Freshman in the Kitchen: From Clueless Cook to Creative Chef Book

Ordinarily the reader should exercise a great degree of scepticism when faced with a book that describes itself with superlatives. How to cook everything? All you need? Yet, this time, such caution might be a tad unnecessary.
This is a book that could be one of those truly great first cookbooks for a younger person, perhaps someone off to college or someone moving out from the hotel of mother and father. Yet probably nobody except top chefs should feel a embarrassed by this book as you might think you know everything but…
Nothing is taken for granted. The author starts with a great overview about setting up your pantry (store cupboard) and your kitchen with the necessary (rather than "desirable" or "faddy") tools. It was pleasing to see the tool list split between the "absolute minimum" and "other handy tools" - a good thing if you are on a tight budget. A further extensive list of items for baking and roasting is made for those who want to try their hand at that - if you don't, don't buy the stuff. Simple, huh?
Everything is taken one step at a time whilst the text is informative and concise in nature. The reader is not patronised - you have to read the text carefully to get the most out of the book rather than just look at the pretty pictures, but is that such a hard thing to do? Even, 'speaking' as a more experienced cook, the text seems to be friendly, approachable and informative and certainly some ageing memory cells have become refreshed in the process. It is surprising how much we can forget, take for granted or perhaps never learned - especially if one has not received formal culinary training.
All of the various preparation and cooking techniques are explained in surprisingly few words and pictures, yet one does not feel cheated. You might think that terms such as mincing, slicing, boiling and sautéing are familiar, after all they appear as common words in recipes, but often they might not be as familiar as you think. Many of us think we know every term but sometimes there can be a subtle meaning we've never learned. With this book there's no misunderstanding. Not entirely sure what sautéing is? No problem. A few seconds research and your mind is refreshed. There is no need to feel ashamed - and if you have poor self-confidence and don't live alone then you can make a protective book cover out of brown paper and write on it "very advanced cooking recipes" or something similar!
The book is quite light on self-reinforcement that "you can do it!". This is not a bad thing as such faux encouragement can begin to grate after a time. The author set "in a nutshell" five key points which this reviewer feels encapsulate things perfectly: Anything you cook at home will be good, read the recipe before starting, it is okay to serve dishes warm or at room temp, trust your senses and be safe - but not insane - about cleanliness.
After the first few sessions 'back at school' you start to be let loose on cooking breakfast, the most important meal of the day it is said. Here you find the recipes begin to be mingled between words of advice and various mini tutorials. All the way through the book are brilliant, everyday colour photographs that just seem to grab the text and encourage you to read, read and read. It is not "visual pornography" in an aspirational way but just good, honest, clean in-your-face imagery. Don't understand? You need to get this book and see for yourself.
The real basic, staple foods are covered in great detail. Nothing is left to chance. For example making scrambled eggs has two full pages with lots of hints, tips and photographs (fried eggs also get two pages). The book goes beyond the do this and that, so loved by many other cookery books, and actually tells you why a particular methodology is important. This is great to see as there is a much greater likelihood that you will recall this in the future (and possibly have use for the same knowledge when making other recipes). Naturally, each recipe is easy to read and understand, has all the key information you should require and it even has an estimation of the time taken to make the dish. A book that understands how great and helpful such a small thing can be!
The recipes and knowledge just keep on flowing. After the breakfast chapter, everything else is filed within appetisers & snacks, salads, soups & stews, pasta & grains, vegetables & beans, meat, poultry, seafood, breads & desserts. There is even a mini tutorial about how to make your own menus, a separate broken out list of lessons within the book, such as "preparing seafood, trimming whole fish" and a very comprehensive index.
This is more than JUST a good recipe book. This is more than JUST another teach your self to cook book. As a combined unit it is a very comprehensive, great basic primer for the beginner, the adventurous cook and, dare we say it, even for the person who thinks they know everything but might just admit that they could always see 'how someone else does things….'
Would it be hyperbole to say that this could be THE first book you should buy if you don't have any other resources? Possibly… go to a bookstore, pick it up, look at it and see if you really do put it back. Can you?

How to Cook Everything - The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food, written by Mark Bittman and published by Wiley. ISBN 9780470528068, 496 pages. Typical price: GBP13. YYYYY.


// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //