Bon Appetit: Keep It Simple: Easy Techniques for Great Home Cooking

This big, glossy volume offers recipes for everything from soup to seafood to pizza, each one user-friendly and appropriate for the busy home cook. Going so far as to provide step-by-step instructions on how to whip cream, the recipes encourage beginners to strive for the sophisticated. Why make vanilla pudding when Panna Cotta with Strawberry-Vin Santo Sauce requires just a bit more effort? And why rely on plain old scrambled eggs when Baked Eggs with Chive Butter, lovingly photographed, look so thoroughly enticing? The editors intersperse the recipes with sections explaining the best way to hard boil an egg, melt chocolate for sauce or carve a chicken. They also include tips on how to select groceries, but these tips are perhaps a bit too dumbed-down; it may be useful to point out the differences between pearl barley and bulgur, but it's probably not necessary to tell readers to purchase vegetables only if they're fresh. Beginner cooks and those with little time on their hands, though, will appreciate the classic and sometimes sophisticated dishes that can be prepared with a minimum of hassle.