Simply the best

I mention in my profile that one of my interests is learning to cook. What I mean by that really is learning to like to cook. Ina Garten's TV show and cookbooks got me started. After seeing Ina say "How easy is that?" enough times, anyone would be willing to give one of her recipes a whirl (plus they're all so delicious). With some confidence gained after roasting approximately fifty chickens, I was ready to take on this behemoth. Intimidating only in its size, The New Best Recipe offers 1,000 recipes—some quite basic, others advanced, but all extensively tested to make them literally the best. My favorite bits are the detailed essays included on how they arrived at each recipe, like how it worked better to cook a meatloaf on a baking sheet instead of in a loaf pan, or how to bruise the basil leaves before making pesto in a food processor to mimic the action of grinding in a mortar and pestle. Delightful! My sister just gave me The Best Make-Ahead Recipe for my birthday, and I can't wait to give it a try.