This comprehensive manual collects more than 300 innovative, contemporary recipes as well as color photographs, plenty of informative illustrations, a substantial technique primer, and helpful how-to information on subjects as wide-ranging as rust removal, throwing a cocktail party, and knife skills. For members of the tech-savvy new generation who can't cook but want to, this essential reference guide makes an ideal starting place and for those already at ease in the kitchen it's full of "who knew" moments for expanding their repertoire of great recipes.

    Anya von Bremzen has vobla-rock-hard, salt-cured dried Caspian roach fish. Lovers of vobla risk breaking a tooth or puncturing a gum on the once-popular snack, but for Anya it's transporting. Like kotleti (Soviet burgers) or the festive Salat Olivier, it summons up the complex, bittersweet flavors of life in that vanished Atlantis called the USSR. There, born in 1963 in a Kafkaesque communal apartment where eighteen families shared one kitchen, Anya grew up singing odes to Lenin, black-marketeering Juicy Fruit gum at her school, and, like most Soviet citizens, longing for a taste of the mythical West. It was a life by turns absurd, drab, naively joyous, melancholy-and, finally, intolerable to her anti-Soviet mother. When she was ten, the two of them fled the political repression of Brezhnev-era Russia, arriving in Philadelphia with no winter coats and no right of return.These days Anya lives in two parallel food universes: one in which she writes about four-star restaurants, the other in which a simple banana-a once a year treat back in the USSR-still holds an almost talismanic sway over her psyche. To make sense of that past, she and her mother decided to eat and cook their way through seven decades of the Soviet experience. Through the meals she and her mother re-create, Anya tells the story of three generations-her grandparents', her mother's, and her own. Her family's stories are embedded in a larger historical epic: of Lenin's bloody grain requisitioning, World War II hunger and survival, Stalin's table manners, Khrushchev's kitchen debates, Gorbachev's anti-alcohol policies, and the ultimate collapse of the USSR. And all of it is bound together by Anya's sardonic wit, passionate nostalgia, and piercing observations.This is that rare book that stirs our souls and our senses.

    But for the first time, chocolate cakes, brownies, truffles, puddings, ice creams, and more are within reach: dairy-free, organic, fair-trade, and sublime. Author, baking instructor, and vegan powerhouse Fran Costigan has dedicated years to satisfying her sweet tooth while keeping it vegan. Through experimentation and long hours in the kitchen, she's recreated some of her favorite chocolate desserts as better-for-you interpretations that pass the taste test: Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles (with a variety of flavor variations), a Brooklyn Blackout Layer Cake, a Sacher Torte, even chocolate Moon Pies! Her detailed instructions make for professional-quality outcomes every time: it's like a personal baking class, right in your kitchen. The perfect gift for anyone with a sweet tooth, Vegan Chocolate is sure to become an instant classic.

    Serving hand-prepared, contemporary renditions of traditional family recipes, Carrabba's makes everyone who walks through the door feel right at home. Each meal is served in the time-honored tradition of warm Italian hospitality and authentically prepared food made from the heart. Now, you can re-create the Carrabba's experience in your own kitchen with delicious recipes inspired by generations of family cooking. In the true spirit of generosity, Recipes from Around Our Family Table shares not just these mouthwatering signature recipes, but also the cooking secrets that make them so good. Includes 75 authentic Italian recipes and Carrabba's favorites, like Chicken Bryan, Mama Mandola's Sicilian Chicken Soup and Pizza Margherita Offers tips on successful grilling, preparing perfect pasta, finding the best ingredients, mastering homemade pizza, and more

    Rossella grew up cooking with her Nonna Romana every Sunday, learning the traditional recipes of the Italian region of Puglia. And in her popular web TV series, Cooking with Nonna, Rossella takes her trademark style and expands her knowledge of Italian cooking to other regions of Italy, learning the classic dishes and flavors of each region and sharing them with eager fans all over the world.Now you can take a culinary journey with Rossella from Italy to America with her debut cookbook Cooking with Nonna, featuring over 100 classic Italian recipes. Learn to create fabulous Italian dishes for any course, like fresh homemade pasta, delicious meatballs, rich lasagne, and ricotta cookies or tiramisu for dessert! Featuring appetizers, soups, salads, pasta, meats, and desserts just like Nonna used to make, including Zucchine alla Poverella, Baked Ziti, Stuffed Eggplant alla Pugliese, Homemade Orecchiette with BroccoliRabe, and Ricotta Cookies. Modern takes by Rossella on some of the classic dishes of Italian cooking are also included. So if you want to learn how to make Italian food like your nonna used to make, then look no further!

    The skills of butchery meet the world of fresh produce in this essential, inspiring guide that demystifies the world of vegetables. In step-by-step photographs, “vegetable butcher” Cara Mangini shows how to break down a butternut squash, cut a cauliflower into steaks, peel a tomato properly, chiffonade kale, turn carrots into coins and parsnips into matchsticks, and find the meaty heart of an artichoke. Additionally, more than 150 original, simple recipes put vegetables front and center, from a Kohlrabi Carpaccio to Zucchini, Sweet Corn, and Basil Penne, to a Parsnip-Ginger Layer Cake to sweeten a winter meal. It’s everything you need to know to get the best out of modern, sexy, and extraordinarily delicious vegetables.

    Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is a most engaging history of African American cuisine. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Although the story of African cuisine in America begins with slavery, High on the Hog ultimately chronicles a thrilling history of triumph and survival. The work of a masterful storyteller and an acclaimed scholar, Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog fills an important gap in our culinary history. Praise for Jessica B. Harris: "Jessica Harris masters the ability to both educate and inspire the reader in a fascinating new way." -Marcus Samuelsson, chef owner of Restaurant Aquavit

    But when she tried going back to her apartment in Seattle and returning to graduate school, she knew it wasn't possible to resume life as though nothing had happened. So she went to Paris, a city that held vivid memories of a childhood trip with her father, of early morning walks on the cobbled streets of the Latin Quarter and the taste of her first pain au chocolat. She was supposed to be doing research for her dissertation, but more often, she found herself peering through the windows of chocolate shops, trekking across town to try a new pâtisserie, or tasting cheeses at outdoor markets, until one evening when she sat in the Luxembourg Gardens reading cookbooks until it was too dark to see, she realized that her heart was not in her studies but in the kitchen.At first, it wasn't clear where this epiphany might lead. Like her long letters home describing the details of every meal and market, Molly's blog Orangette started out merely as a pleasant pastime. But it wasn't long before her writing and recipes developed an international following. Every week, devoted readers logged on to find out what Molly was cooking, eating, reading, and thinking, and it seemed she had finally found her passion. But the story wasn't over: one reader in particular, a curly-haired, food-loving composer from New York, found himself enchanted by the redhead in Seattle, and their email correspondence blossomed into a long-distance romance.In A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg recounts a life with the kitchen at its center. From her mother's pound cake, a staple of summer picnics during her childhood in Oklahoma, to the eggs she cooked for her father during the weeks before his death, food and memories are intimately entwined. You won't be able to decide whether to curl up and sink into the story or to head straight to the market to fill your basket with ingredients for Cider-Glazed Salmon and Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots.

    Since the day Rebecca and her Rather Sweet Bakery and Café came to town, life in this Hill Country hamlet has been even sweeter and the townsfolk now know why she is the Pastry Queen. Everything she makes is a lot like her: down-home yet grand, and familiar yet one-of-a-kind.  A native Texan, Rather makes the most of her Lone Star state's varied traditions, whether looking to the kitchens of Texas's Mexican and German immigrants or to the cowboy culture of her own forebears. Best of all, her recipes aren't fussy—one of her best-selling cakes stirs together in a single saucepan. Add in a cupful of Texas attitude and her made-from-scratch-with-love philosophy, and you've got an irresistible taste of American baking.  What's best at Rather Sweet? Rebecca's customers all have their favorites (and she is happy to cater to their cravings), but here's just a taste of the perennial best sellers: •  Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Scones•  Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Tarts (the only big hair Rebecca has ever had!)•  Fourth of July Fried Pies•  Peach Queen Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting•  Turbo-Charged Brownies with Praline Topping•  All-Sold-Out Chicken Pot Pies•  Kolaches (pillowy yeasted buns with sweet or savory fillings)•  PB&J Cookies With over 125 surefire tested recipes and 100 photographs that richly capture small-town life in the Hill Country, The Pastry Queen offers a Texas-size serving of the royal splendor of Rebecca's baked goods—courtesy of the rather sweet gal behind the case.

    . . don’t miss it.”—People   “A book of approachable dishes made really, really well.”—The New York Times Thomas Keller shares family-style recipes that you can make any or every day. In the book every home cook has been waiting for, the revered Thomas Keller turns his imagination to the American comfort foods closest to his heart—flaky biscuits, chicken pot pies, New England clam bakes, and cherry pies so delicious and redolent of childhood that they give Proust's madeleines a run for their money. Keller, whose restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York have revolutionized American haute cuisine, is equally adept at turning out simpler fare. In Ad Hoc at Home—a cookbook inspired by the menu of his casual restaurant Ad Hoc in Yountville—he showcases more than 200 recipes for family-style meals. This is Keller at his most playful, serving up such truck-stop classics as Potato Hash with Bacon and Melted Onions and grilled-cheese sandwiches, and heartier fare including beef Stroganoff and roasted spring leg of lamb. In fun, full-color photographs, the great chef gives step-by-step lessons in kitchen basics— here is Keller teaching how to perfectly shape a basic hamburger, truss a chicken, or dress a salad. Best of all, where Keller’s previous best-selling cookbooks were for the ambitious advanced cook, Ad Hoc at Home is filled with quicker and easier recipes that will be embraced by both kitchen novices and more experienced cooks who want the ultimate recipes for American comfort-food classics.

    It has a rich history, dating back to before civilization and taking part in a multitude of events we celebrate every year. It's the most popular snack food around the world, and the second most popular snack in America (falling just behind potato chips). Popcorn can be found all over the country, at movie theaters, carnivals, and most people's kitchens or pantries. It is a common misconception that popcorn is an unhealthy snack. The reason some people avoid popcorn is because they don't understand the real culprit! Behind its supposedly unhealthy status, are the seasonings and additives, often added to commercially packaged products to liven up the bland natural flavor and to lengthen it's shelf life. The popcorn itself is a wholegrain, and these can help prevent cancer and lower the risk of heart disease, while also supplying healthy nutrients that support our vision. There are many different methods to create popcorn, but the basic principle stays the same. All you have to do is make the kernels hot enough to heat the moisture contained naturally inside, and turn that into steam. The steam creates pressure from inside the hard shell casing and before you know it, POP! - the kernel is turned inside out and is ready to be consumed. As long as you can generate heat and have some kernels on hand, you can make popcorn!Enough of the history, what about the recipes? I've gathered 30 of the finest popcorn recipes from around the world for your snacking pleasure, and have tried to keep them free from artificial sweeteners, preservatives or other nasty additives wherever possible. I've specified 9 cups of popped corn for most recipes, as that gives 3 generous cups per serving - you can have as many or as few servings as you fancy, but keep an eye on the calories! For your convenience, I've also included nutritional data from the USDA for each recipe (that's the U.S. Department of Agriculture and not the United Square Dancers of America!)My preference for both flavor and health reasons, is freshly air-popped popcorn - so I have used that kind for all of these recipes. Everything in this book can be made with kernels you have freshly popped, or if you are in a hurry (or feeling lazy!), then you can always use the plain store bought pre-popped variety - just make sure you check the packaging for artificial nasties!Most of the ingredients for these recipes can be found at your local grocery store or deli, but if you get stuck, then the slightly more unusual ones can also be bought online via a link at the end of the book.Enjoy preparing and sharing!Lorix

    Equal parts cookbook and memoir, Laurie Colwin's "Home Cooking" combines her insightful, good-humored writing style with her lifelong passion for wonderful cuisine in essays such as "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," "Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir," and "Stuffed Breast of Veal: A Bad Idea." "Home Cooking" is truly a feast for body and soul.

    Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pave au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch In Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs--one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate souffle) and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese-there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart. Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success and discovering what it truly means to be at home. In the delicious tradition of memoirs like A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, this book is the perfect treat for anyone who has dreamed that lunch in Paris could change their life.

    Living in Paris after World War II, Judith Jones broke free of the bland American food she had been raised on and reveled in everyday French culinary delights. On returning to the States--hoping to bring some "joie de cuisine" to America--she published Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking. "The rest is publishing and gastronomic history. A new world now opened up to Jones: discovering, with her husband, Evan, the delights of "American" food; working with the tireless Julia; absorbing the wisdom of James Beard; understanding food as memory through the writings of Claudia Roden and Madhur Jaffrey; demystifying the techniques of Chinese cookery with Irene Kuo; absorbing the Italian way through the warmth of Lidia Bastianich; and working with Edna Lewis, Marion Cunningham, Joan Nathan, and other groundbreaking cooks. Jones considers matters of taste (can it be acquired?). She discusses the vagaries of vegetable gardening in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the joys of foraging in the woods and meadows. And she writes about M.F.K. Fisher: as mentor, friend, and the source of luminous insight into the arts of eating, living, and aging. Embellished with fifty recipes--each with its own story and special tips--this is an absolutely charming memoir by a woman who was present at the creation of the American food revolution and played a seminal role in shaping it.

    Besh Big Easy will feature all new recipes and easy dishes, published in a refreshing new flexibound format and accessible to cooks everywhere. Much has changed since Besh wrote his bestselling My New Orleans in 2009. His restaurant empire has grown from two to twelve acclaimed eateries, from the highly praised Restaurant August to the just opened farm-to-table taqueria, Johnny Sanchez. John's television career has blossomed as well. He’s become known to millions as host of two national public television cooking shows based on his books and of Hungry Investors on Spike TV. Besh Big Easy is dedicated to accessibility in home cooking and Orleans cuisine. "There's no reason a good jambalaya needs two dozen ingredients," John says. In this book, jambalaya has less than ten, but sacrifices nothing in the way of flavor and even offers exciting yet simple substitutions. With 101 original, personal recipes such as Mr. Sam’s Stuffed Crabs, Duck Camp Shrimp & Grits, and Silver Queen Corn Pudding, Besh Big Easy is chock-full of the vivid personality and Louisiana flavor that has made John Besh such a popular American culinary icon. Happy eating!