The Art of Mexican Cooking


Diana Kennedy - 1989
    The Art of Mexican Cooking  is a brilliant exploration of one of the world's  truly great cuisine, including more than 200  extraordinary recipes, many for dishes previously  unknown north of the border, as well as more than 50  evocative illustrations and 150  photographs.These dishes, favorites throughout Mexico,  range from sophisticated to pure and simple; all  share an amazing depth of taste. Aficionados will  go to great lengths to duplicate the authentic  dishes (and Kennedy tells them exactly how), but  here too there is a wealth of less complicated  recipes for the casual cook who longs for the  unmistakable flavors of soul-warming  cuisine.Kennedy shares the secrets of true Mexican  flavor: balancing chile flavors with a little salt  and acid, for instance, or charring them to round  out their flavor; broiling tomatoes to bring out  their character, or using cumin for a light  accent. By using Kennedy's kitchen wisdom and advice  and carefully selecting tropical produce that is  now readily available in most American markets,  American cooks can at last serve truly authentic  Mexican food.

Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking


Frank Pellegrino - 1998
    Its tables are booked months in advance by regulars who go to enjoy what The New York Times calls its "exquisitely simple Italian cooking" from traditional recipes, many as old as Rao's itself. You may not get a table at Rao's, but now with this book you can prepare the best Italian home-style food in the world in your own kitchen. Here for the first time are recipes for all of Rao's fabulous classics--its famous marinara sauce, seafood salad, roasted peppers with pine nuts and raisins, baked clams, lemon chicken, chicken scarpariello, and on and on.The recipes are accompanied by photographs that re-create Rao's magic and testimonials from loyal Rao's fans--from Woody Allen to Beverly Sills. Here too is a brief history of the restaurant by Nicholas Pileggi and a Preface by Dick Schaap. Both will convince you that what you have in your hands is a national treasure, a piece of history, and a collection of the best Italian American recipes you will ever find.

Brunetti's Cookbook


Donna Leon - 2009
    Her books are infused with the sights and sounds, the arts, the culture, the family connections and loyalties, and the crime and corruption of a private world beyond the reach of the millions of tourists who visit the city each year. Perhaps most of all, Leon’s novels are known for their mouth-watering descriptions of food. Multicourse lunches and dinners at home with his wife, Paola, and his children, delectable snacks grabbed at a bar with a glass of wine or two, or a working meal at an unassuming neighborhood trattoria in the course of an investigation have all delighted Commissario Brunetti, as well as Leon’s countless fans. And then there’s the coffee, the pastries, the wine, and the grappa.In Brunetti’s Cookbook, Donna Leon’s best friend and favorite cook, Roberta Pianaro, brings to life those fabulous Venetian meals: orrechiette with asparagus; ravioli with squash, butter, and sage; artichokes stuffed with prosciutto; baked branzino; and pork stew with porcini and polenta —these are just a few of the nearly one hundred recipes for antipasti, pasta, fish, seafood, meat, and dessert in Brunetti’s Cookbook, ready for you to prepare and savor at home. The traditional Italian recipes are joined by excerpts from the critically acclaimed novels, four-color illustrations, and original essays by Donna Leon on food and life in Venice. Charming, insightful, and full of personality, they are the perfect addition to this delightful book.

Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World's Best Soups


James Peterson - 1993
    A comprehensive cookbook with over 500 foolproof recipes covering every conceivable kind of soup--including Asian and South American recipes that have not previously appeared in American cookbooks--and sections featuring unusual ingredients, secrets for lowering fat, and more.

Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes


Vickie Smith - 2008
    Now, at last, Miss Vickie has gathered all of her pressure-cooker wisdom into a book. Whether you're a pressure-cooker newcomer or a longtime fan, you'll find all the recipes, techniques, and tips you need for a lifetime of great pressure-cooker meals.Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes is jam-packed with nearly 400 fast, tasty, foolproof recipes, ranging from one-pot meals like Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms to Sweet and Sour Pork, Navy Bean Soup, and Chocolate Malt Cheesecake. Miss Vickie's detailed recipe instructions and special techniques, such as "pan in pot" pressure cooking, guarantee that each dish comes out perfectly cooked--and perfectly delicious.But Miss Vickie gives you more than just great recipes. Her book also provides in-depth guidance on every aspect of choosing and using a pressure cooker, includingA buyers' guide to modern pressure cookersStep-by-step pressure-cooker instructionsPressure-cooker safetyBasic and advanced pressure-cooking techniquesCommon mistakes in pressure cookeryAdapting recipes to the pressure cookerTips, tricks, and troubleshootingOffering hundreds of recipes that are proven to work--and proven delicious--plus plain-English answers to all of your pressure-cooker questions, Miss Vickie has created the single most useful pressure-cooker book ever published. It's a resource you'll turn to again and again as you explore the world of pressure-cooker possibilities and pleasures.

Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook: More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home


Michael Ronis - 2008
    Carmine's flavors are the tastes Americans love to cook and eat at home--fresh garlic, bubbling tomato sauce, and pasta boiled just to the perfect al dente. Try any of the recipes in Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook and bring home that classic Italian flavor to your family.

Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes


Giada De Laurentiis - 2005
    And here, in her long-awaited first book, she does the same—helps you put a fabulous dinner on the table tonight, for friends or just for the kids, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of flavor. She makes it all look easy, because it is. Everyday Italian is true to its title: the fresh, simple recipes are incredibly quick and accessible, and also utterly mouth-watering—perfect for everyday cooking. And the book is focused on the real-life considerations of what you actually have in your refrigerator and pantry (no mail-order ingredients here) and what you’re in the mood for—whether a simply sauced pasta or a hearty family-friendly roast, these great recipes cover every contingency. So, for example, you’ll find dishes that you can make solely from pantry ingredients, or those that transform lowly leftovers into exquisite entrées (including brilliant ideas for leftover pasta), and those that satisfy your yearning to have something sweet baking in the oven. There are 7 ways to make red sauce more interesting, 6 different preparations of the classic cutlet, 5 perfect pestos, 4 creative uses for prosciutto, 3 variations on basic polenta, 2 great steaks, and 1 sublime chocolate tiramisù—plus 100 other recipes that turn everyday ingredients into speedy but special dinners.What’s more, Everyday Italian is organized according to what type of food you want tonight—whether a soul-warming stew for Sunday supper, a quick sauté for a weeknight, or a baked pasta for potluck. These categories will help you figure out what to cook in an instant, with such choices as fresh-from-the-pantry appetizers, sauceless pastas, everyday roasts, and stuffed vegetables—whatever you’re in the mood for, you’ll be able to find a simple, delicious recipe for it here. That’s the beauty of Italian home cooking, and that’s what Giada De Laurentiis offers here—the essential recipes to make a great Italian dinner. Tonight.

Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast


Nigella Lawson - 2007
    Nigella's ratings are through the roof, and she was recently featured in In Style. The cookbook is all of the delicious foods Nigella is known for but the emphasis is on fast, really fast! This is for everyone who loves good food, but just doesn't have time or patience at the end of the day for a long, drawn-out cooking session. More than 130 recipes!

My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method


Jim Lahey - 2009
    Witnessing the excitement that Bittman’s initial piece unleashed worldwide among bakers experienced and beginner alike, Jim grew convinced that home cooks were eager for a no-fuss way to make bread, and so now, in this eagerly anticipated collection of recipes, Jim shares his one-of-a-kind method for baking rustic, deep-flavored bread in your own oven.The secret to Jim Lahey’s bread is slow-rise fermentation. As Jim shows in My Bread, with step-by-step instructions followed by step-by-step pictures, the amount of labor you put in amounts to 5 minutes: mix water, flour, yeast, and salt, and then let time work its magic—no kneading necessary. Wait 12 to 18 hours for the bread to rise, developing structure and flavor; then, after another short rise, briefly bake the bread in a covered cast-iron pot.The process couldn’t be more simple, or the results more inspiring. My Bread devotes chapters to Jim’s variations on the basic loaf, including an olive loaf, pecorino cheese bread, pancetta rolls, the classic Italian baguette (stirato), and the stunning bread stick studded with tomatoes, olives, or garlic (stecca). He gets even more creative with loaves like Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread, others that use juice instead of water, and his Irish Brown Bread, which calls for Guinness stout. For any leftover loaves, Jim includes what to do with old bread (try bread soup or a chocolate torte) and how to make truly special sandwiches. And no book by Jim Lahey would be complete without his Sullivan Street Bakery signature, pizza Bianca—light, crispy flatbread with olive oil and rosemary that Jim has made even better than that of Italy’s finest bakeries. Other pizza recipes, like a pomodoro (tomato), only require you to spread the risen dough across a baking sheet and add toppings before baking. Here—finally—Jim Lahey gives us a cookbook that enables us to fit quality bread into our lives at home.

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics


Ina Garten - 2008
    Ina Garten’ s bestselling cookbooks have con-sistently provided accessible, subtly sophisticated recipes ranging from French classics made easy to delicious, simple home cooking. In Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, Ina truly breaks down her ideas on flavor, examining the ingredients and techniques that are the foundation of her easy, refined style. Here Ina covers the essentials, from ten ways to boost the flavors of your ingredients to ten things not to serve at a party, as well as professional tips that make successful baking, cooking, and entertaining a breeze. The recipes—crowd-pleasers like Lobster Corn Chowder, Tuscan Lemon Chicken, and Easy Sticky Buns—demonstrate Ina’s talent for transforming fresh, easy-to-find ingredients into elegant meals you can make without stress. For longtime fans, Ina delivers new insights into her simple techniques; for newcomers she provides a thorough master class on the basics of Barefoot Contessa cooking plus a Q&A section with answers to the questions people ask her all the time. With full-color photographs and invaluable cooking tips, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics is an essential addition to the cherished library of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks.

Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables


Joshua McFadden - 2017
    After years racking up culinary cred at New York City restaurants like Lupa, Momofuku, and Blue Hill, he managed the trailblazing Four Season Farm in coastal Maine, where he developed an appreciation for every part of the plant and learned to coax the best from vegetables at each stage of their lives.In Six Seasons, McFadden channels both farmer and chef, highlighting the evolving attributes of vegetables throughout their growing seasons—an arc from spring to early summer to midsummer to the bursting harvest of late summer, then ebbing into autumn and, finally, the earthy, mellow sweetness of winter. Each chapter begins with recipes featuring raw vegetables at the start of their season. As weeks progress, McFadden turns up the heat—grilling and steaming, then moving on to sautés, pan roasts, braises, and stews. His ingenuity is on display in 225 revelatory recipes that celebrate flavor at its peak.

Pasta, Pane, Vino: Deep Travels Through Italy's Food Culture


Matt Goulding - 2018
    A blend of intimate narrative and insider knowledge reflective of the style pioneered in Rice, Noodle, Fish and Grape, Olive, Pig, the first two titles in this growing book series, Pasta, Pane, Vino is a unique culinary journey through Italy’s key regions.Matt Goulding introduces the chefs, shepherds, fisherman, farmers, grandmas, and others who power Italy’s revered culinary traditions. From the pasta temples of Rome to the pizza palaces of Naples to the truffle-strewn forests of the Piedmont, Pasta, Pane, Vino captures the breathtaking diversity of Italian regional food culture.Pasta, Pane, Vino is also illustrated with nearly 200 lush color photographs that bring Italy’s timeless landscape and sensuous food culture to life. Whether you’re an itinerant eater planning your next high-calorie adventure or an armchair gastronaut looking for a stirring story, this food-obsessed guide reveals Italy as never before—an odyssey that will rouse your appetite and imagination in equal measure.

All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art


Molly Stevens - 2011
    Molly Stevens brings her trademark thoroughness and eye for detail to the technique of roasting. She breaks down when to use high heat, moderate heat, or low heat to produce juicy, well-seared meats, caramelized drippings, and concentrated flavors. Her 150 recipes feature the full range of dishes from beef, lamb, pork, and poultry to seafood and vegetables. Showstoppers include porchetta ingeniously made with a loin of pork, a roast goose with potato-sage stuffing, and a one-hour beef rib roast-dishes we've dreamed of making, and that Molly makes possible with her precise and encouraging instructions. Other recipes such as a Sunday supper roast chicken, herb-roasted shrimp, and blasted broccoli make this an indispensable book for home cooks and chefs. All About Roasting is like having the best teacher in America in the kitchen with you.

Cook's Country Cookbook


America's Test Kitchen - 2008
    This debut collection from the editors of Cook's Country magazine celebrates the landscape of American home cooking from yesterday and today. In the tradition of great American cookbooks like The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and The Settlement Cookbook, The Cook's Country Cookbook is, at its core, a wide-ranging, comprehensive collection chock-full of beloved classics like roast chicken, beef stew, biscuits, blueberry pie, and more. In addition, the editors of Cook's Country magazine have also reached back in time to revive old favorites to suit modern tastes and lifestyles. Here you'll find Chicken Divan without the soup mix--only tender chicken and crisp broccoli blanketed in a velvety cheese sauce. You'll learn that it's possible to serve a from-scratch comfort food classic like meatloaf on a weeknight when time is tight: our mini-meatloaves cook in a fraction of the time of traditional versions. Discover fresh, new, and sometimes regional recipes that illuminate the depth and personality behind American cooking--recipes such as North Carolina Pulled Pork (a slow-cooker dish with real barbecue flavor); 24-Hour Salad (a make-ahead salad where the vegetables remain crisp and fresh); and King Ranch Casserole (a kid-friendly creamy chicken casserole with toasty corn chips and Southwestern spices, made famous by Lady Bird Johnson). In addition to foolproof recipes, The Cook's Country Cookbook also pulls back the curtain to reveal the often fascinating origins of classic American favorites, such as the use of breakfast cereal in party snack mixes or how Bundt pans gave rise to the popular cake. Muchmore than a collection of foolproof recipes, The Cook's Country Cookbook provides a lively, in-depth portrait of the great American table.

Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters: More Than 100 Years of Recipes Discovered from Family Cookbooks, Original Journals, Scraps of Paper, and Grandmother's Kitchen


Marilynn Brass - 2006
    It's these dishes that give us comfort in times of stress, help us celebrate special occasions, and remind us of the person who used to bake for us those many years ago. In Heirloom Baking, Marilynn Brass and Sheila Brass preserve and update 150 of these beloved desserts. The recipes are taken from their vast collection of antique manuscript cookbooks, handwritten recipes passed down through the generations that they?ve amassed over twenty years. The recipes range from the late 1800s to today, and come from a variety of ethnicities and regions. The book features such down-home and delicious recipes as Brandied Raisin Teacakes, Cuban Flan, Cranberry-Orange Cream Scones, Chattanooga Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, and many more. Accompanying the recipes are stories from the lives of the families from which they came. The Brass Sisters have taken care to update every recipe for today's modern kitchens. More than 150 photographs showcase the scrumptious food in full-color detail. Finally, the Brass sisters encourage each reader to begin collecting his or her own family recipes in the lined pages and envelope at the back of the book.