Tips, techniques, shortcuts, sources, inspiration, and answers to frequently asked questions, plus one hundred triple-tested recipes to make you a better cook. Theres no one more qualified than Linda Carucci to reveal the insider secrets and shortcuts that professional chefs use every day. More than just a cookbook, in the ten years since the first edition of Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks has made its way into the hands of forty thousand cooks across the United States, this has become an indispensable go-to guide for internal doneness temperatures, what to look for in cooking equipment, and which cooking methods bring out the best in which foods. Each of the one-hundred-plus recipes was tested at least three times, each time by a different cook unprecedented for a cookbook. Recipe testers comments and feedback inspired the books widely praised Sidebars and Recipe Secrets scattered throughout: Whats that green tinge on my potatoes? (Solanine . . . and its toxic.) How can I prepare risotto for company without being held hostage in the kitchen? (Learn restaurant chefs tips and techniques in Secrets to Successful Risotto.) Whats the fuss about all these different salts? (Join Linda as she takes you on a guided tasting of todays most commonly used cooking saltsand spills the beans about why chefs have certain favorites.) Youll appreciate the authors warmth and expertise as a teacher as she takes you step by step through the preparation of classics like Roasted Stuffed Turkey with Pan Gravy, My Grandmothers Baked Stuffed Manicotti with Twenty-Minute Tomato Sauce, and Apple Crisp with Bourbon and SpIce Cream. And then its on to sensational show-stoppers such as Paella with Shellfish, Sausage, and Chicken; Double-Crusted Timpano with Fusilli, Ricotta, and Tender Little Meatballs; and White Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo Crust and Raspberry Coulis.

When it comes to food, Linda Carucci is at the top of her class. As a cooking instructor with more than 20 years of food industry experience, no one is more qualified than Linda to reveal the indispensable everyday secrets and shortcuts that professional chefs use constantly in their cooking. Each of the more than 100 sensational recipessoups and salads, pasta and risotto, main courses and side dishes, plus indulgent dessertsoffers truly useful guidelines and tips. What is a chinois and why will this make homemade chicken stock better? Why are Turkish bay leaves preferable to the California variety? What cut of meat will ensure the most flavorful pork chop? Why is a marinade essential when grilling a flank steak? Why should granita be frozen in a square, rather than round, pan? The recipes go from down-home good and simple-to-prepare favorites (Tomato Cheddar Soup, Spaghetti and Meatballs) to guest-worthy, look-what-I-can-do feasts (Double-Crusted Timpano, Rack of Lamb). Clear illustrations show techniques such as how to cut the skin from a salmon fillet and slice basil into a chiffonade (and what is a chiffonade anyway?). Add to that a myriad of user-friendly charts (recommended temperatures for meat doneness; typical cuts of poultry, meat, and pork), menus, and resources, and any new cookas well as the not-so-new oneswill quickly find that going back to school is way more fun (and delicious) than they ever remembered.

How does one become an Iron Chef and a Chopped judge on Food Network—and what does she really cook at home? Alex Guarnaschelli grew up in a home suffused with a love of cooking, where soufflés and cheeseburgers were equally revered. The daughter of a respected cookbook editor and a Chinese cooking enthusiast, Alex developed a passion for food at a young age, sealing her professional fate. Old-School Comfort Food shares her journey from waist-high taste-tester to trained chef who now adores spending time in the kitchen with her daughter, along with the 100 recipes for how she learned to cook—and the way she still loves to eat. Here are Alex’s secrets to great home cooking, where humble ingredients and familiar preparations combine with excellent technique and care to create memorable meals. Alex brings her recipes to life with reminiscences of everything from stealing tomatoes from her aunt’s garden and her first bite of her mother’s pâté to being one of the few women in the kitchen of a renowned Parisian restaurant and serving celebrity clientele in her own successful New York City establishments. With 75 color photographs and ephemera, Old-School Comfort Food is Alex’s love letter to deliciousness.

Learn the Secrets to Great Cooking without Going to Cooking School Reaching your full culinary potential takes more than just starting with high-quality ingredients and following a solid recipe. You also need to learn proper technique, master essential kitchen tools and know the secrets to great cooking that all chefs learn in culinary school. Chef Michelle Doll shines new light on familiar tools such as rolling pins, sheet pans, skillets, Dutch ovens, blenders, mixers, pressure cookers and more in this comprehensive, readable and entertaining guide. Her exceptional recipes demonstrate these techniques in action. Learn why a tapered French rolling pin is the best tool for rolling out dough, and then use it to make the flakiest pastry for Prime Time Fruit Galette. Follow Michelle as she delves into what she calls the stovetop–sauté pan matrix and make Better Than Take-Out Teriyaki Chicken that will have you taking your favorite Chinese restaurant off of speed dial. You’ll also learn some surprising techniques for using your kitchen tools in new ways, making tender Grape Shallot Focaccia in a cast-iron skillet, Peanut Butter Jelly Quick Bread in a blender and Slow and Easy French Onion Soup in a Dutch oven (you won’t be tied to the stovetop stirring caramelized onions every five minutes—genius!). With the perfect blend of fresh kitchen science and delicious examples of that science in action, this book is a must-read for kitchen geeks and everyday home cooks alike!

Learn to cook from the best chefs in America Some people say you can only learn to cook by doing. So Adam Roberts, creator of the award-winning blog The Amateur Gourmet, set out to cook in 50 of America's best kitchens to figure out how any average Joe or Jane can cook like a seasoned pro. From Alice Waters's garden to José Andrés's home kitchen, it was a journey peppered with rock-star chefs and dedicated home cooks unified by a common passion, one that Roberts understands deeply and transfers to the reader with flair, thoughtfulness, and good humor: a love and appreciation of cooking. Roberts adapts recipes from Hugh Acheson, Lidia Bastianich, Roy Choi, Harold Dieterle, Sara Moulton, and more. The culmination of that journey is a cookbook filled with lessons, tips, and tricks from the most admired chefs in America, including how to properly dress a salad, bake a no-fail piecrust, make light and airy pasta, and stir-fry in a wok, plus how to improve your knife skills, eliminate wasteful food practices, and create recipes of your very own. Most important, Roberts has adapted 150 of the chefs' signature recipes into totally doable dishes for the home cook. Now anyone can learn to cook like a pro!

Whether they're parents, married without kids, or single, most people want to do better at mealtime—they want to put good, nutritious food on the table, they're looking for a more diverse repertoire of dishes to prepare, and they'd like to enjoy the process more. The problem is they don't believe they have the time or ability to do it night after night. But it can be done, and Keepers will show them how. Drawing from two decades of trial-and-error in their own kitchens, as well as working alongside savvy chefs and talented home cooks, Campion and Brennan offer 120 appealing, satisfying recipes ideal for weeknight meals. There's an array of master recipes for classic dishes with options for substitutions, updated old favorites, one-pot meals, "international" dishes, super-fast ones, and others that reheat well or can be cooked in individual portions. Along with timeless recipes, Keepers is filled with invaluable tips on meal planning and preparation, all presented in an entertaining, encouraging, and empathetic style. Keepers gives cooks all of the tools they need to become more efficient, confident, and creative in the kitchen. It will help them survive the Monday-to-Friday dinner rush with their sanity and kitchens intact, and also have some fun along the way.

Great cooks never stop learning. Go to cooking school in your own kitchen with over 80 themed courses to learn more than 200 skills and cook 400 recipes This all-new exploration of the fundamentals of cooking is perfect for anyone (from brand-new to experienced cooks) who wants to learn not just the “hows” but also the “whys” of cooking. Why does pizza bake better on a stone? Why do mushrooms benefit from water when sautéing? Why should you salt food at multiple stages during the cooking process? More than 80 focused courses let you dive into your favorite topics, whether it's Pizza, Fried Rice, Fish on the Grill, or Birthday Cake, and take a mini-bootcamp on the subject, each introduced by an ATK test cook. The courses are presented in easily digestible sections so you don't have to read a lot before you pick up your knife and start cooking. Cooking principles, technique, key takeaways, food science, and more are woven into each course so you learn as you cook. Jump into a class on Fresh Italian Pasta to learn how to: • make fresh pasta from scratch without a machine • cut fettucine and make Fettucine Alfredo • make a classic marinara sauce and basil pesto Infographic pages take you farther behind recipes and ingredients: See how olive oil is really produced, or how temperature affects the state of butter (and why firm, soft, and melted butter behave differently in cooking). Every chapter progresses from the basics of the best way to poach a perfect egg and make chicken broth to upping your game with huevos rancheros and mastering the elusive roast chicken. If you want to feel accomplished and really know how to cook, come learn with America's Test Kitchen.