Think Like a Chef


Tom Colicchio - 2000
    Rather than list a series of restaurant recipes, he uses simple steps to deconstruct a chef's creative process, making it easily available to any home cook. He starts with techniques: What's roasting, for example, and how do you do it in the oven or on top of the stove? He also gets you comfortable with braising, saute ing, and making stocks and sauces. Next he introduces simple " ingredients" -- roasted tomatoes, say, or braised artichokes -- and tells you how to use them in a variety of ways. So those easy roasted tomatoes may be turned into anything from a vinaigrette to a caramelized tomato tart, with many delicious options in between. In a section called Trilogies, Tom takes three ingredients and puts them together to make one dish that's quick and other dishes that are increasingly more involved. As Tom says, " Juxtaposed in interesting ways, these ingredients prove that the whole can be greater than the sum of their parts, " and you'll agree once you've tasted the Ragout of Asparagus, Morels, and Ramps or the Baked Free-Form " Ravioli" -- both dishes made with the same trilogy of ingredients. The final section of the books offers simple recipes for components -- from zucchini with lemon thyme to roasted endive with whole spices to boulangerie potatoes -- that can be used in endless combinations. Written in Tom's warm and friendly voice and illustrated with glorious photographs of finished dishes, Think Like a Chef will bring out the master chef in all of us.

In the Kitchen with David: QVC's Resident Foodie Presents Comfort Foods That Take You Home


David Venable - 2012
    And as the beloved host of QVC’s popular program, In the Kitchen with David,® he’s put that passion on mouthwatering display, welcoming some of the greatest names in the food world. But Venable’s own culinary skills—honed in the Carolina kitchens of his mother and grandmothers—are nothing short of remarkable and tantalizing.   Now, in his anticipated debut cookbook, Venable shares 150 delicious recipes of hearty, easy-to-make, comforting dishes. In the Kitchen with David covers everything from appetizers and breads to soups and salads to main courses and sides, as well as his lifelong love of bacon (The Divine Swine!). You’ll get ideas for quick Monday-to-Friday dinners, let-it-cook-all-weekend suppers, savory breakfasts and brunches, cocktail party fun, game-day eats, and family reunion feasts. And of course, no Southern-influenced cookbook is complete without a little something sweet. Venable’s favorites include  Party Starters: White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Dip, Chicken Nachos, Cheddar-Broccoli Poppers with Ranch Dipping Sauce, Cheesy Crab Stuffed MushroomsSupporting Players: Summer Squash Fritters with Garlic Dipping Sauce, Scrumptious Hush Puppies, Mom’s “Browned” Rice, Sweet Potato-Pineapple Casserole Main Events: Breaded Pork Cutlets, Chicken Marsala, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Low Country BoilSweet, Sweet Gratification: Deep Dish Apple Pie, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Banana Pudding Cheesecake, Peach Cobbler   Loaded with gorgeous photographs, helpful “Dishin’ with David” tips, and personal anecdotes, In the Kitchen with David encourages you and your family to gather around the dinner table for great meals and, more important, great memories. After all, the portions are generous; the options are limitless.  Foreword by Paula DeenAdvance praise for In the Kitchen with David  “David Venable’s unbridled love for good, hearty comfort food is absolutely infectious. He knows what delicious food tastes like, and one peek at the recipes in his book had me positively drooling. I haven’t been this excited about a cookbook in a long, long time!”—Ree Drummond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks   “David definitely knows his way around the kitchen, and he sure gets cooking with some comfort food in this book. And that’s saying something coming from the two of us comfort food lovers!”—Pat and Gina Neely, hosts of Down Home with the Neelys

The Slow Cook Book


Heather Whinney - 2011
    Meat will be gloriously tender, flavors will combine beautifully - and all with minimal attention from the cook. This book celebrates slow cooking in all its forms. Its 200 recipes range from typical slow-cook fare - hearty, warming stews and pot roasts - to more surprising inclusions such as cakes and bakes. Acknowledging the different ways of approaching slow cooking, it contains two methods for each recipe: one using an electric crockpot, the other using a combination of traditional pots, pans, stovetop, and oven. A practical introduction demonstrates techniques step-by-step and provides information on key ingredients and how to use them for the best results. Find everything you need to become a slow-cook expert in this attractive, but great-value, technique resource and recipe book.

Everyday Pasta


Giada De Laurentiis - 2007
    Collects Italian cookery recipes that range from classic favorites to innovative new dishes and are accompanied by simple instructions for making fresh pasta and a selection of side dishes.

Pastry


Richard Bertinet - 2012
    He also dismisses the myths of making pastry and gives you his top tips on how to avoid mistakes or how to put them right if you do slip up. With recipes ranging from savouries, such as Duck Pie, Pumpkin and Ricotta Tarts and Sausage Rolls, to all the sweet treats you can imagine, such as delectable Prune and Rum Tarts, Passion Fruit Cheesecakes and a sumptuous Tarte Tatin, this is every cook's pastry bible. Beautifully illustrated with line drawings and colour photography by the award-winning photographer Jean Cazals, this is an essential cookbook for every budding baker.

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.

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.

The River Cottage Meat Book


Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - 2004
    Now tailored for American cooks, this loving, authoritative, and galvanizing ode to good meat is one part manifesto on high-quality, local, and sustainable meat production; two parts guide to choosing and storing meats and fowl; and three parts techniques and recipes for roasting, cooking, barbecuing, preserving, and processing meats and getting the most out of leftovers. With this thought-provoking and practical guide, meat eaters can knowledgeably buy and prepare meat for better health and better living, while supporting the environment, vibrant local economies, and respectful treatment of animals.    • Already a sensation in the United Kingdom, this groundbreaking treatise on choosing and preparing meat is now available in the United States for the first time.    • Includes more than 100 recipes and more than 200 full-color photographs.    • Thoughtfully Americanized, with complete information about assorted cuts (including illustrations), production standards, and sources for buying and learning about meats in the United States.    • British edition has sold 150,000 copies.

Fresh Food Fast: Delicious, Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour


Peter Berley - 2004
    You’ll find recipes for appetizers, mains, side dishes, and desserts, as well as shopping lists, lavish color photos, and game plans that take you step-by-step through each menu.“Fast” food does not have to be prepackaged and bland. Peter Berley teaches us how we can live without compromise, enjoying fresh, wholesome meals any day of the week.

1,000 Indian Recipes


Neelam Batra - 2002
    This is a book Indian food lovers—and health-conscious eaters and vegetarians, too—can turn to for everyday meals and special occasions for years to come!

Simple to Spectacular: How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication


Jean-Georges Vongerichten - 2000
    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.

What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained


Robert L. Wolke - 2002
    Chemistry professor and syndicated Washington Post food columnist Robert L. Wolke provides over 100 reliable and witty explanations, while debunking misconceptions and helping you to see through confusing advertising and labeling.

Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease: 325 Inspiring Recipes from Award-Winning Chef Rozanne Gold


Rozanne Gold - 2010
    Now, after years of experimentation, she has come to this conclusion: Simplicity is the art of combining a few essential ingredients with a minimum of effort in order to create food that neither looks or tastes like a shortcut; food that is authentic enough to serve with pride and savor with pleasure.In Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease, Gold demonstrates this art to its fullest, manipulating the interplay of time, technique, and number of ingredients to create bold, sophisticated dishes bursting with global flavors. She offers an entire chapter of elegant 10-minute salads; delectable soups that take less than 5 minutes to prepare and others with such depth of flavor they taste like they've been simmering all day. Her opinionated take on roast chicken yields a peerlessly moist and tender bird without so much as a sprinkling of salt and pepper, while her recipe for pineapple flan transforms sugar, eggs, and bottled juice into a creamy and decadent taste of the tropics. From a 1-minute mustard sauce for her last-minute gravlax to a "Peking" pork shoulder that slow-roasts under a savory blanket of hoisin and scallions, these dishes are truly stunning in their ease of preparation, yet never sacrifice on flavor or presentation. Even Gold's procedures are revolutionary: All are conveyed in 140 words or less.With hundreds of signature recipes that you will return to time and again, Radically Simple provides both the tools and the inspiration to make memorable meals on a nightly basis and rediscover the satisfaction that comes from time well spent in the kitchen.

A Day at elBulli


Ferran Adrià - 2007
    Now, for the first time, A Day at elBulli opens the doors to everyone and reveals the inner workings of the kitchen and the gastronomic innovations that have helped create the spectacular food. Illustrated with over 1,000 colour photographs, the book includes recipes and inserted sections explaining the creative methods and food philosophy, the history of elBulli and the life of Ferran Adrià.

Best Food Writing 2012


Holly Hughes - 2012
    Once again, editor Holly Hughes plumbs magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, and websites for the year's finest culinary prose—“stories for connoisseurs, celebrations of the specialized, the odd, or simply the excellent” (Entertainment Weekly). Featuring essays and articles from established food writers and rising stars, as well as some literary surprises, Best Food Writing 2012 captures the trends, big stories, and new voices. From going hunting to going vegan, from soup-to-nuts or farm-to-table, there's something for every foodie in the newest edition of this acclaimed series.Previous contributors include: Brett Anderson, Dan Barber, Frank Bruni, John T. Edge, Jonathan Gold, Gabrielle Hamilton, Jessica B. Harris, Madhur Jaffrey, Francis Lam, David Leite, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Molly O'Neill, Kevin Pang, Ruth Reichl, Alan Richman, Kim Severson, Jason Sheehan, Sam Sifton, John Thorne, and Calvin Trillin.