On the back of Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, Alton Brown, author of I’m Just Here For the Food writes: “Professional cooks and bakers guard ratios passionately so it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Michael Ruhlman is forced into hiding like a modern-day Prometheus, who in handing us mortals a power better suited to the gods, has changed the balance of kitchen power forever”. I don’t think he is exaggerating; even if you never open up Ruhlman’s self-proclaimed “anti-recipe book”, the diagram on the cover has the potential to teach you more about cooking than many cookbooks on your kitchen shelf. The concise diagram offers you the ratios for fifteen everyday foods, including bread, pasta, pie and cookie doughs, pound, sponge and angel food cakes.
The caveat, however, is found in the first few pages: “good technique must be used in conjunction with the ratio”. This is not, therefore, a book for beginners - nor is it the book to help you find the "perfect" or "best" recipes, though it does offer some crucial culinary fundamentals. If you have been feeling a bit like a slave to recipes, then Ruhlman’s ratios may just be the key to your freedom. And who couldn’t use some divine powers to exert in the kitchen?
