2024 the best cook in the world review

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With his million-copy bestseller How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman made the difficult doable. Now he makes the exotic accessible.

In this highly ambitious, accomplished, globe-spanning work, Bittman gathers the best recipes that people from dozens of countries around the world cook every day. And when he brings his distinctive no-frills approach to dishes that were once considered esoteric, America's home cooks will eagerly follow where they once feared to tread.

In more than a thousand recipes, Bittman compellingly demonstrates that there are many places besides Italy and France to which cooks can turn for inspiration. In addition to these favorites, he covers Spain, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Scandinavia, the Balkans, Germany, and other European destinations, giving us easy ways to make dishes like Spanish Mushroom and Chicken Paella, Greek Roast Leg of Lamb with Thyme and Orange, Russian Borscht, and Swedish Äppletorte.

Asian food now rivals European cuisine’s popularity, and this book reflects that: It’s the first to emphasize European and Asian cuisines equally, with easy-to-follow recipes for favorites like Vietnamese Stir-Fried Vegetables with Nam Pla, Pad Thai, Japanese Salmon Teriyaki, Chinese Black Bean and Garlic Spareribs, and Indian Tandoori Chicken. Nor is the rest of the world ignored: there are hundreds of recipes from North Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America, too. All will be hits with home cooks looking to add exciting new tastes and cosmopolitan flair to their everyday repertoire.

Shop locally, cook globally–Mark Bittman makes it so easy:

• Hundreds of recipes that can be made ahead or prepared in under 30 minutes

• Informative sidebars and instructional drawings explain unfamiliar techniques and ingredients

• Fifty-two international menus, an extensive International Pantry section, and much more make this an essential addition to any cook’s shelf

The Best Recipes in the World is destined to be a classic that will change the way Americans think about everyday food. It’s simply like no other cookbook in the world.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter; First Edition (October 11, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 768 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0767906721
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0767906722
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.03 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.28 x 2.12 x 8.33 inches
Reviewer: Ann Ilton
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Nobody Does It Better. A Great New Cookbook
Review: Years ago I stopped collecting cookbooks and gave most of them away. Except for Mark Bittman.This book is AWESOME. This man got is all right. The book is uniquely creative, wonderfully conceived, and easily approachable. There is no food snobbery here. The joy of this book, as with Mr. Bittmans columns and his great book "How To Cook Everything" is that it is specifically designed for the home chef. It is for we who really enjoy producing first rate food without being bent out of shape by finding totally esoteric and hard to find ingredients. By the standards set forth in this book it is okay if you want a first rate kitchen and do not own a truffle shaver. Or a caviar chiller. Or a personal killer wine cellar. Or the budget of the former Shah of Iran. But you do have the will to create and experience great food.There are so many things to commend this book: The description that precedes each recipe is invaluable. The recipes themselves are absolutely wonderful. The well thought out and carefully constructed list of basic and more unusual ingredients for the shelf of the home cook is perfectly constructed with sense and with an organization that gives the cook a real understanding of ingredients used in the recipes. From garam masala to Thai Fish Sauce to fresh and dried herbs and spices, all is explained and de-mystified. And the organization of recipes is unusual and well thought out since they are placed within a category according to the method of cooking (IE Braising, roasting, grilling, et al.)Not least in the lexicon of commendations to this huge collection is that we are introduced to foods that are not common to the American home cook, the book is heavily laced with mid and far eastern cuisine, as well as the more familiar French and Italian and other ethnic foods, and thus our repertoire of that which we prepare expands with flavors that are just terrific. Mr. Bittman is also an author with a gift for writing clearly and in a self effacing style that belies his great culinary knowledge and talent. I am never intimidated by his recipes. I am always inspired.Cookbooks just do not get any better than this.

Reviewer: S. Oravetz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: 700 Pages of Good Eats!
Review: This is a staggering number of recipes (1,000) from around the world. I've only begun to read, and I say that lightly, because this is not a book you start reading like many cookbooks at the beginning and finish at the end. This tome is more than 700 pages of recipes, indexes, contents, resources and more indexes.There are the usual Bittman comments on most of the recipes, some long and some short, giving history, ingredients, cooking methods and his classic wit about "keeping it simple" when preparing some of these foreign and sometimes difficult, lengthly and complex recipes.Mark Bittman's philosophy is always to "keep it simple" but delicious at the same time and staying as close to the original as sanely possible. When it is insane to stick to the original he uses more convenient methods and ingredients to arrive with the same delicious results. Bittman's description of "Chicken and Chickpea Tagine with Vanilla" made me laugh as I was reading it...."my version of this tagine may not compare with those that begin with toasting and grinding spices and peeling grapes, but it's easily executed and devine." Now, that's my kind of cook and my kind of recipe - stay as true as possible to the original but not put aside common sense where time and ingredients make very little difference in the end result.Hooray, for a masterful compilation of recipes that will take me years to read, evaluate, execute and appreciate. So glad I bought this book and I will treasure having it on my book shelf for no other reason than it is a great "go-to" encyclopedia of methods, ingredients and tastes from all parts of the world.

Reviewer: LL
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book, but the Kindle version could be so much better
Review: My wife laughs because I sometimes refer to Bittman as "my master" his How to Cook Everything more or less taught be how to cook and this book is a great extension of that, as we really enjoy toying around with various ethnic dishes. Overall, these recipes are true to Bittman's minimalistic approach, significantly de-mystifying international cooking and are also authentic as best we can tell (we definitely can't claim to know what authentic is all the cuisines sampled in this book). However, and this a big however, the Kindle version could be significantly improved by the addition of page numbers and hyperlinks. This is a huge drawback to the Kindle edition and makes navigation rather difficult. Since so many internal references ("serve this with X recipe found on page X") are based on page numbers, just adding these would make this book significantly better. So the book gets 5 stars for the content but -1 (maybe it should even be -2) for the Kindle version.

Reviewer: Green Pen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Big and beautiful
Review: I started using Mark Bittman's Best Recipes in the World and How to Cook Everything when my sister gave them to my daughter for her college graduation, and then my daughter went to East Timor where she could obviously not take two cookbooks that weighed 50 pounds each. She's now back (!) after four years and took the cookbooks with her to her new apartment. There was a brief painful period between their departure and the arrival of their replacements from Amazon, but now they're here and I'm perfectly happy again.I have to say his recipes are either good, great or fabulous. I've never made anything that came out badly. They're not so complicated that they're intimidating -- everything seems doable. I'll be retiring in about five years and I can see myself cooking my way through both books, ala Julia and Julie.One thing -- sometimes I think his instructions say to cook things longer than I think they actually need. Some day I'll try cooking things as long as he says (i.e. saute for 10 minutes -- I might saute for 3) and see if it's even better.

Reviewer: Doug W. Murray
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: You cannot go wrong with Mark Bittman. His recipes are always accurate, easy to follow (some things require a closer look than others) and the end product is always superb.I would recommend this book (and all of Bittman's books) to anyone who wants to cook to professionals. This one is frequently referenced by all of my cooks in the 3 Long Term Care facilities I manage. It helps us take the institutional and throw it out the door and replace it with good, tasty meals.

Reviewer: E. Wever
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Every Mark Bittman book is good. This one is no exception. He is practical, easy, tasty. Great food ideas.

Reviewer: Ramona D'souza
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Good, simple, delicious recipes

Reviewer: Karen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Lots of popular recipes.

Reviewer: Diane Edwards
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Awesome recipes.