Conference turris::cooks

    
    
    Try the book stores for an encyclopedia of cooking, I got one through
    the supermarket about 20 or 25 years ago and it had just about every
    question answered. It has substitutions, measure conversions, explains
    all different methods of cooking; like braising, boiling, roasting,and
    frying and what happens to the food during the different methods.
    Some of the explanations are a bit out dated now, but there must
    be a more recent equivelent.  The book is about 6 inches thick,
    but it also has hundreds of recipes.

    I was given the complete set of TIME/LIFE "The Good Cook" books
    when I graduated from high school.  I found that the text is easy
    to read, and the pictures are fantastic!  They teach you how to
    do everything, starting with boiling water and cracking eggs through
    making sauces, candy making etc.  In fact, Bon Appetit magazine
    said that the "Candy" volume of the series was excellent, one of
    the best candy making books on the market.  
    
    The set is many volumes, broken into categories ei: soups, sauces,
    candy, salads, seafood, beef/veal, poultry   and many more.  I see
    them sold individually at book stores all over, but I know you can
    get them from the publisher which is "Little, Brown"
    
    
    Good Luck!
    
    
    Danielle Marie

Good luck.  Most cookbooks assume that if you follow a recipe things
will work out right, so they don't bother with what-ifs.  In fact the 
ONLY recipe I've ever seen published with recovery techniques is 
Hollandaise Sauce.  You might try for an older book one that assumes 
"you're new at being a housewife and need to cook for your man" (no 
offense meant, but that was the attitude back in the 1940s).  The best 
all rond book I;ve ever seen was by Meta Given circa 1945.  It told 
everything from dealing with your new fangled EEElectric range to how to 
grade eggs to how to dress a woodchuck.

						- JP


(Re .2 I.K.W.I.M.S.B.Y.O.D.)

    .0, check out Joy of Cooking...I use it more as a reference than
    a cookbook. 

	I know just what you're looking for!  
    
    	Here's a book that takes care of the "ohmygod the guests are here 
    	and the soup's salty" problems.  It's a wonderful reference book 
    	written in a straightforward, amusing fashion.  After all, if you've 
    	just blown dinner you don't need some superior finger-wagging text 
    	with lots of elaborate details, you just want to fix it!
    
	Title:  How to Repair Food
	Authors:  Marina and John Bear
	Published:  1987, Ten Speed Press
	ISBN:  0-89815-178-3

	From the cover:   "What to do when you discover that just about
	any kind of food or drink is overcooked, undercooked, stale,
	burned, lumpy, salty, peppery, bland, too spicy, frozen, mushy, 
    	too dry, too wet, flat, tough, too thick, too thin, wilted, fatty, 
    	collapsed, curdled, or stuck together."

	Conni
        

    It does tell you how to adjust things.  The major part of the book is
    arranged alphabetically by food and then, under each food, is another
    alphabetical listing of things that might go wrong and how to fix it.
    For example, under ASPARAGUS you'll find these subheadings:  bland,
    frozen to the box, not enough, old, overcooked, thawed, too much; under
    SOUPS you'll find bland, bouillon cloudy, cold, consomme won't jell,
    fatty/greasy, light, not enough, salty, too much, and too thin.  The
    subcategories may differ depending on the food.  
    
    There's a section called "How to Improvise, Bluff or Otherwise Muddle 
    Through" and several appendices including Burned Food, Stains, and
    Problems with Utensils and Appliances.
    
    I got mine through the Book of the Month Club (I don't know if the
    cookbooks are a separate division or not) for about $8.00.  Check
    magazines like Cooking Light (that's where I got mine), for the order 
    form.
    
    Conni