The Best Recipes in the World
The Best Recipes in the World
With his million-copy bestseller How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman made the difficult doable. Now he makes the exotic accessible.In this highly ambitious, accomplished, globe-spanning work, Bittman gathers the best recipes that people from dozens of countries around the world cook every day. And when he brings his distinctive no-frills approach to dishes that were once considered esoteric, America's home cooks will eagerly follow where they once feared to tread.
In more than a thousand recipes, Bittman compellingly demonstrates that there are many places besides Italy and France to which cooks can turn for inspiration. In addition to these favorites, he covers Spain, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Scandinavia, the Balkans, Germany, and other European destinations, giving us easy ways to make dishes like Spanish Mushroom and Chicken Paella, Greek Roast Leg of Lamb with Thyme and Orange, Russian Borscht, and Swedish Äppletorte.
Asian food now rivals European cuisine’s popularity, and this book reflects that: It’s the first to emphasize European and Asian cuisines equally, with easy-to-follow recipes for favorites like Vietnamese Stir-Fried Vegetables with Nam Pla, Pad Thai, Japanese Salmon Teriyaki, Chinese Black Bean and Garlic Spareribs, and Indian Tandoori Chicken. Nor is the rest of the world ignored: there are hundreds of recipes from North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America, too. All will be hits with home cooks looking to add exciting new tastes and cosmopolitan flair to their everyday repertoire.
Shop locally, cook globally–Mark Bittman makes it so easy:
• Hundreds of recipes that can be made ahead or prepared in under 30 minutes
• Informative sidebars and instructional drawings explain unfamiliar techniques and ingredients
• Fifty-two international menus, an extensive International Pantry section, and much more make this an essential addition to any cook’s shelf
The Best Recipes in the World is destined to be a classic that will change the way Americans think about everyday food. It’s simply like no other cookbook in the world.
Product Details
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
When Mark Bittman is cooking--in every sense of the word--he gets results without fuss. Author of the almost subversively approachable How to Cook Everything, Bittman takes on big assignments and then delivers the goods. In The Best Recipes in the World, a collection of more than 1,000 international recipes, with winners like Chinese Black Bean and Garlic Spareribs; Pan-Seared Swordfish with Tomatoes, Olives, and Capers; and Stewed Lamb Shanks with Mushrooms and Pasilla Chile Sauce, he's done it again. The selection, which covers cooking from Europe and Asia equally, is all can-do and instantly appealing--readers will want to "cook through" the whole chicken section, for example. But Bittman, a master distiller, also knows when more is more, with one caveat: "I don't mind spending a long time cooking a single dish as long as I don't have to pay too much attention to what's going on," he writes. Thus, even fuller-dress recipes like the Indian Red Fish Stew, Fast and Spicy, and Tea-Smoked Duck or Chicken can work for time-deprived cooks. A dessert section that includes the tempting likes of Orange Custard, Walnut Tart, and Caramelized Pars Poached in Red Wine, caps this incisive collection.
Included also are brief but enlightening notes on ingredients and techniques such as "On Pureeing Soups," which compares all approaches thoughtfully. Symbols indicate a recipe's potential to be made ahead or in less than 30 minutes (true of most), among other variables. With a beverage chapter and menu suggestions that are actually useful, the book will appeal to a wide audience, not only for its recipes but as a source of relaxed instruction. It's an exploration of culinary essentials from a true essentialist. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
Mark Bittman thinks big, as we saw in his Great Wall of Recipes, How to Cook Everything. That doorstop of a title sold big, too; there are now more than 1.7 million copies in print. This volume, in the same I-can't-believe-I-wrote-the-whole-thing vein, collects recipes from 44 countries. Bittman successfully avoids the usual suspects, drawing as heavily from places like North Africa (home of Harira, a satisfying soup traditionally used to end Ramadan fasting) and India (Marinated Lamb "Popsicles" with Fenugreek Cream) as he does from easy targets like Italy and France. The recipes are terrific in both their variety and execution. Bittman, who writes the New York Times's "Minimalist" column, has a steady authorial voice and a knack for offering clear instructions, and he smoothly makes the exotic seem easy, or at least familiar (e.g., he compares Moroccan Chicken B'stilla to chicken pot pie). The everything-in-one-place format works differently here than it did in his earlier book, which was, ultimately, about technique, not individual recipes, so while there are more than 1,000 recipes here, the reader doesn't acquire quite the same "take-away." Still, for one-stop-shopping on the world's cuisine, it'd be tough to find a better book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
This comprehensive collection brings together in a single volume recipes from astoundingly different traditions, wildly varying cultures, and totally separate inspirations. Nevertheless, the book coheres and avoids becoming a jumble by being focused through a unique intelligence that finds foods' commonalities and that renders all the diverse, competing languages of recipes' prescriptive commands into a clear and cogent voice guiding the thoughtful cook from ingredient lists to successful reproduction of tasty, attractive dishes. On facing pages one finds Korean braised short ribs with ginger, garlic, rice wine, and chiles fronting Spanish oxtails with white wine, bacon, carrots, celery, and thyme. Both recipes contain beef, both follow a basic braising technique, yet one can hardly mistake their very opposite effects at the table. Bittman lets the reader come upon dozens of such juxtapositions and reflect on just what makes recipes attractive and practical. From appetizers through desserts, directions are clear, and graphic devices steer the cook to those recipes that fit the presenting occasion. Useful for all library cookbook collections. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Customer Reviews
Great Recipes, But Know Your Stuff
I love this cookbook - I've made over 15 dishes from it so far, and only one had issues - the Chicken B'Stilla. It's not so much the recipe, as it is the fact that not every step is spelled out for a novice - so I didn't know how to blend cold eggs into warm stock - and ended up with a very interesting texture! There are SO MANY recipes in here that some techniques are not mentioned, things you can find in the Joy of Cooking, or elsewhere - so cross referencing might be helpful for a real novice (like me).
That said, I have never seen a cookbook with more diverse ethnic cuisine, more interesting dishes, or better descriptions of new flavors for an American palette. Favorites include - Spinach and Chickpea Soup, Peanut Soup, Garlic Bread Salad with Tomatoes, Batrik, Dal, and Torta di Melanzane. And I will definitely be trying Chicken B'Stilla again - now that I know more about eggs!
Immediate use
Mark Bittman's TV show has been lots of fun, and the book is proving to be just as big a hit in my house. With its arrival just before Christmas, it was put to immediate use. I have not just searched through it; several recipes have been produced with excellent results. Many more are tagged for tryout as soon as possible. Bittman's ingredients are true to the cuisine from which the recipes came, but not so esoteric as to be difficult to find in my small-city hometown. His directions are logical and easy to follow, and assume some degree of knowledge on the part of the cook using them. My husband does have a complaint: I have been monopolizing the book so he hasn't had equal access to it. He'll get his turn. It just might take a while.
A great book.
Mark Bittman is FANTASTIC. I can enthusiastically recommend any of his books, and this one is no exception. This book has more of a "world cuisine" focus than his others, and is a great resource for someone trying to venture out into new culinary territory.
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