general

For years, I thought that 'real cooking' was for people with unlimited time. Having spent my adult life as a working mother, AND a non-creative 'eater', my cooking has long been limited to basic, efficient, but not very inspiring meals. When I decided that I wanted to become a better cook, I checked out Amazon and found this book. I wish (as does my family!) that I'd found it years ago. From scratch? with fresh foods? Make my own soups? Mark Bittman made me a believer with his down-to-earth, clear writing, unpretentious style, and chrystal-clear instructions.

Don't like some of the ingredients in an interesting recipe? He offers 5, 7 or even 15 variations in near-by list! Bake my own bread? I've been doing it now for 3 weeks and I am hooked at the ease of making low-cost, delicious sour dough bread. Pizza dough. Broiled chicken pesto. French Onion Soup. Making great stuff out of things I'd throw away (shrimp stock with 30 seconds of work and 20 minutes to simmer turns into a fabulous pasta sauce a week later. -- my great-cook brother was amazed and chagrined to learn this trick from his 'can't-cook' sister!)

I could go on and on. I'm buying 3 more for Christmas gifts for each of my kids. What more can one say??

This book has become the first source I look to when I need to look up a basic recipe. If you already have a source like this (Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker) this book may not be a valuable addition for you. I have my own recipes for some favorites I make often, such as crepes, but I hardly ever make potato salad, for example, and it's nice to have a source for just about any standard American fare you can think of.

To its detractors - if you view the title as some sort of challenge to try and find something not included... well did you REALLY think it would have "everything" when you bought it? It's just a catchy title, lighten up. Yes, it's slanted toward the American kitchen, with the exception of a heavy nod toward the Italian. I'd suggest a Vietnamese cookbook if you're looking to prepare authentic Vietnasmese food. Especially amusing was the reviewer who lamented the lack of recipes for chicken's feet. Again, did you REALLY think you'd find this in a general cookbook? There really isn't any lack of sources for anything you'd want to cook, through the Internet or the huge number of cookbooks published each year. Judge this book on what it has, not what's "missing". And, at nearly 1,000 pages, it has quite a lot.

I come from a restaurant family and am an avid collector of all types of cookbooks from vintage to Martha and I consistently grab Bittman's How to Cook Everything for how to "cut to the chase." His writing style is terrific for: explanations, definitions, useful tips and information, technique and recipes that I can't find in my vast collection of cook books. I must have in anyone's cookbook library.