Happy icy Monday from New Jersey!  I just wanted to do a quick post about this cookbook.  I received my first copy over the Christmas holiday and am really finding it a great resource.  For those of you who don’t know, Mark Bittman is a writer for the New York Times, an award winning cookbook writer, and is on the forefront of thought pertaining to healthy eating habits using whole foods as the basis for a healthy, sustainable diet and lifestyle.  Anyway, I really like this particular book for several reasons.  First, it’s a great comprehensive cookbook that is as broad and deep as say The Joy of Cooking.  However, it really is much more than that.  Rather than focusing on recipes alone, Bittman’s book also details different techniques for cooking the same ingredients and offering multiple recipes and methods.  So, for example, if you have a sunchoke and do not really know how to go about preparing one, you can simply look up sunchoke in the index and you will find multiple preparations and various alternative flavor options within the same general recipes.  Further, he delves into how to properly choose the ingredient at the grocery store so you can understand what to and not to look for when picking specific produce, dairy, or meat items.  So really, more than a cookbook, this book provides you with lots of advice and options when cooking and, even better, helps you choose to very best, freshest possible ingredients.  Further he often discusses how to store those ingredients.

If you are a home cook just beginning this a great, indispensable resource and tool to get started.  If you are more advanced and experienced with your cooking, this book offers lots of interesting variations on classic preparations that will surely entice you to either try his ideas or better yet, inspire you to try some of your own!