The New Essentials Cookbook
A Modern Guide to Better Cooking
Cooking well is about more than just knife skills and finding a favorite lasagna recipe. It’s about knowing when to reach for a nonstick skillet and when not to, why you “reverse sear” thick chops, and what umami really is. The New Essentials Cookbook presents a new approach to building on your skills and gaining culinary mastery with a lineup of what we consider today’s essential dishes, from Shrimp Pad Thai, Olive Oil Potato Gratin, and One-Pot “Baked” Ziti to Bacon and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwiches, Lemoniest Lemon Bars, and Molten Mocha Microwave Mug Cakes, each paired with insightful, practical “Think Like a Chef” sidebars with tips and how-tos to help you tackle all kinds of recipes with confidence.
Some of the recipes you'll find inside:
Shakshuka
This Tunisian one-pan dish featuring eggs poached in a spiced tomato, onion, and pepper sauce is showing up more and more on brunch menus; it’s great as a savory breakfast or for when you’re looking to dress up some eggs for dinner. The beauty of this dish is that you poach the eggs right in the sauce for a fully integrated meal.
Butter-Basted Rib-Eye Steak
This cut is tender and juicy—it’s essentially a boneless piece of prime rib—so it works best with a simple preparation that lets its beefy flavor shine through. Butter basting involves continuously spooning hot fat over food as it cooks. Adding aromatics to the butter infuses the whole dish with subtle savory flavor. For a great crust on both sides, flip the steak throughout the cooking process.
Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler
Throughout much of America, cobblers are a fruit dessert with a biscuit topping. But in Texas Hill Country, it’s a wholly different dessert: Melt lots of butter in a baking dish, pour in a simple batter, and then scatter over the fruit. The fruit sinks during baking and forms juicy pockets underneath the craggy top. The versions we tried were thin and a little bland. By altering the basic recipe, our technique guarantees the easiest cobbler you’ll ever make.
Details
Recipes: 200
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 496
Item Number: CQ23
Item Weight: 3.80 pounds