The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman
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Book Reviews of The Best Recipes in the World
Book Review: Sophisticated yet Easy
Summary: 5 Stars
The Best Recipes in the World has recipes ranging from exotic to familiar, are easy to comprehend and in execution prove to be accurate regarding successful and tasty results.Book Review: Great Cook Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this cook book. Great, great stuff and simple. It is a very large and heavy book - not easy to keep in the kitchen. But that is no problem. Highly recommended!Book Review: A WONDERFUL GIFT!
Summary: 5 Stars
My friend and her chef boyfriend loved every single bite-er, i mean page!Book Review: convenient book
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book for convenience: I liked the idea of having recipes from all around the world in one book. Bittman's "mimimalist" style make it easy to capture the essence of the recipes. Bittman can tell you so much about cooking in so few words. This is one of those books where you wonder just how the author did it. Compiling all these recipes from around the world, and presenting such clear and useful information on cooking -- these are impressive feats.
I would not use this book as a replacement for any books that deal with individual cuisines. You still need your Marcella Hazan, Richard Olney, etc. It does not replace your books on individual subjects, such as Thai or French cuisine (or, more specifically, Roman cooking, New Orleans cooking, etc.) I view this book as more of a convenient introductory survey of the world's recipes. You might discover a new technique or national cuisine to investigate further. You may turn to it on a weeknight to use up a few ingredients in the fridge. But it is not, in my opinion, in-depth enough to satisfy the serious cook. How could it be when the subject is so broad?
One point that I do not understand about Bittman's approach is that he does not acknowledge the cooking of the United States. All cuisines have taken influences from other cultures. No cuisine was formed in isolation. Yet Bittman does not include a single recipe from the United States in the book, and he apparently seems to think that the United States does not have a cuisine that is just as legitimate as any other country. This seems to be Bittman's great blind spot and, for all his accomplishments, makes him appear a bit myopic, clinging to an outmoded bias. Perhaps there are Frenchman who think that American food is all about McDonald's hamburgers, but Bittman is an American, and a sophisticated food writer, and ought to know better. Thus he has produced a collection of the world's recipes while ignoring the recipes of an entire country. A strange hang-up indeed from a great writer.
Book Review: Great Recipes, But Know Your Stuff
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this cookbook - I've made over 15 dishes from it so far, and only one had issues - the Chicken B'Stilla. It's not so much the recipe, as it is the fact that not every step is spelled out for a novice - so I didn't know how to blend cold eggs into warm stock - and ended up with a very interesting texture! There are SO MANY recipes in here that some techniques are not mentioned, things you can find in the Joy of Cooking, or elsewhere - so cross referencing might be helpful for a real novice (like me).
That said, I have never seen a cookbook with more diverse ethnic cuisine, more interesting dishes, or better descriptions of new flavors for an American palette. Favorites include - Spinach and Chickpea Soup, Peanut Soup, Garlic Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Batrik, Dal, and Torta di Melanzane. And I will definitely be trying Chicken B'Stilla again - now that I know more about eggs!