Simple to Spectacular introduces a unique concept developed by one of the world's top chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and the New York Times's hugely popular column "The Minimalist." Ever since their award-winning collaboration on Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, the acclaimed duo has been cooking up a repertoire of new dishes that can be prepared in any of five progressively sophisticated ways.Simple to Spectacular features a total of 250 recipes in 50 groups. Each group begins with a simple, elegant recipe--a few ingredients combined for maximum effect--followed by fully detailed, increasingly elaborate variations. For example, a recipe for Grilled Shrimp with Thyme and Lemon leads to Grilled Shrimp and Zucchini on Rosemary Skewers, Grilled Shrimp with Apple Ketchup, Thai-style Grilled Shrimp on Lemongrass Skewers, and Grilled Shrimp Balls with Cucumber and Yogurt.Every aspect of the meal is covered, from superb soups and salads to unforgettable side dishes, entrees, and desserts. In Simple to Spectacular, everything--from the basics to innovations by a four-star chef--is tailored for a quick Tuesday night dinner or an elegant weekend party.  And in the now-classic Vongerichten-Bittman style, all of the recipes can be made in the kitchen of any home cook. With 80 full-color photographs giving a mouthwatering view of the Simple-to-Spectacular transformations, readers and cooks will eagerly explore the possibilities.Jean-Georges Vongerichten (right) won the 1998 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant. His Manhattan restaurants include Vong, Jo Jo, The Mercer Kitchen, and Jean Georges, which earned a rare four-star rating from the New York Times.  In Simple to Spectacular, two titans of the food world have created a truly groundbreaking cookbook.  Here are 250 superb recipes arranged in a uniquely useful way: a basic recipe and four increasingly sophisticated variations, with each group (there are 50 groups in all) based on a given technique.  This ingenious organization enables cooks of all levels of expertise to understand how a recipe is created and to re-create the brilliantly simple recipes and dazzling variations from one of our best food writers and home cooks teamed with one of America's greatest chefs.

    Hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible to which food lovers and professional chefs worldwide turn for an understanding of where our foods come from, what exactly they're made of, and how cooking transforms them into something new and delicious. Now, for its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee has prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. He has rewritten the text almost completely, expanded it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As compulsively readable and engaging as ever, the new On Food and Cooking provides countless eye-opening insights into food, its preparation, and its enjoyment.On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science and helped give birth to the inventive culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Though other books have now been written about kitchen science, On Food and Cooking remains unmatched in the accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness of its explanations, and the intriguing way in which it blends science with the historical evolution of foods and cooking techniques.Among the major themes addressed throughout this new edition are:Traditional and modern methods of food production and their influences on food qualityThe great diversity of methods by which people in different places and times have prepared the same ingredientsTips for selecting the best ingredients and preparing them successfullyThe particular substances that give foods their flavors and that give us pleasureOur evolving knowledge of the health benefits and risks of foodsOn Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate anyone who has ever cooked, savored, or wondered about food.

    Six years later, she still lives and works in Paris, cooking up a selection of classic French dishes from all over the country and giving them a fresh makeover with her own modern twists. From a Croque Madame muffin and the classic Boeuf bourguignon, to a deliciously fragrant Provencal lavender and lemon roast chicken, Rachel celebrates the culinary landscape of France as it is today and shows how simple these dishes are.The 120 recipes in the book range from easy, everyday dishes like Omelette Pipérade, to summer picnics by the Seine and afternoon 'goûter' (snacks), to meals with friends and delicious desserts including classics like Crème brulee and Tarte tatin. It's a book that celebrates the very best of French home-cooking in a modern and accessible way. Real French food is no longer something only served in fancy restaurants; Rachel will show how you can add a little French culinary touch to your everyday life at home, no matter where you are in the world, or how big your kitchen is!

    . . Cinnamon-Donut Bread Pudding . . . Double-Crumble Hot Apple Pies . . . Giant Coconut Cream Puffs . . . Here's a collection of desserts that gives more than 75 sticky, chewy, messy, gooey reasons to stock up on napkins. In addition to each sugary favorite, the author has included simple techniques and tools to help home cooks recreate each decadent treasure again and again. Sprinkled throughout are tips on using phyllo dough, toasting nuts, and making a heavenly ganache, so every over-the-top treat tastes as irresistible as it sounds. For the serious sweet tooth, pour a tall glass of milk and get ready to bite into all that's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey!

    This book is a feast for the eyes and the imagination that will never leave you stuck for an idea. Get your creative juices flowing and see how bakers and decorators around the world have creatively used fondant, buttercream, gum paste, sugar paste, royal icing, and piping and molded designs to create cookies, cupcakes, and cakes that are true works of art. See elegant cupcakes decorated with pearls and piping, colorful hand-painted cookies, tiered cakes with dimensional flowers, and much more. Discover unique cupcake decorations that use royal icing, edible markers, and fondant; wedding cakes adorned with gum paste accents and debossed designs; vibrant Christmas cookies; whimsical children’s birthday cakes; specialty Easter cakes, and much more. Get great year-round ideas for dessert presentations and gift giving. Recipes for several types of frosting are included in the book, and an image directory identifies key materials and techniques for each photo. Among the amazing featured creations are:Cupcakes topped with sweet fondant flowersFanciful characters and animals made from fondant and gum pasteCookies decorated with imaginative royal icing designsLush buttercream roses atop cakes and cupcakesHand-painted fondant accentsDelicate chocolate motifsCakes enrobed in decadent ganacheSimple buttercream designs that dazzleThis is the one book you’ll turn to again and again for the best cupcake, cookie, and cake design ideas. Start exploring this delicious world today!   These visual catalogs are both a practical, inspirational handbook and a coffee-table conversation piece. Like all of the books in our 1,000 series, these are not instructional books; rather, they are a visual showcase designed to provide endless inspiration.

    From quick homestyle cookies to unforgettable special-occasion finales such as spiced chocolate torte wrapped in chocolate ribbons, Bon Appetit showcases meticulously tested recipes that turn out perfectly--every time. Now, culled from Bon Appetit's extensive archives and including never-before-published recipes, Bon Appetit Desserts promises to be the comprehensive guide to all things sweet and wonderful.   Authored by Bon Appetit editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild, Bon Appetit Desserts features more than 600 recipes--from layer cakes to coffee cakes, tortes and cupcakes to pies, tarts, candies, puddings, souffles, ice cream, cookies, holiday desserts, and much, much more. Certain to inspire both experienced home cooks and those just starting out in the kitchen, each recipe is designed to ensure the dessert preparation process is as enjoyable as the finished result.Bon Appetit Desserts is destined to be the definitive, comprehensive, invaluable dessert resource.  "This is a gorgeous book that makes me want to make everything--no, taste everything--inside! This is a must-have for every baker, cook, and sweet freak in your life." --Elizabeth Falkner, chef and owner of Citizen Cake and Orson  "At last, a collection of Bon Appetit's most treasured dessert recipes, thoroughly tested as always, beautifully illustrated, and, of course, wonderfully delicious. You'll reach for this book each time sweets are on your menu, but you'll come back to it just as often for its myriad tips; great chapters on ingredients, equipment, and techniques; and the many detailed and easy-to-grasp how-tos.  It's truly a one-stop book for all of us who love baking." --Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking: From My Home to Yours and Around My French Table  "Bon Appetit Desserts is filled with exactly the kind of sweets I like to make: inviting, unpretentious, and easy to love, but also innovative enough to turn a few heads. And the best part is, Bon Appetit Desserts is not only about recipes. With chapters on ingredients, equipment, and techniques, plus a slew of tips from the Bon Appetit test kitchens, it's also a mini-education. Oh, in case you aren't sold yet, I have ten words for you: Banana Layer Cake with Caramel Cream and Sea Salt-Roasted Pecans." --Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table

    From the essential brioche and rye bread to a classic 1-2-3-4 cake with seasonal flavor variations and easy French gateaux, this hard-cover, high-quality cookbook will be the go-to resource for those looking to bake artisan goods at home.

    The cake, created by Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes in New York City, was a sensation. Not only did everyone at the party want to know how it was made, they wanted to know how to create something as dazzling themselves. This unique book contains projects for every skill level: from gorgeous, sugar-dusted heart cookies to delightful billiard-ball cupcakes, to sculpted cakes in the shape of wine bottles and Chinese takeout boxes, to the extravagantly beautiful, threetiered embroidery cake showcased on Sex and the City. With delicious recipes, stunning creations for every occasion, suggestions for time-saving shortcuts, and hot tips for fabulous results, all illustrated with gorgeous photographs and easy-to follow diagrams, The Confetti Cakes Cookbook is a must-have for the outrageously chic baker in all of us.

    It's these dishes that give us comfort in times of stress, help us celebrate special occasions, and remind us of the person who used to bake for us those many years ago. In Heirloom Baking, Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass preserve and update 150 of these beloved desserts. The recipes are taken from their vast collection of antique manuscript cookbooks, handwritten recipes passed down through the generations that they?ve amassed over twenty years. The recipes range from the late 1800s to today, and come from a variety of ethnicities and regions. The book features such down-home and delicious recipes as Brandied Raisin Teacakes, Cuban Flan, Cranberry-Orange Cream Scones, Chattanooga Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, and many more. Accompanying the recipes are stories from the lives of the families from which they came. The Brass Sisters have taken care to update every recipe for today's modern kitchens. More than 150 photographs showcase the scrumptious food in full-color detail. Finally, the Brass sisters encourage each reader to begin collecting his or her own family recipes in the lined pages and envelope at the back of the book.

    Now imagine the same fruit distilled and carbonated for a refreshing soda, slow-roasted for a reinvented strawberry shortcake, made into a creamy strawberry ice cream and a chewy strawberry leather, and combined with coconut cream and crisp chocolate pastry. Alone, each dessert is a taste of paradise, but together this “fourplay,” or tasting, created by Johnny Iuzzini, superstar pastry chef of the celebrated four-star restaurant Jean Georges in New York, is a sophisticated explosion of a familiar flavor that begins with the taste of strawberry rich on your tongue and ends with an effervescent tingle in your nose. Far from the conventional slice of cake at the end of a meal, Johnny’s seasonal creations—four mini desserts in a quartet of complementary flavors and textures—are a culinary adventure. In Dessert FourPlay, he shares his secrets and inspirations, delivering standout recipes for incredible desserts that can be served alone or combined into his signature fourplay groupings, creating the perfect sweet finale for any meal.With the home cook in mind, Johnny offers tips on simplifying professional recipes and provides basic recipes for transcendent cakes, cookies, tuiles, ice creams, sorbets, granités, and more. These building blocks can be used to create magnificent multifaceted desserts, or they can be perfect desserts by themselves. Some recipes have surprising versatility: the shiny smooth chocolate glaze Johnny uses to ice cakes doubles as the ultimate hot fudge sauce; a lemony madeleine batter becomes a layer in a cake.Iuzzini pairs cool with hot, crispy with creamy, sweet with spicy, and the expected—chocolate, strawberries, and cinnamon—with the unexpected—chiles, beets, and chocolatey puffs. The result: desserts that refresh, inspire, and satisfy beyond expectations. Dessert FourPlay invigorates all the senses and inspires home cooks to create innovative desserts of their own.

    We’re talking layers—two, three, four, or more!   Create sky-high, bakery-quality treats at home with Tessa Huff’s 150 innovative recipes, which combine new and exciting flavors of cake, fillings, and frostings—everything from pink peppercorn cherry to bourbon butterscotch, and pumpkin vanilla chai to riesling rhubarb and raspberry chocolate stout. Including contemporary baking methods and industry tips and tricks, Layered covers every decorating technique you’ll ever need with simple instructions and gorgeous step-by-step photos that speak to bakers of every skill level—and to anyone who wants to transform dessert into layer upon layer of edible art.

    Miette's pretty Parisian aesthetic enchants visitors with tables piled high with beribboned bags of gingersnaps, homemade marshmallows, fleur de sel caramels, and rainbows of gumballs. This cookbook brings the enchantment home, sharing 100 secret formulas for favorite Miette treats from chef and owner Meg Ray. More than 75 gorgeous color photos capture the unique beauty of Miette desserts and shops. Scalloped edges on the book block enhance the preciousness of this fetching package. Just like the adorable cakes, cookies, clairs and tarts for sale in Miette's case, this book is irresistible!

    To make the final cut for The Best of Cooking Light, each recipe had to meet one or more of the following criteria: • Earned a high rating in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens • Has a surprising and satisfying “no-way-this-can-be-light” flavor • Named a “reader favorite recipe” based on calls, letters, e-mails, and comments on cookinglight.com • Voted “most popular” among the Cooking Light Foods staff—these are the recipes they cook for their families and friends You’re guaranteed success with every recipe! Each recipe has been tested at least twice, often three or four times, in the Cooking Light Test Kitchens to ensure that not only are they supremely healthy, tasty, and easy to prepare, but that they also have the all-important “yum factor.”  “Our Test Kitchens’ staff does the hard work every day so the rest of us can take Cooking Light accuracy for granted.” Mary Kay Culpepper Editor, Cooking Light  Over 250 color photographs make this all-star collection come alive. A virtual feast for the eyes, this book is as beautiful to read and display, as it is practical to use. Look for serving suggestions and artful food presentations throughout to show you how to turn an ordinary dish into an extraordinary meal. This healthy cookbook is for all cooks and for all occasions. While some recipes take very little time, others require a bit more commitment. Eitherway, you’ll have your choice of great food that adjusts to your schedule, your grocery list, and your mood. Plus, • Step-by-step instructions and complete nutritional analysis with each recipe • Preparation and make-ahead tips • Menu suggestions• Ingredient substitutions and purchasing information Whatever your definition of “best” is, there are recipes here for you. Just step into your kitchen and make them your own.

    This book differs from others on the market in its focus on the art of decorating cookies, rather than the technique of baking them. Recipes are selected for their visual appeal as much as for their flavor.A beautifully crafted cookie is a work of art and beloved by all. Still-warm cookies fresh from the oven are irresistibly enticing but decorating the treats doubles the fun. Whether it's a cookie exchange, holiday gathering, or Mother's Day tea, decorated cookies are a sweet and memorable addition to any special occasion.The Art of Cookie presents over 40 delectable recipes and inspiring decorating ideas. With a focus on transforming a simple cookie into a masterpiece, each recipe promises both exceptional flavor and visual appeal. The cookie recipes are divided into two main chapters. The first offers favorite and versatile roll-and-cut dough recipes, such as brown sugar cookies and gingerbread, followed by clever, yet simple ideas for decorating them: vibrant vanilla-sugar flowers; alphabet shapes flooded with icing and sprinkled with colorful sugars; and petits fours stacked to resemble a miniature wedding cake. The second chapter includes classics with a modern twist, such as sparkly macarons; wreath-shaped sugar cookies baked with lemon and thyme and decorated with icing ornaments; and striped cookies that taste and look like peppermint sticks. Recipes for various fillings to use with many of the cookies round out the collection. Packed with gorgeous colorful photographs, this book has all the encouragement and know-how you'll need to create artful cookies that look as if they were purchased from a pastry shop.

    All he knew was that his food would reflect the respect and sincere intention that he brings to each of his recipes, as the result of his relationships with farmers, local producers, customers, and staff. Now a James Beard Award–winning chef—the first pizzaiolo to receive the honor—and the owner of the legendary pizza mecca, Chris Bianco brings us a full- color, fully illustrated cookbook that illuminates the fundamentals of pizza making and the philosophy behind Chris’s cooking. The book features recipes for his signature pizzas as well as strategies and techniques for translating chef’s methods to the home kitchen. Bianco celebrates both the simple and the nuanced, revealing the methods that lead to the perfect crust, the sweetest tomato sauce, the creamiest mozzarella, and the most expertly balanced flavor combinations. It also features recipes for salads, antipasti, and dessert options, as well as family meals that are cooked behind the scenes and a new array of big plates showcased at Chris’s highly regarded restaurants. With its attention to detail and tips for making unforgettable, flavorful pizzas, Bianco is an essential manual for anyone serious about pizza, pasta, and more.