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List Price: $28.00 | | Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Salesrank: 1049098
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| Our Price: $5.77 |
| Used Price: $2.85 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Perfection has never been so convenient.
Pam Anderson's infallible renditions of favorite dishes have made her America's most trusted cook. In COOKSMART, she returns with can't-fail recipes for everyday meals we all love, from spaghetti and meatballs, oven-fried chicken, and fajitas to foods for special occasions like crab cakes and vegetable lasagna. Pam knows today's cooks are too busy to tolerate less than superb results. She has tested and retested every recipe dozens of times so each one works flawlessly in real cooking and entertaining situations.
Cooking smart is about cooking sensibly. It means reducing the time and effort that go into a dish while delivering every bit of the flavor. You'll find oven-cooked ribs as succulent as those barbecued all day over a fire, a voluptuous chocolate cake as easy as a boxed mix, and cinnamon buns as fragrant and pillowy as they are convenient.
Cooking smart also means creating dishes the whole family can enjoy, such as turkey burgers as juicy as the best all-beef burgers but much lower in fat and cholesterol, and a crisp and creamy Caesar salad that isn't made with raw eggs.
COOKSMART recipes eliminate the unnecessary steps and troublesome quirks that keep you from making your favorite dishes. You'll learn how to prepare a pot roast as juicy and tender as the old-fashioned kind in just ninety minutes. You won't need special equipment for the meals in this book. Every ingredient used can be found in your local supermarket.
In COOKSMART, you'll be able to choose from dozens of holiday standbys: fresh shrimp cocktail, stuffed mushrooms, beef tenderloin for a crowd, silky pumpkin pie, and perfect pecan pie. And you'll find just as many effortless family-pleasing meals to rely on during the week, such as chicken Parmesan and Pork Tenderloin with Curried Apple Crust, which comes with many flavor variations.
In every case, cooking smart means making a dish the very best it can be: a gazpacho chock full of summer-vegetable flavor, a pasta salad that -- for once! -- tastes as good as it looks, and a peach pie with a crisp crust and a fruity flavor that slices to perfection.
In COOKSMART, you'll not only get more than a hundred impeccable dishes that will become part of your cherished repertoire, but you'll acquire a wealth of culinary knowledge that you can apply to other recipes.
Description of CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day:
Pam Anderson's CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day is a collection of comfort-food favorites that she's perfected through a long process of trial and error. From her own experience as a chef, cookbook author (The Perfect Recipe), and food columnist for USA Weekend, Anderson has created a rigorous approach for selecting the best possible recipe for any given dish, winnowing out weaker, less satisfactory recipes in several stages. She starts by reviewing several recipes for the same dish. For example, Anderson noted that the conventional method of making fajitas included marinating the meat before it is cooked, which, in her opinion, masks the rich flavor of steak. In her version, the fajita meat gets a spice rub before cooking and then a brief, post-cooking sauna-like repose in a simple mixture of lime juice and garlic. The resulting fajitas have the relaxed subtle flavor of garlic, lime, and cumin that complement rather than overpower the tender steak.
This book provides good instruction for the beginning chef, demonstrating how to use the basic techniques to perfect one's own recipe. But there is a lot to read, so be warned. This book is a time commitment if attempting to read cover to cover, and it doesn't necessarily work in the real-time experience of looking and cooking. However, if you're searching for a collection of great, gourmet-style recipes for home-cooked favorites, CookSmart is a pretty wise choice. --Teresa Simanton
CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day Reviews:
Educational 
2008-08-30 - This book is so informative. I love the research and detailed instructions. I highly recommend it.
Too much trial and error 
2006-09-18 - This is a very unusual cookbook. For each recipe, there's a few pages about experiments she did to come up with the final recipe.
In that, this reads a whole lot like Cooks Illustrated.
Frankly, I like to read what WORKS, not what didn't, then finally, what did.
Since one of her goals was to make things "simple", it is very hard to know that the recipe calls for something because it works, or it's just the thing you can find at an average supermarket.
I want this to be a comment. It's not going to turn off everyone.
But if you'd rather read an Alton Brown book than Cooks Illustrated, this may not be an ideal book for you.
I am a GREAT cook and this book has made me even better.
2006-03-26 - I am a huge cookbook maven. I have hundreds, some good ones and some were a waste of money. This is easily in my top 10 of cookbooks. I will now buy a Pam Anerson book by reputation alone. My entire family adores the Ceasar Salad. The Pasta salad combo's she has, has sent more that one friend to nirvana. We live in Malaysia and the food here is dynamite, but yes we crave good old American food and Pam is my go to girl for those needs. If you like easy recipes that you can find ingredients for, buy this book. Eat and be happy.
always a winner - a reliable source
2005-06-14 - I'm a busy Mom who none-the-less wants my kids to eat real food. I don't have time for mistakes and trial and error. The book explains the entire process in an easy to read and understand manner and without fail, the recipes have all turned out fabulous. In fact, they are so delicious they have earned me quite a reputation. Now, whenever there is a pot luck - I get requests. The Blue Ribbon Chili is like the filet mignon of chili - I went to a barbecue this weekend and brought the Asian pasta salad and every single person asked me to send the recipe. I just got an email asking once again. I sent them the link to the book instead ;-) I sing Pam's praises often. Now my sister, her brother-in-law and several friends are all devotees. I highly recommend this book (my primary resource) as well as Pam Anderson's "How to Cook Without A Book" - the pan sauces alone make that one a worthwhile purchase.
A Chemist in the Kitchen
2004-06-23 - I loved CookSmart. As a chemist, I enjoy doing experiments at home in the kitchen as well as at work. The way that Pam described the process that she went through to find the ideal conditions for each recipe mirrors the careful manipulation and recordkeeping that accompanies a scientific experiment. I like knowing why each ingredient was chosen and what happened with other ingredients to make them less than perfect. Even if you don't appreciate the detailed dialogue that precedes each recipe, you will appreciate the results of using each perfected recipe. I tried the Chicken Parmesan, Oven-Fried Chicken, Turkey Burgers and some of the hints for perfect pie crust. All of the food turned out wonderfully and satisfied my need to occasionally prepare gourmet type food for my family. I am looking forward to trying more of the recipes!
