If you hate cooking or don't know how, this book is for you.
935730
I don't really have time to cook nor do I enjoy it most of the time. I like meals I can "prepare" and not cook. That's what I like about this book. Better than throwing things together from a few cans, get this book and create some fast and healthy meals and snacks. Lots of easy to understand "recipes" with lots of salads, main dishes, sandwiches and even desserts like fig brownies.

Recommended.
1700275
I'm not a great cook,it seemed when I cooked I had large amounts of leftovers that either got forgotten in the freezer or in the refrigerator to spoil and throw out. Fantastic a book so I could cook for my husband and I but I soon discovered it had a lot of information I didn't want or need. I simply wanted to put a tasty meal on for two. Perhaps I missed something in the books description. I would have preferred something more basic.
821510
This book is directed primarily to people who don't know how to cook and could use some inspiration and guidance to get started.  I am a lot like this kind of person (I especially was a couple years ago).

The first couple chapters discuss why to cook, what you need, and how to shop at the store.  Like many people who prefer takeout to cooking, I demand instant gratification and these chapters were somewhat too methodical for my tastes.

My guidance to you is: skip the first chapter, but check out the "$3000" line when you need inspiration to cook.  Then skip to page 25 and buy the things listed there.  You can probably skip to the takeaways page for chapter three as well and look back if any of the bullets intrigue you.

As a bachelor who has learned a couple tricks over the years, I was impressed and intrigued by the simple list of cooking materials.  I have occasionally told people that using a wok (#5) was one of my secrets to fast, cheap, versatile cooking.  Other items were presented to me in a new light, like the casserole dish (#9).

There is a chart on page 51 which in my mind alone warrants the price of the book.  Basically, it compares a few different kinds of cuisine (Indian, Thai, Italian, etc.) and how they differ by flavor base, spices, herbs, flame, and so on.  I occasionally raised an eyebrow when looking at the chart - for example, Italian listed onion above garlic and omitted olive oil - but it is still really cool.

The selection of recipes is wide, with some emphasis on Indian recipes.  There are wraps, soups, and stews as well as normal stuff.  Some of the recipes take a while to make, but quite a number of recipes are between 15 mins and one hour.  The instructions are clear.  I can't tell you how good the recipes are, because I haven't cooked any yet... maybe someday soon :-).
916347
Picked up this book on the suggestion of a friend. I hate cooking and this one made everything easy - even for a bachelor with no time.
4015268
When I first received this book for free, I was actually pretty excited about reading it because I just moved into a new apartment with my boyfriend and we enjoy cooking our meals together.  Although I knew it was a beginners guide, I don't consider myself a cooking expert by any means and figured I could learn a few new tricks for him.  Unfortunately, the information provided (again I know its stressed that it is a quick guide), was more so for someone who has never turned on a stove.  I burn things pretty frequently, so it says a lot that I did not learn anything new from reading it.  For those that are extreme novices to the art of cooking, it may be useful.  The introduction is a bit cheesy (no pun intended), but provides a simple lead-in to what the book will be about including: determining right portion sizes, how to shop for two, meal and menu planning, kitchen tools and equipment, baking, and how to manage leftovers.  That pretty much covers the first half and the majority of the book.  The second portion is dedicated to 21 easy recipes the author provides that have absolutely no connection to each other.  For a guide on cooking for two, I think there either should have been a theme section of recipes or different menu ideas, and at the very least, pictures for every single recipe since those were the best part of the entire piece.  The book ends abruptly with a list of further cooking resources both in print and online.  I think a small conclusion would have tied the loose ends together a bit better.
2981767
This is a great book for those who DO know how to cook. I love to cook and am quite good at it, but with 2 little ones, time is of the essence. I didn't want to give up 'pretty' food for 'quik' food...this book is good  for meeting both those objectives. I am going to give it to a friend that  doesn't like to cook. I think she will like it as much as I do because it  has simple,fast and contemporary food selections.
3909498
I have had this book for at least a year. Out the gate, I did make a number of recipes and sauces from it; but, have found that I no longer go back to it for inspiration. I liked the APL BBQ sauce, the chicken thigh recipe and the whimsy of using a rosemary brush to mop stuff (one of the more iconic photos floating around of this chef)... but, most of these recipes are lengthy, take dozens of ingredients, hours and hours of effort (before, during and after the cook) and ultimately don't make the difference between great BBQ and a waste of time. In the end, there are a lot of subtleties to these flavor profiles that my smoker just ends up overwhelming (shouldn't it be about the smoke). Is it worth the extra time, tedious menial effort and additional ingredients... you will have to determine that for yourself. This book has dishes that I will never try, dishes that I will only ever make once and dishes that can be simplified to leave you with time to visit with your friends. My go to reference book lately has been, Project Smoke.
608888
I consider myself a pretty good cook but a pretty bad chef.  While I can cook individual dishes very well, I'm not so good at creating menus.  Even with a six-burner stove, I find it hard to juggle the preparation of several things at the same time, and I frequently get confused.  So, I was excited to receive my copy of America's Test Kitchen's "Menu Cookbook", a book that appeared to be aimed directly at me.

The book consists of 51 menus -- 10 for each of the four seasons of the year plus 11 "Celebration and Holiday" menus.  Since there are 52 weeks in a year, apparently you get to take a week off.  Most of the seasonal menus serve 8 people, while the celebration menus serve 12.  Each menu contains an estimate of the amount of time each component recipe should along with pictures, drawings and descriptions.  In fact, the illustrations are a little better than ATK's previous books.

At a minimum each menu consists of an appetizer, an entre, a side and a dessert.  But, some menus are more exotic.  The "Tapas Party", for example, contains seven courses.  The recipes appear to be pulled straight from "Cook's Illustrated" and "The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook", but I haven't compared them one-for-one.  In other words, they don't appear to be simplified in any way.

And therein lies the problem. Although a rationale is presented for why each recipe works, there is no rationale for why each menu works.  How do you coordinate the cooking, presentation and consumption of simultaneous dishes?  Short of preparing some of the dishes the day before, the book offers no guidance.  There's no indication of the best order for things to be prepared.  There's no discussion of how to hold one dish hot while you're preparing another or how to avoid needing two different oven temperatures at the same time (a problem evident in the very first menu).  An integrated timeline would have been a good addition.

This feature has always been the weakness of Test Kitchen recipes.  Although magnificently optimized, they're also time-heavy, making it difficult to prepare more than one item at once.  They seem to assume you have a staff.  For example, how am I supposed to prepare a 15-ingredient entre while serving the appetizer?  Who prepares the intricately timed dessert while we all eat the entre together?  Do I ever get to sit with my guests, or should I just stay in the kitchen?

Hence, I'm left to conclude that the central premise of the book has been poorly addressed.  In spite of the jacket assertion that the book contains "...strategies that guarantee less stress", I found very few.  Maybe this information reveals itself once you start cooking, but I'm reluctant to take the risk with a room full of guests.

Addendum 3/1/2012 - I just learned that when I ordered this book, I failed to realize that I had inadvertently signed up to receive preview copies of all of ATK's future books.  I can't begin to tell you how much I object to this "Book of the Month Club" strategy.  It's cheap and below the dignity of a previously high-quality enterprise.
2492597
This book is loaded with recipes but whoever wrote it did not have even a simple command of the English language. The entire book is full of words and sentences that make no sense at all. For example - in the Poached Eggs recipe it says  First, influence the deride Hollandaise to sauce by whacking the majority of the ingredients together. He uses bubbled when he should say boiled. The entire book would be very confusing to someone with no experience cooking. If you know how to cook, it is possible to figure out the recipes (I know what a chicken bossom is. It needs some serious proofreading.
3507417
basic good info for newbies , but not for those  who are experienced with cooking and want more creativity
2768335
I have learned so much from this book. It looks like a textbook but it's not. It's an entertaining read. I am a better cook because of this book, and I refer to it all the time in my kitchen. Give a person a cookbook and they'll make recipes. Give person THIS book and they'll create their own recipes. I love this book.
931080
This isn't really a cookbook, it's a book on the science behind cooking. There are recipes, but they aren't the focus of the book. The point of the book is to teach you cooking techniques so you can build your own recipes. If you're like me and rarely follow recipes exactly as written, this is the book for you. There is also some info on what kind of things to look for when buying cookware.
The only problem I have is that when I want to find one of the recipes in the book it is very difficult to do so. The book is arranged by cooking technique and the recipes usually have humorous names. If you can remember the name it's no problem, just look it up in the index. It would be great if there was a cross-refence arranged by food types to help you find recipes.
I love the author's TV show, "Good Eats" so I thought I would get this book. If you like the show you will like this book. It has all the things I love-- cooking, science and humor.
1593865
This book has helped me cook several items now.  I hate following a recipe step by step, but this book will make it easy for my to become more comfortable with my new appliance.
3792125
Honestly I love her blog and make her food all the time but this was a very basic cookbook. I don't need a recipe for how to cook a sweet potato or make cauliflower mash. That's incredibly basic. I want some of her amazing go to recipes that I reference again and again. This is just for brand new cooks who have very little confidence in the kitchen.
1244491
You know all those cooking from scratch books that are on your shelf, I bet you haven't opened most of them in a very long time. Why? Because they contain recipes with obscure ingredients, or complicated techniques, or they take too much time to prepare for the person who has a life outside of their kitchen. I have one cookbook that promises thirty 30-minute recipes. It takes me an hour or longer to make each one. Am I ridiculously slow or is that phooey? Maybe if I had a prep cook who pre-measured and laid everything out for me, but that's not real life folks. Wouldn't it be cool if there was a cookbook for real people who want to cook real food? Guess what. There is!

I am so excited to tell you about A Cabin Full of Food by Marie Beausoleil. This isn't a cookbook so much as an encyclopedia on homestead cooking written by someone who knows what she's doing. It's packed with almost a thousand easy, frugal, traditional recipes that either help you fill your food storage or help you use what you have stored. If you try to eat seasonally and locally, these are recipes you can actually use.
2106249
This is AWFUL.  Most of these recipes even the most beginning cook would know of or could simply figure out on their own - if they wanted bland food.  Many if not most recipes are very few ingredients and fairly common sense.  Chicken, rosemary, balsamic and oil.  I didn't need a $50 cookbook to teach me that one - or any of them that would actually be tasty.
301622
I hate to cook, but I know it's less expensive and healthier than going out to eat all the time, so I am trying to do better. I loved Bethenny on the Real Housewives, and I know she aims to make cooking healthy and easy, so of course this book sounded like a good one. She emphasizes that the book is not a "cookbook"; rather it gives you ideas for making healthy foods using things you have in your kitchen, so you don't have to buy some obscure ingredient or a big jar of something you'll never use again. The book starts out with chapters on essential food and cookware to have in your kitchen, healthier cooking options, and basic cooking skills (yes, there is a paragraph on how to boil water). Later on, she provides recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacking, and cocktails. With each recipe, she provides multiple variations. The one thing I wasn't crazy about was that she'll occasionally throw in a plug for her previous book, Naturally Thin, and her line of Skinnygirl cocktails, but I guess I can't fault her much for marketing. The bottom line is this book was written for people trying to eat healthier and take the complexity out of cooking. None of her recipes seemed intimidating or time-consuming, and I can't wait to try them!