Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 136 posts

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#11

Post by ilamont »

I started to watch the video series set in Italy featuring the author. I agree with the premise, thought a few scenes were interesting (particularly the butcher and harvesting olives in the first episode), but just couldn't get into the cooking and dining scenes ... too heavy on the "food porn" and too light on the "whys" of what they are doing. They just do something, and people are mostly left to their imaginations of why this combination or process or amount leads to the terrific outcome shown on the screen.

I will say one thing about the video series that was refreshing: She learned Italian, and for the most part talks with people who can't speak English. Many cooking travel shows are forced to rely on interpreters, expats, or locals who can speak English, which really limits the expertise and viewpoints that can be shared.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#13

Post by parabx »

ilamont wrote: post #11

I started to watch the video series set in Italy featuring the author. I agree with the premise, thought a few scenes were interesting (particularly the butcher and harvesting olives in the first episode), but just couldn't get into the cooking and dining scenes ... too heavy on the "food porn" and too light on the "whys" of what they are doing. They just do something, and people are mostly left to their imaginations…

I think that the series is more about what is to cook food, not how to cook it. It's a different lens over the same matter.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#14

Post by f2f »

nemo44x wrote: post #8

Great book - every home cook should read it. A truly effective philosophy for building dishes. You’ve maybe heard the expression “the acid cuts through the fat” before and this book explains why and is useful in finding ways to adapt this technique. Having 50 or so pages dedicated to salt is great. Knowing when to salt something and what effect it will have on the food is particularly useful. Effective brining and sa…

love the book. didn't think the show captured the essence of it that well, looked like a 4-episode set piece for a future cooking series. but the book is really good. sits on top of the educational pile for me, together with the "silver spoon" book.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#15

Post by tptacek »

I've read the book and watched the series. Both are fine.

The series is in a weird place in between Mind of a Chef (which, in most of its seasons, is a significantly better show) and a more conventional FoodTV cooking show. I think they're trying to do too much in each episode, and also that the travel-show part of each episode works better than the cooking demos do.

The book is better than the show. I have friends that swear by it. I like it fine! It sort of joins a pantheon of "if you're only going to own one cooking book make it this one" books, which would include Bittman's "How To Cook Anything", Ruhlman's "Twenty", the Cooks Illustrated Cookbook, and, I don't know, maybe "Joy of Cooking"?

Of those books, I think Ruhlman's "Twenty" is by far the best. It's similar to "Salt, Fat" in the sense that it breaks cooking down by technique and concept, instead of courses or dishes. But I think it has a more coherent structure, covers more ground, and, while wasting less time on narrative, still manages to establish a conversational tone.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#16

Post by Tomte »

I'm not a fan of the book. I mean, it's all correct, the illustrations are beautiful, not much to bicker about.

But it fell flat for me, maybe because I already have Twenty and a few other books.

I did not find really new concepts, and none of the recipes really jumped out at me and made me want to cook them, I returned the book.

It's fine, really, but I think there are better ones. Twenty for concepts, Ratio for "show me quickly how to do X" and, my special tip, How to Cook without a Book by Anderson.

Just disregard her list of ingredients you should always have in stock, because you'd probably need to convert one of your larger rooms into a pantry. It goes on and on for pages.

But the recipes and the whole presentration is top-notch. Including a short rhyme at the beginning of every chapter that tells you Ratio-like how to do a basic whatever the chapter is about.

If you read German, get Nahrungszubereitung Schritt für Schritt by Schlieper. It's a very thin book, full of illustrations, because it is for school use (including special-needs schools). Very basic. What parts of the beef or pork are there. What kinds of rice are readily available in the supermarket. Basic recipes like pancakes, roux, Bologna sauce. They tell you how to cook pasta.

It's conventional. None of the higher-level stuff like "let your steak rest after cooking" or "more salt into your pasta water". But it's great for all those little things like roux that "normal people" don't do often and forget the details.

I just hope they added a real index in a later edition, because I don't find anything in their botched simulation of an index.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#17

Post by jonplackett »

I like watching that series when I just want to chill and zone out a bit. I like seeing how food was originally made. The episode where she is making pesto properly (ie not with a blender that just chops instead of crushing and leaves you with crap oily rubbish - what I used to do) made me really want to visit Italy and just eat everything.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#18

Post by alwaysreading »

Tomte wrote: post #16

I'm not a fan of the book. I mean, it's all correct, the illustrations are beautiful, not much to bicker about. But it fell flat for me, maybe because I already have Twenty and a few other books. I did not find really new concepts, and none of the recipes really jumped out at me and made me want to cook them, I returned the book. It's fine, really, but I think there are better ones. Twenty for concepts, Ratio for "sh…

The book is better than the show. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Amazon for those interested - https://amzn.to/2OPW4PR

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#19

Post by Nition »

tptacek wrote: post #15

I've read the book and watched the series. Both are fine. The series is in a weird place in between Mind of a Chef (which, in most of its seasons, is a significantly better show) and a more conventional FoodTV cooking show. I think they're trying to do too much in each episode, and also that the travel-show part of each episode works better than the cooking demos do. The book is better than the show. I have friends t…

In New Zealand that "one cooking book" is the Edmonds Cookery Book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonds_Cookery_Book

Tells you all the essentials of how to cook meat and veges and make basic sauces and all that, plus has a whole lot of relatively simple recipes that use common ingredients.

Re: ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ Is a Love Letter to Amateur Cooks

#20

Post by moneil971 »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #2

My wife is loving this book. It's very different from other cookbooks. It's more narrative, and teaches you how to think about cooking rather than just providing recipes to follow.

Def planning to watch the series and prob pick up the book as well
Post reply on HN