(Serious) New Cook

Leah Su Quiroga, Cammie Kim Lin

From Shelf: Some very nice new cookery books to whet your appetite

Inspiration and stellar instruction in a groundbreaking resource for new(ish) cooks ready to level up. Perfect for teens and college students, twenty-somethings cooking in their own first kitchens, or folks of any age who are ready to get serious about making great food.

The Serious New Cook Cookbook features recipes that appeal to the familiar and the new, drawing beginning cooks into the fold by appealing to what they already know and want (meatballs, spaghetti with meat sauce, simple DIY sushi, onion dip with chips, milkshakes, cupcakes) and taking them to the next level with new, multicultural tastes to love: bulgogi meatballs, wild mushroom pot pie, romesco dip, onigiri rice balls, double dalgona milkshakes, and mochi ice cream, and introducing important techniques such as braising meat, making a roux, cooking perfect sushi rice, and fixing a broken buttercream. The recipes are organised into 23 trios, with one core recipe that introduces a technique or concept, followed by two additional recipes that further exemplify the technique or concept. Stunning photos accompany every recipe, including step-by-step photos for the first recipe in every trio, which show readers what each step should look like as they cook. And, unlike other cookbooks that offer a cooking school section that most readers never use, Serious New Cook builds the lessons and tips into the recipes it s like having a chef explaining things as you cook. Readers not only learn to cook each dish, but become more knowledgeable, deeply skilled cooks in the process. There are few cookbooks that address the needs of young adults who have advanced and adventurous palates, but who don t have the cooking skills necessary to make the foods they love to eat. Existing cookbooks lack the built-in lessons and hand-holding young adult cooks and even newbie adult cooks! require. The Serious New Cook Cookbook fills that gap.