EveryDayCook


Alton Brown - 2016
    It’s my first in a few years because I’ve been a little busy with TV stuff and interwebs stuff and live stage show stuff. Sure, I’ve been cooking, but it’s been mostly to feed myself and people in my immediate vicinity—which is really what a cook is supposed to do, right? Well, one day I was sitting around trying to organize my recipes, and I realized that I should put them into a personal collection. One thing led to another, and here’s EveryDayCook. There’s still plenty of science and hopefully some humor in here (my agent says that’s my “wheelhouse”), but unlike in my other books, a lot of attention went into the photos, which were all taken on my iPhone (take that, Instagram) and are suitable for framing. As for the recipes, which are arranged by time of day, they’re pretty darned tasty. Highlights include:  • Morning: Buttermilk Lassi, Overnight Coconut Oats, Nitrous Pancakes • Coffee Break: Cold Brew Coffee, Lacquered Bacon, Seedy Date Bars• Noon: Smoky the Meat Loaf, Grilled Cheese Grilled Sandwich, “EnchiLasagna” or “Lasagnalada”• Afternoon: Green Grape Cobbler, Crispy Chickpeas, Savory Greek Yogurt Dip• Evening: Bad Day Bitter Martini, Mussels-O-Miso, Garam Masalmon Steaks• Anytime: The General’s Fried Chicken, Roasted Chile Salsa, Peach Punch Pops• Later: Cider House Fondue, Open Sesame Noodles, Chocapocalypse Cookie So let’s review: 101 recipes with mouthwatering photos, a plethora of useful insights on methods, tools, and ingredients all written by an “award-winning and influential educator and tastemaker.” That last part is from the PR office. Real people don’t talk like that.

Betty Crocker's Cookbook


Betty Crocker - 1969
    Easier than ever to use, it's organized just he way you plan your meals - with meats and main dishes first. It's packed with know-how, show-how and how-to. More than 1500 recipes, 299 full-color photographs, cooking hints, shopping tips, charts, line drawings.

India: Cookbook


Pushpesh Pant - 2010
    Unlike many other Indian cookbooks, it is written by an Indian culinary academic and cookbook author who lives and works in Delhi, and the recipes are a true reflection of how traditional dishes are really cooked all over India. They have been carefully edited to ensure that they are simple to follow and achievable in western kitchens, with detailed information about authentic cooking utensils and ingredients.Indian food has been hugely popular in the UK for many years, and the appetite for Indian food shows no sign of diminishing. Now, for the first time, a definitive, wide-ranging and authoritative book on authentic Indian food is available, making it simple to prepare your favourite Indian dishes at home, alongside less well-known dishes such as bataer masalydaar (marinated quails cooked with almonds, chillies and green cardamom), or sambharachi kodi (Goan prawn curry with coconut and tamarind). The comprehensive chapters on breads, pickles, spice pastes and chutneys contain a wide variety of recipes rarely seen in Indian cookbooks, such as bagarkhani roti (a rich sweet bread with raisins, cardamom and poppy seeds) and tamatar ka achar (tomato and mustard-seed pickle).India: The Cookbook is the only book on Indian food you'll ever need.

The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments


David Lebovitz - 2007
    Fragrant vanilla, toasted nuts, and spices. Heavy cream and bright liqueurs. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Every luscious flavor imaginable is grist for the chill in The Perfect Scoop, pastry chef David Lebovitz’s gorgeous guide to the pleasures of homemade ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and more. With an emphasis on intense and sophisticated flavors and a bountiful helping of the author’s expert techniques, this collection of frozen treats ranges from classic (Chocolate Sorbet) to comforting (Tin Roof Ice Cream), contemporary (Mojito Granita) to cutting edge (Pear-Pecorino Ice Cream), and features an arsenal of sauces, toppings, mix-ins, and accompaniments (such as Lemon Caramel Sauce, Peanut Brittle, and Profiteroles) capable of turning simple ice cream into perfect scoops of pure delight.

The Professional Chef


Culinary Institute of America - 1974
    Now in a revolutionary revision, The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition not only teaches the reader how, but is designed to reflect why the CIA methods are the gold standard for chefs. With lavish, four-color photography and clear, instructive text, The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition guides culinary students--professional aspirants and serious home cooks, alike--to mastery of the kitchen. Over 660 classic and contemporary recipes, with almost 200 variations, were chosen especially for their use of fundamental techniques. These techniques and recipes form a foundation from which a professional chef or home cook can build a personal repertoire.From mise en place (preparation) to finished dishes, the book covers Stocks, Sauces, and Soups; Meats, Poultry, Fish, and Shellfish; Vegetables, Potatoes, Grains, and Legumes, Pasta and Dumplings; Breakfast and Garde Manger; Baking and Pastry. In addition to a comprehensive treatment of techniques and recipes, The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition teaches readers other critical elements of the professional chef's domain--much of it universally applicable to any kitchen. From "An Introduction to the Professional," to the identification of tools and ingredients, to nutrition, food science and food and kitchen safety, the book is a wealth of beautifully presented information useful for any cook.The Culinary Institute of America has been hailed as "The nation's most influential training school for professional cooks" by Time magazine. The Professional Chef, Seventh Edition, the cornerstone of its program in book form, belongs on the shelf of every serious cook.

The Tassajara Bread Book


Edward Espe Brown - 1970
    It requires nurturing and care. In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the international best-seller that started a generation of Americans baking, Ed Brown shows how to make—and enjoy—breads, pastries, muffins, and desserts for today's sophisticated palates. And in a new afterword, he reflects on the widespread influence of the book and offers five new recipes.This is 2010. I have just purchased a new copy of this book, which I first owned back in 1970 or 1971. I love them and use them until they fall apart. I believe they are a GREAT introduction to breakmaking for a new baker, and an excellent wedding gift.

How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking


Nigella Lawson - 1998
    Nigella's deliciously reassuring and mouthwatering cookbook demonstrates that it's not terribly difficult to bake a batch of muffins or a layer cake, but the appreciation and satisfaction they bring are disproportionately high. At last, a book that understands our anxieties, feeds our fantasies, and puts cakes, pies, pastries, breads, and biscuits back into our own kitchens.

Planet Barbecue!: 309 Recipes, 60 Countries


Steven Raichlen - 2010
    Setting out—again—on the barbecue trail four years ago, Steven Raichlen visited 60 countries—yes, 60 countries—and collected 309 of the tastiest, most tantalizing, easy-to-make, and guaranteed-to-wow recipes from every corner of the globe. Welcome to Planet Barbecue, the book that will take America’s passionate, obsessive, smoke-crazed live-fire cooks to the next level. Planet Barbecue, with full-color photographs throughout, is an unprecedented marriage of food and culture. Here, for example, is how the world does pork: in the Puerto Rican countryside cooks make Lechon Asado—stud a pork shoulder with garlic and oregano, baste it with annatto oil, and spit-roast it. From the Rhine-Palatine region of Germany comes Spiessbraten, thick pork steaks seasoned with nutmeg and grilled over a low, smoky fire. From Seoul, South Korea, Sam Gyeop Sal—grilled sliced pork belly. From Montevideo, Uruguay, Bandiola—butterflied pork loin stuffed with ham, cheese, bacon, and peppers. From Cape Town, South Africa, Sosaties—pork kebabs with dried apricots and curry. And so it goes for beef, fish, vegetables, shellfish—says Steven, "Everything tastes better grilled."In addition to the recipes the book showcases inventive ways to use the grill: Australia's Lamb on a Shovel, Bogota's Lomo al Trapo (Salt-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Grilled in Cloth), and from the Charantes region of France, Eclade de Moules—Mussels Grilled on Pine Needles. Do try this at home. What a planet—what a book.

Chez Panisse Vegetables


Alice Waters - 1996
    From tender baby asparagus in early spring, to the colorful spectrum of peppers at the height of summer; crisp, leafy chicories in autumn, to sweet butternut squash in the dark of winter, much of the inspiration about what to put on the menu comes from the high quality produce Waters and her chefs seek out year-round. Using the treasures from the earth, Chez Panisse Vegetables offers endless possibilities for any occasion. Try Grilled Radicchio Risotto with Balsamic Vinegar at your next dinner party, or Pizza with Red and Yellow Peppers for a summer evening at home. Why not forgo green-leaf lettuce, and opt for Artichoke and Grapefruit Salad drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil? Or serve Corn Cakes with fresh berries for breakfast instead of cereal?Throughout Vegetables, Waters shares her energy and enthusiasm for what she describes as "living foods." When she first began in the restaurant business, the selection of good-quality vegetables was so limited that she found herself searching out farmers with whom she might do business. Luckily, today's explosion of markets and organic farms across the country ensures that any home cook can find freshly harvested produce to put on the table. And with the increased popularity of home gardening, more and more people are taking their vegetables straight from the earth and into the kitchen.Cooks, gardeners, vegetarians and everyone who appreciates good food will find Chez Panisse Vegetables to be not only a cookbook, but a valuable resource for selecting and serving fine produce. From popular vegetables like corn, tomatoes and carrots, to more unusual selections like chard, amaranth greens and sorrel, Vegetables offers detailed information about the seasonal availability, proper look, flavor and preparation of each selection. Arranged alphabetically by vegetable, and filled with colorful linocut images, Chez Panisse Vegetables makes it easy for a cook to find a tempting recipe for whatever he or she has brought home from the market.

Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat


Chrissy Teigen - 2016
    Maybe she’s making people laugh on TV. But all Chrissy Teigen really wants to do is talk about dinner. Or breakfast. Lunch gets some love, too.For years, she’s been collecting, cooking, and Instagramming her favorite recipes, and here they are: from breakfast all day to John’s famous fried chicken with spicy honey butter to her mom’s Thai classics. Salty, spicy, saucy, and fun as sin (that’s the food, but that’s Chrissy, too), these dishes are for family, for date night at home, for party time, and for a few life-sucks moments (salads). You’ll learn the importance of chili peppers, the secret to cheesy-cheeseless eggs, and life tips like how to use bacon as a home fragrance, the single best way to wake up in the morning, and how not to overthink men or Brussels sprouts. Because for Chrissy Teigen, cooking, eating, life, and love are one and the same.

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen


Harold McGee - 1984
    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.

Jacques Pépin Fast Food My Way


Jacques Pépin - 2004
    In this companion volume to his new series on public television, Jacques shows you how to create great-tasting dishes ranging from stunning salads such as Tomato and Mozzarella Fans to Supreme of Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar and Shallot Sauce to his breathtaking Almond Cake with Berries, all special enough for company, yet easy enough for those weekday evenings when you have no time. Fast food Jacques's way involves no compromises in taste but saves you hours in the kitchen. His Instant Beef Tenderloin Stew, for instance, not only is far faster to make than traditional versions, but tastes brighter and fresher. With concise, clear directions, Jacques shares the secrets of his kitchen. He teaches you how to season a salmon fillet perfectly and cook it in a low oven, right on the serving platter. You'll learn how to make a satisfying homemade vegetable soup in seconds, a baked potato in half the usual time, and a succulent roast that takes minutes, not hours, to prepare. He also shows you how to create elegant meals from convenience foods: a bean dip that will keep guests coming back for more, silky soups, and caramelized peaches made from canned peaches. With Jacques Pepin Fast Food My Way at your side, the best food is always the simplest.

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper


Lynne Rossetto Kasper - 2008
    As they do on their weekly show, host Lynne Rossetto Kasper and producer Sally Swift approach their topic with attitude and originality, making The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper one of the most engaging cookbooks of this or any other year.As loyal listeners know, Lynne and Sally share an unrelenting curiosity about everything to do with food. Their show, The Splendid Table, looks at the role food plays in our lives—inspiring us, making us laugh, nourishing us, and opening us up to the world around us. Now they have compiled all the most trenchant tips, never-fail recipes, and everyday culinary know-how from the program in How to Eat Supper, a kitchen companion unlike any other.This is no mere cookbook. Like the show, this book goes far beyond the recipe, introducing the people and stories that are shaping America’s changing sense of food. We don’t eat, shop, or cook as we used to. Our relationship with food has intensified, become more controversial, richer, more pleasurable, and sometimes more puzzling. How to Eat Supper gives voice to rarely heard perspectives on food—from the quirky to the political, from the grassroots to the scholarly, from the highbrow to the humble—and shows the essential role breaking bread together plays in our world.How to Eat Supper takes you through a plethora of inviting recipes simple enough to ensure success even if you’ve never cooked before. And if you are experienced in the kitchen, you’ll find challenging new concepts and dishes to spark your imagination.

The Silver Spoon


Clelia D'Onofrio - 1950
    Originally published in 1950, it became an instant classic. Considered to be essential in every household, it is still one of the most popular wedding presents today. The Silver Spoon was conceived and published by Domus, the design and architectural magazine famously directed by Giò Ponti from the 1920's to the 1970's. A group of cooking experts was commissioned to collect hundreds of traditional recipes from the different Italian regions and make them available for the first time to a wider audience. In the process, they updated ingredients, quantities and methods to suit contemporary tastes and customs, at the same time preserving the memory of ancient recipes for future generations. They also included modern recipes from some of the most famous Italian chefs, resulting in a style of cooking that appeals to the gourmet as well as the occasional cook A comprehensive and lively book, its simple and user-friendly format makes it both accessible and a pleasure to read. It provides an introduction to every course, and an explanation of the main type of ingredients. Never translated before, The Silver Spoon has now been adapted to an international market, with every recipe checked for suitability, measurements converted and methods rewritten to accommodate cultural differences, yet maintaining the authenticity of real Italian cooking. The new layout emphasizes its contemporary appeal and the colour coding of each section simplifies the process of cross-referencing ingredients and methods. A section with original menus from the 15 most famous Italian chefs of the last 50 years has been expanded to include original menus from Italian celebrity chefs working outside Italy. This is a substantial and prestigious cookbook that will share the bookshelves with other titles such as The Joy of Cooking and Larousse Gastronomique, another classic of national cuisine. With over 2,000 recipes illustrated with specially commissioned artwork and photography, the book is destined to become a classic in the Italian cooking booklist for the international market.

Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More


Andrea Nguyen - 2009
    Wrapped, rolled, or filled; steamed, fried, or baked–Asian dumplings are also surprisingly easy to prepare, as Andrea Nguyen demonstrates in Asian Dumplings. Nguyen is a celebrated food writer and teacher with a unique ability to interpret authentic Asian cooking styles for a Western audience. Her crystal-clear recipes for more than 75 of Asia’s most popular savory and sweet parcels, pockets, packages, and pastries range from Lumpia (the addictive fried spring rolls from the Philippines) to Shanghai Soup Dumplings (delicate thin-skinned dumplings filled with hot broth and succulent pork) to Gulab Jamun (India’s rich, syrupy sweets). Organized according to type (wheat pastas, skins, buns, and pastries; translucent wheat and tapioca preparations; rice dumplings; legumes and tubers; sweet dumplings), Asian Dumplings encompasses Eastern, Southeastern, and Southern Asia, with recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Tibet, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Throughout, Nguyen shares the best techniques for shaping, filling, cooking, and serving each kind of dumpling. And she makes it easy to incorporate dumplings into a contemporary lifestyle by giving a thorough introduction to essential equipment and ingredients and offering make-ahead and storage guidance, time-saving shortcuts that still yield delectable results, and tips on planning a dumpling dinner party. More than 40 line drawings illustrate the finer points of shaping many kinds of dumplings, including gyōza/pot stickers, wontons, and samosas. Dozens of mouth-watering color photographs round out Asian Dumplings, making it the most definitive, inviting, inspiring book of its kind.