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Hey gents I'm Kyle from the Distilled
Man. I have a confession to make.
I'm a big food nerd. I love cooking, and I
love food. I love eating. I love recipes.
Some guys try to stay as far away from
the kitchen as they can, but if you think
of cooking as unmanly, I think you're
crazy. Because when you make food for
someone, you're actually putting yourself
in that provider role, which I think is
actually a position of strength and
leadership. As Steven Raichlen told me
"If you can feed the tribe, you can lead
the tribe." And if you've ever had a
chance to prepare a meal for a special
lady friend--whether you're dating, in a
relationship, or married--you know just
how powerful it can be to know your way
around the kitchen.
Beyond that though, I personally find
cooking to be one of the best stress
relievers when you're doing it, and
without sounding totally cheesy, one of
the best healthy lifestyle choices you
can make. So up next I'm gonna share
seven cookbooks that I own and love and
that I think every man should own if
you're interested in cooking. Number one,
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
So I've had this cookbook for probably
about 15 years and one of the things I
love about it is that, one, it just has
such a no-nonsense writing style. The
recipes are very simple and easy to
follow, but Bittman also does a really
good job of kind of showing you how to
make a basic recipe and then showing you
how to kind of embellish it. So this is the
cookbook that helped me learn how to
roast and carve chicken perfectly and
then also how to further embellish it
using different seasonings and different
sauces. It's also the book that got me
hooked on making frittatas, which if
you've never had one is kind of like a
baked omelet. So even though it doesn't
sound like such a manly thing, it's
actually pretty impressive when you bust
one of these things out. It also happens
to be a pretty great way to get rid of
random scraps of food in your fridge. If
you have a half a tomato or half an
onion or like a little bit of cheese
left over, just throw it in there.
I could go on and on about frittatas, but
I think I'm gonna stop before it gets
weird.
Number two, the Joy of Cooking. Now this
cookbook's been around for like 80 years
and there's really not anything super
fancy in it. But what you'll be really
amazed by is just the breadth of the
different recipes. And so it's a great
reference book for just random things
like how to make gravy or like a basic
bread pudding recipe or even, you know,
tips on menu planning or
tips on entertaining. It may be a little
bit older, but a lot of recipes are just
timeless honestly. And so a lot of times
when I'm trying to learn how to make a
new dish, I'll look at Joy of Cooking
alongside How to Cook Everything and
then between the two I feel like I can
get a really good idea of how to
actually approach the recipe. Number
three, The Barbecue! Bible by Steven
Raichlen. Now, this should probably be
required reading for anyone with a Y
chromosome, and I say this not because men
are naturally good at grilling and
barbecue, but because we think we are and
we actually aren't. So I have news for
you guys:
just because you're a man does not make
you good at grilling and barbecue. You
actually need to learn how to grill, and
the Barbecue! Bible is a great place to start.
So it's basically a crash course on
grilling and barbecue and it has a ton
of different recipes--500 recipes
actually. So also I think this book gives
you a true appreciation for the
international aspect of grilling. You
know, sometimes it seems like here in the
US that we act like we actually invented
grilling or something, like you know the
Weber barbecue was the first grill ever
made or something. The author Steven
Raichlen is more than just a renowned
barbecue expert, he also has a
deep respect and curiosity for travel
and different cuisines. So the book has a
lot of different international recipes
in it and also tips on different
international techniques that are used
throughout the world for grilling. Number
four, The Cook's Illustrated Guide to
Grilling and Barbecue. Now, this book
doesn't have much in the way of pictures.
It's you know just line art drawings but
one thing I love about Cook's
Illustrated in general--they have a
magazine as well--is that they're all
about objectively testing different
recipes. They like to challenge
assumptions about tried-and-true dishes
and actually run experiments to test
different combinations of ingredients
and cook times and different technique
techniques to see how it actually
affects the final product. For instance, a
lot of us don't think much about a basic
burger recipe, right? It's just like ground
chuck and some seasoning and that's
about it. But in this book they go into
great detail about the the experiments
they did with you know using different
cuts of meat instead of ground chuck and
then they also give some tips on you
know how to make your patty not puff up
on the grill. After spending some time
with The Cook's Illustrated Guide to
Grilling and Barbecue you definitely
walk away with understanding more about
the why than just how. So beyond
being able to execute
a recipe you feel like you have a better
sense of the techniques behind making
great food and why they work. Number five,
Man Made Meals. Now this is a another
great book by Steven Raichlen, but it's a
bit different than the Barbecue! Bible. So
a lot of guys are happy to hop up on the
grill, but when it comes to going in the
kitchen sometimes they're a little bit
less comfortable. With this book, Steven
lays out some fundamentals of cooking
beyond the grill, or what he calls "basic
culinary literacy for men." And what's
great about this book is that you know
despite the title Man Made Meals, he
doesn't actually overplay the whole "man
food" thing. He even says in the
introduction he's like I'm not gonna
teach you how to cook a pot roast on
your transmission or how to poach a
whole salmon in your dishwasher. At the
same time though he does a good job of
mixing the fundamentals with a tiny bit
of that showmanship that all of us guys
love to have in the kitchen. With his
recipes like blowtorch oatmeal and his
recipe for smoked Bloody Marys.
I also really appreciated his section on
what he called "flavor boosters." So, unique
pantry items ranging from things like
anchovies to nutmeg to Yuzu
that you could use to sort of boost
things up or kick things up a notch in
the flavor department. Honestly if I was
gonna write a cookbook, this is the type
of cookbook that I would probably aspire
to write. And I actually had the good
fortune of being able to interview
Steven on my podcast not too long ago.
Definitely a great episode, so check that
out. I'll go ahead and link to it in the
description below. Number six,
EveryDay Cook by Alton Brown. Alton
Brown is probably another one of my
culinary heroes, and I've been enjoying
him since he had his show on Food
Network way back when called Good Eatz,
and if you never saw it, it was sort of
like this bizarre cross between Julia
Childs and like Peewee Herman. So,
sometimes bizarre, but always
informative and fun. Like The Cook's
Illustrated team, Alton does a really
good job of sort of challenging
assumptions about certain recipes and
techniques so you always feel like you
have a better sense of not just how to
make the dish but actually why it works.
His other book, I'm Just Here for the
Food is also a bonus recommendation. It
has a lot of background on the science
behind different cooking techniques and
different gear, so definitely worth
checking out. But what I like about his
new book EveryDay Cook
is that it's almost like Alton unplugged.
It's you know very stripped-down and
minimalist and supposedly it's the
foods that he actually eats on
a regular basis. He even says on the
cover you know "this time it's personal."
And that vibe is even further reinforced
because all the photography in this book--
and there's actually a lot of photos--was
taken with an iPhone, if you could
believe that. You know I'm not sure if
you could get away with that if you
weren't already famous, but it's pretty
cool. But you still get that classic
Alton sense of humor with quirky recipes
like smoked meatloaf, which he calls
"Smokey the Meatloaf" and recipes like
Breakfast Carbonara, which I haven't
tried yet, but it sounds both bizarre and
really tasty.
Number seven, Artisan Bread in Five
Minutes a Day. Now this one's a little
bit different since I know it's such a
specific recommendation for a bread book.
But I'm telling you, if you've never made
fresh-baked bread on your own, you're in
for a real treat. sSo I got this book
probably 7 or 8 years ago, and I really
dove into learning how to make bread. And I
have to say, it really really demystifies
the whole process. You don't need a bread
maker, you don't need any fancy equipment
or techniques, and you don't do to do any
kneading, which is grea. After playing
around with bread making with this book
I realized that one of the things I love
about making bread is similar to what I
love about making beer, if you've ever
done that. It's the same sort of
alchemical process where you're working
with this living thing, yeast, and it's
sort of exciting when the yeast sort of
wakes up when you're manipulating it. And
let me tell you, if you show up to a
gathering with a few loaves of freshly
baked bread, you become an instant hero.
Mark my words. If you're at all
interested in cooking, honestly any of
these cookbooks are great. You can't go
wrong, and I'll go ahead and link to
these in the description below so you
can check them out individually. So I'm
curious to hear from you guys: what are
other suggestions you have for other
cookbooks that every man should own? Why
don't you leave a note in the comments
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Thanks again for watching, and
I'll see you soon.
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