Gourmet Cooking for Dummies Book

Foreword

Introduction

About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Conventions Used in This Book
How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Building Your Way to a Well-Stocked Kitchen
Part II: So You Know How to Boil Water and Fry an Egg
Part III: Bumping It Up a Notch and Taking It to the Next Level
Part IV: Ooh, You Sweet Thing!
Part V: The Home Stretch: Taking It to Your Dinner Table
Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here

Part I: Building Your Way to a Well-Stocked Kitchen

Chapter 1: What Makes It Gourmet?
Buying the Freshest Ingredients
Combining Flavors and Textures
Taking Extra Care in Preparing Dishes
Plating Foods in Attractive Ways
Learning the Lingo of Gourmet Cuisine
Being Flexible with Ingredients and Tools
Taking Risks with Your Recipes
Chapter 2: Stocking Your Kitchen for the New Millennium
Choosing Basic Equipment

Pots and pans
Picking the right pans
Knives
Other kitchen necessities

Lining Up Your Lotto List
Stocking Up with Staple Ingredients

Pantry items
Refrigerator and freezer items
Herbs
Spices

Chapter 3: Getting Your Cooking Permit
Cooking Techniques

Dry heat cooking methods
Dry heat cooking methods using fats and oils
Moist heat cooking methods

Formal Knife Cuts
Gourmet Cooking Terms
Chapter 4: Surviving Your First Trip to the Produce Market
Fruits

Apples
Apricots
Avocados
Bananas
Berries
Carambolas (star fruit)
Cherimoyas (custard apples)
Cherries
Citrons
Coconuts
Dates
Figs
Grapefruit
Grapes
Guavas
Kiwi fruit
Kumquats
Lemons
Limes
Lychees
Mangoes
Melons
Nectarines
Oranges
Papayas
Passion fruit
Peaches
Pears
Persimmons
Pineapples
Plantains
Plums
Pomegranates
Pomelos
Prickly pears (cactus pears)
Quinces
Tamarillos
Tangerines and mandarins
Tangelos
Ugli fruit
White sapotes

Vegetables

Artichokes
Asparagus
Beans (fresh)
Beets
Bok choy (Chinese white cabbage)
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chiles
Corn
Cucumbers
Daikons
Eggplant
Fava beans
Fennel
Fiddleheads
Jicama
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Napa cabbage
Okra
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Potatoes
Radishes
Rhubarb
Rutabagas
Snow peas
Spinach
Squash
Sweet peppers
Sweet potatoes
Swiss chard
Tomatoes
Turnips
Water chestnuts

Part II: So You Know How to Boil Water and Fry an Egg

Chapter 5: Getting Sauced

The Mother Sauce Name Game
Creating Savory Stocks

The do's and don'ts of stock-making
Making your own stocks
Various ways to thicken stocks and sauces

Intensifying Flavors with Reductions
Vegetable Broths
Consommés
Infused Oils

Making infused oils

Vinegars

Making infused vinegars

Vinaigrettes
Waters
Chapter 6: Saucing Up a Plate in Nontraditional Ways: Salsas, Relishes, and Chutneys
Doing the Salsa
Relishing Your Dishes
Charming Your Cuisine with Chutney
Chapter 7: Where's the Beef? Vegetable Cuisine
Herbs
Mushrooms
Chapter 8: Vegetable Cuisine: Using Legumes, Grains, and Pasta
Legumes
Grains
Rice
Pasta
Chapter 9: 125 Million Japanese Can't Be Wrong! Raw, Marinated, and Cooked Seafood
Buying Fresh Seafood
Storing Fresh Seafood
Choosing Seafood That's Available Year-Round
Selecting Seasonal Seafood
Enjoying Raw Seafood
Using Seafood Marinades
Discovering Various Cooking Methods for Seafood

Grilling
Broiling
Sautéing
Cold and hot poaching
Olive oil poaching
Steaming
Roasting and slow-roasting

Chapter 10: Who Are You Calling Fowl?
How Poultry Is Raised
Storing and Handling Poultry
Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg?
Discovering Different Types of Poultry

Duck
Goose
Pheasant
Rock Cornish hen
Squab
Turkey

Chapter 11: What's Your Beef? Adding Meat to Your Repertoire
Meat Inspection and Quality Grades
Selecting Fresh Meat
Handling and Storing Meat
Is It Done Yet?
Choosing the Right Cut of Meat for the Right Cooking Method

Beef
Which lamb is it?
Pork
Veal
Venison

Part III: Bumping It Up a Notch and Taking It to The Next Level

Chapter 12: Is Mies van der Rohe in the House? Architectural Cuisine Made Easy
Creating a Superstructure with Tuiles
Gluing a Dish Together Using Vegetable Purees
Adding Dimension with Crispy Garnishes
Constructing Layered and Formed Foods

Chapter 13: So You're Loaded and Have Great Taste in Food: Edible Indulgences
Tiny White Asparagus
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Caviar
Diver Scallops
Foie Gras
Fraises des Bois
Kobe Beef
Saffron
Salsify
Porcini Mushrooms
Truffles

Part IV: Ooh, You Sweet Thing!

Chapter 14: Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too: Basic Dessert Techniques and Starter Recipes
Preparing Basic Pastry Doughs and Sponge Cakes

Brioche and pastry doughs
Filo dough
Génoise

Creating Custards and Ice Creams

Citrus curds
Custards
Homemade ice cream
Sorbets

Doing Up Dessert Sauces
Chipping In with Garnishes and Textural Treats

Dried fruit chips
Praline
Tuiles

Chapter 15: How Sweet It Is: Fruit Desserts and Individual Pastries
Starting with Sorbets
Creating Tasty Tarts
Preparing Poached Fruit and Pudding Desserts
Fashioning Fluffy Soufflés
Putting New Twists on Old Favorites
Chapter 16: The Grand Finale: Chocoholics Unanimous!
Discovering Different Types of Chocolate

White chocolate
Milk chocolate
Bittersweet and semisweet chocolate
Cocoa

Choosing Chocolate
Storing Chocolate
Melting Chocolate
Keeping Chocolate from Seizing
Creating the Building Blocks of Chocolate Desserts
Chocolate Overkill: How to Get Yours

Part V: The Home Stretch: Taking it to Your Dinner Table

Chapter 17: From Champagne to Cappuccino: Creating a Complete Meal
Planning Ahead for a Gourmet Dinner

Planning your attack
Planning your menu
Approaching the menu you have selected

Menus for Every Occasion

The "Impressing the Boss" dinner
The "Getting Yourself Out of the Doghouse" dinner
The "Aphrodisiac" dinner
The "Sunday Afternoon in the Park Picnic" menu
The "Meeting the In-Laws" dinner
The "Sure Thing" dinner
The "What Do You Mean One of Them Is a Vegetarian?" dinner
The "So You Just Inherited Some Extra Cash" dinner
The "Help Me Eat Healthy" dinner
The "Even Your Teenagers Will Like It" dinner
The "Seafood Fest" dinner
The "Cook Dinner One Day Ahead So That You Can Enjoy the Party" dinner
The "Saving Room for Dessert" dinner

The Cheese Course

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Classic Food and Wine Pairings

Sauternes and foie gras

Sauvignon Blanc and smoked salmon

Port and blue cheese

Champagne and oysters

Chardonnay and lobster

Côte-Rôtie and lamb

Burgundy and game birds

Chilled vodka and caviar

Sancerre and goat cheese

Cabernet Sauvignon and beef

Chapter 19: Ten Dining Cities and Their Recommended Gourmet Restaurants

Boston, Massachusetts

Chicago, Illinois

London, England

Los Angeles, California

Melbourne, Australia

New Orleans, Louisiana

New York, New York

Paris, France and surrounding areas

San Francisco Bay area, California

Sydney, Australia

Chapter 20: Ten Charlie-Endorsed Vendors

American Spoon Foods

Browne Trading Company

Charlie Trotter's

Consorzio

Dean & Deluca

Diamond Organics

Maytag Dairy Farms

Tartuferia

Wild Game, Inc.

Williams-Sonoma

Chapter 21: Ten Food and Wine Books to Stock in Your Library
Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook, by Alice Waters
The Cooking of South-West France, by Paula Wolfert
Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking, by Emeril Lagasse
The Food Lover's Companion, by Sharon Tyler Herbst
James Beard's American Cookery, by James Beard
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 and 2, by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck
Norman's New World Cuisine, by Norman Van Aken
An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, by Elizabeth David
The Oxford Companion to Wine, by Jancis Robinson
Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables, by Elizabeth Schneider

Index