How to Cook Everything Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) (IBECookBooks)

Has 10 years really gone by since Mark Bittman published his groundbreaking tome, How to Cook Everything? Judging by the state of the yellow dust jacket on my copy I can believe it. Do I really need this 10th anniversary edition? I’ve grown quite attached to my yellow book and am reluctant to believe it can be improved upon. Well good news, Mark Bittman has indeed improved and expanded an already top-notch cookbook. Now I can declare with even greater confidence, “If you only want one cookbook, then buy this one.”

How to Cook Everything has earned its recognition as a classic. It really is the best all-purpose cookbook for today’s new and beginner cooks. Even accomplished cooks will admit to referring to the tips, techniques and countless recipes on a most regular basis. The high praise on the dust jacket includes the names of such noted celebrity chefs as Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Jean-George Vongerichten and Mollie Katzen.

This 10 edition is much more than just a polishing and re-jacketing. The changes are extensive. Mark Bittman has gone through every recipe and removed, updated and added where he felt it was needed. There are hundreds of new dishes. Here’s a great new feature; each chapter opens with a section of “Essential Recipes”, which are the building block recipes that every cook needs in their repertoire. This new edition reflects a growing interest in cooking with more whole grains, beans and vegetarian dishes, he even tags his vegetarian dishes for easy reference. Still here, and further expanded are his handy illustrations of the more complex techniques. As always the recipes are uncomplicated, unfussy and most can be prepared in under 30 minutes. He offers his great tips and suggestions for substituting ingredients, improvising and variations on a dish. There are also the classic, need to know dishes such as roasting Turkey and Beef that make this the book to go to for entertaining too. His charts such as “7 Vegetables and Stuffings to Match” also add the the already useful and flexible nature of this cookbook. Yes, I think Red is the new Yellow on my bookshelf. And, thank you Mark for including a much needed recipe for spaetzle in your new edition!