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Reddit mentions of How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food,10th Anniversary Edition
Sentiment score: 66
Reddit mentions: 101
We found 101 Reddit mentions of How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food,10th Anniversary Edition. Here are the top ones.
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- huge cook book with 2,000 simple recipes for great food
- 10th anniversary edition of How to Cook Everything
Features:
Specs:
Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 8 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | October 2008 |
Weight | 4.5 Pounds |
Width | 2.457 Inches |
How to Cook Anything replaced Joy of Cooking as my favorite general cooking reference.
Need to know how long to steam a artichoke, or the ratio of stock to rice in risotto, or what to do with that random ingredient you bought at the store. It's got all the basics covered.
How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything: Basics by Mark Bittman
I'm a huge fan of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. He presents basic techniques for almost any ingredient imaginable and then shows you how to branch out from there. I've learned how to improvise as a home cook with this book.
Until about a year ago, I knew next to nothing about cooking but I've been learning. I wish I had known this stuff in college. What I did is I bought a copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and went through it. The regular How to Cook Everything is also good. Both of them give you lots of really easy recipes (like how to make scrambled eggs) as well as more advanced ones if you want to serve dinner to people for example.
Also, I watched every episode of Good Eats and learned a lot from that. Most if not all of those are on YouTube. Just start with Season 1 Episode 1 and start plowing through them.
I don't prepare meat because I'm paranoid about germs, but don't let that stop you. The things I've been preparing the most are:
If you have an oven, it's really not very hard to make your own pizza, for that matter.
This.
For camping (Sorry, a tad over $100):
For Cooking:
When I started out, I relied most of the Fannie Farmer cookbook, to be honest, but something like The Joy of Cooking, Bittman's How To Cook Everything or Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food would be good, too. Joy is classic, simple recipes with clear instructions, aimed at beginners. Brown is excellent at explaining the science behind why reciepes work the way they do. Bittman emphasizes showing a technique, then showing lots of simple variations, allowing you to learn a skill and then apply it to different ingredients.
You might also take a look at Rhulman's Ratio --- for a certain sort of personaility, that book can be like a lightbulb going off. It's all about the common principles that underlay many sorts of recipes. Some people find it too abstract, especially if they're just starting (most actual recipes break his rules a little, one way or another), but if you're more of an abstract logical thinker it can be quite helpful.
But cooking in general can be quite diffucult to pick up from books --- techniques that are quite simple to demonstrate can be super difficult to describe. Youtube/the internet can be your friend, here --- Jacques Pepin, America's Test Kitchen, and Good Eats are all good at demonstrating and explaining technique. Check out the Food Wishes youtube channel, too --- Chef John is a former culinary instructor, and he demostrates a lot of classic techniques in the reciepes he does.
At the end of the day though, cooking's like Carnigie Hall. Think of stuff you like to eat, find a recipe for that stuff, and just go for it. If you start off making things you know and like, then it will be easier to tell if you're getting it right as you go along, and that I think is the most crucial and most difficult part of becoming a skilled cook --- being able to tell when something's ready vs. when it needs 5 more minutes, being able to tell if the batter looks right before you cook it, if something needs more seasoning and if so what kind. All that's mostly a karate kid, wax on, wax off thing --- you just got to keep making stuff in order to have the experience to tell when something's right.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Joy of Cooking
How to Cook Everything
The Art of Simple Food
Mark Bittman's "How to cook everything"
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0764578650/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_wdrOBbYY1ZWXV
How to Cook Everything one cookbook to rule them all.
This book is wonderful and has been around for ages.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
According to this book most "store brand" chicken actually comes from the same farms as national brands, so there's nothing to be ashamed of.
This is true for other foods as well actually, such as butter, which is made in very few factories nationwide.
Invest in Bittman's How To Cook Everything. It takes an analytical approach to cooking and teaches you techniques and modular recipes which you can combine to your liking! Great as a "technique" cookbook for experimenting, very well notated.
Get a cast iron skillet, a mid-range chef's knife, and a copy of How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
if you want to learn to cook, I highly recommend How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I would also recommend thinking in terms of techniques as you learn, rather than on just following recipes by rote. It's really the key to going from " I know how to make a couple of things" to being able to cook generally.
I would suggest How to cook everything by Mark Bittman. He breaks down most recipes into a simple project and sticks to well known ingredients.
It's a nice volume for the single person just starting. You'll get some good techniques out of it as well.
Just pick a meal that you like to eat and make it. It's ok to make mistakes, that is part of learning what works and what doesn't. You don't need a lot of stuff either.
I recommend How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman for clear instructions and lots of tips.
How to Cook Everything. It's a big cookbook, and it really does cover almost everything. There are a ton of great recipes in there I make over and over again, and lots of great information on techniques, too.
How to Cook Everything
There' an iPhone app with the recipes that will build shopping lists for you as well. My GF is a catering manager for a large venue here in NYC; she's a food snob by profession. But she always loves the beef stir fry from Mark's book, despite the fact that it's 5 or so easily obtained ingredients. Maybe she just likes the inevitable sex. We may never know.
I think the Joy of Cooking is a great reference once you get the basics down. I also think online recipes can be hit or miss. As a beginner, having ONE good book is better than the entirety of the internet IMHO. There's just too much information coming at you.
That being said, I made this recipe every 2 weeks for about half a year. Every time I'd vary the spices a bit, to experiment. It's really simple, refrigerates well, and tastes pretty good.
tl;dr: Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is the best cookbook to get as a beginner, because we expect international and vegetarian recipes along with the old meat and potatoes standards. More subjective reasoning follows below.
I think one of the most important things when selecting a universal cookbook early on is the quality, yet simplicity of the recipes, and how well things are explained. If you make something, as a beginner, you need to know it is going to turn out good, so when you return to the same cookbook later, you are confident the next recipe will be as high of quality. It is also nice to get compliments from others on your cooking, and a well made cookbook can assure this.
Julia Child's cookbooks are certainly of a very high quality, but French cuisine is not suited for beginners, or even novices, IMO. The Joy of Cooking has an enduring legacy brought from its quality of recipes and consistency, and is great for those mainstay dishes that haven't changed in 100 years (Silver Palate Cookbook, Fannie Farmer Cookbook are others in the Joy of Cooking realm). The problem is, tastes have changed since Joy of Cooking came out. It managed to incorporate the introduction of a few international food crazes into its pages, namely Italian and French. The Chinese it incorporates (eg. Chow Mein, etc) are nothing like what we expect from Chinese food today. Let alone Thai, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Mediterranean, and so on. We Americans today have a much more different palate (fresh/local, international, vegetarian, etc) than what the Joy of Cooking incorporated, even in its most updated versions.
Therefore, I nominate a new Joy of Cooking, for modern times. Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It hits every one of my barometers for a perfect cookbook. Delicious, easy recipes, of high quality. It is very dense in terms of number of recipes per page (not one recipe, with its photo on the facing page), yet easy to read, because one recipe is accompanied by 3-5+ variations to greatly modify it (eg. rice pilaf recipe, becomes Mexican rice, becomes whole grain pilaf, etc). Everything, from technique, to selecting vegetables/meats/etc., to improvising basics a la Alton Brown is covered. The recipes cover a wide gamut, from vegetarian/vegan, to international cuisines across the globe, to the mainstay standards (with interesting variations to improve/change them). And EVERY single recipe I have made for someone else has garnered wonderful compliments, and has been the best I have made to date.
Kindle version of How to Cook Everything, Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food. Plus some toys for your cats.
Since I finally finished all the 101 essential recipes in the back of How to Cook Everything, I cracked open my Cook's Illustrated cookbook the other day (I received both as Christmas gifts waaaaay back in 2011, btw...). I'm loving all the little tips and tricks scattered about the book, like for example, apparently avocados ripen more evenly in the refrigerator and ginger lasts longest unwrapped in the fridge, as opposed to wrapped in plastic in the fridge or stored on the counter—who knew?
Radical suggestion: no bad snack foods. They don't sate you and are typically more expensive per-pound than something home-cooked. Replace with things like roasted potatoes, hummus and veggies, fruit, or a portion of a real meal. Plus, you'll get to work on your cooking! Opening a bag or a box does nothing for cooking skills.
Use meat as a condiment instead of a foundation of a meal, like an exception instead of a norm. Use rice and beans to bulk up the rest. Stir fry is a great way to add veggies, rice, and beans while reducing/removing meat. Try going vegetarian once a week; you'll be surprised with what solutions you come up with! Then up the frequency.
I typically have meat once a day, if at all. Plain oatmeal for breakfast. Rice, beans, veg, onion, garlic, and whatever meat (if any) I prepped for lunch this week. Eggs, potatoes, fish, fruit, veg, protein shakes, spaghetti, and peanut butter for the evening.
Full disclosure: I keep my grocery budget under $110 per month for myself shopping almost exclusively at Aldi and Giant Eagle for anything else (fresh ginger, tofu, frozen veggies typically). This does not include alcohol ($60 budgeted per month for bars, state stores, and wine shows; not always social) and restaurants ($50 budgeted per month, once or twice a week; always social).
How is your comfort in the kitchen? $5000 saved * 2 (current expenses) / 12 months = ~$833 per month. I hope you're feeding a family. In that case, implementing vegetarianism will be slower and harder but not impossible.
Links to explore:
To be blunt, if boiling is how they usually prepare meat, it may be too late.
Try this book as a present.
I currently work 2 jobs and have my fingers in a lot of pies.
That being said, I still find the time to cook. Not as much as I like, but I do so quite regularly.
Aside from reading cook books, watching Good Eats, and America's Test Kitchen, I got the most experience from practice.
I also visit these subreddits.
http://www.reddit.com/r/cooking
http://www.reddit.com/r/askculinary
Book wise, I have quite a few books on both technique and the food itself.
A few of my favorites are:
On Food and Cooking by McGee - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684800012
Cooking for Geeks by Potter - http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Geeks-Science-Great-Hacks/dp/0596805888/
How to Cook Everything by Bittman - http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0764578650
and a multitude of others.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bitmann.
This book is like a textbook. It is split up into different food parts, and at the beginning of each of those parts is an introduction to the foods. At the beginning of the book it goes over different cooking techniques. At the end of the book there are menus that work well together. Also, every recipe has like 3 recipes that go with it, with little things you can change. This is literally like a cooking 101 book.
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266279932&sr=8-1
Bittman says you can sub up to 20% dark rye for wheat flour without problems related to a lack of gluten. His How to Cook Everything is a great reference for questions like yours. From a flavor viewpoint, I would use orange zest as an element with rye pancakes, probably in lieu of the raisins or chocolate just so you don't get too many things going on at once.
I am in the same position you are in. Love cooking, no formal training, but love the science, theory and art behind it all. I have a few books that I find to be indispensable.
And mentioned in other threads, Cooking for Geeks is a great book too, On Food and Cooking is WONDERFUL and What Einstein Told His Chef is a great read as well. Modernist Cuisine is REALLY cool but makes me cry when I see the price.
If you're going to cook, you'll need some basic tools. A saute pan, a large saucepan and a smaller saucepan should be good to start, along with a mixing bowl or two, a sheet pan, a casserole dish, a washable (plastic) cutting board, a couple of wooden spoons and some tongs. You'll need a couple of knives too - an 8" chefs knife and a smaller paring knife will take care of just about every job in the kitchen. Crazy gadgets aren't necessary for a beginner (and the more experienced you get the more you'll find they probably aren't necessary at all). Most everything you need can be procured at thrift stores or tag sales if you're on a tight budget. Stay away from older Teflon non-stick pans; if you feel more comfortable with non-stick over stainless, try to get anodized instead. To prevent accidents, keep your knives sharp.
Memorize or print this out: Safe Minimum Temperatures
Definitely always have salt, pepper and olive oil on hand. You probably don't need one of those all-in-one spice racks with every herb known to man in it; you'd be surprised how little of them you end up using. Fresh herbs are nearly always better, anyway. The main dried ingredients I keep on hand now are cumin, red pepper flakes, (about 6 varieties of) chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder.
Grab a couple of cookbooks (How To Cook Anything and The Joy of Cooking are awesome and include lots of different types of cuisine) and just try something you like. Start with recipes that don't have a lot of ingredients or steps. Start with recipes you know you like. If you don't understand what they mean when they tell you to do something, Youtube is definitely your friend.
Taste often. Don't feel like you have to stick to the book 100%. If something needs more pepper, a dash of hot sauce, a pat of butter, put it in. You are the one who has to eat it, so make it yours. Remember, you can always add more of something, but it's pretty tough to add less. Don't feel bad if it doesn't come out perfectly the first time, or the second. It seems daunting at first, but if you keep at it, it gets much easier.
Edited to add: http://www.reddit.com/r/cookingforbeginners
I can tell you about the preheat thing anyway.
1: food safety. Ovens take time to heat, so your food will be sitting in the danger zone a long time if you put it in when you first start the oven.
2: If your food is heating up as the oven heats up, by the time the oven is to temperature and browning the outside of your food, the food is well and truly overcooked. Food usually needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of somewhere between 140 and 180 Fahrenheit. Now if 150 is your target temp, imagine what your food will be like if it's 350!
As for a go-to book for learning everything about cooking, here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
The first... 20 or so pages answer all your basic cooking questions, then you have like 900 pages of in-depth, detailed recipes, explaining the techniques, variations, and expectations of, well, everything.
To be totally honest though, I just google my questions as they come up at this point.
Try this for heathy cooking and his other book for more traditional dishes. Both are amazing.
Here's a really easy recipe that I've been making this semester with ingredients you can get all at Costco that's pretty versatile. I call it "clusterfuck rice":
Ingredients
Directions
Macros:
This lasts me about 4 meals usually, but I'm a weightlifter and eat a ton, so if you're splitting food with roommates, this should feed the whole apartment for dinner and whoever wants to take leftovers for lunch.
You want Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It won't turn you into a French Chef in a week, but you'll be learning how to cook, quarter your own whole chicken, make proper stock, sauces and staples, and do anything else that needs doing in your initial forays into cooking.
The old one has over 350 reviews, and it's a five star cookbook, but it's the 10th anniversary newest edition that you want to buy.
You poor thing. I laughed so hard reading this. Bless him for trying.
Tell him tastes are subjective. Tell him that something he can eat and love... Might not be a hit with everyone.
Then, buy this book for him. Tell him you want to encourage him learning to cook new and different things. Tell him it was recommended by a chef.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
I applaud your giving his terrible cooking a chance. You are very sweet and must really care about him. Help him learn to cook, subtly. And watch Good Eats with him. He will learn a lot, and stop sucking at cooking to boot.
I love the Jerk Seasoning blend from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. In the book he recommends adding fresh garlic and ginger prior to use, but I don't have time for that shit so I just use the supermarket powdered versions. I triple his recipe and make it about once every three weeks.
Cooking with it: put 1-2 tablespoons per pound of bite-sized chicken in a plastic bag, shake, and let marinate for 3 to 24 hours. Pan fry with butter, then deglaze with chicken stock, or wine, or whatever, add more butter, and BAM. You have amazing jerk chicken with an amazing sauce. Or toss it in rice. Or toss it on veggies (great with broccoli). Or eat it plain. Whatever!
This makes about 1 & 1/3 cups of seasoning, keep it in a mason jar or a zip lock bag. Lasts for weeks and is suuuuper easy to cook with.
How to Cook Everything, which is the best reference cookbook in the world, IMO
Amost Vegetarian, in which I find a ton of practical and useful recipes
Le Cordon Bleu At Home. If you follow all the recipes in order from beginning to end, you'll be a very knowledgeable home chef at the end of it. Some of them are very time consuming and quite difficult, but I found the lessons indispensable.
How to Cook Everything and made the best French Toast I have ever had.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is a great cookbook.
It's sorted by ingredient in addition to dish type, so you can seek out recipes using whatever meats/vegetables/etc are cheap for you. As well, the book lays out "base" recipes and then provides options for customization.
I also agree with the idea of going to the library or bookshops to browse before you buy. But for many years, my absolute go to cookbook has been Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. If I could only have one cookbook, this would be it. I like simple approaches to cooking, and Mark writes in a way that makes even the most daunting recipes approachable. For the same reason, I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. They're written in the same way. If you ever get a chance to watch his early BBC series the Naked Chef it's wonderful. Technnology abounds however, and I find myself going more and more often to the wonderful and free New York Times Cooking app on my iPhone. Good Luck!
I see some good advice people have already given you.
Here's mine:
Buzzfeed's food section - lots of good advice and recipes there, amazing walkthroughs and tutorials, too, for all levels
Epicurious's Quick and Easy Section
Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals Jamie Oliver has a book and series out, showing you how to make an entire meal in 30 minutes. Sure, I think it might take you about an hour instead of 30 minutes, if you're new to cooking, but this series is geared towards simplicity and speed, while not making any compromises when it comes to cooking. The food IS delicious indeed. It's also full of great food hacks, useful even for advanced cooks. Get the book, I recommend it. (He also has another one, Jamie's 15 minute meals, with even simpler ones)
Nigel Slater's Real Food and/or Appetite Two great books which show you how to cook simple, basic things at home, with a great twist. Bonus points: The guy is an amazing writer.
Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything This one is a classic. Get it.
Mark Bittman also has a famous series on youtube for the NYT here Check it out
Pot
Frying Pan
Strainer
Baking Dish
Can Opener
Wooden Spoon
Mixing Spoon
Microwave
Turner
Cutting Board
Chef's Knife
Paring Knife
*Measuring Spoons/Measuring Cups
I also highly recommend How to Cook Everything. It is a great resource and actually discusses this exact topic. He gives basic and advanced cooking instruction and tips. Great book.
You need to pick up a copy of How to Cook Everything. It has loads of practical advice and techniques in a user-friendly format.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is a good start along with The Joy of Cooking
>The next best thing to having Mark Bittman in the kitchen with you
Mark Bittman's highly acclaimed, bestselling book How to Cook Everything is an indispensable guide for any modern cook. With How to Cook Everything The Basics he reveals how truly easy it is to learn fundamental techniques and recipes. From dicing vegetables and roasting meat, to cooking building-block meals that include salads, soups, poultry, meats, fish, sides, and desserts, Bittman explains what every home cook, particularly novices, should know.
1,000 beautiful and instructive photographs throughout the book reveal key preparation details that make every dish inviting and accessible. With clear and straightforward directions, Bittman's practical tips and variation ideas, and visual cues that accompany each of the 185 recipes, cooking with How to Cook Everything The Basics is like having Bittman in the kitchen with you.
This is the essential teaching cookbook, with 1,000 photos illustrating every technique and recipe; the result is a comprehensive reference that’s both visually stunning and utterly practical.
Special Basics features scattered throughout simplify broad subjects with sections like “Think of Vegetables in Groups,” “How to Cook Any Grain,” and “5 Rules for Buying and Storing Seafood.”
600 demonstration photos each build on a step from the recipe to teach a core lesson, like “Cracking an Egg,” “Using Pasta Water,” “Recognizing Doneness,” and “Crimping the Pie Shut.”
Detailed notes appear in blue type near selected images. Here Mark highlights what to look for during a particular step and offers handy advice and other helpful asides.
Tips and variations let cooks hone their skills and be creative.
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411914327&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+cook+everything
It has been asked before, so do poke around a bit. But as always I'll recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything as the best place to start. IMO he does a better job covering some of the really basic stuff like how to shop, easiest way to prepare x food, variants on x food, charts for flavors/combinations, etc. Really it's a great primer on HOW to cook and afterwards it's a handy reference.
I think Food Lab/Serious Eats is a better second cookbook because it's a bit less concerned with teaching the basics of a particular food, but a bit better at providing recipes that don't need tweaking. Bittman recipes are super simple but he really pushes you to adapt it to your taste, which in the end makes you a better cook. Food Lab is really into the science/method which is great, but IMO more complex than you need at the very beginning. The perfect burger, Kenji all day long, but WTF to do with that butcher cut you bought on sale, I prefer Bittman.
For a third cookbook, the Flavor Bible is also great.
Meh. His cooking style is very "American" in a way that I don't always like. It's very meat and potatoes and bland palate. I'm a fan of Mark Bittman and his How to Cook Everything. He teaches the essence of many different cooking styles distilled down to recipes that can be cooked at home.
This:
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
Any Bittman really. Any time I find myself staring at an ingredient, having no idea what to do (eggplant, turnips, even chicken) he gives a great, simple starter recipe. Get creative from there.
Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen is a fantastic second step. Once you are like "okay, I got down roasted veggies," ATK will class it up for you, with some really great explanations of why they chose to do the recipe they did.
bacon is a good start! this book (and youtube!) taught me how to cook: http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
Or How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
It's the most comprehensive book I can think of for anyone just starting out. It's certainly not the most compelling read, but I still go to it for referencing certain techniques I've never tried before. It's should be a cornerstone to the rookie cook's library.
This book is a great primer.
Bittman is the man when it comes to simplicity. When you're ready, go pick up a copy of How to Cook Everything
And here's his
Roast chicken recipe. I like the version where you roast veggies (carrot, potato, celery, maybe some parsnip) in a 450 ° oven for 15 minutes, then toss chicken parts on top, do 15 minutes more, then baste w/ juices, then 15 minutes more. 10 minutes of chopping and prep and 45 minutes of cooking time = dynamite chicken
When I moved off-campus back in college, Mom gave me a copy of The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. Covers a lot of basic cooking information; has some decent recipes.
I personally think this is better though.
If you're really on a budget, your local library may have these and more. Allrecipes is a good resource as well.
My fellow Americans and trading partners, I've been cooking for myself for several years. On a tip from the internet (reddit, possibly) I bought a used copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. In the interest of full disclosure I am in no way affiliated with Mark B. although I did like the interview he did on NPR where they asked him about the book then quizzed him on Batman trivia. Solid source for basic cooking. I recommend taking an American staple like pie or fresh steak, then try new things, going from simple to complex. Make mistakes then improvise on what you learn. Latest project: buttered lobster curry over boiled potatoes with pepper. Get at me.
Video series or anything? I really learned a ton reading The Professional Chef, which is a textbook in a lot of culinary schools I hear. I have the eTextbook version that has a lot of video links and interactivity.
If you're into the science behind cooking I'd also really recommend The Food Lab, I have the hard back version and it's also just a beautiful book.
I also have Cooking and Sauces by Peterson, also textbook quality books.
And of course, the ever popular Better Homes & Gardens Ring-Bound Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and The Joy of Cooking are staples on my bookshelf as well. Great for reference or a quick look to find a particular recipe just to see how others do it.
I also browse a lot of websites and watch a lot on YouTube. I'll save recipes I find online using the Evernote Web Clipper and tag them so I can find them easily in the future. This works great because I can pull them up on my iPad while I'm cooking.
When a recipe calls for a method, tool, or ingredient I'm not very familiar with I'll usually just search it on YouTube and get some ideas about how to use it. That's worked really well for me so far.
How to cook everything, and Ratio are great first cookbooks, covers equipment, theory, and basic recipes.
Alton Brown's old show Good Eats is decent too if you can handle the grainy video quality of the feeds out there.
Personal bias, but I would pick a good cooking technique or cookbook. For example Complete Techniques is a very good technique book if you don't have it. Otherwise Joy of Cooking or How to Cook Everything are both good cookbooks to have.
The recipe is from How to Cook Everything. It makes about one cup of sauce:
Put three egg yolks, two tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt in a
small saucepan over very low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until
light, foamy and slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. (If at any point
the yolks begin to curdle, immediately remove from the heat and
continue to whisk for a minute before returning the pan to the stove).
Remove from the heat and stir in 6 tablespoons of not too cold butter, one tablespoon at a time. Return to the heat and continue to whisk until the sauce is thick and bright yellow. Whisk in lemon juice to taste. Some like to add a bit of cayenne too.
Egg begins to curdle around 70°C / 160°F, so you must stay below this temperature — just slightly too hot to touch. This presents a potential problem: salmonella bacteria can survive a while at 70°C. If you don't want to risk it, On Food and Cooking claims that you can increase the curdling temperature to up to 90°C / 195°F by adding the acid (lemon) before heating. I haven't tried this.
Or, just get salmonella-free eggs.
The sauce isn't technically paleo because it contains dairy, but I think most of you are OK with butter.
Mark Bittman wrote some great basic cookbooks with good recipes. But also youtube, cooking channel and watch how they do things. If you follow a recipe in detail, things will usually work out!
https://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MDHHKXHAQWFZT21RQRTS
You may want to try http://foodgawker.com/ or http://www.tastespotting.com/ to get some ideas.
I really like http://www.cookingforengineers.com/ too. It's like the scientific method applied to cooking. :)
A good all purpose cookbook is America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It's relatively cheap, and it has a little bit of everything. There is a lot of information about technique and ingredients, as well as what a well-stocked kitchen should have. Many people recommend How to Cook Everything, but I have never used it, so I can't give an informed opinion.
I have the vegetarian version of this book
and it is absolutely wonderful. It doesn't have a lot of pictures, but many of the recipes are simple and it does a very thorough job of explaining... well... everything about cooking such as what to look for in a knife, how to store vegetables, what to keep in your pantry, how to fold an omelette, etc. It is massive and a bit difficult to work with (since things get a bit messy in the kitchen), but I highly recommend it as a place to start. I also think it is a book that grows with you as your skill grows because while the basic recipes are simple, he also has quite a few variations on things that are more complex.
My husband and I used to eat out a lot too and are just starting to dabble in cooking. It's a fun thing for us to do together.
Not an off gridder, but I've found this cookbook to be very comprehensive and I've been happy with everything I've made from it.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650
My pleasure! Photography is expensive, but cooking is a hobby that's easy to get into in measures. I would recommend How to Cook Everything by Bittman as an excellent, excellent first (or even only) book. Check it out next time you're in a bookstore with a decent cooking section - FYI, the newer red cover is updated and (generally) better than the older yellow cover. It's the sort of book you can spend a little time on a Saturday perusing, make a trip to the grocery store, come home, and try something new. And then leave on your shelf for a few more weeks. But if you keep doing that long enough, you'll get pretty decent at cooking. =)
This book is awesome! How to Cook Everything or anything by Mark Bittman.
If you're just starting to cook, I would recommend just getting a good cookbook, and hold the kosher cookbook until later. I would start with How to Cook Everything and/or How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. They are both by Mark Bittman, and are incredible - they have tons of recipes with tons of variations. If you're looking for a good "Jewish Food" cookbook, I would recommend Joan Nathan The Jewish Holiday Kitchen. She has a new cookbook, Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: Jewish Cooking in France that's great - I've already used it a lot and I only got it in August! Also Leah Koenig's new Hadassah Cookbook is getting wonderful reviews - I haven't picked mine up yet. I don't much care for the Suzie Fishbein Kosher by Design cookbook series. I find her recipes gimmicky and weird. Here's a good online recipe resource.
Here are the 2 books I cut my teeth on learning how to cook:
The best one for a new cook, cooking for a family would be "Cheap Fast Good" it gives you: Quick meals, healthy meals, bulk cooking (cook the basics like chicken, beef, etc now, freeze in meal portions, and defrost for use in recipes later), grocery shopping tips (if you have to start doing that), and lots of other cool stuff. I really can't more highly recommend another book for a brand new cook who wants simple family friendly but still healthy meals
http://www.amazon.com/Cheap-Fast-Good-Beverly-Mills/dp/0761131760/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370293256&sr=1-1&keywords=cheap+fast+food
Once you've got the basics down and you want to start impressing guests and even yourself try getting Mark BIttman's "How to Cook Everything". This is my food bible. I go to it a couple times a week for stuff. It is worth the price http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370293332&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+cook+everything
You want this.
Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything.
There are better specialty books for specific cuisines and techniques, but I have yet to read anything better than this as a general introductory work on the process of cooking.
Another great cookbook is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and all its variations.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0764578650/
Are you looking for the book?
I'm guessing the info you're seeking is in this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0764578650
EDIT: He's got another one called Kitchen Express that actually sounds more like what you might be looking for.
EDIT2: Formatting.
How to Cook Everything (And How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) are two great staple cookbooks. They're more guidelines than actual recipies for a lot of things, but tell you a lot about each ingredient and how to use them well.
Another good book is How to Cook Everything
Covers the basic kitchen utensils you need and walks you through every basic technique.
This it?
It was the first time making a pan sauce for me. I used a recipe from this book, which actually shows the "basic pan sauce" on page 46. I used extra onion since we had a small one from the garden. I was pretty happy with the end result.
YTA. When someone says no, don't make them have to say no again. You are a grown ass man, it's time to learn how to cook and this book can possibly help you. People don't just know how to be good at cooking, it takes practicing so get to practicing.
Also youtube. Youtube has many many how to cook tutorials.
For actual recipes: How to Cook Everything
For a good education on basics: Ruhlman's Twenty
Those should see you off to a good start.
You said this is post-college food, so definitely try starting with How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. It has tons of instructions, from how to properly prepare different kinds of meats to plenty of meals and the differences between esoteric things like the different ways to make coffee. It also has pictures! +1 to a good chef's knife as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290839448&sr=1-1
How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is my favorite reference for this kind of thing.
I tried out Mark Bittman's flaky pie crust recipe, which can be found in his book, "How to Cook Everything" (which should be your kitchen bible, by the way)...or here. I've made a couple pie crusts before, but this recipe was the easiest to follow.
I didn't follow a recipe for the filling, but it was basically just a bag of cherries (pitted and broken up into pieces), a tablespoon of cornstarch, a dash of cinnamon, a couple tablespoons of sugar, and topped with some buttah!
Similarly lazy cook here, I highly recommend Bittman's How To Cook Everything. It's not just a list of recipes but rather just how to cook stuff. It's the only cookbook I find myself flipping through for ideas and it actually encourages experimentation/improvisation, which is good for me since I'm pathologically opposed to measuring anything.
How to cook everything by Mark Bittman is a great resource. It discusses basic techniques in plain language and even gives examples on how to improvise and expand upon the recipes in the book. And there is a bit of everything in this book. Pasta, breads, cakes, sauces, roasts, pies, soups, everything.
BTW had to edit and add the beer bread recipe in the book is amazing. A little odd but amazing.
How To Cook Everything is a solid option, gives you the techniques, tools, how to spice, etc and a bunch of solid recipes.
https://smile.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Recipes-Anniversary/dp/0764578650?sa-no-redirect=1
Hey, that's awesome! If you're starting out and want to learn technique and stuff, I can't not recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything enough. There is also a basics version for people in a more beginner level that literally starts with how to boil water and advances up to more complex entrees.
Tips I find help me out:
I'll recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Michael Ruhlman's Ruhlman's Twenty and Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For the Food. Plain English instructions for very simple recipes requiring few ingredients.
Invest in a good cookbook, like How To Cook Everything. This cook has an incredible amount of recipes but most are just basic directions on how you cook any particular dish. Lots of focus on the proper process combined with suggestions on how to use what you have to influence the flavor of the dish.
An added bonus of this book is suggestions on how to cheaply stock your kitchen with a few ingredients that can be prepared into very diverse dishes.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
It sounds like you need a good cookbook. Books are great because usually they don't just contain recipes, but will have information about techniques, explanations and substitutions for ingredients, even general ideas on how to approach cooking.
I started learning to cook using Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It's not perfect but it's a good place to start and has a lot of explanatory information in addition to recipes.
Other suggestions:
Cook here. If you're interested in getting better at cooking in general, the best thing you can do is buy a beginner's cookbook that lays out proper technique for the average joe, and follow the recipes. My personal favorite remains Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, as it is very no-nonsense, economical, accessible to even the most inexperienced cook, and explains every cooking technique necessary to make each recipe. Really couldn't recommend it more. It's how I got started.
As for chicken, I posted this recipe elsewhere in the thread, maybe give it a try.
I personally have not used this cookbook, but I had a friend once that loved it. May be worth a look for your husband - the description (as well as several reviews) state that it does a great job at explaining things in detail
There is also this book by the same author that is apparently more basic and focused on learning proper cooking techniques.
If you are willing to make a bit of an investment, you can't beat The Flavor Bible.
My other favorite book for cooking is How to Cook Everything.
Between those two books I can pretty much figure out how to make any meal I want in any style that sounds good to me.
You want How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
This is a great cookbook for beginners.
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0764578650/
This is an absolute must-have cook book for anyone.
Ha! Yeah, I've got the Mark Bittman book, and I use recipes from Serious Eats for virtually everything.
A Thermapen has stepped up my grill game immensely. $100 seems like a lot but I've easily spent that on cheaper thermometers that ultimately weren't very reliable. It's probably overkill for the novice griller but if you ever want to have your in-laws over for steaks or something, you know you gotta be on point.
How To Cook Everything is the book I refer to most. The grilling tips mostly refer to charcoal grilling, but you'll get the gist (medium heat, high heat, etc). Plus, it has a super handy meat doneness chart inside the back cover that shows both USDA recommended temperatures and the If-You-Want-Your-Food-To-Taste-Good temperatures. As for recipes on the web, I generally trust anything by Alton Brown.
If you want to learn how to cook, try How to Cook Everything - and don't get the e-book version.
There's over a thousand recipes, but they're all pretty simple and he kind of lets you know that you can modify as you need. I think it really gives you the basics on how to cook so you can learn to modify what you've got into a decent meal.
If you're just looking for simple recipes, really, just Google + the word "quick" or "easy" will give you something.
I also second The Joy of Cooking, and would like to add the following to your list:
Having the book How To Cook Everything handy in the kitchen has helped me improve my cooking by leaps and bounds. There's a vegetarian version too.
I like having the Internet available, but handling a smartphone or laptop while I'm cooking is risky.
make pastor tacos, it easy as hell and extremely tasty. Artichokes are also very easy. Roasted cauliflower is easy and tasty. My favorite cook book is mark bitmins 'how to cook everything'. It is great for people starting to cook, every recipe has lot of details and even substations for stuff, he talk about tastes and more.
heres a link: http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Everything-Completely-Revised-Anniversary/dp/0764578650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320011362&sr=1-1
I'm glad to hear you enjoy adobo! The first time I ever made it was also the first time my boyfriend ever tried adobo. Luckily, everything went better than expected - the adobo turned out great, and it is now one of his favorite foods.
Chicken Adobo
From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
Makes: 4 servings
Time: About 1 ¼ hours
This Philippine classic has been called the best chicken dish in the world by a number of my friends and readers. It is cooked in liquid first, then roasted, grilled, or broiled. Here, however, the initial poaching liquid is reduced to make a sauce to pass at the table for both the chicken and white rice, the natural accompaniment.
The coconut milk isn’t mandatory, though it does enrich the sauce considerably.
Other protein you can use: pork chops (bone-in or boneless).
Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, pepper, 1 cup water, and half the coconut milk, if you’re using it, in a covered skillet or saucepan large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the chicken; reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, covered, turning once or twice, until the chicken is almost done, about 20 minutes. (At this point, you may refrigerate the chicken in the liquid for up to a day before proceeding; skim the fat before reheating.)
Heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit or heat a charcoal or gas grill or the broiler to moderate heat and put the rack about 4 inches from the heat source. Remove the chicken pieces from the liquid and dry them gently with paper towels. Boil the sauce, along with the remaining coconut milk if you’re using it, over high-heat until it is reduced to about 1 cup; discard the bay leaves and keep the sauce warm. Meanwhile, grill, broil, or roast the chicken until brown and crisp and hot, turning as necessary, 10 to 15 minutes total (roasting will take a little longer). Serve the chicken with the sauce.
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I have never used coconut milk when making adobo. My Mom and Grandparents never used it, so I just went along with that school of thought. It sounds like it would be an interesting addition though! I have used bone-in and boneless chicken, as well as bone-in and boneless pork for this recipe and have never been unhappy with the results.
I have followed this recipe step by step, including finishing it on the grill, and it turned out great. However, when my Mom or Grandparents made adobo, they would just keep the protein simmering in the liquid and I enjoy it that way too. I have also used this recipe as a reference for proportions, browned the protein, and put everything in a crock pot on low for a few hours. Depending on what types of flavors you like, you can also add onions, peppercorns, whole garlic cloves, extra bay leaves…I’m just naming things that I would find in my adobo when I was growing up. Haha.
Good for you!
A few cook books I would recommend are compendium types. They are not good for keto, but they have recipes for everything, so if you don't have experience, you can find lots of possibilities.
The Joy of Cooking
How to Cook Everything
The Good Eats Compendiums 1, 2, & 3.
And we use Cooks Illustrated magazine more than anything.