I had to return it to the library but it looked like a really good starter cook book. I tried some of the recipes in it and I'd like to try a few more but this was a really good way to encourage me to try new things.

Update: Got my own copy, tried a few more things and had fun with it. I'm setting it down for now, but I'm sure I'll be back again.

Great book, but

This is a wonderful book for beginners and anyone wanting to improve their cooking skills. This Kindle version needs to be edited much better. There are multiple duplicate pages which makes following some recipes but more difficult. Photos are excellent.

Good for beginners.

Teaches one all that is needed to cook. Photos were taken at the right time also. Thank you. Cook, no take out.

I just realized I’ve never logged this — probably because I’ve never sat down and read it beginning-to-end. But I’ve used my once brand-new copy to the point it fell apart, which I think counts.

I was looking for basic recipes so I got this book out from the Library. I enjoy cooking, but prefer not to use complicated recipes as I am often a last minute cook. This book provides fairly simple recipes, there are a few "chill for an hour" recipes. There are suggestions for prep and variations for cooking or changing the recipes. I flagged and copied many recipes to use in the future.

Best cookbook I've ever picked up. Although I wasn't very happy that there were so many references to 'discarding' perfectly useable items. It would have been nice to have little sidebars for uses for the extra materials. Other than that tiny thing, this was awesome.

It’s a good basic guide but I believe there could be more detail in chapters for meat, poultry, and seafood. The recipes seemed to be more of a catalyst to show a technique than an actual recipe in many parts throughout the book. I did really did like the bulk of the book, especially the “information at a glance” sort of sections but it did lack for me overall.

Examples of things I didn’t like:
Fried chicken recipe (pg 328) calls for no spices other than pepper and 2 tablespoons of ground CINNAMON of all things. Weird because he uses normal spices for the other poultry recipes.

The bread chapter shows how to make bread crumbs and croutons at home which I love but does it really need to show a pretentious grilled cheese right after with cheeses shown like emmental, fontina, and Gruyère? For a “Basics” book, it really picks and chooses where to be basic.

A lot of information that isnt convenient or simple to explain feels glossed over. I really wish the meat, seafood, and poultry chapters went into the same depth as the eggs chapter. It’s like a 3.5/5 for me!

finally, a cookbook that patiently explained things to me like the baby i am. truly appreciated

Great cookbook for newbies! I really loved the skills section at the end that had colour photos of all the skills you need to make for a recipe.

This is a review of the newest edition, which unlike previous editions is fully illustrated with tons of very detailed photographs.

I've cooked basically everything in this book with the exception of most of the desserts. After working my way through it, I CAN honestly say that I'm way more confident in the kitchen than I was a couple of years ago or so when I picked it up.

Some of the techniques in here are a little questionable (you really don't need to cook burgers under the broiler), and as with all Bittman recipes, the instructions can occasionally be a little loose to the point where someone who is brand new in the kitchen and seeking a little more structure may feel overwhelmed.

BUT, those are minor complaints. If you're looking to stop making excuses and just get in the damn kitchen already, this is the book you should probably pick up.

This is worth buying.

The full-length How to Cook Everything is my go-to cookbook, but I really enjoyed browsing its shorter, illustrated sibling. Unlike the monster original, it would be possible (and very interesting) to cook through this version. Which I would love to do.

Some of these are the same recipes as the other; some are a little different. Mr. Bittman still seems to think you can make barbeque sauce without a sweetener (nope, not gonna work).

Great, illustrative photos. This would be a perfect learning-to-cook book.