How to Cook Everything

Simple Recipes for Great Food

By Caroline Cummins

January 16, 2007

Not the ultimate cookbook (can there ever really be one?), but certainly a well-thumbed tome, Mark Bittman’s 1998 monstrosity How to Cook Everything is like the cranky grandmother you never liked much but who really knew how to cook (or at least claimed she did). The book, now in its 14th edition, has become a brand unto itself, with such spinoffs as How to Cook Everything: Easy Weekend Cooking and How to Cook Everything: The Basics.

Set aside the impossibly hyperbolic title and snarky undertones (Bittman dismisses both green peppers and double-crust pies because he just doesn’t like them) in favor of the solid recipes for sauces, meats, and vegetables. Ignore the dessert recipes, which, with the exception of his killer pie crust, are wobblier than blancmange.

How to Cook Everything makes a great companion book to the venerable classic Joy of Cooking, with similar but slightly different versions of such basics as ragù, pancakes, and chili. Bittman may not be able to teach you how to cook everything, but he certainly wants you to think you can.

Caroline Cummins is the managing editor of Culinate.