WHEN YOU KNOW A RATIO, IT’S NOT LIKE KNOWING A SINGLE RECIPE, IT’S INSTANTLY KNOWING A THOUSAND.
In Ratio, Michael Ruhlma... read full description
reviews
Mar 09, 2011
Hirondelle
rated it: 
I loved the cover. Totally loved it. Make it a poster and I will buy it and stick it on my kitchen ( *hinthintnudgenudge*). And it is a great idea for a book, they had me at the blurb. And some of the recipe variation ideas given are good and interesting.
But that is basically all I liked. I have many many opinions about this book, this is going to take me a while, and sadly, I found a lot here to dislike:
- The writing is clumsy. I had to reread paragraphs and sentences to More...
But that is basically all I liked. I have many many opinions about this book, this is going to take me a while, and sadly, I found a lot here to dislike:
- The writing is clumsy. I had to reread paragraphs and sentences to More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jun 27, 2009
Anna
rated it:
I just started this and I am torn.
On one hand I like the idea of a set of guidelines I can keep in my head and use to cook nearly anything by starting with a few basic ingredients and then adding a few others. And I also like the math of cooking very much.
But another thing I enjoy about cooking is that it's a kind of communication between the person who wrote the recipe and me. They are telling me how to make something they liked or worked hard at or found interesting a More...
On one hand I like the idea of a set of guidelines I can keep in my head and use to cook nearly anything by starting with a few basic ingredients and then adding a few others. And I also like the math of cooking very much.
But another thing I enjoy about cooking is that it's a kind of communication between the person who wrote the recipe and me. They are telling me how to make something they liked or worked hard at or found interesting a More...
6 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2012
Grace
rated it: 
This book changed the way I approach cooking. And really, that's what it's meant to do. Before this book found its way onto my kitchen counter, I was completely recipe-bound. I could throw a few things together for a decent meal, but anything too fancy. Most of the time, I would have to search for a recipe to accomplish it. Well, this book will break you of that. As it explains, it all comes down to ratios. As long as you can master those, the whole kitchen will open up to you. Before too long y
More...
Feb 08, 2011
Helen
rated it: 
Being a public librarian with access to an unending supply of books, it takes something really special to make me want to part with $27.00 just so I can call it my own. Ruhlman has found the secret code in Ratio and my copy should be in my mailbox by tomorrow.
It a weird format for a cookbook in that Ruhlman buries his recipes in parts or chapters that explain the basic ratios for, for instance, doughs and batters. By explaining the how and why of the most basic dough, Ruhlman opens u More...
It a weird format for a cookbook in that Ruhlman buries his recipes in parts or chapters that explain the basic ratios for, for instance, doughs and batters. By explaining the how and why of the most basic dough, Ruhlman opens u More...
Dec 27, 2010
Wordweaverlynn
rated it:
This elegant book conveys the fundamental principles of cooking: how the proper ratio of basic ingredients (eggs, butter, flour, cream, and sugar, plus the appropriate seasonings) and the techniques to combine them will result in foods as different as cookies, quiche, caramel, creampuffs, and ciabatta.
There are also sections on meat ratios, but these seem less useful. Making stock is simple; I'm not likely to make either sausage or mousseline (no meatloaf, oddly).
What's mis More...
There are also sections on meat ratios, but these seem less useful. Making stock is simple; I'm not likely to make either sausage or mousseline (no meatloaf, oddly).
What's mis More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 05, 2009
Eileen
rated it:
Michael Ruhlman has much valuable information to communicate; the ratio concept is clearly crucial if one wants to fully understand and experiment with baking in particular. However, he is not a very skilled prose stylist. The book is too busy; it continually throws out disorganized and poorly focused extra information. The intention seems to have been to stay nonthreatening by adopting a casual, spontaneous, and personal tone. However, when combined with the more mathematical aspects of the
More...
4 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Jun 19, 2011
Craig
rated it:
I think this has become my favorite non-fiction book, ever. Its genius is that it demystifies recipes, making the complex simple. For instance, I make a decent pie crust (not as good as I'd like, but I don't get as much practice as I'd like, either), but I always have to dig out a recipe when I do. Thanks to this book, it's reduced to a simple ratio: 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat to 1 part water, by weight. Once you know how much flour you need for a single 9" pie crust, it's brutally simple
More...
Dec 21, 2010
Liz
rated it:
I was a bit disappointed in this book. I was anticipating a basic how-to of creating your own recipes based on the titular ratios, which was only loosely the focus of the book. While reading it, I felt that there were so many caveats and addendums to each ratio that it would be difficult to memorize and utilize the ratios in a home kitchen. The author was probably going for flexibility, but lost some authority in the process. I didn't get much from this book, either recipes or knowledge, that I
More...
Jan 07, 2011
Mark
rated it:
I love this book but I have to admit that the "Read Date" isn't really accurate. I haven't actually read this book from cover to cover. I've skipped around a bit. It doesn't look like it but it is an excellent cook book. In fact, I'd call it a meta-cookbook. You could use this book to write cookbooks.
I've made many of the recipes in this book and I still use it very often. In this way it is a huge success. However, I never really learned the ratios. The problem is that I know where to More...
I've made many of the recipes in this book and I still use it very often. In this way it is a huge success. However, I never really learned the ratios. The problem is that I know where to More...
Oct 15, 2009
Eleanor
rated it:
I read about this book in the New York Times and it sounds like a cool idea. Actually, I bought it for someone else, but they still haven't read it and I borrowed it back from them. Granted, I like the chart on graph paper he describes that inspired the book more than carry around another cook book, but I love this idea. And to think I've been making biscuits, cookies and pancakes for years and not really thinking about the basis for all of them and what makes them different. Perhaps I will tran
More...
Jul 29, 2011
Stephen
rated it: 
I rushed to purchase Ruhlman's newest book because I so strongly believe in the concept which drives it: that many recipes simply express the ratio of certain ingredients to certain other ingredients, such that, once discovered and mastered, knowledge of the ratios allows the cook to make any quantity of a particular dish without reference to a written recipe. A further elaboration of the premises is that many dishes differ only in the ratio of certain ingredients, such that there is a continuu
More...
Jul 29, 2011
I really enjoyed this book, which is a mixture of musings, knowledge, and recipes. Even though I do not see this in any substantive way changing the way I cook, I really enjoyed the information it imparted, and the way it told the story about the chemistry of food. Harold McGee is great if you really want to know the chemistry--this is how to take the knowledge of the simplest form of the recipe and then various directions you might go once you know that. Things like mousseline and sausages--
More...
Jan 08, 2011
Laura
rated it:
Very good book on the basics of cooking, specifically the ratios behind pastry, stock/soup, and sauces. Ruhlman breaks it down to the basics, from the 3-2-1 Pie Crust (flour-fat-water), to the oil/acid balance for a vinaigrette. Along the way he talks about why a given ratio leads to a specific result - what it is that gives you a popover and not a muffin, or a sauce and not a ganache. There are a lot of very basic recipes in here, and many suggestions for variations, but Ruhlman's main point
More...
Oct 28, 2010
Vy
rated it:
I'll preface my review by saying that I'm not very skilled in the kitchen. I am, however, working on it. My friend lent me this book. I never would have thought to pick it out for myself, but I really enjoyed it. The premise is that many recipes can be distilled into certain ratios of core ingredients; the rest are flourishes. Having never taken home economics, this was a very enlightening concept for me. It was fascinating to learn the limitations of ratios. For example, a pound cake and a spon
More...
Aug 24, 2009
Ty
rated it:
this is more a book about cooking than a cookbook. the author's intent is to educate cook wannabes about the simple rules for making everyday things, from bread to pasta to sausage to sauces. then he explores how famous and standard recipes can be derived from the rules. lots of fun for a technically oriented person as the author goes into deep explanations of why ingredients get added in certain orders and why different styles of mixing or kneading yield dramatically different end products.
More...
Jul 23, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
Michael Ruhlman illuminates the mysteries behind all of those fancy french words you see on menus of fine dining establishments in this book. Pâte à choux? Hollandaise? Mousseline? Bread? It's really just a matter of understanding simple ratios of ingredients. Ruhlman hammers the ease of which one can master the list of ratios, eliminating the need for complicated recipes.
Well, I'm not entirely convinced about "ease." At the end, Ruhlman relates that while both he and his w More...
Well, I'm not entirely convinced about "ease." At the end, Ruhlman relates that while both he and his w More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 26, 2009
Tracy
rated it:
This book is FASCINATING. While you won't learn how to cook everything, the premise--that there are preparations that rely only on knowing the correct ratio, and that anything else in the recipe is just extra--is very thought-provoking. If you have the ratio for muffins, for instance, you can make any number of things: traditional blueberry, orange-cranberry, lemon poppyseed, cherry-chocolate, or even savory options, like cheese or herb. In spite of the somewhat "duh" nature of the
More...
Sep 08, 2009
Patty
rated it:
I don't usually "read" cookbooks. I love to look at the beautiful, unachievable pictures; I often look through the recipes and I sometimes try a few, but reading is not what I would say I was doing.
I read this cookbook. If you are going to use this book, you need to read through the introduction and the theories behind it. This cookbook is explaining why we do what we do when we cook. I hope to become more creative and confident in the kitchen with this book.
More...
I read this cookbook. If you are going to use this book, you need to read through the introduction and the theories behind it. This cookbook is explaining why we do what we do when we cook. I hope to become more creative and confident in the kitchen with this book.
More...
Sep 06, 2009
Chuck
rated it:
I learned a lot from this book, that's what. Ruhlman breaks down ratios, the classic building blocks of cooking. If you've ever made pie dough or bread or custard you were using a ratio. The same is true of the homemade mayonnaise you slathered on your BLT or the vinaigrette you used on last night's salad. While the book falls a bit shy of it's stated goal of freeing you from recipes, only experience can really do that, it does deliver on helping you understand them more completely. The result l
More...
Jul 14, 2009
Barbara
rated it: 
I was given this book as a gift from someone who thinks I like Alton Brown and that analytical, scientific approach to cooking. I don't. It's my opinion that new cooks who eagerly embrace this concept and leap in unprepared are going to find themselves with culinary disasters on their hands and no idea how to fix them.
I wrote a review on Amazon and was almost immediately crucified for my opinion. According to one anonymous person, I am bitter, not too bright, and unpleasant. Well, he More...
I wrote a review on Amazon and was almost immediately crucified for my opinion. According to one anonymous person, I am bitter, not too bright, and unpleasant. Well, he More...
Jan 05, 2010
Nathan
rated it:
This book evolved from a one-page sheet of ratios of ingredients in common cooking tasks: sauces, pastries, etc. That this is a 272-page book is a function of what's necessary to sell on shelves in stores, rather than what's necessary to make a good book. That said, I did find the ratio view to be very useful: I have always had trouble figuring out what the heart of a recipe is, vs the optional extras. This view of a dish, as a core around which everything else is built, is fantastic--it's li
More...
Jun 06, 2011
Sara
rated it:
The positive: Lots of handy information that I would like to have (this is a library book) at hand for some things. I found the savory food ratios most useful as they're the area with which I'm least familiar (a regular baker will know many of these ratios without realizing it; you learn the way a muffin batter looks vs. a cookie batter, and you learn to add more or less of this or that to make the batter right, so you learn the ratios without realizing it).
The negative: Often clumsy More...
The negative: Often clumsy More...
Sep 23, 2010
Belle
rated it:
i enjoyed this book - NOT because it has a geeky math term in the title, but because of the book's premise that once you understand the basic proportions for types of foods, you don't need to be chained to recipes to cook/bake. this is powerful stuff! then you don't need to "know" one recipe for each dish, you can know one ratio which will allow you to make many different variations. i haven't yet tried any of the recipes, so i can't vouch for how accurate they are though... the on
More...
Jan 28, 2012
Anita
rated it:
It had never occurred to me that the ingredients and proportions for a pound cake and a sponge are the same, it's only the method that differs. Nor had I thought of the custard I make for quiches as it related to the custard I make into ice cream.
Ratio has made me both a more thoughtful cook and a quicker one. I've always needed to check recipes for anything pastry-ish or sweet, now I feel confident to start with a ratio and make the changes that will create the dish I want. I've al More...
Ratio has made me both a more thoughtful cook and a quicker one. I've always needed to check recipes for anything pastry-ish or sweet, now I feel confident to start with a ratio and make the changes that will create the dish I want. I've al More...
Oct 06, 2009
Cissa
rated it:
I'm very intrigued at the approach this book takes: that understanding the basic ratios in many "core" recipes allows one to improvise freely in the kitchen. This is a bit of a misnomer, though, since in some things the basic techniques are equally important (such as the differences between pound and sponge cakes; the ratios are the same, it's the technique that makes them different). I'll admit, though, at this point I have not yet tried cooking using the reatio system- though I'm loo
More...
Jun 04, 2010
John
rated it:
Given to me by my chef cousin. He breaks down a handful of common foods (biscuits, cookies, custards, etc) into ratios, the idea being once you know the basic ratio you can tweak and add and subtract as you desire. Totally convinced I need a kitchen scale now (he does ratios by weight). Oddly, though, he kind of undermines himself from the beginning, showing how all these ratios are malleable and negotiable. Still, really great for someone at my level of cooking who is so tired of looking up end
More...
May 24, 2010
penny
rated it:
The best kitchen purchase I made after acquiring a good set of knives, and a sharpening stone, was my kitchen scale. I love it so much I bought a second. I've been looking for a book to supplement Alton Brown, McGee, and my knowledge that most recipes really hinge more on the balance than of worrying if I've put exactly 1/3 of a cup into the mixing bowl. I wish I knew of this book years ago, as a gluten-free baker I have little use today for many of the example ratios, as gluten-free mixes behav
More...
Jun 22, 2011
Dan
rated it:
A fun reading cookbook that attempts to break down recipes into their essential parts so that you may build up from there. I wanted to read it to gain a better understanding of why I do what I do in recipes and what proportions to use so that I would be able to better cook recipe free...(I'm horrible with cooking in the fact that I treat cooking like chemistry. Every direction, every measurement, every everything must be followed to a T.) While I won't remember how to make a Hollandaise sauce
More...
Oct 23, 2010
Janet
rated it:
This has been on my list for a while and I finally checked it out at the library to preview prior to possibly purchasing it in Kindle format. I love the logical arrangement: Doughs, Batters, Stocks and Sauces, Farcir, Fat-Based Sauces, and Custards.
Ruhlman makes it sound uncomplicated and logical and helps to demystify More...
A culinary ratio is a fixed proportion of one ingredient or ingredients relative to another. These proportions form the backbone of the craft of cooking.
Ruhlman makes it sound uncomplicated and logical and helps to demystify More...
Jul 22, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
I feel this book is like a cooking textbook. There are some recipes, but mostly it talks about the ratio of ingredients to each other. For example Gnocchi is (by weight) 2 parts water, 1 part butter, 1 part flower, 2 parts egg. Boiled quickly then sauteed. But, the same ratio, if baked, will make a basic bread, a gougeres. Add in a little sugar and it is the recepie for Eclairs. I'm slowly cooking my way through this book. Saturday I am making muffins.
