Ratio

The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

By: Michael Ruhlman

Narrated by: Michael Ruhlman

Michael Ruhlman’s groundbreaking New York Times bestseller takes us to the very “truth” of cooking: it is not about recipes but rather about basic ratios and fundamental techniques that makes all food come together, simply.

When you know a culinary ratio, it’s not like knowing a single recipe, it’s instantly knowing a thousand.

Why spend time sorting through the millions of cookie recipes available in books, magazines, and on the Internet? Isn’t it easier just to remember 1-2-3? That’s the ratio of ingredients that always make a basic, delicious cookie dough: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour. From there, add anything you want—chocolate, lemon and orange zest, nuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, or peanut butter, to name a few favorite additions. Replace white sugar with brown for a darker, chewier cookie. Add baking powder and/or eggs for a lighter, airier texture.

Ratios are the starting point from which a thousand variations begin.

Ratios are the simple proportions of one ingredient to another. Biscuit dough is 3:1:2—or 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. This ratio is the beginning of many variations, and because the biscuit takes sweet and savory flavors with equal grace, you can top it with whipped cream and strawberries or sausage gravy. Vinaigrette is 3:1, or 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, and is one of the most useful sauces imaginable, giving everything from grilled meats and fish to steamed vegetables or lettuces intense flavor.

Cooking with ratios will unchain you from recipes and set you free. With thirty-three ratios and suggestions for enticing variations, Ratio is the truth of cooking: basic preparations that teach us how the fundamental ingredients of the kitchen—water, flour, butter and oils, milk and cream, and eggs—work. Change the ratio and bread dough becomes pasta dough, cakes become muffins become popovers become crepes.

As the culinary world fills up with overly complicated recipes and never-ending ingredient lists, Michael Ruhlman blasts through the surplus of information and delivers this innovative, straightforward book that cuts to the core of cooking. Ratio provides one of the greatest kitchen lessons there is—and it makes the cooking easier and more satisfying than ever.

One of the best books for professionals as well as home cooks….

Been cooking for 43 years and I learned so much from this book. Thank you for so much wisdom!

Doesn’t translate well to audiobook

I struggled through this. Despite saying it was about ratios, the book is full of complete recipes. By contrast, books like ‘ice cream, the whole scoop’ will just say their base, what flavours work and ratios for substitutions or additions.

Additionally the book starts off saying everything is in weight but the recipes are full of cups, spoons, and other units. Speaking of units, I struggled with translating the imperial units at at the speed of talking. A metric version would have been helpful.

Overall the book sometimes felt it had real potential. For example the discussion of caramel sauce vs toffees. It’s just… audiobooks suit cookery books but not recipe books.

Note that my criticism here relates almost exclusively to the audiobook. Really, I wouldn’t have been bothered by any of the above on a written page.

The recipes he went over

I am a learning chef this book was amazing for me the way he explained stuff and went over. I totally understood.