Will Sohla's Book Replace "The Food Lab" and "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat"?
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- Will Sohla's "Start Here" Replace "The Food Lab" and "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat"?
00:00 Intro
00:46 Design and Organization
02:37 Recipe Format
03:08 Who is the Audience
05:28 Ingredient Combinations
07:57 Sohla vs Kenji vs Samin
Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly amzn.to/3u3MTFY
The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt amzn.to/3S13MsP
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat amzn.to/48QZf3a
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This is one of the more helpful product reviews I can think of. Thank you Helen.
I really appreciated how you pointed out the strengths and weaknesses. For example, a weakness of the book is that it doesn't do a good job of factoring in the risk of user error as a consideration. For home cooks like me (and probably 99%+ of the people reading this), I think it's very important for a technique to be "difficult to screw up". The example you provide of "flip steak every minute" vs "reverse sear it" is a great one.
On the other hand, a strength you point out is creative ingredient combinations. Stuff you'd see at nice restaurants from skilled chefs. That sounds pretty cool.
I would have liked to hear more about this though. It's something I would like to be better at. But, I dunno, how much will the book actually help? Where can I expect to be skill-wise after reading it? And given that I only have the capacity to cook one or two "fancy" meals a month, is it worthwhile?
I don't think you need to cook fancy meals to improve your skills. Doing something simple again and again is what improves the skills. It can be a salad or an egg or a piece of fish with just salt on it. Reading the book won't really build skills that require manual dexterity (knife skills, kneading, etc) or judgement (salt, doneness, etc), but it will help with conceptual understanding and help you allocate your attention better in the kitchen. For example, if you read that the meat needs to be very dry before going in the pan, you'll pay more attention to it next time you cook. Or if you read that different all-purpose flours have completely different amount of protein and thus behave differently, you'll pay attention to which specific AP flour the recipe writer is using and that can increase the chances of their recipe working.
@@helenrennie That all makes sense.
I should have been more specific about what I meant by "skills".
I got the sense from the video that the book is good for people who want to be able to come up with really tasty recipes. The kinds of things that fancy restaurants would come up with. (I'm fumbling with my words a bit; I'm not sure what this particular skill I'm trying to refer to is called.)
Right now, I would say that my skill level here is "kinda sorta passable", but definitely way lower than a good restaurant chef. I would imagine that a good restaurant chef could come up with dozens of genuinely really recipes in an hour long brainstorming session.
Do you think you understand what I am trying to point at? If so, how far do you think the book (reading it plus taking the time to practice and apply what it teaches) would take an above average home cook like me?
@@adamzerner5208 I think Helen's comment of "like Ottolenghi, but approachable" is accurate. Even besides the lengthy grocery lists, Ottolenghi isn't the most considerate of the home cook's time, so while the recipes look lovely and exciting it isn't always apparent to me how to adapt them for my actual human life.
The best indication of what I think you're referring to might come from some of Sohla's videos, in PARTICULAR the "Off Script" series she did with Food 52 waaay back in the early pandemic/post-BA days. In that series she shows two different takes on the same technique, often with completely different flavor profiles. The beans, greens and pasta video has practically become a dinner blueprint in my house. What I love is how she categorizes ingredients for the purpose of a recipe...once you start thinking about greens, they slot easily into quick vs. long-cooking and then you know exactly how to treat them. Once you realize the purpose of a savory flavor enhancer like bacon, you know how to swap in other ingredients (like in that video, she suggests adding extra fat if using a turkey or vegan bacon, or combining anchovies with butter to get a similar effect in her other version). So for me, that approach really helps get me out of the mindset of "A recipe is XYZ ingredients" and more into "this dish requires a component to do X, a component to do Y..." etc.
Soon what seems like a magical combination when a restaurant chef does it starts to look like just a play on a classic technique. It's almost like...seeing the matrix, I guess? Obvs. your own experience and exposure to lots of types of ingredients will determine just how far you can go with this, but I think Sohla is uniquely great at explaining her thought process, what she wants out of a recipe and how each ingredient or technique serves that. Does that help at all?
All three on my wish list. Sohlas most recently made my list after I watched her NY Times cooking video about eggs… I learned several things and I thought she was charming, funny and down to earth. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this book. All three still on the list… the list is long. 😜
Your enthusiasm is SO contagious.
When is Helen’s cookbook coming out? Please tell me it is in the pipeline ❤
When is it coming out? Never! ua-cam.com/video/ZBaAL_7ekHo/v-deo.html
So sorry to Foodie…, I’m not responding to you, but I’m curious why comments are only allowed as responses to other comments? I’ve honestly forgotten what I was going to comment because figuring out how to comment drove it out of my mind. Any way, I’m curious why we are comparing these three cookbooks? Something about this video was strangely off putting to me.
Theres such joy and enthusiasm you have talking about solha’s work! Very compelling :)
Your mention of cooking theory and meta-analysis sparked a desire!
I would like to hear one solid video of your opinions and optimal uses on different written food frameworks, just as a standalone video.
Tell me more about that. Do you mean comparing different ways to write about food in general without limiting it to 3 books like I did in this video?
@@helenrennie i think the different ways to write about food beyond 3 books is what I mean.
i’m not sure what level of depth would be right, but there are some fascinatingly intricate works like the The Art of Fermentation by Katz, and the Flavour Thesaurus series by Segnit. These books cultivate their own slices of culinary theory in their breadth of topics (those covering fermentation and flavour pairing respectively). Salt fat acid heat also proposed its framework in this way I think and so hearing a directed appreciation or curation of culinary literature and academia would be really interesting (and a bit advanced)
Regarding lettuce, iceberg lettuce is actually fantastic as long as you put it in a ziplock bag first! After a day it becomes insanely crispy. It extends the lifespan of it to over a MONTH, and it stays crispy the entire time - even as it begins rotting.
I will have to try this tip!
Wow I love the connection you made between chefs educational backgrounds and how it shows through in their books. Thanks for such an insightful review ❤️
This book sounds interesting. The first cookbook that wasn't a bunch of recipes I purchased was "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" and it totally changed my idea of what I wanted in a cookbook.
Thanks Helen! Great review and I appreciate your practical assessment of the different kinds/styles of cooks, matching them to these fascinating contemporary cookbook authors!
I always enjoy your opinions and discussions. You are both intelligent and warm, and I have found your advice to be spot on. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this comparison. Such a joy to listen to you. You brought me to Sohla and I discovered her NYT videos on UA-cam that gave me so much new insight. Now i just hope, Kenjis and her book will soon be tranlated into German, so i can follow more easily.
What a wonderful review. I always look forward to your videos. You have me googling sohla and samin to learn more about them. I've been a kenji fan for a while
Very good, and for me very timely cook book advice. Thanks
I have found that books by professional chefs are often skewed to commercial grade equipment that most home cooks don't have. Cooktops in a restaurant (or a professional chef's home) are generally much hotter than what you can get from your home stove. This affects both timing and browning, as well as the cooking. Searing on a home cooktop is very different than searing in a restaurant. I do applaud a cookbook that approaches the end product by teaching other than just providing a list of tasks and ingredients. Thanks for the video, Helen!
Why I like Kenjis videos and recipes. He makes all his stuff in a regular home kitchen
@@Android480Kenji, Sohla, and Helen are literally the only the internet chefs I follow. They give general instructions, with appropriate substitutions, and very broad lessons, instead of just being yet another recipe channel. Sohla even did a bunch of how to videos from her own apartment once the pandemic happened, and it was some of the most delicious soups and rice and chicken dishes I've ever had. I didn't even know Sohla was coming out with a book, but I look forward to picking it up.
@@RevShifty links to see them?
@@davidelang UA-cam hates links (at least from me), but if you search "Off Script with Sohla", you should find them all pretty easily. Most of them (maybe even all?) were posted to the Food 52 channel, shortly after the Bon Appetite scandal blew up. She instantly became a favorite for me, and her recipes have never let me down. Regardless of what I have on hand.
@@Android480His stove And cooktop are still Far in a way better than most people can put in their homes period have you seen him On his Range Question mark the walk cooking with that big burner? I'm 38 years old and I've been in countless homes and I've never seen a stove like that or better but possibly twice in my entire life at somebody's house.... and I'm the Curious sort that likes kitchens
Gracias Helen!
you are brilliant! fabulous analysis! thank you for your unique contribution to cooking knowledge
What a wonderful recommendation! I'll get it. As you say, why not buy all three? I say, why stop there? Recipes are fine, but the techniques, food science, and stories are what make me read a book over and over. I see many preferences in the comments. I have most of them. I'm an old, long retired restaurant cook. One thing I've discovered is that my kid has no use for books. You have the perfect medium right here, Helen. Thanks for taking the time.
Very nice review of the book, thanks! Having the other two, I may wait a while before getting Sohla's.
great review! I will go check out the book
Thank you so much for always such concise, engaging, and informative.
I'm reading this book right now. I was kind of disappointed and thought it would be a dud, but then I got to the desserts section--oh, my! I want to make every one of these desserts! This book is worth purchasing just for this!
I absolutely adored this book. As soon as it came out, it became my staff pick at a local Boston bookstore! I've been singing its praises to everyone that I come across.
It's always such a joy to hear you talking! You can read whatever's left of the phone book, or a repair manual and I will be there!
Very helpful, thanks!
Helen, thank you so much. This video answered my question to the tee!
Ordering this book NOW!
What a wonderful product review! Thoughtful, honest, and considerate of what kinds of audiences might react positively/negatively to the book. Thanks for the review :)
I love how you’ve already written notes into the cookbook. I didn’t even realize Sohla published a cookbook, I’ve got to get a copy if I see it! I’ve always loved her creativity with food and the way she blends inspiration from many different sources.
Great review! I might add this one to my collection :) Also another lettuce tip: if it begins to wither, a bit too soft, you can simmer it into very cold water for 15min: it'll be much more crunchy! (tip from my grandma).
Greetings from France 👋
Thank you!😊
Great video. Very interesting.
Excellent review! I ordered her book today and now have Samin's and Kenji's as well!!!
I love a book like this with solid technique grounding in every chapter. My first real cookbook was The Joy of Cooking and it has great basic information on ingredients and basic techniques preceding its chapters that I still look at from time to time!
Looking forward to your book
I didn’t know Sohla had a book out!!! I LOVE HER, and this book sounds like it would be a joyful companion in my kitchen ❤️❤️❤️
I truly must stop watching your videos, as well as Kenji’s, Ragusea’s, Sip and Feast, as well as several others that are so well created that they make me glad they exist. Yours as well.
❤
"The Cooks companion" by Australian chef Stephanie Alexander. More than just recipes. A brilliant reference (and recipe) book for many Australian households. She has done much work to promote healthy eating and appreciation of fresh produce in schools through her kitchen Garden foundation.
Thank you for showing some of the pages so that I could check that Sohla offers both metric and imperial measurements. 🙏🏻 It's my biggest pet peeve when it comes to culinary books and I refuse to buy any that don't do this.
Thanks for this fantastic comparison, Helen! I was on the fence, but am now convinced Sohla's book needs to be in my library. Always learning. Of course, I would wholeheartedly embrace your contribution to this pantheon!!
This looks like a wonderful book - an update, of sorts, of one of my old favorites, Michael Ruhlman's "Twenty," but much more fun.
My personal experience with the other books you mentioned have led me to believe that whether a teaching-type cookbook resonates or not has much to do with the reader's way of thinking.
I am a divergent thinker and I have found that I learn best when more linear methods are presented. Samin's book can also be categorized as somewhat divergent, especially the drawings and charts that go all over the place, so I have had some difficultly engaging with that book. Divergent + divergent make work for some, but it doesn't for me.
Kenji's book was better for me in that it is definitely linear, but it is also really overwhelming - so much information that it becomes exhausting.
This book looks like it splits the difference and I want to thank you for presenting such an in-depth view of it. It made me want to give this book a try.
Alton Brown's books teach by technique too. Muffin method, creaming, etc covered by him decades ago.
None of these books have had as much influence as Pepin's "La Technique"
Sohla's introductions remind me of the "Spice Tree" cook book by Nisha Katona, and as useful. For me, learning the why and how for something can be more informative than seeing it in practice. I also like the sections on how to fix mistakes made!
Wouldn't sticking the aluminum foil with a cake tester potentially get a piece of foil inside the fish fillet? Great review! I've often wondered about this type of books
This was a concise yet thoughtful review of Sohla's book. Thank you for whetting my appetite for a new read. (Love your content, Helen.)
I will always stand by "On Food And Cooking" as the go-to cookery book
Non, all you really need is Le Guide Culinaire.
I am waiting for you to publish your cookbook that provides a meta-analysis of techniques. I think you are more qualified than any of the people you talk about who have published cookbooks. We need more people like you writing theory cookbooks.
I would love a book to compliment all of those, one directed to home cooks, one that would experiment ingredients and equipment, one written by an engineer turned cook perhaps? Just saying… I would run to buy it!
I just had the biggest whiplash seeing this video pop up for me. Helen talking about Sohla?! One of my favourite food content creators discussing the other's book?!
I knew I would be getting Sohla's book as soon as I could put away the money for it, and this video only reassured me! Thank you Helen for this great review!
I know Sohla's got a huge following of loyal fans, so I'm sorry in advance if I upset any of them, but I find some of her creative stuff really unappetizing. I tried making one of her BA challenge dishes which sounded lovely (it was a bagel or something with ingredients you wouldn't picture together), and I just found it didn't work at all. I don't think she comes anywhere close to Kenji or Samin's level, but I understand why she's next to get a book.
It is fun seeing how the bon appetit crew have scattered and done their own things.
Much ado about nothing was that drama. Goodbye 2020.
I have the other two so had to get it. Learning technique means you can create.
Where's Helens Book or have I not been paying attention ..
Oops Just watch her channel !
❤ from New Zealand
Hi there Helen! I really appreciate your critique of this book as I feel it's a really well thought out and considered guide. As an experienced home cook -and someone who feels strong in the kitchen -it was really more helpful for me as I already had some knowledge of the ideas presented. When I read it, I felt that I was talking to a friend who was helping me through the parts that I wasn't so familiar with, and was really invested in my becoming a better cook.
As a fan of Sohla, I cannot be impartial, but I will say that I don't agree with your take on the idea that [a home cook won't want to make something multiple times to get it right]. I think that is part of the passion for cooking which Sohla is trying to instill through trial and error. I don't want to malign your critique, but so much of cooking is getting things wrong, and it's a beautiful process when creating any kind of art in general that we realize where we aren't performing our best in order to improve moving forward. It should make us want to try again and be invested in the creative process. Anyone can post a recipe online and say "follow this precise process and it will be correct", but we're missing the joy in life if we follow that mindset.
I hope that you continue to make these videos, as I think your overall view is a very good one. I also hope that the perspective of your videos broadens to consider which audiences the books are reaching. Maybe not a best "true beginner guide" I agree, and excellently composed overall. Much love!
I completely agree that people need to make dishes over and over again to master them. That being said, some procedures are more error prone than others. That doesn't mean they should never be used. But when a way less error prone way exists that doesn't sacrifice the final product at all, I am a huge fan of making people aware of that.
😊
Very interesting review! I'd love to see you review some of the older classic cookbooks, like Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", or Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking"
I have a confession to make. Ive never rinse vegetables unless they look dirty or Im cooking for others.
I actually didn't care for her personality on Bon Appétit, but this book seems like it's almost written for me personally because I'm more into concepts instead of recipes.
I'm a huge fan of ATK and Kenji so I think I'll end up getting this book. Thanks for the recommendation.
You might like solha's recipes on food 52 then. They are still recipes but they really teach the technique of the recipes and teaching the tools to make variations.
go to brown town sounds naughty in an icky way
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Sohla’s cookbook was my favorite gift this year! Enjoy your channel, happy to hear you appreciate her book. Sohla alone is awesome, but when she’s in the kitchen with her husband (Ham❤) it’s so much fun to see that side of her personality shine.
Ummmmm HELEN!!!!!! WHERE IS YOUR COOKBOOK!!!!! if you combined all these three books with your knowledge, you would have the best cookbook on the planet
I've been a fan of Sohla for a few years now. I love her personality & I think her ideas are brilliant. I reached the same conclusion about her recipes being delicious yet error prone, my notable example being her chicken thighs & pepper rice from her food52 series. It has multiple factors such as chicken thigh quality/size, choice of pan, and heat control that make it very prone to doneness issues with either the meat or the rice. Delicious recipe, one I loved so much that I kept returning to it until I got it right.
My girlfriend rocks!
Helen really is a triple threat of cooking, teaching, and clickbait titles. (Complimentary)
I love sohla but she is incapable of working with vanilla without going off on a long tangent about how we'll never have vanilla again in 20 years
"What the Hell Happened?" I love it as I've had a number of those moments! "Elbow grease" is essential at times.
I'm a simple cook and if a recipe is more than ten ingredients, I "chuck it". We are entering an exciting time astrologically beginning 1/20 as Pluto transits Aquarius for the next 20 years! This means there will be birth and death of various technological advancements. I forsee all cookbooks over the next 10 years being uploaded digitally in order to get away from paper. I see cookbook tablets in all future homes and restaurants and the ability to watch live educational presentations or to page through a cookbook at one's pace. The possibilities are limitless!
What will also be important is using food and spices that are locally sourced. I see global trading and bartering for various spices and goods! We are coming into a new "Golden Age" meaning the world will be sharing resources instead of exchanging money as we all know that money truly isn't real. None of the material reality is real! We only see it due to our "physical" eyes. We must begin seeing the world through our "spiritual" eyes!
Helen!
I never understand who these books are for. If you're interested enough in food to need technical guidance, you can find it online. If you're a very casual cook who just wants dinner, these things are beyond your interest.
Like who needs a book that tells you "what is browning"? By this point in the internet if you don't know you either don't need to or want to.
There is a lot of info on the internet and learning how to parse them can be overwhelming. Having one place to look for answers can be helpful to people.
@@zelo1996 100%! People who know how to do things forget what it was like before they knew how. Guided study can give someone a huge boost in ability to self-learn on a topic.
I'm a software developer, so I'm used to learning new things from scratch all the time. The biggest skill I've developed is knowing how to get _started_ learning something.
@@CliftonCosta Yeah, Food Lab is slightly different. SFAH boggles my mind though.
is... is "buy whole heads of lettuce and wash them yourself" really such an ingenious tip? i thought that was the normal way people buy lettuce. also seems fairly obvious that prepackaged salads will be less fresh than whole produce...
the rest of the review was great, this just really puzzled me LOL
Maybe I am the only lazy one, but I've been buying lettuce in boxes. There is more to it than laziness. The boxes offer a variety of greens. To get a variety from heads, you need to buy 2-3 different ones and that's a lot of lettuce. I also was under the impression that they were better packaged because they were sealed. Most of the heads in my store look bruised and slightly wilted because they are not in hard boxes to protect them. I've tried occasional hydroponic bib lettuce heads, but they were limp and tasteless. Since I don't love lettuce, I never bothered to investigate this further until now. But I don't think I am alone in my ignorance. Most of the people I see buying lettuce, are buying mesclun spring mixes just like I was.
Some up and coming home cooks may not have been exposed to better quality ingredients and such, for many reasons. They may need this information to get on the path to better food, prepping, and cooking. Does that make sense?
I don't. Prepackaged lettuce is just enough for what my family needs, with more variety. Only when I'm sure I'll make salad as a full meal, not a side, it makes sense for me to buy a whole head.
I hate throwing away food. Much rather throw away money.
Who do you think is buying all that boxed lettuce? It's in stores for a reason.
I discovered this many years ago, but thought it was one of my idiosyncrasies. Lol A head of lettuce will also keep much longer than pre-preped. I also discovered I prefer iceberg lettuce, even if it's not as "good for you" as others.
Second 👊🏻💪🏻👨🏼🍳
😂😂😂 she sure has delusions of grandeur. 😂😂😂
remember when sohla got all of her coworkers fired and ruined one of the most upcoming youtube channels over $150 in "unpaid kitchen cameos"? I remember.
Sohla ruined the lives of like 100 people, plut their families, yet she still continued to write for (and receive paychecks from) BA.
I have no respect for Sohla, and many of her past coworkers have voiced similar public opinions.
Do not buy this book.
How did one person manage to do all that? Be serious
Uhgh, to me Sohla always had the screen presence of a damp dish towel whenever she appeared on BA. (Her fake cutsie tootsie little girl persona isn't for me.) But after the blowup at BA she said so much nasty backhanded and entitled stuff I'll never buy anything related to that snake in the grass. To each their own though.
No one wants to look at her long and um, interesting career. Someone gave her a bundle to start a restaurant in New York where she called her customers racist and it failed because everyone knows the way white people tell you they hate you is by giving you access to capital. She was at BA for only months when she started demanding equal compensation to long timers with negotiated contracts and was told no because New York liberal institutions are hotbeds of Klan activity. Since then I’ve seen her, um, I won’t say copy but horn in on other creators’ unique schticks and while I actually liked her recipes I don’t ever need to see her name again. There are many food creators now without even a whiff of toxicity.
This blog is being censored. Comments critical of her get deleted.
@@WinstonSmithGPTAgreed.
Damn @lorblauh !
No.
Sohla poisons everything she touches, maybe writing books is her best avenue😊
I kind of agree with you. After delving deep into the whole Bon Appétit implosion there were a lot of mistakes made. Some of them were made by her by being too entitled to the things others have worked for. Maybe she finally did some soul searching and grew from the experience. I trust Helen a lot and it seems like Sohla has done a great job with the book.
He may be good but Kenji is so conceited as to be worthless watching reading, it's not like he re-invented the wheel at any point, just laid out some info better than others.
@@roberttaylor9259 Thank you for that, it has always been my hope that age = personal growth & better insight / understanding, but having had a horrible reaction from him "i'm done" with the smug too woke joke of a man who jumped on an innocent comment & turned it into something it most certainly was not! ..regardless of qualifications that makes for one hell of a dumb human being in my book, no going back after that "brattish" response from him, I hope he does a better job with his progeny than he had done with himself at that point of his life, visiting europe he brought his own pre-conceptions of how it should be, not as it is (was, being past tense) ..horrible, pompous, self aggrandizing little man in real life, made me wonder how many people he must have p155ed off climbing to the top of his tree.
I was raised to see travel as a broader knowledge of humanity outside of our own bubble, he seems blind to the fact that a different continent may have different ways & means, just as American english & "English english" taught in schools are actually two different animals (or Worcestershire sauce pronounciation if keeping it in a cooking format) he appeared to have brought the worst of "merica" with him when he hopped the pond.
Better off without that attitude & not someone I would wish to encourage further by actually paying for his book, when I came acrossa cheap but pristine & unfingered copy, I walked on.
@@roberttaylor9259 Even before people thinking he was gatekeeping were really just misinterpreting what he does.
I don't like Lopez, but he's too talented for me to ignore. I would say the same about Sohla but she isn't talented enough to make up for such a displeasing persona.
distracted by your moustache
No thanks, I will buy a man's cookbook as I want to get the best information
I dislike all of the books and find experience home alone creates the best food.
Yet you consume other forms of cooking related content. Excluding books seems like an extremely arbitrary boundary
You need hands on experience to build skill, but should we all start from zero and reconstruct generations of cooking knowledge in our own kitchens. Everyone learns from somewhere whether it is fellow cooks in-person, videos, books, etc.
You're on a cooking channel? Or otherwise looking up cook book reviews? ???????????????
I agree 100%. I would never have imagined cooking Mexican without Zarela Martinez. She gifted me with a cook book 30+ years ago and I never looked back!@@MsMyrmaid
@@alessandroledda6480 Bravo! you slapped the logic right outta @user-sy7lj7ds9f .....that was satifying to read, I need a cigarette.