My Culinary Library

So I have already posted a few books I own and my reviews of them, but I decided to write down my entire culinary library and share it with you all as well as my feelings about the books. Some I will lump together based on authors, some because they are a series. So I hope these all help you as they have helped me.

The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America.
This book helped me a lot. It contains everything you need to know about cooking and the kitchen. It contains explanations of utensils, food preparations, styles of cooking, nutrition, health and safety, and contains several helpful hints and recipes. I suggest this book to anyone who is wanting to cook professionally. It will help you in the long run. Think of it as your cooking textbook.

Ad Hoc at Home and The French Laundry By Thomas Keller.
These two books are collections of recipes and stories from one of the best chefs of the past 20 years. Thomas Keller never went to culinary school, but he runs several restaurants that have waiting lists so long it will take you months to get in. These foods are fancy, but he explains them so well anyone can do them.

Culinary Artistry and The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg
Both books help you in the combining of flavors and textures. They explain how each food and spice reacts with each other and helps you create dishes you never thought you could create. They also explain how to arrange foods on plates to make them look better.

Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook
This cookbook is great if you are a fan of Bourdain or not. The book contains helpful hints and recipes that Bourdain used while the chef at Les Halles in NYC. All recipes are written and explained so even someone new to cooking can do it.

The Joy of Cooking
This book is all you need really if you just want to cook at home. It is over a 1000 pages of recipes that have been updated and added to the book in the past 80 years. This book is a must have.

Practical-Meat dishes, Quick and Easy, One Pot, Italian, Chicken Dishes, and Meat Dishes.
This series of six books are all one something else and make easy reads for quick and great meals at home. Just straight recipes and nothing else. All you need for a quick good idea.

German Cookery by Elizabeth Schuler
Great for those who love German food but do not know how to prepare it. This book has alot of recipes and alot of new foods to try.

Cuisine Niçoise by Jacques Medecin
Great collection of Niçoise style food recipes. Niçoise is a style of food started in Nice which is on the Mediterranean and has French and Italian influences. Great combination and great food.

Best Burgers
A great collection of burger recipes. It had tuna, salmon, chicken, beef, pork, and all other kinds of burgers. Great for summer cooking.

Beer and Food-Great Recipes to Complement Great Beers
Contains explanations of the different styles of beers, what they go good with, beers to try of that style, and some recipes for each beer style. Great if you are a beer lover like me.

Traditional Irish Recipes by John Murphy
No joke here, this is real Irish food. I have used this book a few times for ideas for St. Patrick's day. No corn beef and cabbage here. These are great foods that you will enjoy time and time again.

Pagan Feasts by Anna Franklin and Sue Phillips
This book is all vegetarian foods but it is designed for people of pagan faiths. It breaks down each sabbat with an explanation and has a list of foods and beverages with recipes. I have used this book time and time again.

Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw, The Nasty Bits, and a Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain.
The first three books are about professional kitchens and the food industry as a whole. All three will paint a vivid picture of being a cook. The last one is all about being a food writer and working on a tv show devoted to eating foods in other countries. All are must read books and will help you love food as much as I do.

The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
I just got this book and have not started reading it, but it is all about surviving culinary school at the CIA in NYC. The CIA is one of the best culinary schools in America and both Bourdain and Ruhlman graduated from it. So it is helpful for that aspect of life and is sure to be filled with helpful hints and such for cooking.

The Devil in the Kitchen by Marco Pierre White

This is the autobiography of the youngest British chef to receive 3 Michelin Stars. Three stars is the highest you can get and he got them at age 33. Marco has trained Gordan Ramsey and Mario Batali and was considered the first celebrity chef. So this book is filled with helpful stories and will show you what it is like to be a chef in a place like England.

I add to my library alot and I will update it on here when I can. Read this books and any you can find, but I suggest staying away from crappy books from celebrity chefs like Paula Deen and the likes. They are good, but not as good as others and you can find much better recipes and helpful hints in other books. Enjoy and keep cooking.

Rules of the Back of the House aka the Restaurant Kitchen

So I have been working in the restaurant business now for almost 10 years, so I have seen alot of kitchens. Some have different rules than others but most have the same standing rules that one must obey, if not you will get no respect and will not be well liked in the kitchen. Some of these rules are also just for people outside of the kitchen as well. So listen up, read every one and take note if you plan to be a professional cook. This may help you one day.

Rule #1: Never trust the front of the house aka the servers- Now this also includes those people at the bar and the hosts. They are not to be trusted for many reasons and I shall explain. For one, they seek to cause trouble. They will try and be your friend one minute and then the next they will use you. Do not date one or sleep with one. They will ruin your life. They will never keep a secret because they are servers, you are a cook. Trust only the back of the house. We know you better than them, and we hate what is going on just as much as you do. Plus we throw better parties.

Rule #2: Never, ever get offended- You will hear some of the grossest, most disgusting and meanest things working in the kitchen. It is all said in fun and amusement. So do not take it literally or get mad about it. If someone is doing it to make you mad, the best thing to do is roll with it and throw it back at him. If you get upset and start a fight, you will not last long in the kitchen.

Rule #3: If it is not your knife or utensal, do not take it, use it, or break it- Sometimes I take my knives to work and I never let them out of my sight because I have seen how some people treat their knives. You break my knives, I will break yours or your neck. Same goes for company property. If I am using a knife, and I set it down to grab a pan, do not take it without asking. If you do, it will get taken right back and no one will trust you. Trust and show respect and you will get it in return. Do not and see what happens.

Rule #4: If you are not a cook, stay the hell out of the kitchen- I do not care if you are the front of the house manager. If you do not cook in the kitchen, stay out and stay in your area. I will not feel bad about burning or cutting someone who is not part of the kitchen. We know our way around it, you don't, accidents happen, and we will laugh. Nothing pisses a cook off more than a server who walks through the kitchen asking questions. Stay out, stay back, and leave us the hell alone. Would you want us stumbling around in your area or waiting your tables? I doubt it.

Rule #5: If you are sick, stay the fuck away from everyone- Don't you hate being sick? So does the rest of us. So stay home and stay the hell away from us. Get us sick and you will pay the price.

Rule #6: Bathe yourself- Everyone sweats and such, that is fine. But if we can tell you have not showered in a week, we will soak you in soap and run your ass through the dish machine.

Rule #7: Do not overuse breaks- if you smoke, smoke, don't gab and sit there for 15 minutes while the rest of us are dying to rest. Take your break, get back, and let someone else go. If I am getting stuck in the weeds while you are outside, smoking, talking to your girl, and just being lazy, prepare for hell when you get back, because you will be doing everything by yourself. Cooks never forget or forgive.

Rule #8: Culinary School means nothing to those who have been in the kitchen longer than you have been at school- Culinary school does not make you a cook or a chef, so do not act like you are better than a cook who has been in the kitchen twice as many years as you have been in school, he will laugh in your face and make you wash dishes. I have seen good cooks come out of the schools and I have seen terrible cooks come out of them. I know some who are spoiled because they went to school and daddy bought them their own restaurant so they can play chef, only to laugh later when they fail. Earn your stripes, make your bones, then you can brag. No one likes a loud mouth who does not have the experience. I know I can not out cook my chef or Mario Batali, but I know I can out cook some newbies with a chef complex.

Rule #9: Learn fast or get the fuck out- As someone who has had the pleasure of training those who have never cooked before, I know from first hand, not everyone can do it. If after 2 months of training you are still asking me what to do, how to do this, or what goes in this, maybe you need to find a different job. Learn fast, adapt, and keep learning. You want to advance and make more money, don't keep fucking up the simple chicken wrap or the house salad. Cooks are a dime a dozen, but good cooks are hard to come bad.

Rule #10: Snitches will get stitches- Now if I kill someone, please tell the cops, but if I drop a bowl, do not go running to the chef and start telling him. He will roll his eyes, and I will claim your right index finger the next chance I get. Accidents happen, don't blow them out of proportion because the chef will not reward you and the kitchen will see you as untrustworthy and will kick you out of our world. Now if someone hurts someone else, steals the $1000 mixer, or pisses in the pickle jar, tell the chef, but a nibble of food, a broken bowl, a bent spoon, a dropped steak, or a little drink outside should not be shared with anyone. Learn what is wrong and what is acceptable.

Rule #11: If you can't do your job, leave-This is different from Rule#9 because I am directing this at the older folks and those who weak and lazy. If you are so old you can not lift a 10# pot or a 5# bag, retire. Lifting a 50# pot of potatoes is best with help, but not something small. Most things in the kitchen can get heavy, so if you can not handle it, beef up or move on. Ask for help with the real heavy things, but handle the small shit yourself. Same at remembering things. I know a server who has been working at the same place for 30 + years. When asked why the steaks she had written down didn't have temps, she said, "Oh I didn't know I was supposed to ask." Time to retire lady because it has been the same setup for 30 + years there. Also if you are lazy and keep passing up work or keep trying to get others to do it for you, the kitchen will soon catch on and will kick you out. Do your job, do it well, or find another job.

Rule #12: Use common Sense- If it is hot, use a towl. If it is too heavy, ask for help. If the knife is falling, do not try to catch it. If the water is boiling over, turn it off. If they grill is on fire, put it out, but not with the fire extinguisher, unless it is that bad, a little water goes a long way.

So I will probably remember some more rules or have some friends suggest some more, so stay tuned. I hope these help and remember I wrote this as a kitchen guy. I am no chef so I will sugar coat nothing.