Almazing KZ Blog

Why Cookbooks Aren't Enough though ?

Okay, so cookbooks can be fun. Mouthwatering pictures. Ethnic cuisines. Inspiring ideas. Maybe you even try a recipe or two.
But, here's what's often wrong with many of them:

1) They tell you to open a can of this or a box of that.

Have you ever looked at the ingredients labels on those cans of cream of mushroom soup or boxes of spanish rice? You'd need a degree in chemistry just to understand it! Whatever happened to real food? You can make a cream of mushroom soup from-scratch in about 15 minutes. And if you time it well, you could probably use the from-scratch cream of mushroom soup in a recipe without adding any additional time to how long it takes you to get dinner on the table.

2) They leave out important information.

Remember what I said about thawing meat? You really want to bring cuts of meat up to room temperature before you start cooking them. A cookbook isn't going to tell you that. It won't tell you what the difference is between cubing, dicing, or mincing. It won't tell you how to care for your frying fats so that you can safely re-use them later. It's easy to become quickly discouraged if you follow a recipe's directions but end up with a disaster (or at least a not-so-appetizing meal) on your hands.

3) They don't teach you how to source ingredients.

For example, not all potatoes are created equal. Some varieties are good for baking, while others are better for potato salad. Most cookbooks don't tell you how to buy ripe peaches or select cuts of meat. They don't tell you why even your store bought whole milk isn't as creamy as the milk your grandmother cooked with when she lived on a farm, or how that might affect the outcome of a recipe. They don't tell you how to find quality cooking oils.

I just recently read a book How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, but there was nothing about Central Asian Cuisine.



Of course, here comes the point that I need our Kazakh Cook Book. I had it actually in Russian and another one in English from Peace Corps in Almaty, but I lost both of them. Unfortunately there are not much information about how to cook real traditional meal with explanations in English, so that it could give people like me -- people like you -- the tools you'd need to start enjoying wholesome, tasty, from-scratch Kazakh Meals.

Hopefully these web pages will empower you to start as well:

http://aboutkazakhstan.com/kazakhstan-people-national-food.shtml
http://www.kazakhstan.orexca.com/kazakhstan_cuisine.shtml