Johnny Cookbooks

Johnny Cookbooks is a pile of many things: Ideas, reviews, concepts, insights, photos, videos, objects, and questions from different disciplines that can, might, should, and are related to food, wine, cocktails, service, restaurants, and cookbooks.

[johnnycookbooks]

George Carlin has talked about food a lot in his stand up and is familiarly hysterical brilliantly insightful.  He does here too, but that isn't the thing to focus on. At around the 1 minute mark he arrives at the punchline for a joke, but the audience's reaction isn't very strong or positive.  His reaction to this is what garners laughter from the audience. 

What is amazing is Carlin's reaction.  There is a momentary pause, facial reaction (he actually lets the audience have their laugh at him), then he carries on without missing a beat.  When people are waiting on guests or sending food to the pass for the chef they are waiting for a reaction, a moment of corroboration or affirmation that what they've done is acceptable, good, or even great. This can cause problems and distract from the task at hand, but as Carlin demonstrates experience makes a big difference. He's clearly experienced this type of situation before.

I guess the think to do is keep going because there will another situation, another chance to not make the previous mistake, or to refine an aspect of an interaction, a dish, or a joke. 

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Arqball Spin in the Kitchen

Below is a spin I created using Arqball Spin app on the iPad.  I think the image quality is better on the iphone. The real key is rotating stage that turns at 1 rpm. They are available on the Arqball website.  This is just some noodling to get a feel for how this can be used to showcase composed dishes. 

Getting the setup just right is the key here.  Spinning wine bottles and cocktails might be the next stop content wise.  Not to mention the labeling capabilities, but to come.

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Food is a Reflection: Fictitious Dishes

Thanks to Moby Lives for drawing some attention to Fictitious Dishes by Dinah Fried.  She is a graphic design MFA at RISD and she deftly creates and captures meals from famous works of literature:

The Catcher in the Rye Alice in Wonderland Moby-Dick Oliver Twist The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It is great visual depiction of how food can vividly reflect culture.  Look back at these images.  Even if you've never read any of the books you can identify alot about the characters, their times, and their locations. 

Food that is grounded in some story, some cultural context seems to give it more value.  Maybe food that comes with story is better.  If anything it provides the diner with something to think about while eating, instead of thoughtlessly shoveling it down.

Tell stories, it makes things taste better.

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Citia: A New Reading Experience

Citia recently released its first iPad app/book.  It is Kevin Kelly's What Technology Wants.  The thing that is really intriguing is the way the app creates a non-linear reading experience by offering the book in a curated, abridged version that is visually organized. 

Editors and authors work together to break out the content of the book into related categories so it is easier to assess and quickly locate the content the reader wants.  Content is also summarized for quick digestion and exploration. They will be rolling out new apps for books soon and will focusing on non-fiction. 

Beyond the proposed redefinition of the reading experience, the thing that caught my attention in the Wall Street Journal video (6:45) is that Citia is working with publishers and authors using Citia's enterprise content management platform.  Imagine having access to this platform for the creation of a different kind of cookbook?  Something that could have a linear story, but could be used or explored as the user/reader sees fit. 

The introductory video on the Citia site clarifies things really well.  The use of "c

Overall there is alot of potential here that something like iBooks Author doesn't quite offer yet.  Hopefully more will be coming from them soon. 

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Sebastian Errazuriz....has a really good perspective on extremism and religion and it is well articulated through his holy wine "Christian Popsicles": 

"In the past years America has appeared to suffer a historical regression becoming more politically and religiously extremist than previous decades. The current religious fanatic groups although deemed potentially violent, are dismissed due to the current focus on religious fundamentals from the Middle East. While fighting the War on Terror, we forget that only a few decades ago, groups like the Ku Klux Klan, where a functioning, dominant political force in American society. The Klan much like other extremists identified themselves as a Christian organization, carrying out 'God's work' branding the Flaming Cross as their symbol during their reign of terror. Today the Klan is long gone; nevertheless extreme religious and political groups continue to hold a dangerous and growing influence over American politics, demanding that politicians publicly profess their faith in God and enforce laws that defend the ideology of the Bible over individual liberties."

Are you blindly eating what's for sale?

Thanks MoCoLoco for bringing this up!

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Chus Margallo is onto something.  It would make snack time a bit interesting. I wonder is Fernet Branca is available in similar packaging?

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Labels

Urban Wineworks is a store and winery in Oklahoma.  The packaging for their wines was done by the graphic design firm The Foundry Collective.  The striking thing about these labels is the amount of information on them and their size. 

Wine labels tend to contain alot of required language, e.g. alcohol percentage, "contains sulfites," government warning, and a few sentences full of rootless adjectives that require a certain amount of wine familiarity in the reader. The cue to take from the above labels is that they make recommendations, multiple recommendations for foods that pair well with the wine in the bottle.  Other wines do this, but the recommendations or suggestions are usually buried.  Here they are prominent, boldly presented.  I wish more wines did this.  It seems like a natural way to bring familiarity into an equation that is fraut with uncertainty as buyers can't usually taste wine in a store before buying it. 

The size of these labels is really appealing too.  They are usually staid and conservative.  Having more room for info about the winery, grower, and pairing suggestions allows for more story on the bottle.  On the thing you use to evaluate the wine before buying, the thing you serve from and leave on the table during a meal. 

I have a feeling the realities of the law, money, and time are quite restrictive, but it would be great to see 3 to 5 variations of famous wine labels by a few different graphic designers.  I'm sure it would bring to light aspects of the wine and its story that garner new attention, or at least refocus it.

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Nopi is the newest restaurant from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Tamimi. I have heard great things about it from people who've eaten there.  The blog is great too.  Their food is always sexy and appealing, both composed and in the raw state.  

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Tacit & Explicit Knowledge

With the upcoming release of Spring 2012 cookbooks along with news about cookbooks for 2013 (and beyond) I couldn't help be struck by the concepts of tacit and explicit knowledge.  Specifically, how they are expressed in writing, photos, and video, but more importantly how chefs, writers, photographers, directors of photography, and editors are tasked with bridging these two forms of knowledge together.

Tacit knowledge is implied.  It is not overtly expressed.  It is knowledge you feel in your bones.  Explicit knowledge is expressed openly.  Clearly stated and definite.  

For cooking, or really any other form of physical crafting or creating, tacit is the better term than implicit.  Tacit is related to tactile, to touch.  Knowing the touch of something is knowledge.  It is a hard form of knowledge to communicate or explain....to make explicit. 

Making tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge is hard to do well.  It really is what makes Mastering the Art of French Cooking so successful.  Julia made it clear what needed to happen at every step in a recipe.  She understood how it felt to cook an ingredient and effectively conveys how it should feel for the reader/user.  In The French Laundry Cookbook Thomas Keller's understanding of ingredients and techniques is conveyed clearly by Susie Heller's recipe writing, Michael Ruhlman's purveyor pieces and Deb Jones' photography.  They all assume nothing in their written and visual explanations or recipes and techniques.

The ideas of tacit and explicit knowledge also touch on the concept of expertise.  Since the web allows anyone to produce and share writing, video, and photography with great ease the concept of expertise can quickly become fuzzier and less definitive.  Corroboration now needs to be part of, or at least should be, part of everyone's research process.  Whether a high school sophomore is working on a report about why Napoleon's invasion of Russia failed or a cook is trying to identify an ideal braising technique they will both will be faced with a huge amount of information from multiple people.  How much does each explanation echo the others?  Are similar dates and steps mentioned? Are the events and steps explained differently some how?

More importantly than credentials, I think focus should be given to how well an explanation, either written and visual, bridges the gap between tacit and explicit knowledge.  How well something is explained makes it more accessible.  In the world of cookbooks there is a ot of repetition.  There are thousands of recipe iterations from thousands of authors each year.  So why do people keep publishing and buying them?  I think a big reason is that the explanations and stories, the bridging of tacit and explicit knowledge, are better in certain books than others.  The difference between Child's and Keller's Blanquette de Veau recipes isn't huge, but the way each is explained is very different.  Both are clear, but each has a distinct way of bridging the knowledge gap for the reader that can make either recipe appeal more than the other. 

So when someone says the macaron recipe in this book is better than that book, they are not only commenting on how the final product came out, but how well they were able to use and learn from the recipe.  The expression of our like or dislike of a book or recipe is partially dependent on how well we experience it making tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, no matter the medium of words or images.

Read hard and pay attention to how an author or photographer bridges the gap between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.  It can help understanding, but also our explanation to others.

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What's your Twinkie made of?  Brock Davis' photos are great.

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Leonardo Da Vinci

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Put this in the middle of a dining room.

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Kirby Ferguson has a pretty good understanding of copying and how it is important and necessary.  Knowing copying is a starting point, something to build from, is the most important thing.  Let copying guide and inspire, not serve as the limit of what can be done.

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Austin Kleon has got a good point.  It works for anything from writing to food to design.  It's something that has gained traction very overtly in food.  Cooks quote each other all the time with dishes, and those that copy outright stick out.  Those that interpret and are affected by others' ideas acknowledge honor.

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The Corkers

The Corkers from Monkey Business…or something to fiddle with at the table when you’re waiting for another bottle to arrive.

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Insightful Combination

Mariel Piña is a Senior at the University of Houston and won first place with her Ambos colander/strainer at Student Design Competition.  Core77 has more info about the competition and other winners, but this one stuck out the most. The only real tweak or addition this could use would be to make it part of a salad spinner for drying greens.  The wide base makes it really appealing as a cheese grater and the large handled metal colander is much better than plastic.  It is much more of a home kitchen tool, but one that would be great for a galley kitchen.

Hopefully we'll see it come into physical being sooner than later.

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This documentary was a huge undertaking for the filmmakers, and the sommeliers.  The amount of stress people can overcome is amazing, but also the amount of information people can take in can be unbelievable. The level that the Court of Master Sommeliers takes the exam is amazing. The study process is rigorous and many in the process come away with their own book on wine, a compilation of all the things they need to know....a codex if you will.  What do these custom, individual, study guides look like? Do they reveal things about the applicants and their goals or preferences, their strengths and their weaknesses?

What would something like Notes From A Kitchen look like if it were from a sommelier's perspective.  I think it would make a great companion.