Cooking Know-How: Be a Better Cook with Hundreds of Easy Techniques, Step-by-Step Photos and Ideas for Over 500 Great Meals

In this unconventional, friendly cookbook, Weinstein and Scarbrough, the authors of the Ultimate cookbook series, have selected 65 basic savory dishes that, taken together, make up a diverse, international repertoire of nightly dinners. A “How to Use” section orients readers to the particular style of the book and some important considerations for translating the general explication to the specific recipe. Each general dish, be it a bean soup or tagine, begins with a description of the basic technique, with photos illustrating each step. Included in the description are suggestions for the cook who wants to improvise with different spices or needs to use up that lone parsnip in the refrigerator. Following the recipe is a chart with multiple variations: eight different versions of enchiladas (including turkey and walnut) or eight different meals cooked in parchment packets, such as ratatouille-style fish and Japanese-style chicken. The recipes are structured without being fussy and the majority are relatively easy. This is a welcome rarity, imparting a useful, innovative framework as well as the confidence to depart from it. (Apr.)