Hi everyone just wanted to introduce myself and ask a question. I'm a father of 2 boys a serious home cook and have started working in a restaurant 1x per week. I like the idea of this site, am slightly dissappointed to see the magazines: Art Culinaire, So Good, and Pastry And Baking North America not yet listed, hopefully will see those in the future. Couple questions: 1. I'd like to boost my ethic books but how do I know if they are legit and the way things are prepared there? German, Polish, Latin America, Mediterranian, Carribean, Indian, Sardinia, Japanese, Chinese. Any solid suggestions? Another question, my son loves chicken fried steak, I haven't yet found a batter that I really love with that crispness that you would expect. Any solid technique or recipe books on batters and application of? Thank You, Eric.

Hi Eric,

I can't help you with the chicken fried steak but I have quite a few ethnic books and can share my experience.  I find that I now look really closely at the author.  For example, is the author from the region or have they lived or travelled there extensively?  Also, how many books has the author done for this cuisine?  Are they just doing a quick vanity book or are they a serious cookbook author that really understands the cuisine?  If you look at the bookshelves of other EYB members, you will start to see that many people have Mediterranean and Spanish books by Claudia Roden for example.  When you read about her you will find that she has lived in the area and is a serious and well-respected cookbook author.  Now when I am considering purchasing a new cookbook I usually look it up on the EYB library and check to see how many other EYB cooks have it, who has it and if it is indexed. While this method isn't perfect it does give me a bit of a guide as to whether this might be a cookbook I would really like and use.  Also when you are looking at the book in the EYB library you can browse through the list of recipes and see what kind of recipes it has and ingredients it calls for.  This is especially helpful when you don't physically have the book to look at before you buy.  You can also sort books in the library by buzz and sometimes that helps too.  Happy cookbook hunting!

Hi Eric,

Welcome to EYB!  I hope you'll find it as useful as I have.

Many of us are home cooks only, so I'm intrigued to know what you've found the most valuable from your restaurant experience.

Can't offer guidance on half those cuisines you mention, but I have some experience with a couple of them.

Indian:  Julie Sahni and Madhur Jaffrey brought Indian cooking to English-speaking audiences in the 1970s-80s. Classic Indian Cooking and An Invitation to Indian Cooking are fine starting points -- with the caveat that India comprises many different ethnic groups, climates, and food cultures, so that no one book is going to cover everything thoroughly. But they both cover fundamental techniques and approaches to building Indian meals.  Pick one or both and get the basics down before branching out.

German:  Lüchow's German Cookbook (Indexing Now, soon to be released) covers authentically German dishes as served by the NY restaurant in the 1940s-1950s-1960s.  Mimi Sheraton's The German Cookbook is a bit more faithful to German home cooking. The cuisine has been deeply unfashionable in most parts of the U.S. for a long time, but the recent surge in craft beer, sausage-making, lacto-fermented vegetables, and real slow-rise bread have set the stage for a revival IMO.

Chinese  - will cover in another post in a bit.

Regarding chicken fried steak - the way I like mine is not batter per se.  It's sprinkle on garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper and pound thinly.  Flour, dip in egg wash and back into flour completely.  Cook in 350 degree oil of your choice (I like some bacon in there for flavor) preferably using cast iron skillet and don't crowd the skillet. 

For Japanese cookbooks I recommend

100 Recipes from Japanese Cooking (Kodansha Bilingual Books) (English and Japanese Edition)

and any cookbooks written by Harumi Kurihara (she's very good and cooks contemporary Japanese cooking unlike some others).

Originally Posted by: Rinshin

For Japanese cookbooks I recommend

100 Recipes from Japanese Cooking (Kodansha Bilingual Books) (English and Japanese Edition)

and any cookbooks written by Harumi Kurihara (she's very good and cooks contemporary Japanese cooking unlike some others).

I have this one of Harumi's, and I really like it. Very approachable contemporary Japanese food, suitable for home cooks.

Back with a few recommendations for Chinese cookbooks.  Right now, I think it would be hard to beat starting with Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice.

There has been strong praise here and on the chowhound forums for two older books, Irene Kuo's The Key to Chinese Cooking (originally published in the 1970s) and Barbara Tropp's The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking