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.

Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook


Yotam Ottolenghi - 2018
    Each dish can be made in 30 minutes or less, with 10 or fewer ingredients, in a single pot, using pantry staples, or prepared ahead of time for brilliantly, deliciously simple meals. Brunch gets a make-over with Braised Eggs with Leeks and Za'atar; Cauliflower, Pomegranate, and Pistachio Salad refreshes the side-dish rotation; Lamb and Feta Meatballs bring ease to the weeknight table; and every sweet tooth is sure to be satisfied by the spectacular Fig and Thyme Clafoutis. With more than 130 photographs, this is elemental Ottolenghi for everyone.

The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners: A No-Stress Meal Plan with Easy Recipes to Heal the Immune System


Dorothy Calimeris - 2017
    Learn how to reverse chronic inflammation through simple dietary changes with The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners. If you suffer from chronic inflammation, you’re already familiar with symptoms such as pain and fatigue, as well as co-existing conditions including autoimmune disorders and gut health problems. By following an anti-inflammatory diet you can reverse the frustrating and often debilitating effects of inflammation—but knowing where to start can be difficult.As co-author of the bestselling cookbook The Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Action Plans and someone who follows an anti-inflammatory diet, Dorothy Calimeris knows firsthand what it takes to get started and stick with it. In The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners, Dorothy delivers her personal expertise and recipes, alongside registered dietitian nutritionist Lulu Cook who breaks down the anti-inflammatory diet into easy-to-follow steps and provides a broad variety of enjoyable meals.Relatable and straightforward, this cookbook offers simple, affordable, delicious recipes and meal plans. With The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners you’ll enjoy: 75 simple, affordable recipes that use limited ingredients for delicious meals that are healthful and satisfying An integrated 2-week meal plan offering budget-friendly shopping lists and easy prep guides for a variety of flavorful recipes Handy food lists that help you identify inflammation-causing ingredients and inflammation-fighting superfoods—and know what to shop for A 7-day list of activities to prepare you for your new lifestyle and get you ready, set, and going in no time The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners will help you to begin healing your chronic inflammation sooner than you think with everything you need for making this healthy change.

The New Basics Cookbook


Julee Rosso - 1988
    Beginning cooks will learn how to boil an egg. Experienced cooks will discover new ingredients and inspired approaches to familiar ones. Encyclopedic in scope, rich with recipes and techniques, and just plain fascinating to read, The New Basics Cookbook is the indispensable kitchen reference for all home cooks.This is a basic cookbook that reflects today's kitchen, today's pantry, today's taste expectations. A whimsically illustrated 875-recipe labor of love, The New Basics features a light, fresh, vibrantly flavored style of American cooking that incorporates the best of new ingredients and cuisines from around the world. Over 30 chapters include Fresh Beginnings; Pasta, Pizza, and Risotto; Soups; Salads; every kind of Vegetable; Seafood; The Chicken and the Egg; Grilling from Ribs to Surprise Paella; Grains; Beef; Lamb, Pork; Game; The Cheese Course, and Not Your Mother's Meatloaf. Not to mention 150 Desserts! Plus, tips, lore, menu ideas, at-a-glance charts, trade secrets, The Wine Dictionary, a Glossary of Cooking Terms, The Panic-Proof Kitchen, and much more. Main Selection of the Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service and the Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books.

The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes


Ruth Reichl - 2004
    To create this landmark cookbook, editor in chief and celebrated authority Ruth Reichl and her staff sifted through more than 50,000 recipes. Many were developed exclusively for Gourmet's test kitchens. Others came from renowned food writers and chefs and from the magazine's far-flung readers. Then the editors embarked on an extraordinary series of cook-offs to find the most unforgettable dishes, testing and retesting each one to ensure impeccable results. This collection, the only one of its kind, spans a vast range of cultures and cuisines. With it, you can go back to the time when Beef Wellington ruled the table or prepare something as contemporary as Crispy Artichoke "Flowers" with Salsa Verde. And whether you're cooking a simple supper for two or throwing a cocktail party for fifty, you'll make every dish with more flavor and more flair using The Gourmet Cookbook. It includes* 102 hors d'oeuvres, dips, chips, pâtés, and first courses * exciting vegetable dishes -- more than 120 in all -- using everything from artichokes to yuca * versatile recipes for every available kind of seafood, with many suggested substitutes * hundreds of simple but exceptional dinners * festive dishes for every occasion, including a perfect roast turkey with stuffings, the ultimate standing rib roast, and even a gorgeous (but easy) wedding cake * definitive versions of all the classics, from Chicken Kiev to Crcme Brulée and from Bouillabaisse to Pad Thai * more than 50 pastas and risottos, from quick everyday meals to party dishes * scores of soups, salads, breakfast dishes, and sandwiches, including the editors' all-time favorite pizza * a wealth of sauces and salsas, to transform ordinary meals into spectacular ones * more than 300 desserts: cookies, pies, tarts, pastries, buckles, crumbles, ice creams, puddings, mousses, and cakes galore, including cheesecakes and the nine best chocolate cake recipes Gourmet has ever published With engaging introductions to each chapter by Ruth Reichl, entertaining headnotes, indispensable information about ingredients and techniques, hundreds of tips from Gourmet's test kitchens, and an extensive glossary, The Gourmet Cookbook is the essential kitchen companion for anyone who wants one-of-a-kind recipes and spectacular results every time.

Binging with Babish: 100 Recipes Recreated from Your Favorite Movies and TV Shows


Andrew Rea - 2019
    For each video, Andrew Rea, a self-proclaimed movie and TV buff, teaches a recipe based on a favorite TV show or film, such as the babka from the classic Seinfeld episode, the beef bourguignon from Julie & Julia, or the timpano from Big Night. This cookbook includes these and other fan-favorite recipes. Some are so delicious that you’ll want to make them for dinner right away, like Bubba's shrimp from Forrest Gump, while others can be saved for impressing a loved one—like the chocolate lava cake from Jon Favreau’s Chef, which the actor/director asked to make during a guest appearance on Rea’s show. Complete with behind-the-scenes stories and answers to frequently asked fan questions, Binging with Babish is a must-have companion to the wildly popular YouTube show.

American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye: A Guide to the Nation's Favorite Spirit


Clay Risen - 2013
    Discerning drinkers will savor this, the only guide devoted solely to US-made whiskey, rye, and bourbon. Arranged alphabetically by distillery and/or brand, it offers histories, ratings, and tasting notes for over 200 whiskeys. Each main account includes the name and address of the maker, including website URL and contact information, along with its various products. In addition to finding information on how to get the best value for your money, you'll learn how to buy whiskey, how to read a label, which whiskey to give as a gift, and much more.

The South Beach Diet


Arthur Agatston - 2003
    South Beach Diet

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution


Alice Waters - 2007
    Her simple but inventive dishes focus on a passion for flavor and a reverence for locally produced, seasonal foods.With an essential repertoire of timeless, approachable recipes chosen to enhance and showcase great ingredients, The Art of Simple Food is an indispensable resource for home cooks. Here you will find Alice’s philosophy on everything from stocking your kitchen, to mastering fundamentals and preparing delicious, seasonal inspired meals all year long. Always true to her philosophy that a perfect meal is one that’s balanced in texture, color, and flavor, Waters helps us embrace the seasons’ bounty and make the best choices when selecting ingredients. Fill your market basket with pristine produce, healthful grains, and responsibly raised meat, poultry, and seafood, then embark on a voyage of culinary rediscovery that reminds us that the most gratifying dish is often the least complex.

The Doctor's Kitchen - Eat to Beat Illness: a Simple Way to Cook and Live the Healthiest, Happiest Life


Rupy Aujla - 2019
    Accompanying the advice there are 80 new delicious recipes.Following on from Dr Rupy’s bestselling cook book The Doctor’s Kitchen, Eat to Beat Illness distils actionable ideas for daily life to teach you how to use food to trigger and amplify your defences against illness. Accompanying the advice there are 80 new delicious recipes.In Dr Rupy’s second book he builds on the message that what you choose to put on your plate is one of the most important health interventions you can make. Food can not only affect our likelihood of disease but it can lengthen our lives, change our mood and even affect the expression of our DNA.The first section of the book explains how our bodies can better fight off illness through eating well and how we can heal our bodies through simple lifestyle changes including exercise, stress reduction, sleeping well and finding purpose in our lives.It is now scientifically proven that certain foods and food groups are beneficial for staving off illness and here Rupy will look at key conditions such as cancer, depression, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stress and explain what to eat to increase our chances of staying healthy.Complemented by 80 new recipes, full of tempting international flavours such as Roast Golden Beets with Italian Greens and Hazelnut Pesto; Bangladeshi Cod CurrySpatchcock Poussin and Middle Eastern Ful Madames; Iranian Dizi Stew; Garlic Chilli Prawn and Black Bean Stirfry with Bokchoy and Silverbeet; Pea and Broccoli Orecchiette Japanese Togarashi Mix, to name just a few, eating well for has never been so easy and delicious.

Appetites: A Cookbook


Anthony Bourdain - 2016
    And for many years, first as a chef, later as a world-traveling chronicler of food and culture on his CNN series Parts Unknown, he has made a profession of understanding the appetites of others. These days, however, if he’s cooking, it’s for family and friends.Appetites, his first cookbook in more than ten years, boils down forty-plus years of professional cooking and globe-trotting to a tight repertoire of personal favorites—dishes that everyone should (at least in Mr. Bourdain’s opinion) know how to cook. Once the supposed "bad boy" of cooking, Mr. Bourdain has, in recent years, become the father of a little girl—a role he has embraced with enthusiasm. After years of traveling more than 200 days a year, he now enjoys entertaining at home. Years of prep lists and the hyper-organization necessary for a restaurant kitchen, however, have caused him, in his words, to have "morphed into a psychotic, anally retentive, bad-tempered Ina Garten."The result is a home-cooking, home-entertaining cookbook like no other, with personal favorites from his own kitchen and from his travels, translated into an effective battle plan that will help you terrify your guests with your breathtaking efficiency.

Vegan with a Vengeance: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock


Isa Chandra Moskowitz - 2005
    Ten years ago a young Brooklyn chef was making a name for herself by dishing up amazing vegan meals -- no fuss, no b.s., just easy, cheap, delicious food. Several books -- including Veganomicon, Appetite for Reduction, Isa Does It, and Superfun Times Holiday Cookbook -- later, the punk rock priestess of all things tasty and animal-free returns to her roots-and we're not just talking tubers. The book that started it all is back, with new recipes, ways to make those awesome favorites even awesomer, more in-the-kitchen tips with Fizzle--and full-color photos of those amazing dishes throughout. With tips for taming your tofu, doing away with dairy, and getting rid of the eggs, you'll find recipes for: "Fronch" Toast; Biscuits and White Bean Sausage Gravy; Chile sin Carne al Mole; Apple Pie-Crumb Cake Muffins; Three Kinds of Knishes (Knish Madness!); Revolutionary Spanish Omelet; Tempeh Reuben; Braised Cauliflower with Three-Seed Sauce; Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers; No-Bake Black Bottom-Peanut Butter Silk Pie; Coconut Heaven Cupcakes . . . and more. So much more.

Simple Green Smoothies with Jen and Jadah: The Radically Easy Way to Lose Weight, Increase Energy, and Be Happier in Your Body


Jen Hansard - 2015
    They will teach you how to incorporate delicious, nutrient-packed recipes into your everyday routine to create a foundation of health on which to build. The fun, family-friendly lifestyle they present doesn't involve counting calories or eliminating an entire food group. Instead, they encourage you to make one simple change: drink one green smoothie a day.Hansard and Sellner aren't health fanatics looking to overhaul your life-they're two moms raising their own kids on healthy, whole-food recipes who've seen the amazing health benefits of green smoothies firsthand. The book contains a 10-day green smoothie menu and more than 100 innovative, delicious recipes that address everything from boosting your immunity to getting glowing skin. Simple Green Smoothies offers a sane and tasty approach to health that will inspire and energize you on your journey toward a happier life.

The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in "Healthy" Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain


Steven R. Gundry - 2017
    Stephen Gundry believes that these defense strategies make the seemingly virtuous plants that we consume every day--fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds--far less "good for us" than we assume. Dr. Gundry outlines the health hazards posed by lectins. The main sources of lectins in the American diet include conventionally-raised dairy products, beans, and other legumes, wheat and grains, and specific vegetables and fruitsWith a full list of lectin-containing foods and simple substitutes for each; a step-by-step detox and eating plan; and easy lectin-free recipes, The Plant Paradox illuminates the hidden dangers lurking in your salad bowl—and shows you how to eat whole foods in a whole new way.

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.