The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters, hardcover, 416 pages, list price: $35
It's a stroke of genius: The Food Guru of Berkeley — chef, activist, and sustainable-foods advocate Alice Waters — has finally written a cookbook that teaches you how to use it. The Art of Simple Food is divided into two parts: In the first, each chapter is devoted to a single technique (sauteing in a skillet, slow moist cooking such as braises and stews, how to deal with dried beans), accompanied by just four or five incredibly basic recipes, like lightly browned Sauteed Cauliflower or subtly tomato-y Red Rice Pilaf. The second half is essentially a massive portfolio-builder of recipes you can easily handle once you've prepared those in the first half. Once you've browned the skin and oven-braised the eight-ingredient Chicken Legs with Tomatoes, Onions and Garlic, it doesn't seem so daunting to take on Duck Legs with Leeks and Green Olives. It's a great book to brush up your technique if you already know how to cook, but there also probably isn't a better first cookbook for those learning for the first time. Remember, parents: Teach a kid to cook and you feed him for a lifetime. (Don't teach him to cook, and guess who's living at home for the next 10 years?)
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDM3NjYwMjA5MDE1MjA1MzQ1NDk1N2ZmZQ004))