Economics and Quality of Life

If you enjoy eating really good food and in many instances great food then waste no time. Use this book. Get great results. Save lots of money without sacrificing quality, for you can make many foods just as well as the best restaurants or best commercial food producers, at home. I enjoy ambience as much as the next person and there are special times when I want to be spoiled by eating in an excellent restaurant, but the cost of doing that on a regular basis is prohibitive for most of us. Thus, to learn to cook very well gives you the best of both taste and cost savings. Finally, take time to consider that when you do the cooking you know for certain what you are eating, and that has many ramifications related to health.

I take the time to discuss techniques that will enhance your understanding of how to get the best results. Quite often it is a matter and method of following instincts based on knowledge gained by experience. When I recommend using a particular quality of food or special piece of kitchen equipment or utensil know that getting the best results in your kitchen will depend on you having or acquiring that item. The next section of this book discusses critical requirements, for even the best recipes are easily weakened when the cooking environment, ingredients and/or equipment are less than the best. Beyond equipment, techniques that explore the behavior of ingredients under different physical conditions is important, so I take time to explain physical properties that can determine success or failure in the various recipes. That is a unique departure from traditional recipe books or cookbooks.

I even included the section on winemaking that concentrates on the best techniques for making wine at home, and a full description of supplies, materials, techniques, costs, sources, and some theoretical treatment beyond what you will find in typical wine recipes.

The most fundamental consideration is that we eat for a lifetime. Why take one of life’s greatest needs and potentially greatest pleasures and waste the opportunity to enjoy the best? You have to prepare or buy and/or serve or eat the meals anyway. What justification do we have for opting for convenience or laziness or endlessly doing it the way Granny did, with a small repertoire of common meals? If you and your spouse both have jobs and you feel pressed for time when you come home then where is the real problem? Should your employment cause you to go through life eating marginally okay meals? Can you justify ignoring new knowledge and opting to put convenience ahead of quality instead of doing the things that can truly improve your enjoyment of life? I do admit, however, that if you are truly wealthy it is understandable that you will concentrate on other areas of life and typically eat the best by buying the talents of the expert chefs and eating the foods they prepare. Are you wealthy?

You will find web site addresses, phone numbers and sometimes location addresses for certain ingredients mentioned in this book. My intent was/is to get you in touch with quality, variety and price alternatives to what you find in your typical supermarket. You will be more than surprised to find just how much you can save if you use these resources. Yes, this is about economics as well as quality of life.