Sweet Stuff: How to Cook Everything

We recently rearranged our condo. Kids in our old room, us on the third floor, kids’ toys and books up in their room and cook books in the shelves in our kitchen island. And it is all coming into focus now. The whole point of this giant shifting of people and things was really an effort on Ben’s part to stop me from buying any more cook books. The two – tiny, puny! – shelves where they live now offer a finite space, which has been entirely taken up by my collection. That sneaky little….

Well, if he thinks I’m not adding this to my list, he’s got another thing coming! I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman, read him regularly in the New York Times and have a few of his book. His work has a political angle for sure and is great on Twitter if you want to keep up with the political food issues of the day but his greatest offering if the way he takes the hot air out of food prep. Nothing is ever a big deal in a Bittman cook book. His latest is an encyclopedia of recipes and techniques: How to Cook Everything, The Basics ($27.72 at indigo.ca) that every home cook will turn to again and again. And since it’s an encyclopedia, it’s a reference book and can sit alongside the dictionaries and atlases on our large, main bookshelf. Don’t you think?