“Anyone can cook anything and make it delicious.”
This is the first cookbook I’ve reviewed on my blog. It is half a cookbook and half an instruction manual for cooking. Samin Nosrat shares her knowledge of cooking from years of working in restaurants, studying throughout the world and learning her family’s recipes. Her focus is on four key things: Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat. She proposes that if you learn how to use these four things correctly, you can make any dish and make it delicious.
Some family members recommended Salt Fat Acid Heat to me when I asked them what they were currently reading. They had tried some of the techniques and found that they made a huge difference in their cooking. These are people who know about good food and know about good cooking already. I found a copy at a local bookstore and knew it would be better to read the hard copy than try to read it on my Kindle from the library. I’m glad I did because I read it while making notes in it!
In the Salt section, the author talks about how salt will bring out the flavor in foods. In Fat, she talks about how to properly deal with fat in meat and how to add the right fats to dishes. In Acid, she also discusses the right acids to add to dishes and how important they are to balance out flavor. Heat is the longest chapter because it discusses all the various ways to cook food and what some of the best methods are for different dishes.
I learned a lot reading Salt Fat Acid Heat and have some new techniques to try when it comes to cooking. I learned about salting meat and bringing it to room temperature before cooking it. I learned more about how my oven works. I also learned how to make mayonnaise and am going to try that very soon! My children who love to cook are also reading through this book and learning. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys being in the kitchen.
What is your favorite dish to cook? Share in the comments!