TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
bookWORM; Denny Gunawan: Blown away by cooking, inspirational chefs
As a professional chef, Denny Gunawan sees culinary books as a window to learn more about cooking
Change Size
A
s a professional chef, Denny Gunawan sees culinary books as a window to learn more about cooking.
Denny, the grand finalist of Top Chef Indonesia in 2013, says he learned that the ultimate trick in making a great dish is mastering the characteristics of every ingredient.
Currently participating in Amazing Food Challenge 2: Fun in The Philippines, which is aired on the Asian Food Channel, Denny says that he also finds that reading culinary books with inspirational stories motivates him to become a better chef.
Flavor Bible
by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg
It is one of the greatest culinary books that I can recommend. The book describes the characteristics of thousands of ingredients, w organized alphabetically, and provide us with flavor combinations. The Flavor Bible also gives us examples from great chefs in making menus from one particular ingredient. For me, it is really a bible in cooking.
Life, on the line
by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas
It
is a cookbook from the Alinea restaurant in the US, which presents very
modern cuisine. Chef Grant Achatz, owner and head chef of the
restaurant, is known for his molecular gastronomy works. I decided to
buy the book simply because I got interested with by its presentation.
The more I read it, I found out that the chef has cancer on his tongue,
and yet Alinea is a Michelin-star restaurant. So, it's very
inspirational.
French Laundry cookbook
by Thomas Keller
It is another
encouraging book in the culinary book. Here, Keller is not just sharing
his recipes but also giving examples of making great foods for his
kitchen staff out of waste ingredients. I think such gesture is very
thoughtful.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
It is Bourdain's biography that tells about his life ' starting from he was a little to becoming a chef. He was a bad boy, but then he found his life in culisine. The book uses words that are familiar to any kitchen person ' so, it's fun to read. Bourdain is no longer a chef; he is a writer and a host now. Go watch his show and read the book; he's so inspirational.
' JP/Niken Prathivi
