How to Cook Everything: The Basics

Starred review from February 6, 2012
Food writer Bittman’s latest installment in his award-winning How to Cook Everything series gets back to basics. Once again, Bittman keeps it straightforward, providing another indispensable reference. He explains that in cooking “your basic skills provide the foundation. As you improve and gain confidence, you’ll become more creative.” His goal is to get everyone into the kitchen; this latest work inspires confidence and optimism in the kitchen, and novices especially will believe they can successfully make each and every dish. Instructive pictures accompany each technique and recipe, illustrating everything from peeling vegetables to searing meat or correctly mashing potatoes. Bittman begins by providing a list of essential ingredients for your cupboard and refrigerator, as well as a list of equipment needed to make every recipe in the book. Sections show how to hold a knife, how to chop and mince, and they also carefully explain roasting, broiling, and baking. Chapters include breakfast (scrambled, poached, and fried eggs); soups and stews (tomato, miso, and lentil); and meat, poultry, and seafood dishes such as perfect roast beef and chicken and rice. A wonderful book of perfectly simple recipes that every neophyte and experienced cook should have in their kitchen.

March 1, 2012
Bittman's gifts for focusing on a recipe's essence and for expressing expected outcomes become even more apparent in this latest addition to his list of cookbooks. He targets an audience of tyro cooks who may have no idea where to start in their quest to put good food on the table for themselves, family, or friends. Bittman provides a basic pantry inventory covering staples that cooks ought to have on hand. Assuming virtually no experience on his readers' part, he instructs in frequently disregarded methods of ingredient preparation as basic as rinsing. Photographed techniques illustrate true fundamentals, such as identifying a chicken's parts or demonstrating effects of different cooking methods on an asparagus stalk. Recipes extend widely from easy cooking for one through dinner-party fare, from elementary egg cooking up to fairly complex paella. As one would expect from Bittman, virtually every recipe comes with variations to inspire creative cooks to use their imaginations. To have what appear to be important appendixes in the final book, but unseen at this time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)