Table of contents for Change Your Relationship To Your Food
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Introduction
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 1
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 2
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 3
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 4
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 5
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 6
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 7
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 8
- Change Your Relationship To Your Food - Step 9
Technique de Cuisine
There are literally hundreds of techniques that can be used in cooking; everything from braising to rendering and everything in between. Now, you do not have to know all these techniques to know how to cook, but the more of them you do know, and practice regularly, the more confident you will become, and confidence is the key to thinking about food instead of ingredients and recipes.
When it comes to proper cooking technique, Jacques Pepin wrote the book on it, literally: Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques
Why am I so into this book? because it features everything the home cook needs. Studded with Pepin’s recipes, this book covers everthing from from the basics (holding and sharpening knives, peeling vegetables, separating and poaching eggs, making stocks and sauces, carving meats, even folding napkins) through each food category (fish and shellfish, vegetables, poultry and meat, breads, pastry, and dessert). At each step there are excellent pictures of Pepin’s hands so you know exactly what to do.
The beauty of a book like this, and your previous work in selecting good kitchen tools, is that now you will truly understand that there are no tricks or shortcuts in cooking that you must learn in order to be proficient. There are only tours de main (feats of skills) that have been honed by long practice. Through endless repetition, these techniques will become so much a part of you that you’ll never forget them.
There are several decent technique resources online, such as the video lesson at Epicurious and the Passionate About Food index, but as good as they are, they pale in comparison with Pepin.
Next Week: Stocking Your Pantry
Read the rest of this series:
- Part 1 - Scheduling
- Part 2 - Variety
- Part 3 - Moderation
- Part 4 - Being Picky
- Part 5 - Can The Canned Goods
- Part 6 - Get Your Kitchen In Order
- Part 7 - Think Like A Chef
- Part 8 - Technique
- Part 9 - Mise en Place
These are the ramblings of 
I’m a huge Jacques Pepin fan ever since I discovered the PBS cooking show he cohosted with the late, great Julia Child. I learned so much about cooking technique on that show because they each shared their individual techniques with each dish they would prepare. But I didn’t know that Pepin’s cooking techiques book existed. I look forward to checking them out!
If you liked the Pepin/Child broadcasts, get a copy of “Jacques and Julia Cooking at Home”. It’s fantastic!