Product Description

Great Food Made Simple
Here′s the breakthrough one–stop cooking reference for today′s generation of cooks! Nationally known cooking authority Mark Bittman shows you how to prepare great food for all occasions using simple techniques, fresh ingredients, and basic kitchen equipment. Just as important, How to Cook Everything takes a relaxed, straightforward approach to cooking, so you can enjoy yourself in the kitchen and still achieve outstanding results.

Praise for How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman:

"In his introduction to How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman says, ′Anyone can cook, and most everyone should.′ Now, hopefully everyone will –– this work is a rare achievement. Mark is in that pantheon of a few gifted cook/writers who make very, very good food simple and accessible. I read his recipes and my mouth waters. I read his directions and head for the kitchen. Bravo, Mark, for taking us away from take–out and back to the fun of food."
–– Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the international public radio show "The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper"

"Mark Bittman is the best home cook I know, and How to Cook Everything is the best basic cookbook I′ve seen."
–– Jean–Georges Vongerichten, award–winning chef/owner of Jean–Georges

"Useful to the novice cook or the professional chef, How to Cook Everything is a tour de force cookbook by Mark Bittman. Mark lends his considerable knowledge and clear, concise writing style to explanations of techniques and quick, classic recipes. This is a complete, reliable cookbook."
–– Jacques Pepin, chef, cookbook author, and host of his own PBS television series

"Sometimes all the things that a particular person does best come together in a burst of synergy, and the result is truly marvelous. This book is just such an instance. Mark Bittman is not only the best home cook we know, he is also a born teacher, a gifted writer, and a canny kitchen tactician who combines great taste with eminent practicality. Put it all together and you have How to Cook Everything, a cookbook that will inspire American home cooks not only today but for years to come."
–– John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, coauthors of License to Grill

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #413186 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 960 pages

From the Inside Flap
Great food is simple to prepare. Mark Bittman has written a comprehensive book for every cook—aspiring and experienced—who longs for simple recipes that yield delicious food. It is for first–time cooks who want to learn the basics of good cooking from a reliable, contemporary source. It is for cooks who are time–pressed and need to get healthful meals on the table with a minimum of fuss. It is for old pros who yearn to brighten their repertoires with innovative recipes and tempting flavors. This is the cookbook of today's generation of cooks, setting new standards in good home cooking. How to Cook Everything^™ was written for you. Here are more than 1500 recipes and variations for all occasions that reflect the way you cook today. The recipes are simple to prepare. More than half can be completed in less than 30 minutes, and many more in less than 60 minutes. The emphasis is on fresh, widely available ingredients, basic equipment, and healthful techniques. How to Cook Everything^™ covers, quite literally, everything. The recipes are accompanied by sound advice on serving suggestions and time–saving techniques. More than 250 explicit step–by–step illustrations make preparation easier than ever. If you want to prepare healthful, delicious food with confidence and ease; if you are searching for a collection of reliable recipes that reflect the pure flavors and simple techniques of contemporary cooking; if you enjoy a cooking experience that is both pleasurable and creative; How to Cook Everything^™ is the book you will want to own. You'll find these special features and many others in this extraordinary book:

• Over 1500 inspired recipes and clever variations for all occasions
• Cooking times for every recipe
• Roasting times and temperatures as well as measurement conversions
• More than 250 detailed drawings of food preparation techniques, plus a list of the illustrations for easy reference
• Numbered steps in every recipe for ease in keeping your place
• Helpful sidebars, such as "Twenty–Three Pasta Sauces You Can Make in Advance"
• An exhaustive menu–suggestion section
• A vast glossary of terms and techniques
• A comprehensive index that makes finding what you need a snap
• A selected list of mail–order sources
• A list of recipes that take only 30 minutes or less to complete
• A list of recipes that take 60 minutes or less to complete.

From the Back Cover
Here′s the breakthrough one–stop cooking reference for today′s generation of cooks!

Nationally known cooking authority Mark Bittman shows you how to prepare great food for all occasions using simple techniques, fresh ingredients, and basic kitchen equipment. Just as important, How to Cook Everything takes a relaxed, straightforward approach to cooking, so you can enjoy yourself in the kitchen and still achieve outstanding results.

Praise for How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman:

"In his introduction to How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman says, ′Anyone can cook, and most everyone should.′ Now, hopefully everyone will—this work is a rare achievement. Mark is in that pantheon of a few gifted cook/writers who make very, very good food simple and accessible. I read his recipes and my mouth waters. I read his directions and head for the kitchen. Bravo, Mark, for taking us away from take–out and back to the fun of food."
—Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the international public radio show "The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper"

"Mark Bittman is the best home cook I know, and How to Cook Everything is the best basic cookbook I′ve seen."
—Jean–Georges Vongerichten, award–winning chef/owner of Jean–Georges

"Useful to the novice cook or the professional chef, How to Cook Everything is a tour de force cookbook by Mark Bittman. Mark lends his considerable knowledge and clear, concise writing style to explanations of techniques and quick, classic recipes. This is a complete, reliable cookbook."
—Jacques Pepin, chef, cookbook author, and host of his own PBS television series

"Sometimes all the things that a particular person does best come together in a burst of synergy, and the result is truly marvelous. This book is just such an instance. Mark Bittman is not only the best home cook we know, he is also a born teacher, a gifted writer, and a canny kitchen tactician who combines great taste with eminent practicality. Put it all together and you have How to Cook Everything, a cookbook that will inspire American home cooks not only today but for years to come."
—John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, coauthors of License to Grill Visit

About the Author
MARK BITTMAN is a nationally known authority on cooking. He writes about food for many magazines and newspapers. His column, "The Minimalist," appears Wednesdays in The New York Times. He is the author of Fish, winner of an International Association of Culinary Professionals/Julia Child Cookbook Award. He lives with his family in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Could become the backbone of one's cooking library
Simpler and more user-friendly than the New Joy of Cooking, this book could become the backbone of one's cookbook library. For those of us who already know our way around the kitchen, but want a simple, quick reminder on, for example, carmelizing onions, mixed drinks, or making mustard from scratch, this is where to turn. Bittman's two dirty words are Convenience and Gourmet. His credo - that there's no reason to buy a box of processed macaroni & cheese when you can have pasta with butter, parmesan and sage in the same amount of time; that we need not aim for perfection and be intimidated by the prospect of cooking real, fresh, homemade food for ourselves and our families every day, is a welcome one. Especially a time when more and more cookbooks aim to transate the lofty heights of four-star restaurant chefs' creations for the home cook, clearly a recipe for frustration in the work-a-day world of most of us. Bittman provides standard, template recipes for classic American food and popular ethnic fare. Obviously, this is not the book to open if you seek TRULY authentic Thai, Mexican, or other foreign fare. However, if you hanker for, say, Indian potato pakoras, and don't have all day to hunt for ingredients and follow a complex recipe with unfamiliar techniques, Bittman offers a do-able and perfectly edible alternative. I check his recipes as a template by which to compare quirkier versions of the same dish from other sources. He gives you the standard for your average pound cake; now you can ponder why your cooking magazine wants you to add twice as much liquid. Once you have tried your hand at these classics, though the results may not be extremely exciting, you will gain the confidence to explore a world of variations. And many of Bittman's own suggestions for variations, such as the onion and bacon in his basic quiche, are still simple and accessible, but also wonderful. It's quite a comprehensive achievement, as well. Get it.

Finally, a cookbook for real life!
I used to be much more intimidated by cooking, but Mark Bittman's straightforward, relaxed writing style really put me at ease and gave me the confidence to try new things - he obviously enjoys cooking and his enthusiasm is contagious (as well as entertaining). The recipes start out with a basic how-to overview and then move on to more specific variations, thereby giving you the information you need to create your own versions. It has taken the mystery out of making good food on a daily basis.

I have lots of other cookbooks but many of them either assume I know a lot of basic things I don't, or think I have access to a gourmet grocery store around the corner (or can regularly afford the elaborate ingredients they require). This is a user-friendly cookbook for daily life - it will give you a foundation of information at your fingertips that will encourage you to be more adventurous, and subsequently have more fun. My fancier cookbooks are gathering dust.

This is a must-have book if you are just getting into cooking, or need an all-purpose reference volume to fill in the gaps left by more specific cookbooks. I just wish I'd had this one in college!

(And if you are a seafood fan, you must get Mark Bittman's "Fish" - it is not just a cookbook, it is a dictionary and buying guide as well. A fabulous reference book!)

IF YOU BUY ONE COOKBOOK, THIS SHOULD BE IT
The sheer diversity of recipes, all 1500 or so of them, Japanese, Thai, Indian, French, is probably reason enough to get this pronto. By Everything it most likely means "wholesome yet practical meals for the ones you love". Almost all recipes I have tried to date use simple readily-available ingredients for healthy yet finger-licking victuals. As a bonus the writing is chipper than most culinary tomes on the market. My idea of THE cookbook, and a great gift idea too.