Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient

In this creative cookbook, James Beard grant winning writer Michael Ruhlman clarifies why the egg is the way in to the art of cooking.

For culinary visionary Michael Ruhlman, the inquiry isn't whether the chicken or the egg started things out, it's the way anything could be refined in the kitchen without the sorcery of the regular egg. He begins with wonderful poached and fried eggs and develops to brioche and Italian meringue. En route perusers figure out how to make their own mayonnaise, pasta, custards, quiches, cakes, and different arrangements that depend generally on the shrouded forces of the egg.

An exceptional structure for the book is given in Ruhlman's egg flowchart, which begins with the entire egg at the top and branches out to depict its numerous utilizations and arrangements - bubbled, pressure-cooked, poached, seared, pampered, isolated, worked into hitters and batters, and then some.

A removable represented flowchart is incorporated with this book. Almost 100 plans are gathered by strategy and reach from basic (Egg Salad with Tarragon and Chives) to complex (nougat). Many bit by bit photos control the home cook through this momentous culinary excursion.

About the Author

Michael Ruhlman is the bestselling and James Beard Award-winning author of many classic culinary books, including The Making of a Chef, Egg, Ratio, The Elements of Cooking, and Charcuterie. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

An extraordinary book, my wife considers it one of the best and most insightful cookbooks she has ever read. Digs deeply into this single ingredient and shows the extraordinary versatility and key features of the egg, many of which we take for granted in day-to-day cooking. When you understand the egg, as this book allows you to do, you gain a whole new level of insight into your other recipes and into cooking in general. Have tried several delicious recipes from the book as well, they will become regulars in our cooking rotation. For the serious cook and also for anyone who wants to increase their cooking knowledge, this book is a real classic. Ruhlman writes so well that reading the book is also highly enjoyable, not in any way an instructional chore, just fascinating. Cannot recommend it highly enough. --Michael B.

Ruhlman can tell you everything that you want to know about chicken eggs, and a tiny smattering about duck eggs, quail eggs, and even ostrich eggs. The recipes are not new or revolutionary, but they are very strong on technique. If you just want a string of recipes, you can find them online, but Ruhlman emphasizes how each recipe can best be made for ultimate results. I have a number of hens in my backyard, and I am interested in doing the best things that I can possibly do with their eggs. This book is very well worth having and Ruhlman will always improve your cooking. --H. Wood

SO much more than just your typical "how to cook an egg" book. This book artfully covers a wide array of breakfast dishes, sauces, salads, cooking techniques etc. I love how the book separates into categories for the whole egg, just the whites, and just the yolks. I've learned far more from this book than I was expecting to. It's a great resource! --Britanny W.

Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient