Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking (Ruhlman's Ratios)

i sent this to my sister for Christmas. She is trying to be gluten free and so this gave her some guidance to adjust recipes, and it also was good for her daughter who is a Home Ec. major. I have not used the book, but foudn the ratios fascinating.

Bought this years ago and lost my copy…probably at one of my kids houses. Very useful for those of us who bake and create.

This is an awesome book. It unlocks the use of ratios in the art of cooking. An eye opener when it comes to taking more risks with cuisine.

I’ve been cooking at home for years, but Ratio by Michael Ruhlman completely changed how I approach the kitchen. Instead of treating recipes like rigid formulas, this book teaches you the foundational ratios behind countless dishes—giving you the freedom to improvise and create with confidence. It’s not just a cookbook; it’s a culinary education.What’s Inside:The concept is brilliantly simple: every type of food—from bread to vinaigrette, custards to cookies—follows a basic ratio of ingredients. For example:• Bread = 5 parts flour : 3 parts water• Pasta dough = 3 parts flour : 2 parts egg• Vinaigrette = 3 parts oil : 1 part vinegarRuhlman lays out these ratios in a clear, structured way and explains the logic behind them. The result is that you no longer need to rely on memorized recipes—you understand the blueprint, and from there you can customize, tweak, and experiment.Writing Style:Ruhlman is a fantastic writer. He doesn’t just list facts—he teaches, with the tone of a skilled mentor. He tells you not only how something works but why it works. Whether he’s describing the importance of gluten structure in bread or the balance of fat and acid in a sauce, his explanations are accessible without being dumbed down.Format & Usability:The book is divided into logical sections by type of food, and it includes both the ratios and a few example recipes for each category. It’s not a glossy, photo-heavy book—it’s more of a practical kitchen manual. I find myself referring to it regularly, especially when I want to adapt something on the fly or scale up/down.Who It’s For:• Beginner cooks who want to understand core techniques.• Experienced home chefs looking to gain creative freedom.• Anyone frustrated by having to Google the same recipes over and over.If you want to level up from just following instructions to actually understanding cooking, this is the book for you.Minor Drawbacks:It’s not a traditional cookbook, so if you’re expecting tons of pictures or step-by-step guides, you may be surprised. Also, since the ratios use weight measurements (which is far more accurate), a kitchen scale is strongly recommended. Also the paperback is very small so even near sighted eyes may struggle.Bottom line:“Ratio” is an essential resource for anyone who wants to cook with creativity and confidence. It’s about breaking free from dependence on recipes and gaining mastery of the fundamentals. Michael Ruhlman doesn’t just give you fish—he teaches you how to fish, bake, whisk, and sauté like a pro. Highly recommended.

Great book inspiring confidence and empowerment in the kitchen. I love the concept, I learned a tremendous amount but I live at a higher elevation so I do have to make some deviations from the exact ratios for some of the bread, dough and cake concepts but the message still carries forward.

Reading about cooking is only second on my list to actually cooking something. I tend toward a scientific approach to my kitchen wherein math and chemistry are as important as technique and skill. My collection of culinary reading is a personal library of 100's of cookbooks and books about cooking. Some are true antiques, some are heirlooms tossed away by relatives who will surely regret the decision, some are ethnic/regional, some are the professional staples, and many aren't even in English. Ruhlman's treatise, I read it in a single sitting front-to-back, is now in a place of easy access for reference next to my hand-me-down copy of Fanny Farmer.What we have here is exactly what the title claims and very little else - it's ratios for cooking. 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat, 1 part water = pie crust; exactly what I wanted to learn. With a reasonably complete commentary on how to bake a pie, what to put in it, the best containers for pies, or even a lot of pie recipes -- mostly a discussion of the ratio (by weight) which makes it very clear, very quickly how pie dough differs from a muffin. He discusses the impact of butter vs lard vs shortening. And I found most of the ratios discussed we similarly treated.I have plenty of texts that discuss in great detail the mechanical aspects (technical skill) that differentiate the muffin method, biscuit method, creaming, etc... I have plenty that offer recipes with ingredient lists. This isn't those. This is the very foundation that all of those should have been based upon, with personal variations, and provides the ratios not only to create a new recipe from knowledge but to debug or tweak an existing recipe based on common ratios.Among my cooking hobbies is recipe writing and bread baking. I bake bread at least weekly, often more. I have often collected a recipe from the internet that just didn't seem write but I could exactly narrow down the problem. With these ratios, it's now easier to quickly check a recipe for reasonable variations before baking it. With these ratios, it's now easier for me to design a recipe based on the science without having to run through numerous batches of trial-and-error.Sure, there's some other material that could be in here to make it even more helpful. But, there are other references out there that provide that information too. I might have even preferred, unlike many of the negative commenters, that Ruhlman had left out much of the commentary and recipes and provided an even shorter tome concentrated more purely on the math and chemistry.Bottom Line: if you need a recipe book then this ain't what you want. There are plenty of those out there and if you tell all of your friends and family that you want some, you'll have a collection of 100's before you know it. Plus, internet. If you need a cooking school manual then this ain't that either. The best of those are a bit costly but there's always, internet. If what you want to do is take recipe analysis down to the bare foundation so you can create a new sort of muffin or cookie without baking twenty batches to get it close - this is near perfection.Photo is my first run of my new pizza muffin recipe. Based on the ratios in this book. Second run will reduce the liquid just a touch but these came out marvelously.