Whether you're a total noob with a new set of pans or a seasoned home cook looking to expand your repertoire, cookbooks can be the difference between another tuna casserole and an interesting repast. Here are three of the best, most comprehensive cookbooks in print.
The New Best Recipe, Editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine, $35.00. Buy this and it will be the first one you grab whenever you're looking for dinner. The folks at Cooks Illustrated approach recipes like Consumer Reports approaches cars — with intensive research and exhaustive testing. The result is a book filled with recipes geared to the home cook, stripped down to the simplest techniques — with the most detailed step-by-step instructions of any cookbook — while never sacrificing the fundamental flavors and nature of the dish. Each recipe also comes with its own article that describes how and why the test-kitchen cooks made the decisions they did, allowing adventurous home cooks to experiment with dishes from a firm foundation of what to keep intact. It's the best cookbook you'll ever own. Over 1,000 recipes.
How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman, $21.95. Read Mark Bittman's pieces in the NY Times, and you'll get a sense of his no-nonsense character. That extends to his book, which ranges from detailed recipes of classic dishes to simple lists of things you can do to a winter squash. Although not as detailed or explanatory as Best Recipe, HTCE offers similarly stripped down dishes geared to the home cook, usually with a couple of suggestions for how to alter the basic template with simple additions or subtractions. It doesn't have everything, but with over 900 pages crammed with info, you'll be hard-pressed to find a dish that Bittman can't help you with. Over 1,500 recipes.
Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition, Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, $35.00. It's a classic for a reason. Originally written in 1931 by 54 year-old widow Irma Rombauer — using the $3,000 she inherited from her husband — Joy became one of the bibles of American cuisine. Better yet, its wonderful narrative truly evoked the pleasure of cooking and the empowerment that people can find in the kitchen. This latest Joy has been updated by Irma's grandchildren, with new recipes, adapted versions of the old recipes and an editorial style that hearkens back to the spirit of the first few editions. Not only are the recipes well worth making, Joy is an uplifting read that will get you back into the kitchen time and time again. Over 4,500 recipes.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2008.