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Merle Ellis Has Died

I didn't see this anywhere in the news.  Merle Ellis, butcher, television host and most notably, the author of the excellent "Cutting Up in the Kitchen" has died.  My grandmother, who taught me so much about cooking, was a big Merle Ellis fan and a good deal of her meat cooking technique came from him.

 Though Cutting Up in the Kitchen is out of print, it is often available on Amazon.com used.  I bought a copy for my brother as a gift; I found it for $0.50, significantly less than I paid to mail it.  

In the Mail: New Michael Ruhlman Book

I have consistently enjoyed Michael Ruhlman's books (I partially credit his The Making of a Chef with being an influence in my decision to go to cooking school.  Nowhere else did I find such detailed description of what it would be like and although I chose Midwest Culinary Institute in Cincinnati rather than the CIA, many of the experiences were markedly similar).  One of the things you find in cooking school is beyond learning technique, you learn a whole lot of ratios (1 egg yolk to 1 cup of oil for aioli, for example).  If you know ratios, it gives you tremendous flexibility and a great starting point for improvisation.  Well, Ruhlman is back again with a new book that looks to be a worthwhile addition to the culinary bookshelf: Ratios: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.

I will write a review after I get the book.

The End of Cookbooks As You Know Them

More on the upcoming Alinea cookbook from Ed Levine at Serious Eats. Interesting backgrounder on Grant Achatz's concept for the book, the control he and his business partner garnered, and how is this is not just another cookbook.

The Best Value For Your Bookshelf

One of the best kitchen bookshelf resources you can own, while out-of-print, is fairly available on the secondary market. I don't know how I became aware of it, but I am glad to have found it.

The book is Cutting Up In The Kitchen by Merle Ellis. Originally published in 1975, this is one of the most detailed and comprehensive guides to meat that you could hope to find. Ellis was a producer at NBC who went on to become a butcher. I remember that my grandmother, my culinary hero, was a big Merle Ellis fan.

This book has all the details that I didn't get out of the texts I used in culinary school when I took Butchery and Fishmongering. We used a combination of Wayne Gislen's Professional Cooking, NAMP Meat Buyers Guide, and internally-developed lecture notes. Nothing wrong with any of them, but Ellis really fills in the gaps. If only for his comprehensive lists of the aliases and names that meats go by, it is a great reference. Do you know what a Chicago Round is? Ellis will fill you in.

As I mentioned, the book is way, way out-of-print. But here is the really cool thing: you can buy it used on Amazon for less than the shipping will cost. I bought mine last year for $0.11. Seriously. Eleven cents, plus $3.49 in shipping. I checked while writing this entry and there are numerous copies available for less than $1 USD. Cookbooks and kitchen references can be insanely expensive, so it is well worth snatching a copy.