly due to the fact that I've stepped out of online life, and back into the world of cooking professionally. I'd love to write about the experience so far, but my energy and time wouldn't permit it at this time, however I really wanted to share a new reference book that was recently published that I think every cook or aspiring cook should own, Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. Certainly Michael Ruhlman, the author, provides recipes within the book, but the real reason to own the book is the books namesake, ratios.

By providing basic ratios and explanations behind them, Ruhlman provides the foundation for cooks to easily improvise and experiment. Want to make your own rosemary garlic pizza dough, but can't find a recipe? Use the easy to follow ratio of flour to water and you'll easily be on your way.

Making a soup or sauce from scratch and need to thicken it, but not quite sure how much roux or slurry to add? Yep, there's ratios for that too. (Which is quite handy. I'm guilty of not paying attention and turning a sauce into a gloppy mess, resulting in having to go back and add more liquid and seasoning to compensate for too much thickener.)

Not an expansive book, it covers doughs, from bread to pie, batters, stocks and thickeners, farçir (sausages), fat based sauces (like mayonnaise) and custards. Within each section the basic ratios are provided, as well as explanations behind the science of why the ratio works, as well as background on the items, and examples of how to riff off of the basic ratio.

The real beauty for me on this title is that it's available on the Kindle, in my case, via the iPhone app. So I can carry this around in my pocket while in the kitchen, and if I can't remember how much oil an egg can hold when writing a recipe for my staff, I can quickly look it up and focus on the flavor profiles rather than the basics.

Speaking of handy titles a food professional should carry around, The New Food Lover's Companion is also available for the Kindle. I'm horrible at spelling, and when writing out my specials for the evening, or working with the owner on a menu rewrite, to be able to quickly look up how to spell "tagliatelle" is priceless (or well worth the $9.99 for the Kindle version).

When I get more time, I intend to explore more titles available for the Kindle that would be worth while to carry around on the iPhone.

Just about every website has jumped on the social network bandwagon, ala MySpace and Facebook, and now cooking and recipe sites are fully on board as well. Equally, there's no shortage of sites trying to be the Facebook of food, and these are just a few I've recently run across. I have not actually registered and tried to use any of these, so they are not full reviews, just first impressions based on having explored many of these types of sites.

First up is Group Recipes, in the mandatory beta status, sporting the very clichéd web 2.0ish diagonal stripped background, tags, and user profiles. From their about page they aim to be

world's neatest food site. From meeting other food lovers to nifty recipe predictions and taste compatibility, Group Recipes has your grub needs covered. The project's goal is to harness the tastebuds of the masses to create a really useful resource for food lovers.

One interesting feature is "Roger" the robot, that is supposed to analyze your recipes and tastes and make recommendations based on your profile. Also included is a recipe stumbler, for those with no clue what to make for dinner, which could come in handy on those nights nobody can make a suggestion for dinner.

Next up is , Family Oven also in the ubiquitous beta status, and honestly, my exploration was cut quite short by the overwhelming amount of adds on the home page. The goal appears to be to allow cooks of all skill levels to create a profile page (think food blog ala wordpress.com) to share their love of food and recipes, including having videos. They've also incorporated a digg like feature "chomp it" (lame, huh?) to rate recipes, as well the ability to save for later, and create shopping lists based on recipes you've collected. The overall UI leaves me with something to be desired, so perhaps a second run might sway my opinion.

Following up that is Open Source Food, from the same developer who brought us the now deceased 8apps. Also a way for users to share their recipes, Open Source Food seems to have a larger emphasis on photos with recipes. One very interesting element with the recipes is that you can license your recipes (Creative Commons seems the most popular, and there's a link to "blog this" for a recipe, which you can embed in your own blog.

Example

Definitely a neat feature, and one I may explore.

Another site I recently came across is Super Cook allows you to "finds recipes you can make with the ingredients you have at home." I haven't tested this site, but will keep it bookmarked for those I just don't want to head out to the market.

Finally, not so much a social food and cooking site is Culinary Seductions which aims to show "food is the key that unlocks hearts, minds and a whole lot more. Our mission is to entertain and educate all those who are interested in winning their dates over with food." Obviously aimed at the bachelor/husband looking to impress the woman in the life, this site's goal is to share seductive recipes and techniques to achieve these dishes.

If you've come across other similar sites, or have one of your own which you'd like featured here on Cooking With, leave a comment and I'll be sure to take a look and share my thoughts.

Well, well, well. I had made a resolution to be more active with my food blogging in 2007, and so far, you can see, that's been a great big failure. I've been quite busy in my transformation from professional chef to professional web designer, and though I'm cooking more at home than previously, I haven't made the effort to blog about it. Shame on me. Let's see if I can make that change.

In the meantime, I came across a new community food site, Group Recipes. If you check them out and sign up before March 7th, you can be entered to win a $6000 dollar kitchen make over. So run over and sign up.

And I promise to myself if nobody else to bring back the recipes and a slightly new layout for the site soon.

I enjoyed doing this last week, found some fun new sites, figured I would indeed try to make it a habit. So I've got some iTunes fired up (you can follow along here), and off we go.

First stop, is Anthony's Kitchen, where he's posted a recipe for Dahi Chicken w/ Capsicum. Anthony calls his site the "bachelor cooking blog", and is a place (I'm guessing) for bachelor men from India to find traditional recipes, to offer a respite from "outside" food as he calls it. Any recipe that calls for 8-9 cloves of garlic is a must try for me!
From their, we follow a link from Anthony's "world chefs" blog roll to Eat Stuff - A GIRL A GUY AND A CAT EATING STUFF AROUND SYDNEY AUSTRALIA. So we've found ourselves in Australia now, (from Tampa, to India to Australia in no time!). I really like the apple ginger dessert calzone they offer up. I've always been fond of desserts that take a twist on a savory dish. Once upon a time, in a different life, I would do chocolate "burritos". Basically it was chocolate rolled and filled with ganache, and then finished with a creme anglaise and warm chocolate sauce. But I digress. Where will we find our selves next?
Ah, Northern California this time, at I'm mad and I eat, where among other things, where we are told to not "vote for the twinkie" (cookiecrumb likes to mix a little politics into her food writing :) ). Aside from that, there are some beautiful pictures, and I really like the post on making ketchup. Definitely will be back this way sooner than later. So half way to our 6 degrees, what's next?
Ah, feeling a little thirsty, I see a link, Quaffability. Great, mostly wine, mostly under $12 (mostly from Trader Joes - something we don't have down here in Tampa, but we do have a liquor barn (or some Wine Warehouse type deal)). What's the latest offering? Perfect, a $4.99 bottle of Rosé. The heat here in Florida is getting to the point of justifiable homicide, so a Rosé is a perfect choice. Thanks. Another excellent site for the blogroll. This is fun.
A limited list of blogs to exit out of Quaffability leads us to a Knife's Edge, a blog on restaurant rants and raves. A funny story about getting a call from the Oprah show highlights the main page.
To wrap things up this week, I couldn't resist this blogs name in praise of sardines. Another west coast blogger (hmm, gotta find some foodies here on the east coast and down south), Brett discusses the differences of fresh, and FRESH seafood, as he discovered on a recent trip to Spain. Equally mentioned on the site, is I eat and I'm mad did, was a monthly "eat locally challenge". Great images of artichokes and cherries, among other images in other posts.
So there we have it, 6 more degrees of Cooking with miklb. From Florida, to India, to Australia, and then onto several stops on the west coast. I've added some new links, and will continue to look for more, so as to have an even greater choice of starting points. Look for a post soon on seafood from me as well, discussing some recent articles I've found on sustainability and responsible fishing.

Edna Lewis, 89, Dies; Wrote Cookbooks That Revived Refined Southern Cuisine - New York Times

As a young cook living in Denver, I used to go to Tattered Cover book store and read cookbooks on my days off if I wasn't out thrifting. It's been a life time since I've been there, but I remember clearly the basement, a clearance section of sorts. I would scour the cookbooks, looking for gems to take home. One that stands out was this one. Though only a first generation Southerner, my paternal side of the family was quite rural, and many of those traits marry well with the southern food. So I would read Miss Lewis's book, and find a marriage between my past and present, all the while gain a love and appreciation for food that is still at the core of my existence today. I can say I'm a better cook because I discovered Edna Lewis, and I will cherish both the memories of my discovery of her cooking, as well as that cookbook, which I just retrieved from beside my bed, as I still find reading her anecdotes far more inspiring than a recipe. Thank you Miss Lewis, and may you rest in peace.