Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave): A Cookbook

by David Chang and Priya Krishna

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The founder of Momofuku cooks at home . . . and that means mostly ignoring recipes, using tools like the microwave, and taking inspiration from his mom to get a great dinner done fast.

JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: New York Post, Taste of Home

David Chang came up as a chef in kitchens where you had to do everything the hard way. But his mother, one of the best cooks he knows, never cooked like that. Nor did food writer Priya Krishna’s mom. So Dave and Priya set out to think through the smartest, fastest, least meticulous, most delicious, absolutely imperfect ways to cook.
 
From figuring out the best ways to use frozen vegetables to learning when to ditch recipes and just taste and adjust your way to a terrific meal no matter what, this is Dave’s guide to substituting, adapting, shortcutting, and sandbagging—like parcooking chicken in a microwave before blasting it with flavor in a four-minute stir-fry or a ten-minute stew.
 
It’s all about how to think like a chef . . . who’s learned to stop thinking like a chef.

• ISBN10: 1524759244
• ISBN13: 9781524759247
• Publish Date: 26 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Clarkson Potter
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781524759247

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Cooking at Home is a well written guide by David Chang and Priya Krishna on making the most of readers' cooking skill in the home kitchen. Due out 26th Oct 2021 from Penguin Random House on their Clarkson Potter imprint, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

I can't even count the number of times I've stood in front of the refrigerator trying to find inspiration and figure out what to cook for dinner. This is a book by two food professionals which doesn't contain actual precisely measured recipes (really). Instead, they've taken the route of showing (and not telling) readers how to follow guidelines which they've provided and find their own dishes and seasoning profiles. This is much more theory than slavish recipe following. I found it intriguing.

Both Chang and Krishna have an active voice in the text and their interactions are labeled with their initials to keep them distinct. Honestly, their voices are so different from one another, it's not difficult to keep them straight when reading. The tone throughout is light and full of warmth and humor. I enjoyed listening to what they had to say and their different perspectives (Chang is quite brash sometimes, Krishna more thoughtful).

The book is graphically very bold and colorful. It's full of bright *popping* sidebars and simple illustrations. There are numerous photographs, of the authors cooking, process cooking photos, and some finished dishes. The book's emphasis is on ingredients and how to utilize them to make different dishes, as well as different appliances and cooking methods.

Famous chefs and professional foodies might be famous, but they still have to eat. This book helps the rest of us as well. I'm not sure how much I'll use this book, but it's an enlightening and engaging read.

Five stars. It would be a good selection for public library acquisition, and for cooks who enjoy deeper food theory and want to learn to develop their own techniques and recipes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.