Cooking Basics For Dummies®, 5th Edition
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020931188
ISBN 978-1-119-69677-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-69558-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-69546-2 (ebk)
Welcome to Cooking Basics For Dummies, 5th Edition. Taking into consideration recent cooking trends, this updated edition includes new information on Asian and Mediterranean cuisine, cooking techniques like pan-roasting and steaming in foil pouches, and how to get the best from farmers’ markets. We’ve also added shorter recipes, including some that call for eight or fewer ingredients and are complete meals. Unlike most cookbooks, this one is more than a compilation of tasty recipes. We also focus on traditional cooking techniques, like broiling, steaming, braising, and roasting. This edition carries expanded information on grains and pastas and offers recipes for trendy new ingredients, like kale and bacon.
You discover the best way to mince garlic, peel a tomato, and truss a chicken. After you master these techniques, you’re no longer a slave to recipes. You can cook with imagination and creativity — and that’s the sign of a skilled cook.
Furthermore, this book is structured around the way you live. For example, it includes information about cooking economically, making a delicious meal when you don’t even have time to get to the market, and throwing a party or celebrating a holiday when you have the time to make it special.
Most of all, you actually have fun as you explore the endless pleasures of cooking. And that, after all, is what this book is all about.
We start at the very beginning: your kitchen and your equipment. What basic tools do you need? How do you use these things? We help you stock your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer with basic staples so you know what to have on hand. Then we move on to cooking techniques to get you up and running as soon as possible. Doing simple things well offers great personal satisfaction.
Depending on your needs and cooking skills, you can start at the beginning of the book and work your way through, go straight to the chapters that interest you most (the table of contents and index point you in the right direction), or read the book backward if that’s your thing.
Before charging ahead to make any of the recipes in this book, you should know a few things about the ingredients and instructions:
And keep the following general tips in mind:
If you’re looking for vegetarian recipes, you can find them in the Recipes in This Chapter list, located at the beginning of every chapter. Vegetarian recipes are marked by the tomato bullet shown here.
We wrote this cookbook with some thoughts about you in mind. Here’s what we assume about you, our reader:
Icons are those nifty little pictures in the margin of this book. They each grab your attention for a different reason, and we explain those reasons here.
In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. When you want some quick pointers about cooking, check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/cookingbasics
. There you’ll find a list of tips for reading recipes; suggestions for cutting fat, calories, and carbs when cooking; tips for saving time while cooking; and a list of staples for your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer, which you can access on your smartphone while you’re grocery shopping.
You can find additional recipes and cooking information in articles that supplement this book. Head to www.dummies.com/extras/cookingbasics
for recipes for Southwestern Chili and Steak au Poivre, pointers on planning dinner menus, and tips about putting out and preventing kitchen fires.
You can start enjoying Cooking Basics For Dummies, 5th Edition, with any chapter you like. Even if you know your way around a kitchen pretty well, we recommend that you start by reading Chapter 2, just to be sure you have all the equipment to cook the recipes in this book, and Chapter 3, which talks about all the basic ingredients every well-stocked kitchen pantry, freezer, and refrigerator should contain.
If you’re in the process of buying a house, remodeling a kitchen, or just dreaming about your perfect kitchen, check out Chapter 1, where you can read all about kitchen design. Wary about safety? Check out the end of Chapter 1. Or maybe you just want to start cooking. In that case, check out any of the other chapters in this book. Some are arranged around techniques; others are arranged around menus for parties, for economy, or for times when you need to prepare a meal on short notice. But all these chapters are chock-full of delicious recipes with simple instructions.
One place to check out that isn’t in this book is www.dummies.com/go/cooking
. The site features lots of cooking-related videos, many of them that are directly connected with what we discuss in this book. So if you’re reading our instructions for how to carve poultry or how to mince garlic, check out the website for videos that bring the steps to life.
We know you’ll enjoy cooking with us. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated, as long as you know the basics. So come on in to the kitchen, grab a pot (we tell you which one), and get cooking.
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Figure out what’s what in your kitchen, and get tips on staying safe in all sorts of kitchen situations.
Know what devices and implements you need when you’re just starting out as a cook.
Stock your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer with ingredients that you’ll be glad to have on hand.