If you watch the TV show Iron Chef on the Food Network, you’ve probably seen chef and food writer Michael Ruhlman.  Back in April of this year, he released a book entitled “Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.”

In the book, he talks about how a lot of the great recipes that we have for things like bread, sauces, batters, custards, and others are all based off of some pretty simple ratios.   For example,  for bread dough, you use 5 parts flour to 3 parts water.  For Mayo, you use 20 parts oil to 1 part liquid to 1 part egg yolk.

When you watch these food shows on TV, I’ve always wondered how chefs remember all these recipes.  Well, then I realize that it’s not about memorizing recipes it’s about memorizing ratios.   If you can memorize 3 parts meat to 1 part fat then you can make your own sausages.

I’m anxious to dive into more of the book and even try them out over the long holiday break.  I picked up the book for my Amazon Kindle.  I’ll let you all know how it goes.

One of the cool parts (Yes, I am  a nerd) is that you can get all the ratios in an iPhone app for just a couple of bucks.  It seems like it’s totally worth it.

Happy cooking!