Top Secret Restaurant Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains


Todd Wilbur - 1993
    Wilbur's knock-offs, absolutely indiscernible from the originals, are selected from national and regional chains, many drawn from a list of the top ten full-service restaurant chains, including Houlihan's, Red Lobster, and Pizza Hut. Also included in this savory cookbook is a special section devoted to dishes from hot theme restaurants such as Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, and Dive! Recipes include: Applebee's Quesadillas; Denny's Moons Over My Hammy; Bennigan's Cookie Mountain Sundae; The Olive Garden Toscana Soup; The Cheesecake Factory Bruschetta; T.G.I.Friday's Nine-Layer Dip; Pizza Hut Original Stuffed Crust Pizza; Chi-Chi's Nachos Grande, and many more!

The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook


Alice B. Toklas - 1954
    Toklas's rich mixture of menus and memories of meals shared with such famous friends as Wilder, Picasso, and Hemingway, originally published in 1954.

James Beard's American Cookery


James Beard - 1972
    The James Beard Foundation, housed in the late culinary master's home in New York's Greenwich Village, has become the center of American cuisine through its in-house dinners, awards, and generosity to young chefs. Any book by James Beard is an absolute essential to a serious cook's library. Still in print you will find Beard on Bread, James Beard's American Cookery, James Beard's New Fish Cookery, and James Beard's Menus for Entertaining. But don't pass by any out-of-print book you can find (either through our search or your own) written by or coauthored by James Beard.

The Dinner Plan: The Keepers Guide to Mastering Weeknight Meals and More


Kathy Brennan - 2017
    The 135 recipes—from main dishes to sides to salads and “lifesaver” condiments—provide lots of practical options whether time is super-tight, you haven’t had a chance to run to the store, or everyone is coming home at a different time.    And most importantly, all of the recipes are “keepers”—brag-worthy, reliable, crowd-pleasing preparations that you’ll confidently turn to again and again. Shrimp Scampi, Sheet-Pan Chicken Fajitas, Foolproof Carbonara, and Mexican Skillet Lasagna are just a few examples of doable recipes that will earn their place in any busy cook’s repertoire. Rounded out with plenty of tips and a bonus section on healthful snacks called The Forgotten Meal, The Dinner Plan is every home cook’s indis­pensable weeknight dinner guide.

The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh


Barbara Fairchild - 2006
    These are not the old-fashioned, lackluster choices found in most 30-minute cookbooks and cooking shows. The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook is all about ease, speed—and taste. There are 1,100 exciting, flavorful recipes, with dishes that take a fun, modern spin like Arugula Salad with Olives, Pancetta, and Parmesan; Roasted Garlic Beef Stew; Linguine with Winter Pesto; Shrimp with Ginger-Herb Butter; Grilled Steak with Fresh Garden Herbs; and Peach Pie with Berry Jam. All of the recipes are simple enough for weeknights, but with their focus on fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors, they're really special enough for weekends, too.Illustrated throughout with handsome line drawings and 32 pages of beautiful new color photographs, this collection of favorite Bon Appetit recipes is sure to quickly become the go-to resource for home cooks everywhere, whether they're beginners or simply looking to stay on top of their game. For everyone who's eager to make truly satisfying and delicious meals—without spending a lot of time in the kitchen—this is the cookbook to reach for every night of the week.

Hungarian Cookbook: Old World Recipes for New World Cooks, Expanded Edition


Yolanda Nagy Fintor - 2000
    The author also explores the seasonal and ceremonial observances still practised by Hungarian Americans: bacon cookouts, fall grape festivals, weddings, Christmas, New Year's, and Easter.

Milk Street: Tuesday Nights: More than 200 Simple Weeknight Suppers that Deliver Bold Flavor, Fast


Christopher Kimball - 2018
    That means every Tuesday Nights recipe delivers big, bold flavors, but the cooking is quick and easy--simple enough for the middle of the week. Kimball and his team of cooks and editors search the world for straightforward techniques that deliver delicious dinners in less time. Here they present more than 200 solutions that will transform your weeknight cooking, showing how to make simple, healthy, delicious meals using pantry staples and just a few other ingredients. Here are some of the fresh, inventive meals that come together in minutes:Miso-Ginger Chicken SaladRigatoni Carbonara with RicottaVietnamese Meatball Lettuce WrapsPeanut-Sesame NoodlesWhite Balsamic Chicken with TarragonSeared Strip Steak with Almond-Rosemary Salsa VerdeChocolate-Tahini PuddingTuesday Nights is organized by the way you cook. Some chapters focus on time--with recipes that are Fast (under an hour, start to finish), Faster (45 minutes or less), and Fastest (25 minutes or less). Others highlight easy methods or themes, including Supper Salads, Roast and Simmer and Easy Additions. And there's always time for pizza, tacos, "walk-away" recipes, one-pot wonders, ultrafast 20-minute miracles, and dessert. Great food in quick time, every night of the week.

Jacques Pépin Heart Soul in the Kitchen


Jacques Pépin - 2015
    There are the simple dinners Jacques prepares for his wife, like the world’s best burgers (the secret is ground brisket). There are elegant dinners for small gatherings, with tantalizing starters like Camembert cheese with a pistachio crust and desserts like little foolproof chocolate soufflés. And there are the dishes for backyard parties, including grilled chicken tenderloin in an Argentinean chimichurri sauce. Spiced with reminiscences and stories, this book reveals the unorthodox philosophy of the man who taught millions how to cook, revealing his frank views on molecular gastronomy, the locovore movement, Julia Child and James Beard, on how to raise a child who will eat almost anything, and much, much more.  For both longtime fans of Jacques and those who are discovering him for the first time, this is a must-have cookbook.

Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking


Toni Tipton-Martin - 2019
    She’s introduced us to black cooks, some long forgotten, who established much of what’s considered to be our national cuisine. After all, if Thomas Jefferson introduced French haute cuisine to this country, who do you think actually cooked it? In Jubilee, Tipton-Martin brings these masters into our kitchens. Through recipes and stories, we cook along with these pioneering figures, from enslaved chefs
 to middle- and upper-class writers and entrepreneurs. With more than 100 recipes, from classics such as Sweet Potato Biscuits, Seafood Gumbo, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, and Pecan Pie with Bourbon to lesser-known but even more decadent dishes like Bourbon & Apple Hot Toddies, Spoon Bread, and Baked Ham Glazed with Champagne, Jubilee presents techniques, ingredients, and dishes that show the roots of African American cooking—deeply beautiful, culturally diverse, fit for celebration.

Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes


Alison Roman - 2017
    But all of the recipes in Dining In have one thing in common: they make even the most oven-phobic or restaurant-crazed person want to stay home and cook. They prove that casual doesn't have to mean boring, simple doesn't have to be uninspired, and that more steps or ingredients don't always translate to a better plate of food.Vegetable-forward but with an affinity for a mean steak and a deep regard for fresh fish, Dining In is all about building flavor and saving time. Alison's ingenuity seduces seasoned cooks, while her warm, edgy writing makes these recipes practical and approachable enough for the novice. With 125 recipes for effortlessly chic dishes that are full of quick-trick techniques (think slathering roast chicken in anchovy butter, roasting citrus to ramp up the flavor, and keeping boiled potatoes in the fridge for instant crispy smashed potatoes), she proves that dining in brings you just as much joy as eating out.

Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine


Sarah Lohman - 2016
    But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table. Eight Flavors introduces the explorers, merchants, botanists, farmers, writers, and chefs whose choices came to define the American palate.

Cook Real Hawai'i: A Cookbook


Sheldon Simeon - 2021
    Even when he was winning accolades and adulation for his cooking, two-time Top Chef finalist Sheldon Simeon decided to drop what he thought he was supposed to cook as a chef. He dedicated himself instead to the local Hawai‘i food that feeds his ‘ohana—his family and neighbors. With uncomplicated, flavor-forward recipes, he shows us the many cultures that have come to create the cuisine of his beloved home: the native Hawaiian traditions, Japanese influences, Chinese cooking techniques, and dynamic Korean, Portuguese, and Filipino flavors that are closest to his heart. Through stunning photography, poignant stories, and dishes like wok-fried poke, pork dumplings made with biscuit dough, crispy cauliflower katsu, and charred huli-huli chicken slicked with a sweet-savory butter glaze, Cook Real Hawai‘i will bring a true taste of the cookouts, homes, and iconic mom and pop shops of Hawai‘i into your kitchen.

How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart


Pam Anderson - 2000
    Times have changed. Today we have an overwhelming array of ingredients and a fraction of the cooking time, but Anderson believes the secret to getting dinner on the table lies in the past. After a long day, who has the energy to look up a recipe and search for the right ingredients before ever starting to cook? To make dinner night after night, Anderson believes the first two steps--looking for a recipe, then scrambling for the exact ingredients--must be eliminated.  Understanding that most recipes are simply "variations on a theme," she innovatively teaches technique, ultimately eliminating the need for recipes.Once the technique or formula is mastered, Anderson encourages inexperienced as well as veteran cooks to spread their culinary wings.  For example, after learning to sear a steak, it's understood that the same method works for scallops, tuna, hamburger, swordfish, salmon, pork tenderloin, and more. You never need to look at a recipe again. Vary the look and flavor of these dishes with interchangeable pan sauces, salsas, relishes, and butters.Best of all, these recipes rise above the mundane Monday-through-Friday fare.  Imagine homemade ravioli and lasagna for weeknight supper, or from-scratch tomato sauce before the pasta water has even boiled.  Last-minute guests? Dress up simple tomato sauce with capers and olives or shrimp and red pepper flakes. Drizzle sautéed chicken breasts with a balsamic vinegar pan sauce. Anderson teaches you how to do it--without a recipe. Don't buy exotic ingredients and follow tedious instructions for making hors d'oeuvres. Forage through the pantry and refrigerator for quick appetizers. The ingredients are all there; the method is in your head. Master four simple potato dishes--a bake, a cake, a mash, and a roast--compatible with many meals. Learn how to make the five-minute dinner salad, easily changing its look and flavor depending on the season and occasion. Tuck a few dessert techniques in your back pocket and effortlessly turn any meal into a special occasion.There's real rhyme and reason to Pam's method at the beginning of every chapter: To dress greens, "Drizzle salad with oil, salt, and pepper, then toss until just slick. Sprinkle in some vinegar to give it a little kick." To make a frittata, "Cook eggs without stirring until set around the edges. Bake until puffy, then cut it into wedges." Each chapter also contains a helpful at-a-glance chart that highlights the key points of every technique, and a master recipe with enough variations to keep you going until you've learned how to cook without a book.

Taste of Beirut: 175+ Delicious Lebanese Recipes from Classics to Contemporary to Mezzes and More


Joumana Accad - 2014
    In her debut cookbook, The Taste of Beirut, she shares her heritage through exquisite food and anecdotes, teaching anyone from newbies to foodies how to master traditional Lebanese cuisine. With over 150 recipes inspired by her Teta (grandmother) in their family's kitchen, Accad captures the healthful and fabulous flavors of the Middle East and makes them completely accessible to home cooks. Each recipe features step-by-step instructions, Accad's warm teaching style and breathtaking color photographs that will make mouths water. Divided into sections including Breads, Breakfast, and Sandwiches; Soups; Mezze Delights; Main Dishes (Stews, Kibbeh, Stuffed Vegetables, and Rice Dishes); plus Pastries and Drinks, here is just a taste of the recipes featured: Spinach turnovers (Fatayer bel-sabanegh)Meat pies (Sfeeha)Kibbeh tartare (vegan)Red pepper and walnut dip (Muhammara)Lebanese couscous (Moghrabieh)Red lentils and rice purée (Mujaddara Safra)Eggplant casserole with tomato, meat and yogurt sauce topping (Fattet al-makdoos)Meat loaf with potato slices (Kafta bel-saniyeh)Zucchini or cauliflower frittersWings, Lebanese-styleFattoush saladBeet hummus (Mama dallou'a)Zaatar and tapénade breadWheat berry and milk pudding (Amhiyet bel-haleeb)Sesame and pistachio cookies (Barazek)Lebanese semolina cheesecake (Knafeh)Baklava in a speedy ten-minute version!While The Taste of Beirut brings to life the rich, complex, and delicious flavors of the Middle East, each recipe is refreshingly easy to make. The author's passionate, conversational style will make readers feel like they have a friend from Lebanon right in their kitchen, teaching them everything from cooking techniques to how to stock a kitchen with the best ingredients. Even more than a fabulous Lebanese cookbook, The Taste of Beirut is a proud celebration of people, culture, and cuisine.

The Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook: How to Make Truly Scrumptious Candy in Your Own Kitchen!


Liz Gutman - 2012
    PB&J Cups. Chai Latte Lollipops. Cherry Cordials, Spicy Pralines, and the cult favorite, Beer and Pretzel Caramels. Plus candy bars - the Twist Bar, the Nutty Bar, the Coconut - Lime Bar, inspired by commercial favorites (Snickers, Twix) but taken to new heights of deliciousness. And the French-style sea salt caramels that Daniel Boulud claimed were better than those he'd tasted in France. Yes, you really can make these sublime treats at home thanks to Liz Gutman and Jen King, the classically trained pastry chefs who traded in their toques to make candy - and now lead the candy-craft movement as proprietors of Liddabit Sweets, the Brooklyn confectionery whose products have drawn the attention of The Early Show, Fox and Friends, the Cooking Channel, O, The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Food & Wine, GQ, and more.Doing for candymaking what Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream did for ice cream, The Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook is the perfect marriage of sugar and spice, packed with 75 foolproof recipes, full-color photographs, and lots of attitude. The approachable recipes, offbeat humor, and step-by-step photographs remind us that homecandymaking is meant to be fun. The flavor combinations, down-to-earth advice, and easy directions make this the guide to turn to whether making candy for a treat, a holiday, a gift, or a bake sale.