How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart
by Pam Anderson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Pam AndersonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-04
ISBN: 0767902793
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart
Book Review: A Must-have Cookbook
Summary: 5 Stars
I admit to being a cookbook-aholic - some are fun to read yet I don't actually use them, some are the opposite. This one is both. It's one of those cookbooks that I end up tabbing so I can go back for a refresher. The recipes are imaginative and do-able, and range from ambitious to embarrassingly easy (best example of this is the Warm White Bean Spread that takes about 30 seconds to make and tastes heavenly).
I especially like the way the book is organized, which is by method. For example she goes through sautes ("If you've seen one saute, you've seen them all") with basic methods for sauteing various meats. Then she provides a basic method for pan sauces, followed by several variations that can be made using the basic method. If it sounds too dumbed down, think again - her recipes are delicious and make it possible to serve imaginative and delectable meals to my family even on weeknights.
I always prefer photos, but in this case, the descriptions and then successful outcomes far outweigh that consideration.
I first saw this book at a friend's house; I am guilty of sneaking peaks at bookshelves, trying to get an idea of what my good-cook friends are using. This one was food-stained and dog-eared, the best indicator of a well-used resource. Sure enough, it's starting to look the same on my bookshelf; it's like having a kindly aunty in my kitchen, giving me great ideas for meals and useful tips for success.
Summary of How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Heart
Pam Anderson grew up watching her parents and grandparents make dinner every night by simply taking the ingredients on hand and cooking them with the techniques they knew.Times have changed. Today we have an overwhelming array of ingredients and a fraction of the cooking time, but Anderson believes the secret to getting dinner on the table lies in the past. After a long day, who has the energy to look up a recipe and search for the right ingredients before ever starting to cook? To make dinner night after night, Anderson believes the first two steps--looking for a recipe, then scrambling for the exact ingredients--must be eliminated.??Understanding that most recipes are simply "variations on a theme," she innovatively teaches technique, ultimately eliminating the need for recipes.
Once the technique or formula is mastered, Anderson encourages inexperienced as well as veteran cooks to spread their culinary wings.??For example, after learning to sear a steak, it's understood that the same method works for scallops, tuna, hamburger, swordfish, salmon, pork tenderloin, and more. You never need to look at a recipe again. Vary the look and flavor of these dishes with interchangeable pan sauces, salsas, relishes, and butters.
Best of all, these recipes rise above the mundane Monday-through-Friday fare.??Imagine homemade ravioli and lasagna for weeknight supper, or from-scratch tomato sauce before the pasta water has even boiled.??Last-minute guests? Dress up simple tomato sauce with capers and olives or shrimp and red pepper flakes. Drizzle saut?ed chicken breasts with a balsamic vinegar pan sauce. Anderson teaches you how to do it--without a recipe. Don't buy exotic ingredients and follow tedious instructions for making hors d'oeuvres. Forage through the pantry and refrigerator for quick appetizers. The ingredients are all there; the method is in your head. Master four simple potato dishes--a bake, a cake, a mash, and a roast--compatible with many meals. Learn how to make the five-minute dinner salad, easily changing its look and flavor depending on the season and occasion. Tuck a few dessert techniques in your back pocket and effortlessly turn any meal into a special occasion.
There's real rhyme and reason to Pam's method at the beginning of every chapter: To dress greens, "Drizzle salad with oil, salt, and pepper, then toss until just slick. Sprinkle in some vinegar to give it a little kick." To make a frittata, "Cook eggs without stirring until set around the edges. Bake until puffy, then cut it into wedges." Each chapter also contains a helpful at-a-glance chart that highlights the key points of every technique, and a master recipe with enough variations to keep you going until you've learned how to cook without a book.
Learn what makes a recipe tick, says How to Cook Without a Book author Pam Anderson, and you'll serve great food fast. Recognizing that most cooks feel challenged in the face of daily meal making, Anderson provides a game plan: prepare dishes based on available ingredients and simple cooking techniques you've mastered--not on recipes you've got to look up and ingredients you'll need to shop for--and you maximize the potential of kitchen ease. Cooks looking for a way to address the what-will-we-have-tonight quandary definitively, or those who feel they lack the energy or know-how to tackle cooking every night, should find the book essential. In chapters such as "Simple Stir-Frys" or "Weeknight Ravioli and Lasagna," Anderson presents a particular cooking procedure, provides a recipe that embodies it in its basic form (the protein-adaptable Weeknight Stir-Fry, for example), then offers simple variations (such as Stir-Fried Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms or Stir-Fried Shrimp with Pepper and Scallions). Chapters conclude with an at-a-glance review of key technique points. Following Anderson's tips and innovations, lasagna, for example, becomes a weeknight option (use egg-roll wrappers for the pasta, Anderson advises, and forgo the baking); she also shows how, once mastered, her Big Fat Omelet, which serves four, can become the basis for a wide range of lunch and dinner entr?es. With a comprehensive pantry section and a dessert chapter that puts frozen puff pastry to work in imaginative ways, the book is a trove of information that cooks can use and depend on. --Arthur Boehm
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