Start Here
Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook: A Cookbook
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION AND IACP BOOK AWARD WINNER • Change the way you think about cooking! In this epic guide to better eating, the chef, recipe developer, and video producer Sohla El-Waylly reimagines what a cookbook can be, teaching home cooks of all skill levels how cooking really works.
“The new Joy of Cooking.” —The New York Times
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, NPR, Epicurious, The Boston Globe
“The book I wish someone had handed me when I began my own journey as a cook.”—from the Foreword by Samin Nosrat, New York Times bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
"A book to return to again and again and again.” —Yotam Ottolenghi, New York Times bestselling author of Plenty and Ottolenghi Simple
A practical, information-packed, and transformative guide to becoming a better cook and conquering the kitchen, Start Here is a must-have master class in leveling up your cooking.
Across a dozen technique-themed chapters—from “Temperature Management 101” and “Break it Down & Get Saucy” to “Go to Brown Town,” “All About Butter,” and “Getting to Know Dough”—Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook.
A one-stop resource, regardless of what you’re hungry for, Start Here gives equal weight to savory and sweet dishes, with more than two hundred mouthwatering recipes, including:
Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Radishes & Nuoc ChamCharred Lemon RisottoChilled Green Tahini SobaLemon, Pecorino & Potato PizzaFruity-Doodle CookiesMasa & Buttermilk Tres Leches
Packed with practical advice and scientific background, and an almost endless assortment of recipe variations, along with tips, guidance, and how-tos, Start Here is culinary school—without the student loans.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chef and recipe developer El-Waylly offers a prodigious guide to ramping up one's culinary skill in her impressive and thorough debut. She sets out to arm home cooks with both "foundational techniques and basic food science," going a few steps beyond the "do this" mentality of many cookbooks to offer insight into why a particular approach is necessary or relevant to each dish. Each chapter focuses on an essential technique; some, such as learning to taste your food or cooking grains, beans, and pasta, may seem basic, but El-Waylly illuminates how these simple steps are actually vital to quality cooking. The recipes themselves are appetizing and low fuss, including cannellini beany melt ("it's just like the tuna melt you know and love, but made with beans instead of tuna"), four-fat jammy egg tacos with nuts and avocado, and charred lemon risotto. El-Waylly also provides tips on maintaining kitchen utensils, from cutting boards to cast iron pans, sharpening knives, and approaching each night's meal with a "game plan" to cut down on both time and clean up. As tasty and appealing as it is informative, this is the ideal handbook for those starting out in the kitchen.
Customer Reviews
An easily digestible read
I love to eat but HATE to cook. After watching a few of Sohla’s creative videos, I knew I’d want to invest in this book.
What I didn’t anticipate is that it’d help me dig into why I hated cooking in the first place, and find methods that allowed me to enjoy cooking.
Additionally the content was well organized, allowing me to easily read its content and put guidance into practice.