I bought the household a cookbook for Christmas.
This was (is) part of the household’s new year’s resolutions, which include eating better and other nerdier ones which we’ll get to later.
The cookbook is Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything, and two months out I think I can safely say it’s been a great purchase. In that time, I have learned from this book:
- How to make chicken stock. This alone is an invaluable piece of information, and Bittman is correct – it’s totally addictive once you learn how much better homemade stock is than canned.
- How to wash and prepare a leek. Who knew that the best way to really get them clean was to slice them almost in half lengthwise and fan them out? (Well, he did, obviously.)
- How to core a cabbage.
- How to make popcorn on the stove.
- How to prepare risotto.
- How to roast your own red peppers.
- And probably a lot of other things I am forgetting about.
It’s light on pictures, except for the informative line drawings used to demonstrate the various cooking techniques – but you know what? I’m fine with that, and this is coming from someone who typically prefers her cookbooks liberally laced with nigh-pornographic food photography. This is a practical book that is full of practical advice, and while it may not have as many pretty pictures as other cookbooks I have known, it DOES have a heaping helping of useful tables, ideas and suggestions for modifying recipes, and (most important of all) a good index in the back.
Bittman’s writing style is breezy, easy to follow, and has just a touch of humor in it that makes recipes for even food that scares most people (like risotto) seem less intimidating. When an instruction comes up that might seem bizarre to a novice chef like myself, he actually tends to take the time to explain why it is that, for example, you don’t bother to peel the onion you’re putting in your chicken stock. It’s like having a kitchen mentor that hangs about comfortably within range if you need to ask a question without being dogmatic or intrusive.
And with two thousand recipes, if you can’t find something to add to your repertoire in here, you’re probably not trying hard enough.
This one’s a winner, folks. Consider it next time you’re hitting up the cookbook section.