How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food [Paperback]

Mark Bittman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 20, 2006

Great Food Made Simple

Here's the breakthrough one-stop cooking reference for today's generation of cooks! Nationally known cooking authority Mark Bittman shows you how to prepare great food for all occasions using simple techniques, fresh ingredients, and basic kitchen equipment. Just as important, How to Cook Everything takes a relaxed, straightforward approach to cooking, so you can enjoy yourself in the kitchen and still achieve outstanding results.

Praise for How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman:

"In his introduction to How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman says, 'Anyone can cook, and most everyone should.' Now, hopefully everyone will -- this work is a rare achievement. Mark is in that pantheon of a few gifted cook/writers who make very, very good food simple and accessible. I read his recipes and my mouth waters. I read his directions and head for the kitchen. Bravo, Mark, for taking us away from take-out and back to the fun of food."
-- Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the international public radio show "The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper"

"Mark Bittman is the best home cook I know, and How to Cook Everything is the best basic cookbook I've seen."
-- Jean-Georges Vongerichten, award-winning chef/owner of Jean-Georges

"Useful to the novice cook or the professional chef, How to Cook Everything is a tour de force cookbook by Mark Bittman. Mark lends his considerable knowledge and clear, concise writing style to explanations of techniques and quick, classic recipes. This is a complete, reliable cookbook."
-- Jacques Pepin, chef, cookbook author, and host of his own PBS television series

"Sometimes all the things that a particular person does best come together in a burst of synergy, and the result is truly marvelous. This book is just such an instance. Mark Bittman is not only the best home cook we know, he is also a born teacher, a gifted writer, and a canny kitchen tactician who combines great taste with eminent practicality. Put it all together and you have How to Cook Everything, a cookbook that will inspire American home cooks not only today but for years to come."
-- John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, coauthors of License to Grill

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mark Bittman, award-winning author of such fundamental books as Fish and Leafy Greens and food columnist for the New York Times ("The Minimalist"), has turned in what has to be the weightiest tome of the year. There are more than 900 pages in this sucker--over 1,500 recipes! This isn't just the big top of cookbooks: it's the entire three-ring circus. This isn't just how to cook everything: it's how to cook everything you have ever wanted to have in your mouth. And then some.

Bittman starts with Roasted Buttered Nuts and Real Buttered Popcorn, and moves right along, section by section, from the likes of Black Bean Soup (eight different ways), to Beet and Fennel Salad, to Mussels (Portuguese-style over Pasta), to Cream Scones--and he hasn't even reached seafood, poultry, meat, or vegetables yet, let alone desserts. There are 23 sections in this cookbook (!) that reflect directly on the how-to of cooking, be that equipment, technique, or recipe.

Every inch of the way the reader finds Bittman's calm, helpful, encouraging voice. "Anyone can cook," he says at the beginning, "and most everyone should." More than a few college kids are going to head off to their first apartments with Bittman's book under arm. More than a few marriages will benefit with this book on the shelf. And anyone who loves cooking and the sound of a great food voice is going to enjoy letting this book fall open where it may. No matter what the page, it's bound to be a tasty and rewarding experience. --Schuyler Ingle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

There's a millennial ring to the title of Bittman's massive opus of more than 1000 basic recipes and variations as the widely known food writer ("The Minimalist" is a weekly column in the New York Times) and author (Fish) contributes to the list of recently published authoritative, encyclopedic cookbooks. He concedes that most accomplished cooks will find little new here, and indeed the recipes can be as simple as how to pop corn. His voice is a comfortable one, however, so the tone is less tutorial than, say, that of the newly revised Joy of Cooking. While much of the ground covered is familiar, Bittman offers inventive fare (Kale Soup with Soy and Lime) and reclaims formerly abandoned territory?his Creamy Vinaigrette calls for heavy cream. Pastas range from Spaghetti and Meatballs to Pad Thai. Similarly, sandwiches include both old favorites and fresh combinations, e.g., Curried Pork Tenderloin Sandwich with Chutney and Arugula. Bittman's friends, he says, praise his Chicken Adobo as the best chicken dish in the world. He doesn't linger too long with beef because Americans are eating less of it; he remarks that a well-done hamburger is not worth eating. Vegetables are comprehensively addressed from Artichokes to Yuca, with attention paid to buying, storing and cooking methods well suited to each. Desserts are mostly homey, like Apple Brown Betty and Peaches with Fresh Blueberry Sauce, but there is also a Death-by-Chocolate Torte. The enormous breadth of recipes, the unusually modest price and Bittman's engaging, straightforward prose will appeal to many cooks looking for reliable help with?or reference to?kitchen fundamentals. Illustrations not seen by PW. 250,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo; simultaneous CD-ROM; 15-city author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Reprint edition (March 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471789186
• ISBN-13: 978-0471789185
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 1.8 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (433 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Culinary Arts & Techniques

More 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

297 of 300 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful and fun December 3, 1999

By Timothy Himes

Format:Hardcover

"How to Cook Everything" is one of the more useful cookbooks I've owned. Each type of food has a "Basics" section that includes lots of preparation tips. The recipes themselves are detailed enough for beginners, and not so esoteric that you have to make a trip to a specialty grocery store every time you want to cook something. Especially helpful are the suggestions for expanding on each dish. For example, after the basic Chicken Kebab recipe, there are four modifications, including Chicken Kebabs in Yogurt-Cumin Sauce.

I'm relearning the way I prepare even the most basic things, like sandwiches and scrambled eggs. Who would have thought scrambled eggs could be so good? And the Pan-Grilled steak has weaned me from the backyard grill forever. No other cookbook would warn you that "clouds of smoke will instantly appear; do not turn down the heat." That bit of fear that your fire alarm will go off at any second just adds spice to the whole cooking experience.

The breadth of this book is amazing. Besides having nearly every type of Western cooking you can imagine, it also has recipes from Japan, India, Thailand, and... you get the idea.

There is one drawback -- this book has no photos, just a few hand-drawn illustrations. However, the book is so big that if it did have photos, it would cost much more.

281 of 294 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag for clued - in chefs February 14, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I had a tough time deciding on a simple "star" rating for Mark Bittman's giant yellow cookbook. On the one hand, I haven't been consistently impressed with every single recipe I've tried. I've certainly had better luck with Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook or even with Joy of Cooking when I really want something to knock my socks off. The recipes alone get three or three and a half stars. All are good, few are spectacular.

On the other hand, some of the recipes really are quite excellent, and even though I'm a more experienced cook than many twenty-going-on-thirty-somethings, I find that the depth of reference information in How to Cook Everything is really outstanding. There are pages and pages on such topics as whether or not to presoak beans, how to shop for fish, and at least one nice basic way to prepare just about every vegetable under the sun. For depth of background and reference, Bittman deserves five stars.

All in all, I would actually say this is a good addition to most kitchens, even for those with more experience than those at which the book is obviously aimed, and if you comb through all the recipes carefully you'll probably find plenty that is worth cooking.

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Kitchen Essential! November 21, 2000

By Melissa A. Case VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful all-around cookbook, much easier to follow than the "Joy of Cooking". Cooking has always been my passion, but my creations were always fairly complex, adventurous dishes ... I never really learned how to make simple, every day meals. This book really helped me out with that! This would be a perfect gift for someone who has recently moved out on their own or for the single guy who needs a break from frozen pizzas! Even if most of the book were useless (which it is not), it would be a worthwhile purchase simply for the section entitled "28 Meals You Can Prepare in the Time it Takes to Boil Pasta" ... the recipes in this section are all simple, require usually less than 5 ingredients and can be prepared in just a few minutes. There are wonderfully detailed explanations in the books about simple, time-saving cooking techniques, as well as the reasons why certain things are prepared the way they are, so that the cook will have a better understanding of what they are doing. I would recommend this cookbook to everyone!