Like taking the best cooking classes of your life
585971
This is less a cookbook, more a series of introductory lectures on how to cook.  Colicchio is a thoughtful and compassionate educator, concerned for the reader to really understand why he does what he does, and there is a warm intimacy to the book that makes it a pleasure to read from cover to cover.  Colicchio is adamant about explaining a variety of basic techniques before offering recipes to readers, and it really inspires confidence that anyone who dedicates a little time and effort can create flavorful hearty dishes.  I'm not completely familiar with French cuisine, but most of the techniques and dishes in this book seem consistent with the classical French cooking that I've seen on Top Chef - Colicchio uses a lot of seasonal local vegetables and buttery sauces with French names, and the food all looks delicious.

A reader in need of a wow factor for a dinner party will not likely find a lot of satisfaction here, since the focus is on simple foods done to perfection, not so much exotic ingredients or flashy presentations, and many of the recipes will need to be adapted for readers who don't like artichokes or mushrooms (I include myself), but I highly recommend this book for any home cook who wants to elevate his or her level of professionalism when it comes to preparing delicious meals for long evenings with friends and family.  I look forward to many evenings with a few friends and the lessons from this book.
2028794
I recently moved to Singapore and left my previous copy of this back in New Zealand with someone else.  I hope they use it.  This book has recipes to die for.  The flavours are intense, exotice and exquisite.  But she presents them in a way that is incredibly easy to follow and cook.  A book for the serious foodie.
2658151
If you love cooking shows like Good Eats, you'll want this book. Everything you ever want to know, wonder and even some things you never thought to question is included in this book. Every single page is packed full of all kinds of useful information. It's like they combined an amazing cookbook with a science text book to make something all new. If you're like me you'll be reading it while making something and find yourself forgetting to focus on your dish because you get so engrossed in reading the material.

And to top it off, the book even looks great. It's large, has a thick hard cover and each page is well illustrated with bold bright images. It's the kind of book that makes a good looking gift for someone who enjoys cooking.
3291474
Want to learn Culinary Arts?  Then buy this book!  Again from the Test Kitchen, they deliver!!!!  This will teach you to be the best home cook & you may even want to pursue it further :)
358881
Gabi and Miranda did not write this book for me, a Gen-X homeowner with kitchen proficiency and an amateur foodie wife. They wrote this book for the hot mess millennial in their first apartment with no clue how to cook.

Yet I found myself drawn into the books semi confessional, madcap empowerment essays. And just when I thought I didn't need them, I found inspiration in the very simple recipes too.

A few weeks after this book came into my life, my wife, our households chief cook and menu strategist, had a health crisis: surgery plus a month of bedrest. Suddenly, I was in charge of all meal planning and execution for the most discriminating cook I know.

I freaked out. How would I do it? Sure, I chop a mean onion and make dinner once in a while, but lets be honest: I lived on a burrito-a-week diet before I got married. I was a hot mess back then--before hot messes were a thing.
So I leafed through the recipes in this book and began to feel like everything was going to be okay. Reading Gabis approach, I remembered how awesome and easy it is to improvise in the kitchen. I started to get excited when I remembered that dinner can be as simple as a Bad Sex Baked Potato. (This recipe holds your hand through baking a potato and topping it with kale and cheddar cheese.) I realized that even the fancy notion of dessert is really just no bigger deal than making a basic Abandonment Issues Apple Pie.

The wife is healed and cooking again, but this cookbook has earned a place beside some of my favorites. A longtime fan of Joy of Cooking, I haul out the big white handbook every time I want to remember the ratio of flour to milk to start a bechamel. (Its pretty much one to one. Why cant I remember that?) And I think this book will have a similar role on my cookbook shelf. Its very-good-idea recipes reminded me what I had forgotten about the basics of cooking and provided a starting point for all kinds of culinary creativity. Ill go to the Im a Fraud French Toast recipe to remind myself the basics of French toast for years to come, Im sure.

Another thing I loved: the essays. Some of my favorite cookbooks have gorgeous essays in them, but few authors are so generous with them. Gabi and Miranda have written one for each and every recipe plus a really entertaining introduction with charming reflections and solid advice.

Its been almost twenty years since Ive been caught Pretending To Be Married in the Fish Department or Flirting in the Beer Aisle, and I know my way around my broiler. But I still had a great time reading Gabis point of view. The broiler is the G spot of the kitchen, she tells us. Hard to find, but once you do things get a lot more fun. This is my kind of food writing.

Both authors write in irresistibly girlfriendy voices: no judgment, no bullshit, no slut-shaming, and a lot of love. For instance, the essay that goes with the Bad Sex Baked Potato recipe reminds you to pee after the bad sex.

You never know when you're going to need a friend like that, somebody who can gently remind you how to take care of your beautiful self without speaking down to you. Gabi and Miranda have shown up as those kinds of friends with their wonderful book, Hot Mess Kitchen. I highly recommend it as a thoughtful gift for a hot mess--or even an ex hot mess--you love.
2252910
When I was in college about 8 years ago, my boyfriend (now my husband) gave me this cookbook for Christmas or my birthday. How prescient of him! I expediently read it cover to cover, and it changed how I thought about fixing dinner. I had never been one to follow a recipe exactly, but I needed a framework for putting together ingredients to make simple, satisfying, quick meals. This book provided it. Instead of detailing recipes for inspiration, Pam Anderson offers exercises in rationale - how and why ingredients put together in a certain way "work" to form a delicious dish.

It's not gourmet... although some of the dishes could fake it. But it's a far cry from Hamburger Helper, too! Pam's chapters provide ideas for a wide variety of fresh weeknight dinners that I come back to every so often when I'm lacking inspiration. I still crack a "real" cookbook occasionally - when I need to bake a special cake or want something completely different from my norm - but "How to Cook without a Book" set me up for everyday dinner success. My husband and I thank you, Pam!
2061611
I highly recommend this to anyone who's serious about cooking and want to understand food in its most basic form
1284877
A classic book, great gift for aspiring new cooks
3352634
To say I love cooking is an understatement, and it naturally follows that I would have a kitchen full of wonderful cookbooks. I received Rozanne Gold's Radically Simple from the Amazon Vine Program. Here's my take on it:

First, it's a lovely, coffee-table-sized volume with 325 recipes from award-winning chef Rozanne Gold, noted for their simplicity and ease of preparation to the use of just a few ingredients. Obviously, this is no mean feat, but Gold's preference for simple and fat dishes surpasses all others in that one would think her delectable dishes were hours in preparation.

The 340-page book contains juice blends, ten-minute salads, breakfast treats such as Palacsintas (Hungarian crepes) with Apricot Jam and Powdered Sugar-definitely on my list of recipes to try, a homemade cream cheese in the "Set Up Overnight" section, Spiced Salmon on a Moroccan Salad-a beautiful chunk of rare seasoned salmon on a bed of orange slices with red onion and oil-cured black olives. Not only are the recipes delicious sounding, they are artfully presented. Another section covers simple salad dressings, still another cold and hot soups. There's sections for pasta, fish, meat and  poultry (one dish I'm planning to try is Gold's "Almost" Confit Chicken with Melted Garlic which uses bone-in chicken thighs, allspice, nutmeg and fresh thyme.) Slow and Easy provides recipes for potatoes, rice, veggie sides such as Braised Red cabbage with Cranberries-a staple in my German-American family. Ten-minute Desserts offer fruits, flan, Chocolate-Coconut Fondue and my favorite, a simple delight using ricotta with a side of lemon curd. What could be easier?

Photographs of the dishes are liberally sprinkled throughout the book, and no recipe has more than 140 words to describe its preparation.

Buy this book, enjoy it, and you may never go back to your elaborate preparations again.

Brava Ms. Gold. We need Radically Simple recipes. A brilliant idea whose time has come.

Two floury thumbs up.
4915967
The Art of Taking Action is the best cook book Ive ever encountered. The recipes are simply laid out for you, clear, easy to follow directions, encouraging supportive words for the novice cook or experienced chief, and a comprehensive presentations for addressing the kinds of challenges we all face in cooking our life;  in making a meal of how to live a life of purposeful kind activity that will nourish you and those around you.  This book is a door way into living a life of accomplishment and satisfaction that leaves no one out. All that we need to do is to actually cook the meal.
4511546
I knew next to nothing about cooking when I bought this book and now I'm confident I could cook any recipe in this book. My favorite part is not how easy it is to follow each recipe or the wide variety of recipes covered in this book. My favorite part is how they explain their method of testing all the variables in each recipe. They tell you what they tried, what didn't work, what worked and what worked best. My roommate who's worked as a professional chef in multiple kitchens loved this book so much he bought a copy for himself.
2177787
I have a culinary background (school, french and american kitchens, etc) and this book is a real gem. Here are some points to understand if you are considering purchasing this book.

1. In some ways it can be a HUGE leap in the arena of modernist culinary masterdom.

2. It is very inspiring to try a recipe or two, or seven.

3. It gives you the high tech pricey angle, the base price angle, and the home rig (if theres a price) angle on how to fulfill the "modern" recipe.

4. The details are wonderful. For example it gives measurements in 3 different equations if you aren't up to speed on cups/mL conversion.(im not)

5. If you think its overwhelming, its still a GREAT BOOK TO READ!

6. Feeling intimidated by the book? Start somewhere familiar, like with eggs :) This book has stuff like that but with a fun spin or twist on it that is still very "modern." For instance, did you know you could cook salmon to luscious perfection simply by putting it in a pot of temperature controlled water? Even your sink could be the "pot!"

So, let me say that I cook a lot. And I have a few gadgets in the kitchen. I have tried a few recipes, such as eggs, fun hollandaise modern preparation variants etc. and its wonderful! When I mention gadgets-do yourself a favor-despite what you may or may not have in your kitchen, GO OUT(or while on amazon) and BUY a few gadgets. Get a 50 dollar pressure cooker, get a 50 dollar whip cream dispenser, get a REALLY good probe thermometer that costs around 50 bucks and WITH THIS BOOK, try 2 to 5 recipes.

Not only will those recipes be regulars in your life-they will be family, or friend, or crowd pleasers. The food is fun to make, challenging and really inspires you to try something new. Whether you are retired or a college student-there is really a few things in this book for everyone. Regift it if you have to! Let someone borrow it in your dorm for 10 bucks after they taste your hot water pot perfect salmon hahahaha.

Least of all, please do not be afraid to take a chance on this book. You WILL use a pressure cooker if you like easy, simple, and toe curling good food. We can all find uses for a whipper siphon and a GOOD thermometer is something everyone could use. Get the book and take a crack at something. I promise if you're not a quitter who will feel the confidence to try another.
1412675
What an absolutely amazing resource for busy people! This cookbook has a variety of recipes and tactics designed to help a person plan ahead for meals. Geared for people with low-to-medium skills who can follow directions, America's Test Kitchen (which also puts out the popular Cook's Illustrated magazine) resources are impeccable and absolutely dependable. There are sections here for slow-cookers, multi-meal preparations, leftover uses, and more. Meals include various ethnic and vegetarian preparations, focusing on main meals rather than side dishes or desserts. Ingredients are generally easy to find in an average well-stocked supermarket. For the elaborate multi-meal menus, the cookbook helpfully lists both ingredients you'll need to buy and the ones you probably will have on your pantry shelf so just need to check to make sure they're there. Photos abound of both the finished products and any difficult preparation steps, and the book includes conversion charts as well as a very good index that includes both ingredients and dishes. I also especially liked that each recipe includes a note on just why it works so well, so someone learning to cook can learn the principles behind the recipe so they may be applied elsewhere (by, for example, using pickle juice instead of Worcestershire to brine chicken pieces for one recipe, or substituting other nuts for the cashews in the veggie burgers).

Convenience products don't figure prominently in this book; canned beans and tomatoes are about the extent of it. Nothing I saw required any fancy kitchen gear besides a good knife and maybe a blender or food processor if you have one. This is from-scratch wholesome "clean" cooking. And it isn't "rock pile" drudge cooking, either. Flavor and texture are the guiding principles throughout. Even humble preparations like stew are given the authors' complete attention to make every single dish in this book company-worthy. The authors assume that if you're going to spend time cooking instead of buying to-go convenience products, you'll want the results to be worth eating. And this cookbook's recipes make food that is very much worth the eating. You'll never go wrong with America's Test Kitchen stuff.

Instructions are crystal-clear, given in volume units rather than weight (1/2 cup rather than 4 ounces) in most cases. Recipes are not marked with symbols denoting vegetarian or gluten-free preparations. There are no nutritional information lists given for anything. None of this stuff matters to me much but I'm mentioning it in case it matters to someone else.

This is the cookbook to get the working parent on your list, the young married couple, the college student, the volunteer--anybody who likes good food and wants to cook for themselves but also wants to maximize his or her time in the kitchen. I absolutely recommend this book to anybody who needs a cookbook for good make-ahead food.
3128217
This book isn't the most colorful cookbook I've ever seen, but it's probably the most thorough in terms of learning how to do a specific skill step-by-step.

Every page contains step-by-step photos of how to break down and butcher an entire cow, lamb, pig, rabbit, chicken, and fish.

This book should be in every culinary school on the planet.

Bravo to the authors on a job well done!
70293
I came to MOMOFUKU as a relatively beginning cook (despite my middle age) and an intermediate foodie, and suspected that the recipes from David Chang's acclaimed group of NYC restaurants would be over my head. I was right -- as they will be for all but the most adventurous and experienced cooks. But recipes aren't the only aspect to this book -- it's also a memoir of Chang's path from happy noodle-eater/unhappy office-worker through cooking school and apprenticeships to award-winning chef and restaurateur.

In fact, straightforward recipes are fairly rare in this book. Rather, they're tutorials -- each step is a paragraph about process and technique, and I'm already a better cook (and restaurant patron) just for having read them. The book itself is trademark Clarkson-Potter (think Barefoot Contessa and Martha Stewart books) -- smooth, heavy pages filled with full-color photographs of food, the restaurants, diners and staff -- many of which evoke a sense of motion and hectic energy. That energy is reinforced by Chang's conversational text, including profanity (which feels seamless and characterizing) and absolute gems of instruction. For example, for a pan-roasted rib eye (a do-able recipe), Chang advises to "Season the steak liberally with salt -- like you'd salt a sidewalk in New York in the winter," and, after cooking, to "Let the steak rest. Just leave it the hell alone"; about removing the fat from pigskin in the process of making pork rinds (*not* a do-able recipe): "Scrape gently but with determination."

Highly recommended for uber-motivated -- and armchair -- cooks.
4849963
This book is eclectic and amazing. If you like trying new things in a wide variety of genres for food, you'll love this book. It's very easy to follow with detailed instructions and beautiful full color photos of each recipe. This isn't a book for a picky eater. The recipes are mainly preparation, to slow cooker, to table. You'll feel like a gourmet chef and eat like a queen! My absolute favorite recipe from this book is the mozzarella stuffed meatballs in sauce.
3676284
I just got the book yesterday.  After earning a BS in the restaurant business and 50 years in the restaurant business I can say that this is the college text I wish I'd had.  This is a professional quality book for the home cook.  Like Cooks Illustrated, it explains why things work, but it goes way beyond, even down to the molecular level of why things happen.  This book is written for the average cook (or wanna-be cook).  It doesn't waste a single word, nor does it miss any needed explanations.  My thanks and congratulations to the genius of the team that produced it.