Kitchen resources at your fingertips are essential for creating successful recipes. From time to time we all need some helpful reminders for cooking temperatures, conversions, and other handy references while we’re working in the kitchen. Some of this information becomes second nature, but some just doesn’t stick in the memory like it used to. And, maybe you wonder which kitchen gadgets I like best. I’ve found many tools in our kitchen have become indispensable and seem to always be dirty like my favorite knives and measuring cups. The following are some things I hope you find helpful in your daily kitchen adventures.
Helpful websites
Here are some free resources that should help guide you in food safety to make sure you’re serving the best quality food that’s been cooked properly:
- Safe minimum cooking temperatures
- Meat and poultry roasting times
- USDA meat grading information
- Anova Sous Vide cooking time chart get started sous vide cooking and make our favorite Carrots and Beets
- Serious Eats Sous Vide recipes and cooking method information great resource for equipment reviews as well
- Barbecue Bible techniques and recipes from Steven Raichlen so much live fire cooking information
Favorite Cookbooks
I’m one of those weirdos who actually sits and read cookbooks for fun, not just for recipe research. I like to learn about the author’s inspirations, people behind the scenes, and methods for recipe development. But, when it comes to actual cooking I might blend a number of different recipes or just follow the idea in my mind. I rarely follow one recipe start to finish. If I’m making something new and different, or the first time I make a dish, I do try to follow a recipe. I often use cookbooks for inspiration or as a general guide for cooking times and temperatures. While this isn’t something I’d recommend, but it’s how my kitchen life works. So here are the cookbook kitchen resources I most often use.
It’s a safe bet that anything from Julia Child, America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated, and Milk Street are going to set the stage for success. The recipes and techniques in these books listed have been rigorously tested and proven to work in the home kitchen. And, most of the time, there are pictures, which I find helpful. For some specifics, here are a few of the formative books that I reach for first.
All Around
- The Fanny Farmer Cookbook
- America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking the most wonderful reference and a sentimental favorite
- The Way To Cook Julia Child was a master of instruction and this is a beautifully written reference
- Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
- Sunset Mexican Cookbook simple, classic, no frills Mexican cooking made easy
- The Clay Pot Cookbook old fashioned, but an excellent resource for Romertopf clay pot cookery
- Baking with Julia
- King Arthur Baker’s Companion
- Book of Soups Culinary Institute of America’s 100+ soups
- Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream & Dessert Book
Grilling
- Weber’s Way To Grill
- Weber’s New Real Grilling but really, all of the Weber cookbooks are great
- Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades
