[.ca] The Perfect Recipe: Getting It Right Every Time -- ... (ISBN 0618132694)

From Amazon.com:
Have you ever felt a little besieged by recipes? Ever opened up the newspaper to the food page and found yet more recipes that may or may not taste like anything you might want to have in your mouth? Ever longed for simplicity, for that one recipe you know is going to work time and time again? And not a recipe for some weird combination of foods that don't belong together on a plate, but for the kind of dishes you put on your table over and over again? Ever wondered what cookbook to send off to college with your child, the one who has been eating you out of house and home but for whom cooking is pouring milk on cold cereal? Pam Anderson, executive editor of Cook's Illustrated, has your answer. "I wanted a stir-fry formula that I could commit to memory and make with meat, vegetables, and flavorings I had on hand, and a number of different sauces," Anderson writes. "I wanted a chicken pot pie that I'd actually have time to get on the table on weeknights, and macaroni and cheese that both my kids and I would eat. I wanted foolproof coleslaw and potato salads that would go with all sorts of dishes.... I wanted answers to questions that had been dogging me for years. Which cut of beef is best for stew? When mashing potatoes, which comes first: the butter or the milk?" The Perfect Recipe answers these and many, many more questions. Anderson sets herself the task of finding the perfect recipes for, say, chicken stock, and explains how she got to her result. You end up learning a little bit about the science and chemistry of cooking. Then she gives you several delicious, and perfect, recipes for chicken soup. Or clam chowder. Or beef onion soup. She walks you through chicken and, after having roasted 40 turkeys, she shows you how to get perfect results every time. Her brownies are every bit as fudgy, chewy, and cakey as she claims. Her muffins are divine. While most of these recipes are for everyday foods (and what could be more important?), there are a number of recipes dedicated to entertaining--how to cook the perfect prime rib even though you only do it once a year, for example. Anderson truly delivers the building blocks of good, sound, flavorful cooking--the kind of cooking you can always count on. --Schuyler Ingle

everyday cooking, What works, and WHY:
I've owned this book for 3 years. I sat down and read it cover to cover when I first owned it, and still refer back to it frequently. It IS written in the style of Cook's Illustrated, but since I'm a relatively new reader of that magazine, repeating info from the magazine articles didn't bother me at all. I love this book for precisely the same reason I love the Cook's Illustrated. If something doesn't appeal to my tastes, when Ms Anderson does her investigation into which techniques & ingredients work best and why, she gives you the rules that help you adapt the recipe to suit your own tastes. She is chatty and comfortable to read. She writes like you're standing in the kitchen with her while she works. Her French Bread is so crusty and tasty, my friends are amazed and I hate to tell them it's the easiest bread I've ever made. It whips up in the food processor in less than a minute and only has 4 ingredients. When I'm looking on how to prepare a specific dish, I always look here first, knowing I'll get the best information from this book if it's one of the dishes covered. I do recommend this book highly. It not only has good basic recipes (as well as some interesting dressed up versions), but your understanding of cooking techniques will broaden, improving all your cooking.

Recommened Highly:
I have only made a few of the recipes in this book. All have been outstanding. The brownies are the best I have ever had, period. Her recipe, The Perfect Prime Rib, is just that. Anyone looking for a cookbook with lots of recipes may want to look elsewhere, however The Perfect Recipe has recipes that we all know and love.

Necessary for Every Cook:
The Perfect Recipe is a /must have/ for anyone who cooks more than 5 times a year. You can cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner with only one book as reference (Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, bread, apple pie, cheesecake...) or you can make a simple dinner for every day use. I made my first turkey using Pam's brining instructions, and it came out wonderful! It was juicy on the inside and very brown and delicious looking on the outside. My relatives were in awe (and some backstabbing ones were disappointed) that it turned out so well. The recipes are easy to follow, and I enjoyed the "behind the scenes" chapter. I've always wondered the why's in recipes and it's great to have it there. Of course, you can always skip the introductions if this doesn't interest you. I recommend this book to anyone who is serious about quality cooking.

Great start for beginners:
If you are a novice cook looking to add a few American classics to your repertoire, then this is the book for you. All of the (albeit few) recipes it contains are well-tested (no surprises) and taste very good. Still, it must be noted that the recipes in this book are few in number, very basic, and many of them are variations of each other. Furthermore, almost identical versions of these recipes can be found in the much more ample Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen cookbooks- they are better buys for your money and, in my opinion, provide the same quality. But if simplicity and an easy layout appeal to you, then pick up Anderson's book.

Great Cookbook and Friendly tone:
I subscribe to CI and have one of their books as well. Yes, the recipes are the same in many cases, but what makes Anderson's book a bit better is the friendly tone. The chicken stock was wonderful and who would have known that a simple hamburger could taste so good? I also love the stir fry section with the many selections of sauces and have tried the oyster sauce and was very impressed with the results. Tonight I am trying the butterflied chicken with lemon, rosemary and garlic, and am quiet sure it will be delish as well. I wish she had a show on FoodTV!!