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.

The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook: Recipes and Lore from Celtic Kitchens


Kay Shaw Nelson - 1999
    In addition to the recipes, each chapter begins with entertaining stories, legends and lore about Celtic peoples, their traditions and customs, and the history of their foods. Chapters include: Starters; Soups; Egg and Cheese Dishes; Barley, Oats and Cornmeal; Seafood; Poultry and Game; Meats; Vegetables and Salads; Breads; Cookies and Cakes; Desserts; and Drinks. All of these easy-to-follow, step-by-step recipes are adapted for the North American kitchen.

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking


Michael Ruhlman - 2009
    Why spend time sorting through the millions of cookie recipes available in books, magazines, and on the Internet? Isn’t it easier just to remember 1-2-3? That’s the ratio of ingredients that always make a basic, delicious cookie dough: 1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour. From there, add anything you want—chocolate, lemon and orange zest, nuts, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, almond extract, or peanut butter, to name a few favorite additions. Replace white sugar with brown for a darker, chewier cookie. Add baking powder and/or eggs for a lighter, airier texture. Ratios are the starting point from which a thousand variations begin. Ratios are the simple proportions of one ingredient to another. Biscuit dough is 3:1:2—or 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. This ratio is the beginning of many variations, and because the biscuit takes sweet and savory flavors with equal grace, you can top it with whipped cream and strawberries or sausage gravy. Vinaigrette is 3:1, or 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, and is one of the most useful sauces imaginable, giving everything from grilled meats and fish to steamed vegetables or lettuces intense flavor. Cooking with ratios will unchain you from recipes and set you free. With thirty-three ratios and suggestions for enticing variations, Ratio is the truth of cooking: basic preparations that teach us how the fundamental ingredients of the kitchen—water, flour, butter and oils, milk and cream, and eggs—work. Change the ratio and bread dough becomes pasta dough, cakes become muffins become popovers become crepes. As the culinary world fills up with overly complicated recipes and never-ending ingredient lists, Michael Ruhlman blasts through the surplus of information and delivers this innovative, straightforward book that cuts to the core of cooking. Ratio provides one of the greatest kitchen lessons there is—and it makes the cooking easier and more satisfying than ever.

Girl in the Kitchen: How a Top Chef Cooks, Thinks, Shops, Eats Drinks


Stephanie Izard - 2011
    Fan favorite and the first and only woman to win on TV's Top Chef, she's also the chef and owner of the acclaimed Girl & the Goat restaurant in Chicago. The Girl in the Kitchen collects more than 100 of Izard's best recipes, from innovative appetizers like Asian-Spiced English Peas to luscious desserts like Quince and Fig Cobbler with Vanilla Mascarpone. Beautifully photographed and bursting with flavor, personality, and insights into the top chef's process including where she finds her cooking muses, how she shops for food, and which beers and wines she chooses to accompany her meals this book represents the culmination of a craft and provides inspiration that reaches far beyond the kitchen walls.

Food Babe Kitchen: More than 100 Delicious, Real Food Recipes to Change Your Body and Your Life


Vani Hari - 2020
    This book will inspire you to take control of your health and ditch processed foods for good.Get ready to ditch processed foods for good, and eat the cleanest, healthiest food on the planet!With more than 100 mouthwatering recipes-from Biscuits with Whipped Honey Butter to Baja Fish Tacos, Grapefruit Goddess Salad, Luscious Lemon Bars, and even Homemade Doritos-the Food Babe Kitchen will show readers how delicious and simple it is to eat healthy, easy, real food.Food Babe Kitchen shows you how to shop for the healthiest ingredients by breaking down every aisle in the grocery store with expert label-reading tips and simple swaps, plus a handy meal-planning guide and pantry list to stock your kitchen for success.Eat healthfully, close to the earth, with the best ingredients that you choose, so when you sit down to enjoy a delicious meal you know what you are eating, and you haven't spent all day in the kitchen!Easy-to-follow directions, eye-catching photography, and simple substitutions to accommodate vegan, dairy-free, grain-free, and other diets, make this the ultimate guide to getting back into the kitchen to create healthful meals for yourself and those you love.Getting off processed food has never been easier-or more delicious.

Bread Baking for Beginners: The Essential Guide to Baking Kneaded Breads, No-Knead Breads, and Enriched Breads


Bonnie Ohara - 2018
    From total scratch to your first batch, Bread Baking for Beginners offers simple, user-friendly tutorials and recipes to mix, knead, and enjoy freshly baked loaves at home.Bonnie Ohara, a self-taught baker who runs a micro-bakery out of her own kitchen, preps home cooks with clear explanations of the bread making process and basic techniques. Complete with photographs to help guide you, this bread cookbook offers 32 recipes for kneaded breads, no-knead breads, and enriched breads that prove you can bake your bread, and eat it too.From mixing ingredients to taking your first loaf out of the oven, this bread cookbook shows new bakers how to do it all with: An essential introduction that thoroughly explains the bread making process, popular techniques, and basic equipment to stock your kitchen with Master recipe tutorials that accompany each chapter with a basic recipe formula, and progressively introduce new techniques as you advance through the recipes 32 fool-proof recipes that range from savory to sweet breads, and include Focaccia, Pizza, Whole Grains, Brioche, Challah, Sourdough, and more! When you’re ready to get your hands floury, Bread Baking for Beginners serves up the recipes and tutorials you need to bring the aroma of perfectly baked loaves to your home.

Ready for Dessert: My Best Recipes


David Lebovitz - 2010
    Lucky for us, this translates into showstopping sweets that bakers of all skill levels can master. In Ready for Dessert, elegant finales such as Gâteau Victoire, Black Currant Tea Crème Brûlée, and Anise-Orange Ice Cream Profiteroles with Chocolate Sauce are as easy to prepare as comfort foods such as Plum-Blueberry Upside-Down Cake, Creamy Rice Pudding, and Cheesecake Brownies. With his unique brand of humor—and a fondness for desserts with “screaming chocolate intensity”—David serves up a tantalizing array of more than 170 recipes for cakes, pies, tarts, crisps, cobblers, custards, soufflés, puddings, ice creams, sherbets, sorbets, cookies, candies, dessert sauces, fruit preserves, and even homemade liqueurs. David reveals his three favorites: a deeply spiced Fresh Ginger Cake; the bracing and beautiful Champagne Gelée with Kumquats, Grapefruits, and Blood Oranges; and his chunky and chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. His trademark friendly guidance, as well as suggestions, storage advice, flavor variations, and tips will help ensure success every time.  Accompanied with stunning photos by award-winning photographer Maren Caruso, this new compilation of David’s best recipes to date will inspire you to pull out your sugar bin and get baking or churn up a batch of homemade ice cream. So if you’re ready for dessert (and who isn’t?), you’ll be happy to have this collection of sweet indulgences on your kitchen shelf—and your guests will be overjoyed, too.

Secrets from My Vietnamese Kitchen: Simple Recipes from My Many Mothers: A Cookbook


Kim Thúy - 2017
    Now, in her first cookbook, Kim combines her beautiful storytelling style with simple and wonderful recipes that are full of flavour: surprising yet comforting, and easy enough for every day. Welcoming us into her close-knit circle, she introduces us to her mother and five aunts, each with her story, each with her secrets, told through the food of the country they had to leave, Vietnam.Starting with easily-prepared base ingredients of sauces, quick pickled vegetables and toasted rice flour, we move on to soups, sautés, vegetables, grilled foods, desserts and more. Sample recipes include: Stuffed Squash Soup; Vermicelli Bowls; Caramel Pork; Calamari, Pork and Pineapple Stir-fry; Fried Lemongrass Fish; and Vietnamese Tapioca and Banana. Also, in collaboration with sommelier Michelle Bouffard, Kim suggests wine pairings for these Vietnamese dishes.Kim says that Vietnamese often display their affection more easily with food than with words. This exquisite book deliciously demonstrates that every meal is an opportunity to show love, and to be grateful for those who sit down to eat with us.

You Have It Made: Delicious, Healthy, Do-Ahead Meals


Ellie Krieger - 2016
    For those who are always short on time when it comes to cooking, Ellie is here to help. Her recipes—which include breakfast bakes, soups, salads, casseroles, and more—can all be prepared ahead of time, making putting food on the table that much easier. Each recipe includes instructions for refrigerating and/or freezing as well as storing and reheating directions. With exciting dishes like the Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oats in Jars and the Herbed Salmon Salad, you’ll be able to have meals ready days in advance. As with her other books, all of Ellie’s recipes are healthy and come complete with nutrition information. But that doesn’t mean they sound like diet food! Just look at the Creamy Tomato Soup, Chicken Enchilada Pie, and Smoky Smothered Pork Chops, to name a few. You Have It Made helps you turn your fridge and freezer into a treasure chest of satisfying, good-for-you meals.

The Accidental Vegetarian: Delicious Food Without Meat


Simon Rimmer - 2004
    Armed with two cookbooks and heaps of enthusiasm, he and a friend created the best vegetarian restaurant in Manchester, Greens, famous for its inventive, delicious food and terrific atmosphere.  The Accidental Vegetarian is the culmination of Simon’s culinary adventure. A confirmed meat eater, Simon had to rethink his cooking style as he opened his restaurant, and in this book he presents original and easy-to-prepare vegetarian recipes that will please even the most dedicated carnivore, and win over the most intimidated would-be chef. Simon borrows cooking styles and ideas from all corners of the globe to create unique combinations of ingredients that result in flavorful and interesting dishes such as Green Papaya Salad, Eggplant Tikka, Pumpkin Enchiladas with Mole sauce, Filo Strudel with Port Wine Sauce and Red Thai Bean Curry. From his more exotic inventions to good old favorites, The Accidental Vegetarian will help forever retire the bean-sprout and tofu image of vegetarian meals from the minds of people everywhere.

What's a Cook to Do?: An Illustrated Guide to 484 Essential Tips, Techniques, and Tricks


James Peterson - 2007
    Culinary students everywhere rely on the comprehensive and authoritative cookbooks published by chef, instructor, and award-winning author Jim Peterson. And now, for the first time, this guru-to-the-professionals turns his prodigious knowledge into a practical, chockablock, quick-reference, A-to-Z answer book for the rest of us. Look elsewhere for how to bone skate or trim out a saddle of lamb, how to sauté sweetbreads or flambé dessert. Look here instead for how to zest a lemon, make the perfect hamburger, bread a chicken breast, make (truly hot) coffee in a French press, make magic with a Microplane. It’s all here: how to season a castiron pan, bake a perfect pie, keep shells from sticking to hardcooked eggs. How to carve a turkey, roast a chicken, and chop, slice, beat, broil, braise, or boil any ingredient you’re likely to encounter. Information on seasoning, saucing, and determining doneness (by internal temperatures, timings, touch, and sight) guarantee that you’ve eaten your last bland and overcooked meal. Here are 500 invaluable techniques with nearly as many color photographs, bundled into a handy, accessible format.

Mourad: New Moroccan


Mourad Lahlou - 2011
    His book is anything but a dutifully “authentic” documentation of Moroccan home cooking. Yes, the great classics are all here—the basteeya, the couscous, the preserved lemons, and much more. But Mourad adapts them in stunningly creative ways that take a Moroccan idea to a whole new place. The 100-plus recipes, lavishly illustrated with food and location photography, and terrifically engaging text offer a rare blend of heat, heart, and palate.

Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth


Jill O'Connor - 2007
    . . 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!

The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook: 125 Gut-Friendly Recipes to Heal, Strengthen, and Nourish the Body


Harvey Ryan - 2016
    The collagen, bone, skin, marrow, and fat that is extracted when animal bones simmer in water for hours (or days) are the building blocks of life, containing proteins that help to combat inflammation; boost immunity; strengthen bones; improve hair, skin, and nails; and help a host of digestive issues by promoting optimum gut health.In The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook, Kate and Ryan Harvey, founders of the artisanal broth manufacturer, Bare Bones Broth Co., show readers how simple, inexpensive, and delicious it is to make their own nutrient-rich broth at home. With foolproof directions for slow-cooking your own broth and more than 100 inventive ideas for incorporating it into everyday meals in delicious new ways, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook includes:10 signature broth recipes, from beef and chicken to fish and vegetable recipesSoups and stews such as Coconut, Beet, and Ginger Soup and a Classic Pho BrothEggs and breakfast, including a Bison Omelet with Yucca Root Hash and a Curried Scramble with Artichokes and Sun-Dried TomatoesMeat and seafood entrees, from Pan-Seared Tuna with Mushroom Risotto to Slow-Cooked Chipotle Lamb and Pinto BeansSides and salads, such as the Braised Collard Greens with Bacon or Yucca Root FriesSauces and spreads, including Cilantro Chimichurri, Bacon Jam, and Spicy Salsa VerdeDiscover the amazing health benefits of bone broth—the power of delicious food is only a stockpot away with The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook.

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights Mediterranean: 125 Simple Weeknight Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine


Christopher Kimball - 2021
    It is a diverse cuisine that encompasses the cultures and traditions of Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The food is direct, simple, and honest. It is proud to be served without disguise or embellishment. Every Tuesday Nights recipe delivers big flavor, but the cooking is quick and easy. Each of these 125 Mediterranean dinners is ready in under 45 minutes, and many take just 20 minutes start to finish. Dishes include:Green ShakshukaSpicy Egyptian Eggplant with Chickpeas and HerbsBulgur Salad with Summer Vegetables and Pomegranate MolassesHarissa-Spiced Pasta and Chicken with Green BeansGreek Spanakorizo with ShrimpSpanish Ribeye with Green Olives and White Wine. The recipes are organized by how you cook, with some chapters focused on time—Fast (45 minutes), Faster (35 minutes), and Fastest (under 25 minutes)—while others dive into themes such as Hearty Vegetable Mains, Supper Soups, and Flat and Folded—including pizza, flatbreads, pita sandwiches, and panini. Many of the recipes require only one piece of cookware, and they all are built from pantry staples. Dinner? Solved—every night of the week.