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

theatlantic.com

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

#81

Post by ip26 »

markdown wrote: post #67
cthalupa wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a fiction book you read for entertainment. Books of this nature are meant to be a reference and resource you continue using.

I feel that's beside the point. The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. You've deprived them of some value, and you refuse to pay for what they've lost. I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. You rarely know for certain that you'll love what you're paying for, and you should accept that risk. One shouldn't feel entitled to 100% satisfaction when one makes a purchase, and certainly shouldn't deprive the…

If it just isn't quite for you, sure. But if the product turns out to be garbage, personally I feel like the vendor needs a strong signal saying so...

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

#82

Post by markdown »

ip26 wrote: post #81
markdown wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that's beside the point. The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. You've deprived them of some value, and you refuse to pay for what they've lost. I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. You rarely know for certain that you'll love what you're paying for, and you should accept that risk. One shouldn't feel entitled to 100% satisfaction when one makes a purchase, and certainly shouldn't deprive the…

If it just isn't quite for you, sure. But if the product turns out to be garbage, personally I feel like the vendor needs a strong signal saying so...

Agreed.

This is a discussion about returning a product because "it just isn't quite for you."

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

#83

Post by sailfast »

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.

I haven't read the book, but based on your description it sounds like she might also like The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt.

Food Lab gets much deeper into the chemistry and the why / how than the TV series. I was kinda hoping for some more direct cooking guidance rather than having my appetite whet by the show, but it was still fun to watch.

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

#84

Post by billfruit »

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 India that single cookbook would be 'Modern Cookery' by Thankam E Philip.

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

#85

Post by scrollaway »

papa_bear wrote: post #27
methodover wrote: post #25

Does anyone know of a cookbook that provides complete meals? The ones I’ve had recommended all assume you kinda know what you want to make. But I want someone else to tell me what to make, and I’ll just put it all together.

It's not really a cookbook, but check out my website https://www.EatThisMuch.com/ You can set it to just one meal if you want (and something like 600 calories) and keep regenerating it until it looks like something you'll like. I started it because I'm terrible at thinking about what I want to eat :)

What a useful tool! It's an answer to a problem I've had for years, which I've had no idea how to formulate in order to solve. Thank you for making and posting this.

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

#86

Post by cyphar »

leetcrew wrote: post #75
markdown wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that's beside the point. The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. You've deprived them of some value, and you refuse to pay for what they've lost. I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. You rarely know for certain that you'll love what you're paying for, and you should accept that risk. One shouldn't feel entitled to 100% satisfaction when one makes a purchase, and certainly shouldn't deprive the…

> I suppose this is to be expected from people raised in an environment where multi-billion dollar corporations compete for customers and can afford to offer "just because I didn't like it" returns free of charge. you hit the nail on the head. amazon has a policy where they will let you get a full refund within n days as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself. they're not stupid; they do realize…

> as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself

As an aside, my limited experience with buying "new" books from Amazon is that they are always significantly damaged on arrival.

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

#87

Post by tptacek »

billfruit wrote: post #84
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 India that single cookbook would be 'Modern Cookery' by Thankam E Philip.

I clicked around in the Amazon previews and Modern Cookery reads a lot like "New Pro Chef", the Culinary Institute textbook.

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

#88

Post by spongepoc »

cantrevealname wrote: post #46

Has anyone else noticed that there has been a massive surge in cooking books, videos, and shows in the last 10-15 years? Especially on TV, it's wall to wall cooking shows. I remember that cooking was a big interest 20-25 years ago, but it seems so much bigger now. Anyone have any theories about why this may be, or if my impression is wrong? My own theory is that many more men are into cooking nowadays, so the market…

The west has culturally moved into a kind of foodie Epicureanism in the past 15 years. This can be seen as a response to economic pressures that young people are facing. When you can't afford a home or a car, you give up on it altogether and suddenly you have all this disposable income to spend on smaller and more transient sensory experiences like food and travel. Importantly, these experiences are able to be catalogued on social media.

Instagram is a huge factor in the rise of foodie-ism. If you are what you eat then you can use pictures of food as a form of self-expression. Picture of a dish at a quirky new restaurant? You're adventurous and on-trend. Made a sourdough bread from scratch? You're artisanal and authentic.

We also have to consider that 'cool food places' is one of the biggest draws that have led people to move into big cities in the past 15 years. Young people are ditching chain restaurants for hipster authenticity. Fetishising the latest Pho place as being more authentic than the last is one way to demonstrate your competence in the urban marketplace of food choices. Which leads on to the phenomenon of 'review-ism': how we now depend on internet reviews to decide where to go.

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

#89

Post by tootie »

methodover wrote: post #25

Does anyone know of a cookbook that provides complete meals? The ones I’ve had recommended all assume you kinda know what you want to make. But I want someone else to tell me what to make, and I’ll just put it all together.

How to Cook Everything is the one cookbook you should own. It walks through all the basic cooking techniques for every type of food. Including how to select, prep and store. What kinds of foods can be cooked the same ways. It's like a home cooking textbook.

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

#90

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
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