How to Cook Everything: The Basics - by Mark Bittman (Hardcover)

About the Book

With "How to Cook Everything--The Basics," Bittman reveals how truly easy it is to learn fundamental techniques and recipes. From dicing vegetables and roasting meat to cooking building-block meals Bittman explains what every home cook, particularly novices, should know. Includes 171 recipes and more than 1,000 instructive photographs.

Book Synopsis

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, this essential cookbook for beginners reveals how truly easy it is to learn fundamental cooking 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, step-by-step instructions, 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 is 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.

From the Back Cover

"Cooking, at its heart, is simple and straightforward. Even if you've neverpicked up a pot or pan in your life, you can--and should!--enjoy some time in the kitchen every day."
--Mark Bittman

Hands-On Cooking

In "How to Cook Everything The Basics," Mark Bittman teaches fundamental cooking techniques and essential lessons through 185 building-block recipes and 1,000 beautiful, instructive photographs. With all the details you need to make delicious food from breakfast to dessert, this is an irresistible, invaluable guide for beginners, accomplished cooks, and everyone in between.

"Mark Bittman has removed the last obstacle to simply great home cooking by including a foolproof, visual, and photographic follow-along component to all the basics. The result is a virtual preface to his seminal How to Cook Everything series."
--Mario Batali, Chef, Author, and Restaurateur

"Before you can cook well, you need to learn the basics. Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything The Basics" will make you a better cook."
--Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner of Craft Restaurants

"Had Mark published this book earlier, I would not have had to go to culinary school. This is a comprehensive guide to making delicious food."
--David Chang, Chef/Owner of the Momofuku restaurants, coauthor of "Momofuku," and creator of Lucky Peach

About the Author

Mark Bittman is one of the country's best-known, most widely respected food writers. His "How to Cook Everything" books, with one million copies in print, are a mainstay of the modern kitchen. Bittman writes for the Opinion section of the "New York Times" on food policy and cooking and is a columnist for the "New York Times" magazine. He is regularly featured on the "Today Show" in How To Cook Everything Today cooking segments. For 13 years he wrote "The Minimalist" column and now a "Minimalist" cooking show is featured on the Cooking Channel. The "How to Cook Everything" series is highly respected: the first edition of the flagship book "How to Cook Everything" won both the IACP and James Beard Awards, and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" won the 2008 IACP award. He is also the author of "Food Matters," "Food Matters Cookbook," "Fish," and "Leafy Greens."