Cooking for Absolute Beginners
by By Fitzsimmons, Muriel Simpson
Category: Cooking , Methods , General

Which is the best cookbook for a beginner? Over the years, many beginning cooks have found this cookbook to be their favorite. It assumes no previous cooking knowledge at all, and it takes absolutely nothing for granted. Complete, well-organized, and extremely thorough, this cookbook progresses slowly and clearly so that you know exactly what to do every step of the way.Even before the first recipe appears, there are pages of important information you need to know: a long list of definitions, tables of measurements and equivalents, and commentary on stoves and kitchen tools. The simplest meal is breakfast, so the first recipes are for preparing fresh and stewed fruits, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, eggs, breakfast meats, and toast. Then the author tells you how to have a complete meal ready on time and all about seasonings.The meat of the book is next: chapters on buying and cooking meats, fish and seafood, poultry and game, vegetables from artichokes to turnips, and how to make basic sauces, soups, cereal products, casseroles, salads and salad dressings, breads and biscuits, desserts (pies, cookies, cake, and more), and some jams and jellies.Most cooks only learn the basics of cooking when it's absolutely necessary — after a recipe fails because the cook was unclear about what to do. This book teaches you the essentials of cooking at the beginning and gets you started in the right direction. Beginners will find it invaluable, and experienced cooks will learn a few things from it as well — things they should have learned when they were beginners.