Best cooking/reference book I have used, after using Joy of Cooking, Julia Child's: The Way To Cook, and Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook.

This book has details and photographs and the recipes are true. It is great for the movie and the experienced cook.

love love love this cookbook! it is giving me soooooo much confidence in the kitchen and really inspiring me with the basics so i can branch out into other stuff!! i have checked this out from the library on a continuous basis for about 5 months now!! haahahaa

This book is a great reference. I love how he gives you a basic recipe (scrambled eggs for instance), and tells you 7 things that you can do to make it different. For example - add cheese, or herbs, or cooked, drained salsa. I love to bake, but am not the most creative cook. This book would really help me think "outside the recipe."

Sooo pretty and really well organized. Maybe I'll actually make something lmao

I have had this book for a couple of years and it has become a staple in the kitchen. it is a phenomenal book with great recipes. We cook meals from it on a weekly basis. I would consider myself not completely a beginner cook, somewhere closer to an intermediate cook. The recipes are very straightforward, extremely tasty and fairly healthy. It has a lot of tips and tricks and most recipes have several variations. Would recommend this book definitely to beginners and even experienced cooks.

They said I was crazy...

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I need all the help I can get :-) Basic but good for me!

I love this book! We got it from the library and liked it so much we had to get our own. Get this: It even inspires n  men to cook!

I'm trying to get back into cooking, and I really appreciate this book. Instead of thumbing through recipes with exotic ingredients and complex procedures, I think "hmm...I want mashed potatoes." And there's a no-nonsense mashed potatoes recipe. He often offers a few simple variations, such as mashing tools that will produce creamy vs. chunky mashed potatoes, or alternate cheeses and mix-ins for a mac & cheese. Besides being good options in their own right, these variations help show how the main recipe can be seen as a template, ready for customizing with whatever ingredients strike your fancy or happen to be on hand. Sure, Cooks' Illustrated has "the best recipes", but it doesn't matter how good the recipe is if you're too intimidated to make it.

Amazing pictures that aren't included in the regular How to Cook Everything. I have some super serious love for the egg section. Maybe, with the help of this, my fried eggs won't bust and my poached eggs won't be way overdone. It was definitely more technique-based, which is helpful if you REALLY don't know your way around the kitchen.

I read this book when I was a young teenager and it was truly life changing for me. I had always loved cooking and food. But this book was the gateway for me to understand flavor and techniques. Highly recommend for any beginner cook!