035 - Prepare unfamiliar cuisine

(too lazy to photograph my own books, this set belongs to The Flying Dutchman on eBay.)

See these books? I own a set of these books. I bought them one volume at a time, at full price plus shipping and handling, every five or six weeks until I had all 28 volumes (Soups is shown here twice.) I learned how to cook with these books. With these books I have tackled everything from a cauliflower mold to a batch of ginger beer. They are collectively considered one of the most complete cooking references ever produced. Filled with color photos and step-by-step instructions, they are supposedly a standard in most serious kitchens.

Have a look at those titles: Breads, Sauces, Pork, Salads, Lamb, Variety Meats (that's the various organs that most people don't care to eat), Fruits, Vegetables, Beef & Veal, Wine, Candy, and on and on. I love these books. I'll never part with these books.

At the end of each book is a section containing previously published recipes. These are for everything from basic broths and ketchup to major constructs like beef tongue stuffed in a turkey. The recipes represent cuisines from all over the world, though regional American and French tend to dominate.

This brings me to the purpose of this post: goal #35 of the 101 things in 1,001 days.

Jocelyn and I will prepare at least one meal each month for six months from a cuisine that we don't know very well. We'll use this set of books for the recipes. We were leafing through them earlier and we are overloaded with options. This should be fun. We're going to involve the kids, too.

Who knows, we might discover a dish that we add to the regular family menu.

Recommendations? Anyone else out there experimenting with their meals?