The Best Recipe

Rating:
Summary: A really great general cookbook
Review: I was hoping to figure out how to make my pancakes fluffy. This book had the answer. How do I BBQ that tri-tip? What type of grill (gas/charcoal) is best for me? Since having this book less than a month I have used it more than any of my other cookbooks, it is a fantastic reference for almost any type of food you want to cook. I am going to buy it for my friends who "can't" cook.

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Summary: Blow me away - I found a cookbook I love!
Review: I am NOT a cook. I don't like to cook, I'm not good at it, and I usually do not have the patience to get through a complicated recipe without hating the whole thing by the time it's done even if it tastes like heaven. Having said this, I LOVE THIS BOOK! Utterly different from my other cookbooks, this one spends time speaking to the cook intelligently about things like *why* it's important to do this or that, and about the hundreds of mistakes they made getting this recipe perfect. And the final recipes really are not that difficult, they are just very precise. They also do not require you to "beat the batter with your left hand only while you sliver almonds to the thinness of paper on a ceramic cutting board" like some annoying recipes that no one with a life would ever do. These are do-able! We've made a few recipes (my husband soon took over the book and loves it, too) and they are tasty and worth the trouble. I'm going to order more Best Recipe books, for sure!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book...Even for Old Pros
Review: I've really enjoyed this book, but it wasn't what I expected. It has very few pictures and is loaded with page after page of recipes. What it provides is the best way to cook all kinds of classic recipes. I've thorougly enjoyed reading the book, just for the information it provides. It discusses the science behind common ingredient-combo tricks, how to pick out the best cut of meet, and describes the differences between ingredient choices. Lately, before cooking recipes I've made for years, I stop a moment and look through the book for ways to improve them.

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Summary: The Other Best Cookbook Ever
Review: When used as a companion to the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, this book is a wealth of information. We have tried countless recipes in this book. If you follow the directions as precisely as they are written every dish is fabulous. My family and I are avid cooks. This book has become one of the greatest additions to our cookbook collection. An absolute must for any true cook or those interested in stepping up the level of excellence on their dinner tables!!

Rating:
Summary: Love this book!
Review: I purchased The Best Recipe for my husband for Christmas. I recently had become a subscriber to Cooks Illustrated which is from what this book is based. I was hooked from the moment I started to read the magazine. So of course I HAD to get the cookbook. I was not disappointed. I find this book so darn interesting that I actually curl up on the couch with it to read it like a novel! I love how it explains every single step of the recipe process and all of the experimenting they do. It gives a whole story on how they came to find this "Perfect Recipe" for this one dish. They go through how they experiment with temperature, ingredients, pans, baking/cooking time, mixing methods, brand names, placement in the oven, in what order ingredients are added and how...every little tiny detail that you can imagine can have a huge effect on the outcome of your dish. Gosh it's interesting! The recipes are classic and cover a great variety of subjects in detail. It's a huge book. Last week I made the blueberry muffins and I must say that I was impressed. I've made MANY blueberry muffins but none LOOKED as pretty and TASTED just as good. They looked like they belong in a bakery window. If you own just one cookbook then I would say that this one should be it. It's a must have! If you are into cookbooks with lots of glossy pictures then this is not for you as there aren't any photos. But you will be missing out on an awesome quality cookbook. I would say that it's not just for experienced cooks - there are many very basic recipes in it as well. A beginner could learn so much from reading this.

Rating:
Summary: Perfection Almost Guaranteed
Review: This is the cookbook to turn to when you need to make basic everyday food that tastes great. There is not much here that is adventurous, so, food artist wannabes, beware. On the other hand, it is something of a relief to have so much authority behind each recipe that all the guesswork has been eliminated. This is a great cookbook to give to young singles or the husband who needs a hand getting dinner started.

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Summary: Fabulous book for classic dishes
Review: Every recipe in this book is a proven winner (literally) -- I enjoy reading the process of the testing process to determine the absolutely best way to prepare every dish almost as much as eating the finished product. Find everything from an incredibly savory beef stew (we've made it three times already and continue to get rave reviews) to snickerdoodles and layered cakes. Everything that I've made so far has been the best that I've ever had. The emphasis is on homestyle foods -- no fancy ethnic dishes. One nice thing is that few of the dishes require fancy spices or things that you normally wouldn't buy. My favorite cookbook at the moment -- you can't go wrong with this one.

Rating:
Summary: The thinking (and tasting) chef's cookbook.
Review: So far, the recipes work -- my wife and I have tried many of them. They are uniformly delicious. The editors give instructions for tinkering with most any recipe. The introductions to each section, exploring how and why various recipes work the way they do, are useful and fun to read. One can apply the principles learnt from this book to most other recipes whether from other cookbooks or one's own unique creations.

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Summary: Joy of Cooking with Scientific Evidence...
Review: Excellent cookbook. It's like FoodTV's Good Eats, but with a lot more depth and without any fluff. It tells you the why and the how behind the choices they've made in their recipes, and then they go about testing the theory to prove that it's fact. Great. Just for a little fun, I tried out some of the suggestions in their cookie section (how to cream the butter and sugar properly and how to add the ingredients to the creamed mixture). Worked like a charm. One of the things I like best about the book is that the sections contain a lot of straightforward recipes -- not a lot of foofy 'crud', as my Texas cooking friend might say. I like the idea that recipes are building blocks. They provide plenty of suggestions after each recipe for how to make them more complex, but I think the book is more about refining your cooking skills and truly learning *how* and *why* you're doing the techniques you're told to do.

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Summary: love this book and Cook's Illustrated. Cook's saves $$$!
Review: As a subscriber of the Cook's Illustrated website, I am relieved that I am no longer printing out recipes from the computer now that they're all in one book. These recipes are foolproof and offer amazing results. Each recipe has a preface explaining the food science behind the recipe's techniques and ingredients.

Cook's Illustrated also reviews kitchen equipment; some reviews are included in this book. I have saved a lot of money by reading their reviews. The most expensive piece of equipment is frequently not the best for the task.