Seriously from Scratch: How to Cook the Most Delicious Food Ever by Making Every Single Component Yourself

Gatto, a private chef and culinary instructor with a healthy Twitter following and a passion for Snoop Dogg (to whom he dedicates this book), takes comfort foods to the extreme with this collection of familiar dishes in which every ingredient is made from scratch. It takes eight days to achieve his idealized burger. That’s how long the pork belly will need to marinate before it becomes the maple chipotle bacon, which is then blended with some chuck and sirloin to create the beef patty. That leaves plenty of time to whip up homemade ketchup, mustard, and beer-batter buns. For those who have some open space away from the house, there are even instructions for making lump charcoal out of a stack of sticks. If this burger lacks cheese, Gatto compensates with an easy homemade ricotta to stuff into tortellini, and a fresh mozzarella to top a pepperoni pizza or fill a calzone. The chef’s Boston upbringing is evident in his instructions for a full-on New England clambake, while an appreciation for heat is apparent in the fried clam rolls topped with Sriracha tartar sauce. Tasty color photos by Ken Goodman, himself a classically trained chef, illustrate the transformation of flour and eggs into pasta, and capture a crispy whole hog on its final bed of lettuce. (Sept.)