Kitchen Survival Guide, Vol. 1 Book

When Lora Brody, cookbook author, chocolate maven, and mother, sent her sons off into the world, she (and they) realized that they didn't have a clue as to how to feed themselves or their guests, if, heaven forbid, they should have any. The Kitchen Survival Guide is for anyone — newly graduated, newly married, newly single — who is venturing into the kitchen for the first time. With her on-target brand of humor, Lora Brody builds kitchen confidence with more than 130 basic recipes necessary to get through life, as well as hundreds of helpful hints Mom forgot to share:

On cleaning an oven — "Manual cleaning oven, unfortunately, does not mean that a guy named Manuel will come and clean your oven."

What's the difference between dicing and chopping, zest and pith, or au gratin and au lait?

Survival recipes include tuna fish salad, homemade chicken soup, brownies, and many more.

Setting up a kitchen and keeping it clean and safe, how to buy and store food, a glossary of basic cooking terms, and what to do in the event of a culinary disaster are all covered in this handy, easy-to-use cookbook and kitchen compendium.

Publishers Weekly

The thought of her grown son unarmed in an empty kitchen prompted Brody ( Cooking with Memories ) to write this wisecracking encyclopedia of first-kitchen recipes and advice. In part one, ``Welcome to Your Kitchen,'' she leads neophytes through the basics of appliances, organization and equipment in sections that discuss how to defrost a refrigerator (with trays of hot water, not a hair dryer); when bulk shopping is not cost-effective; how to clean lettuce; and why the first great Rule of the Kitchenstet is ``Everything has its place.'' Unfussy charts on meat temperatures, cooking terms and substitutions are useful, providing easy access to information that even practiced cooks forget. Part two, ``135sic Recipes to Get You Through Life,'' spans a family's lifetime repertoire, from macaroni and cheese to brisket. More modern recipes include brown rice Creole shrimp and strawberries with raspberry sauce. This is a good supplement to the traditional first cookbook, which may daunt a new cook. The only drawback may be Brody's tone: her brassy one-liners and admonitions will seem either amusing and practical or talky and slightly condescending. (June)