Product Description

Everything a new cook needs—essential recipes and information adapted from Mark Bittman’s bestselling How to Cook Everything
With 500,000 copies in print, Mark Bittman’s award-winning How to Cook Everything has become a kitchen classic—the ultimate all-around cookbook for today’s home cooks. Now this new book distills the most essential basic information and recipes from his cornerstone reference and tailors them to meet the needs of beginner cooks as well as rusty or reluctant ones. It is ideal for anyone who needs a simple, reliable introduction to everyday cooking. How to Cook Everything: The Basics shares more than 100 core recipes from How to Cook Everything, all carefully chosen by Bittman and expertly detailed for the novice.

From basic burgers, salads, and other simple staples to easy versions of classics such as coffee cake and special occasion dishes like roast duck, these recipes offer a thorough starter set of dishes that are simple yet full of flavor. Along the way, Bittman’s relaxed approach and accessible explanations take readers step by step through making great food. Lists, illustrations, tips, and boxes on ingredients, cooking methods, and more help readers cook with confidence. Recipe variations keep things fresh for those who are ready to expand their repertoire without too much extra effort. Destined to follow the successful path of How to Cook Everything, this book is a vital resource for anyone who wants to learn the basics from the best.

Mark Bittman (Woodbridge, CT) is a columnist for The New York Times and the acclaimed author of How to Cook Everything, The Minimalist Cooks at Home, The Minimalist Cooks Dinner, and other books. He has been featured in national and regional print and broadcast media, including television shows such as The Today Show and Martha Stewart Living.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39591 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780764567568
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Like a more concise version of The Joy of Cooking, Bittman's streamlined book is the one to keep handy in the kitchen. Perfect for first-time cooks, the book is chock-full of essential recipes and lessons." (Bon Appetit, December 2003)

From the Inside Flap
Here’s the book that will get you cooking.

Whether you need to cook for your family or you love to eat and want to learn how to cook, How to Cook Everything™: The Basics is your indispensable guide.

Mark Bittman, author of the bestselling, award-winning comprehensive cookbook How to Cook Everything™, presents just what a cook needs to know in order to prepare essential and classic recipes–a great steak, a perfect omelet, or delicious brownies.

Among the 100 core recipes, you’ll find:

• Staple dishes like Simple Roast Chicken, Sautéed Pork Chops, Classic Beef Stew, Mashed Potatoes, Rice Pilaf, and Corn Bread
• Popular modern classics including Shrimp Cocktail, Classic Risotto, Pan-Grilled Salmon Fillets, and Stir-Fry Chicken with Broccoli
• Updated fast versions of traditional favorites like Weekday Morning Scrambled Eggs, Quick-Braised Carrots with Butter, Fastest Yeast Bread, and Quick Coffee Cake

You’ll also find 30 additional recipes:

• "Good To Know" dishes including Black Bean Soup and Herb-Roasted Boneless Turkey Breast–simple, delicious choices that are worth adding to your repertoire
• "Best From Scratch" recipes, like Quickest Chicken Stock, that are used in core dishes from chicken soup to risotto–preparations that you might buy in the store but are far better homemade

To go beyond the basics, there are detailed flavor variations and lists of simple ideas. If you need more background, there are "Basics of . . ." boxes, plus tips on buying, preparing, and cooking foods, and step-by-step illustrations for tricky techniques like shucking clams and preparing peppers.

Throughout the book you’ll also find information that will help build your foundation of cooking knowledge, written in Bittman’s relaxed, straightforward style. There’s a nuts-and-bolts review of essential kitchen tools and core cooking techniques like grilling, roasting, and braising. Each chapter begins with basic guidelines on the food in that chapter, explaining how to buy fish, include vegetables in any meal, bake pies, and more. And for quick reference on what "parboil" or "reduction sauce" means, there’s a glossary.

With How to Cook Everything™: The Basics Mark Bittman, who learned to cook in his own home kitchen, will help you cook good, simple food for every meal.

From the Back Cover
How to Cook Everything™: The Basics gives you essential recipes and easy-to-follow guidance to help you cook with confidence. Mark Bittman, the bestselling, award-winning author of How to Cook Everything™, shows you how to make a good burger or delicious pasta for everyday meals as well as chicken soup on a cold day, lasagne because you love it, and prime rib for company. Not only will you make some of the best food you’ve ever eaten, you’ll save money and eat more healthfully, too.

Anyone can cook

• Simple, satisfying recipes with easy-to-follow directions
• Tips to help you shop for, prepare, and cook the recipes
• Recipe variations and lists of ideas to adapt dishes to your taste
• Step-by-step illustrations for tricky techniques like mincing garlic

Simple. Straightforward.
Just what you need to cook well.

Customer Reviews

What a disappointment!!!!
What a terrible disappointment this book was -- it's ALL in the How to Cook Everything cookbook that came out a couple of years ago. You are best to get the larger book and pass this one up. Mine is coming back to Amazon.

This book is not a good idea. Buy the complete volume.
Mark Bittman, a widely recognized and respected cookbook author and New York Times food columnist, has succumbed to greed. He and his publishers have split up his very well received book `How to Cook Everything' into several separate pieces and is charging for the pieces more than the price of the original book. This volume, `The Basics' is one of the pieces.

The author and the publisher are not trying to hide this fact, although I suspect they will not shed a tear if you buy the book with the impression that this is new material.

On the surface, I am sure they will rationalize that they are doing their readers a service by providing parts of this very good book at a lower list price than the whole book. This is pure hokum. The original book is a very good contribution to the genre of `If you own only one cookbook, this would be it' cookbook. So, why would I want to buy only part of that book? If I want a book on basics, I would do much better to buy Alton Brown's `I'm Only Here for the Food'. If I want a book on quick cooking, I suspect one of Rachael Ray's books will be better AND cheaper.

Speaking of Herr Doktor Brown, he and his Food Network colleague Ina Garten seem to have caught the same case of avarice in that they have had knockoff volumes published with artwork which is based on their best-selling volumes, but which contain cut rate material, or maybe even no material. They are selling pure hype.

I have a great amount of respect for all three of these authors. I have even met Alton Brown and find him a truly gracious gentleman who deserves all good fortune and celebrity he can garner. But I do not wish these authors to put out products that some people can easily buy under a false expectation fostered by the product's marketing.

Do not buy this book. Buy the complete `How to Cook Everything' and be done with it.

A life-changing cookbook!
Can a cookbook bring about a substantial change in your life? Well, this one sure did in mine!

A month or so ago I picked up _The Basics_ at the bookstore, thinking that some of the easy recipes could help me replace Healthy Choice TV Dinners as my standard evening fare. Well, not only have I thrown away those old TV Dinners to make freezer room for better food, now every evening I make delicious, healthy meals based on this book's recipes, meals that rival my favorite restaurants here in Seattle. And I'm having a great time doing it, too!

Personally, I've found Bittman's general purpose advice in the Introduction and "Basics" sidebars even more useful than the recipes. Advice about quality ingredients, the broad variety of interesting materials you can find at your corner grocer, and knowing when a meal is done - all the cooking basics I never learned from Mom but wish I had.

Mark Bittman, thank you - you've made me a believer and a rabid fan.