UEFA Champions League
To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

You've subscribed to ! We will pre-order your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships and Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Ruhlman's Twenty: 20 Techniques, 100 Recipes, A Cook's Manifesto Kindle Edition

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 643 ratings

Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.

Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

James Beard Award, 2010 winner! — Ruhlman's Twenty — Redefining how we cook

Michael Ruhlman cookbook: Rare is the cookbook that redefines how we cook. And rare is the author who can do so with the ease and expertise of acclaimed writer and culinary authority Michael Ruhlman. Ruhlman's Twenty distills Michael Ruhlman's decades of cooking, writing, and working with the world's greatest chefs into twenty essential ideas—from ingredients to processes to attitude—that are guaranteed to make every cook more accomplished.

Learn Michael Ruhlman's twenty key cooking concepts: Whether cooking a multi-course meal, the juiciest roast chicken, or just some really good scrambled eggs; Ruhlman reveals how a cook's success boils down to the same twenty concepts. With the illuminating expertise that has made him one of the most esteemed food journalists, Michael Ruhlman explains the hows and whys of each concept and reinforces those discoveries through 100 recipes for everything from soups to desserts.

A game-changing James Beard Award winning cookbook: Ruhlman's Twenty shows you how he does it in over 300 photographs. Cooks of all levels will revel in Michael Ruhlman s game-changing Twenty.

If you liked The Food Lab: Better Cooking through Science, you'll love Ruhlman's Twenty

Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Popular highlights in this book

Product description

Review

"There is something smart, useful and important to learn from each remarkable chapter of Ruhlman's Twenty. Whether you've cooked all your life or you've just come into the kitchen, you're bound to be changed by this book."
-Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table

"I'm not sure if Michael Ruhlman is a great writer who cooks or a great cook who writes, but either way he always manages to make my favorite thing: good sense. With Ruhlman's Twenty he makes sense of just about anything and everything that can happen in a kitchen by boiling it all down to twenty elemental concepts, stunningly presented in concise and useful clarity."
-Alton Brown, host of Good Eats and author of I'm Just Here for the Food

James Beard Foundation 2012 Book Awards winner, General Cooking category

International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2012 Cookbook Awards winner, Food and Beverage Reference/Technical category

"A naturally curious and intelligent cook, Michael has amassed a vast amount of culinary knowledge through his many years being around and writing about food. In his newest book Ruhlman's Twenty he has distilled everything down to the most essential 20 techniques that will help build solid skills and a positive outlook in the kitchen. It is a great resource."
-Thomas Keller, chef/owner of The French Laundry

About the Author

Michael Ruhlman is the author of Ratio, The Soul of a Chef, The Making of a Chef, Charcuterie, and, with, Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook . He lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Photographer Donna Turner Ruhlman lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0064BXCEK
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books LLC; Illustrated edition (21 Oct. 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 19335 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 721 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 643 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Michael Ruhlman
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Michael Ruhlman is the author or co-author of more than 25 books—non-fiction, fiction, and memoir—the majority of which are on food and cooking, including the bestselling "The Soul of a Chef," "The French Laundry Cookbook" with Thomas Keller, "Charcuterie" with Brian Polcyn, "Ruhlman's Twenty," which won both James Beard and IACP awards, and most recently, "Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America." He lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
643 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book provides useful recipes and insights into cooking. They find it interesting and helpful for learning about cooking techniques. The high-quality recipes are described as like eating at a fantastic restaurant.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
5 customers mention ‘Recipes’5 positive0 negative

Customers find the recipes in the book useful and good for cooking. They appreciate the clear explanations of basic techniques and the high-quality recipes. The book serves as both a recipe book and a cooking course, helping readers understand cooking better.

"...The author clearly explains why processes are carried out (and why recipes fail if they are not carried out in certain ways)...." Read more

"...Fully colour photos and recipes for each section really help you understand what the book is teaching you...." Read more

"...I understand cooking so much better. The recipes are of a very high quality- like eating at a fantastic restaurant...." Read more

"Clear explanations for basic techniques. Workable recipes using those techniques. A good read if you are interested in cooking." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Insight’3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and useful. They say it provides great insight into often overlooked areas of cooking. The information is sensible and the explanations are clear.

"...Lots of sensible information and explanations. It will take time to absorb all details in this book, but well worth the effort." Read more

"Incredibly interesting book that gives great insight to often overlooked areas of cooking...." Read more

"Interesting and useful..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2016
    I just wish I'd had this book years ago. Just the explanation on cooking onions is brilliant! The author clearly explains why processes are carried out (and why recipes fail if they are not carried out in certain ways). I made a ragu after reading this using my usual recipe and the difference was amazing. The author is American and very occasionally you would need to translate what he's saying into British English terms, but its worth it. Very highly recommended.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 May 2016
    An amazing book. I having been cooking for years and now I am starting to understand how to improve my skills and technical knowledge. I always considered myself a competent cook but this book can help me become a "good" cook. Lots of sensible information and explanations. It will take time to absorb all details in this book, but well worth the effort.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2016
    Incredibly interesting book that gives great insight to often overlooked areas of cooking. Fully colour photos and recipes for each section really help you understand what the book is teaching you. I never knew an onion and water was so important! It has made me think differently about how I cook and what ingredients and techniques I use.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 January 2014
    Not a cookbook in the sense that it is all recipes; there are recipes dotted throughout but the main thrust of the book is to get you to think about the building blocks of dishes in a new way. Totally changed the way I looked at cooking. Can't recommend it enough.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2014
    This is the best cookbook I have ever used. I understand cooking so much better. The recipes are of a very high quality- like eating at a fantastic restaurant. I now have purchased 4 copies for me and as gifts.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2015
    Clear explanations for basic techniques. Workable recipes using those techniques. A good read if you are interested in cooking.
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2016
    If you cook, you should get this. Part recipe book, part cooking course.
  • Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2022
    Has fundamentally changed the way I think about cooking.

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • melk1999
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
    Reviewed in Canada on 14 July 2016
    This is a great book. The tip about melting butter in the Butter chapter more than paid for the price of this book! Some really great cooking tips that I now use over and over again. Recommend.
  • ladybird53
    5.0 out of 5 stars Je dois un exemplaire dédicacé et pensé à ma fille devrait avoir un aussi
    Reviewed in France on 11 September 2015
    chaque nouvelle cuisinière devrait avoir ce livre. il va élever leur technique et leur apprendre à penser comment fonctionne cuisson.
    Vous aurez rarement besoin de recettes lorsque vous comprenez enfin la philosophie de Ruhlman
  • Cissa
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent info and recipes
    Reviewed in the United States on 6 February 2013
    I decided to wait until I'd made several things from this book before I reviewed it. Currently I've made lemon confit (though it'll be 10 weeks before I can use it!), pizza dough, bacon-and-egg pizza, roasted shallots, and coq au vin.

    The pizza was brilliant, even though I managed to overcook it a bit at all possible stages. I am hankering to make it again. Both the pizza itself and the crust are dead easy, and taste wonderful! The crust is crisp, but not at all like a cracker; I have some in the fridge to make tomorrow, because as written, it only takes 3 hours- that's great! but doesn't leave time for the dough to ferment. It'll be interesting to taste how it is after fermenting for a couple of days in the fridge. For the pizza as a whole, the balance of cheese, bacon, and eggs is just perfect and very crave-able.

    The lemon confit was really easy to make, too. I can't use it yet because it requires 3 months curing, but it worked well. I've done 2 jars: one is conventional lemons, and the other is Meyer lemons. The recipe calls for 2 pounds of salt and one of sugar for 5 lemons; that seems excessive, since mine are going well with 9-10 lemons and 3/8ths the amount of sugar, salt and water.

    The roasted shallots are like candy; I could eat them all day, but heroically refrained because I need some for the coq au vin, which we just ate and which is rich and flavorful and amazing. It did take me closer to 2 hours than 1 hour to make it, but it's so worth it; it's the best coq au vin I've ever made.

    But- I didn't buy this just for the recipes. I really love Ruhlman's thoughtful approach to cooking, and the text parts are what I am valuing as I'm reading this. It is not a book of recipes; it's a considered approach about HOW to cook. If you like Cook's Illustrated, Ruhlman is definitely someone to read.

    My only quibble: more and more, ambitious cookbooks seem to be vying for coffee-table-book status: they are getting huge and heavy and unwieldy. This makes them harder to read- and this one needs to be read- and harder to cook from. I do not care for this trend.

    Still- I'm about a third of the way through reading it (albeit with difficulty), and have learned a lot from the text- and the recipes I've tried have been spot-on, and I want to make them all again soon.

    Edited to add: This book is a game-changer. I have been a really competent and skillful home cook for years now. These recipes rev it up at least an order of magnitude. While most restaurants cannot out-cook me at my previous level- I really doubt that much of ANYONE could outcook these. Totally BRILLIANT.

    Another addition: I have just made the French onion soup. WOW. It is delicious and brilliant, though i wish he'd warned me that caramelizing 8+ pounds of onions would take not just "hours" but 10 or so hours! It's very worth it, though; I adore caramelized onions, and this soup emphasizes them. I do recommend adding the optional wine vinegar at the end; the brightness accents the sweetness of the onions.

    I look forward to trying more recipes from this! Both the recipes and the text are making me a more thoughtful and knowlegable cook.

    Addendum: Several months after writing this, it has become one of my favorite cookbooks. The pizza with bacon and eggs is one of my favorite recipes ever- and the pizza crust is excellent for a basic NY-style pizza as well (Ruhlman also has an excellent simple tomato sauce that works great for this, as well as for a simple pasta).

    My husband and I just enjoyed the simple Coq au Vin for probably the third time- it's pretty easy, and tastes gorgeous. The sauteed mushrooms are simple but utterly perfect. I've only made a smattering of the recipes, but every single one of them has been perfect! and the text is thoughtful and helpful when one wants to understand coking, and not just follow recipes.

    This is the only book that i bought not only in dead-tree, but also for my Kindle-and I don't regret that redundancy.

    VERY recommended for a thoughtful or ambitious cook.
  • Azalea
    4.0 out of 5 stars love the approach, but beg to differ here and there
    Reviewed in Germany on 5 January 2014
    I love the simple approach, the way of developing intuitive skill from the basics up. The book gets only four stars for a possibly petty reason: i disagree on the approaches to fat and salt. Living in Europe and China, I have never used kosher salt in my life and am very wary of sea salt because of all the crap floating in our oceans. Fossile salt from a mine is probably cleaner, even with both anti-caking additives AND iodine in it. I also salt very sparingly, anyway, but am happy with the results most of the time. But will try advance salting for some meats in the future. On the other hand, my local organic whole chicken goes into that hot oven with no seasoning at all, comes out juicy and perfect, and even my salt-loving husband finds no fault.

    On fat, the approach seems a bit wasteful: in several recipes, we are instructed to sear a meat in plenty of oil, discard that oil, wipe the pot, and use fresh oil to fry onions or whatever. Why not use a little less oil for searing and follow the "stock" principle? I mean, after searing the meat, leave the fat with the aroma the meat imparted in there, continue with the veggies as planned, and keep that bit of meat goodness? Yes, the whole thing may be a bit higher in calories, but probably tastes as good if not better. We just should not garnish it with crème double afterward, and maybe use less butter in other dishes if we really need to compensate.

    On mise en place, mine (home cooking, of course!) works a bit differently: i know where everything is and grab it as needed, then put it back into its drawer right away. No extra fuss assembling everything on the counter before i start. And fewer ramekins to clean. I get a pretty good continuous rhythm that way, flexible enough for variations as they pop up.
    I also don't digest onions very well, so in my canon garlic (of course crushed with the side of a cleaver!) would replace onions much of the time.

    On overheated oil in asian stir-frying: i have seen chinese chefs deliberately toss a ladle of water in to a ragingly hot wok, continue stirring in the flames, and then serve the whole thing with a flourish- burnt oil flavor and all. How healthy that is may be another story, but in some chinese dishes in some regions it seems to be the done thing. Also, THAT batch will be disinfected thoroughly. Important to know when the plate may or may not have been washed properly. ;-) and chinese restaurant kitchens tend to be covered in black grime, of course, so there goes western home cooking applicability.

    On kneading dough: why bother with the food processor? Yes, if you do the whole thing by hand, you will have sticky fingers at the beginning, but at the end your fingers are mostly free of dough, and i wash my hands faster than an appliance. I guess i just don't like dough hooks...

    Again, thanks for this thought- provoking book!
  • Anij
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you for writing this book!
    Reviewed in the United States on 31 December 2024
    Full of great information for every level of of experience. Until I read this, I didn't even know what I didn't know. I have always wondered how two different cooks can follow the exact same recipe and have the finished dish taste and look so different.

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?