How to Cook Everything

If Joy of Cooking is the encyclopedia, Bittman is the Wikipedia — slightly faster, slightly more practical, and dramatically more contemporary. He doesn't waste words and he doesn't pretend you have unlimited time. The recipe voice is "here's the simplest way to do this well, and here are five variations once you've got it." Jim has cooked from this book hundreds of times and never been let down. What sets this apart is the ratio of recipes to volume. 2,000 recipes in one book is genuinely useful when you've got half a head of cabbage and no plan. Bittman's "lazy lasagna," weeknight stir-fries, and roasted vegetable formulas have become Jim's mental kitchen toolkit. The "Basic" recipes followed by variations is a teaching pattern that works. Pick this OR Joy of Cooking based on your temperament — Bittman if you cook for speed, Rombauer if you cook for tradition. Or own both. Five worms. The most-used cookbook in Jim's burrow, by a wide margin.