Have You Ever Wondered Why a Recipe tells you to scald milk or to use cocoa instead of baking chocolate? Do you really need to flour chicken cutlets before sauteing them or to chill pie dough before rolling it out? The editors and test cooks at Cook's Illustrated wanted to know the answers to these questions and hundreds like them. We test variations on a recipe 10, 20, 30, or even 80 times to evaluate baking temperatures, mixing methods, ingredient choices, and cooking techniques. The result? The 700 recipes in this comprehensive cookbook, which covers everything from roast chicken to meatloaf to creme caramel and oatmeal cookies. You will learn basic techniques, such as how to make chicken stock, pie dough, and vinaigrette, as well as find out why chicken shouldn't be basted during cooking, why bringing is the secret to the best Thanksgiving turkey, and why low oven temperatures are best for most roasted meats. The Best Recipe not only contains the best recipes for your favorite home-cooked foods, it also explains how and why these recipes work so that you will become a better cook.
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March 12, 2005: For classic cookbook recipes, this is the best. Every recipe I've tried has come out perfectly and I have gotten rave reviews for these dishes every time. My friend recently bought the updated version and is very happy with it. I would highly recommend it!!
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November 29, 2004: I really loved this cookbook because it gives not only the 'know-how', but also the 'know-why'. It's really helped me in adapting other recipes also. It's also helpful because many times you're trying to figure out which recipe/method out of dozens are the best to try and chances are likely that they've tried it and reviewed it's drawbacks here for you. I'd recommend it for any serious home cook. However, not for the simple who just want to throw something together.