The Cook You Want to Be: Recipes and Advice for Defining and Developing Your Cooking Style

by Andy Baraghani

JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Beloved food writer and social media star Andy Baraghani helps you define and develop your personal cooking style—and become the cook you want to be—in more than 100 recipes.

“This book is full of things I want to make and cook.”—Yotam Ottolenghi
 
ONE OF THE TEN BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle
ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Bon Appétit, Saveur, Salon, Epicurious

Andy Baraghani peeled hundreds of onions at Chez Panisse as a teenage intern, honed his perfectly balanced salad–making skills at Estela in New York, and developed recipes in the test kitchens of Saveur, Tasting Table, and Bon Appétit. It took him all those years to figure out the cook he wanted to be: a cook who is true to his Persian heritage, a fresh-vegetable lover, a citrus superfan, and an always-hungry world traveler. In The Cook You Want to Be, Baraghani shows home cooks on how to hone their own cooking styles by teaching the techniques and unexpected flavor combinations that maximize flavor in minimal time.
 
At Bon Appétit, Baraghani created a bevy of viral recipes—from Tahini Ranch to Fall-Apart Caramelized Cabbage—that became household staples. Here, he follows up with more umami-rich dishes, beautiful and restaurant-worthy meals (that take half the time), and well-known dishes recast in utterly delicious ways. Among his debut cookbook’s 100 recipes, new surefire hits include Caramelized Sweet Potatoes with Browned Butter Harissa; Sticky, Spicy Basil Shrimp; and Tangy Pomegranate-Chicken. Cooks will find inspiration to riff on, quick meals for hurried weeknights, condiments galore, and memorable meals to impress dinner guests. In essays throughout the book, Baraghani shares convictions (why everyone must make his beloved Persian egg dish, kuku sabzi) and lessons to live by (the importance of salting fish before cooking it). 
 
The Cook You Want to Be is a trove of go-to recipes and knowledge, stunning photographs, and delicious, simple home cooking for modern times.

• ISBN10: 1984858564
• ISBN13: 9781984858566
• Publish Date: 24 May 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781984858566

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Cook You Want to Be is an interesting and inspirational guide with recipes by Andy Baraghani. Due out 24th May 2022 from Crown Publishing on their Loreena Jones imprint, it's a substantial 336 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The author has such a chatty, engaging, and friendly style of writing that I found myself reading this cookbook/memoir/masterclass cover to cover, more like a novel than a cookbook. He has worthwhile things to say about cooking and food, about the nature of hospitality and culture, and about eating and how our lives and experiences inform our growth as cooks.

The recipes are arranged thematically and built up systematically - from partial recipes, sauces, ingredients, breadcrumbs, etc through eggs, snacks, salad, veg, grains, soup, fish, meat, and sweets. Throughout the text, between and in the recipes, Mr. Baraghani gives tips, observations (buy new ingredients, explore, try), and encourages readers to stretch their own boundaries.

The recipes are written with an introduction and tips for serving, followed by ingredients in a bullet list (measurements are given in imperial - US measures), and step by step cooking instructions. Nutritional information is not provided. Many of the recipes contain photos. The photography is clear and many photos are in color. Serving suggestions are attractive and appropriate. Most of the recipe ingredients will be familiar to North American cooks. Some few will require access to a larger metropolitan area or a well stocked international market.

Five stars. This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, and for the home cook's library.

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