An Almost Perfect Cookbook

When you open this cookbook to the table of contents you might be turned off by the paucity of recipes listed. The book looks to be organized into six sections, about 35 recipes total. This would seem like a very small number, but this book deserves closer inspection because it is so much more than just a collection of well-done recipes. This is one of the few cookbooks that I can sit down and read it like it is a magazine. I mean that as a compliment.

Let me explain what makes this book different from a normal cookbook. It was written by Pam Anderson, the executive editor of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. For the uninitiated, Cooks Illustrated magazine comes out every two months. There are some product reviews, letters to the editor, technique articles, what you would expect from a magazine about cooking. But where it stands apart is its recipes. Instead of just listing the recipe, the authors describe how they developed their recipe, the techniques they used. If they are making brownies they will describe the 20 different variations they tried, varying the amount of sugar, the time they cooked, even the types of chocolate. It is a fantastic magazine.

The Perfect Recipe is written in the same style as Cooks Illustrated. The author will spend the first few pages of the recipe describing all the different ways she tried in developing her final recipe. Then she will give several recipes based on her experimentation. Let me use the section on roasting chicken as an example. She starts describing how she tried roasting, pan-sautéing, grilling and broiling, listing the pros and cons of each of these techniques. Then she describes why she settled on butterflying as the best. What is butterflying, you ask? Don’t worry, not only does she describe what butterflying is, well-done illustrations assist you in understanding the technique. After this description of the development of her recipe, she gives the actual recipe. Well, she actually gives several recipes based on her experimentation.

So for the roast chicken section, she ends up giving you three different recipes. Although in the table of contents it seems as if there are only about 35 recipes, there are several times that number. But one of the qualities of this book is that it sacrifices quantity for exceptional quality. She could have thrown in hundreds average recipes, but she doesn’t, she gives a smaller number of remarkably simple, terrific recipes.

If you are a fan of macaroni and cheese, then you have to get this book simply for that recipe alone. I cannot say enough about that one. It is better than any other I’ve ever had anywhere.

Do you like mashed potatoes; you have to read the section on them. Anderson not only tells you why different kind of potatoes are better than others for mashing, she gives techniques to save time by using a food mill. You never have to wonder why she does something in her recipe; all those questions were answered in her description.

This cookbook is like any other I own. Is it perfect? Well, for its purpose it, it is close. It will not replace the Joy of Cooking or How to Cook Everything as a general purpose book covering everything. It isn’t going to give you every recipe you could ever want. But what it does cover, what it tries to do, it succeeds spectacularly. She has spent the time roasting 40 turkeys, 40 different ways so you will know the best way.

Whenever I pull this book off my shelf, I am confident that I will end up making something that will be successful. I know it will taste good. I have confidence in the author. Owning this book, reading this book has made me a better cook. I highly recommend The Perfect Recipe.