The Art of Simple Food

Let's go back to basics. If you are new to cooking, if you don't feel confident with even some of the basics, where you can turn? Do you find the old classic cookbooks, or seek something new? Well, if you want a new option, then maybe I can direct you to such a cookbook.

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution ($35.00) by Alice Waters is published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. The Art of Simple Food is a new hardcover cookbook with 406 pages.

The author, Alice Waters, owns the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. Chez Panisse is a restaurant and cafe and has an ever-changing menu based on what is seasonal and fresh. They seek out the best organically grown and harvested produce. Alice Waters has also written or co-written eight other cookbooks.

Her passion is to promote seasonal, local, and sustainable produced foods. Her restaurant certainly reflects that philosophy and her new cookbook also pursues that commitment. This philosophy certainly has become more common lately, yet Waters has been pursuing it for over thirty years. So I do think she knows what she is talking about.

Her new cookbook is more of an introductory one, for the beginning cook, or at least someone who wants to learn the basics. An experienced cook may not find much of value here. But, for the beginner I think this book can be quite valuable.

The cookbook is broken down into two main sections; Part I: Starting from Scratch-Lessons & Foundation Recipes; and Part II: At the Table: Recipes for Cooking Every Day. Each Part is then broken down into different chapters.

Part I begins with a chapter on how to stock your pantry and a description of common cooking equipment. This leads to a chapter on planning meals for your family and friends. The next seventeen chapters provide some very basic recipes and cooking techniques of items from sauces to rice, roasts to desserts. Each of these chapters has about three recipes.

These chapters provide more than just recipes. They go into detail about the ingredients involved as well as the specific cooking techniques needed. The instructions are very clear, easy to understand and very informative. The techniques you learn in these chapters will help you cook many other recipes.

For example, the chapter Out of the Frying Pan has three recipes: Sauteed Cauliflower, Pan-Fried Pork Chops and Fish in Breadcrumbs. Also within that chapter are general sections on Sauteing, Pan-Frying, Shallow-Frying and Clarified Butter. And all of that can be used with more than just the three recipes provided.

Part II then provides twelve chapters of additional recipes, from appetizers to desserts. There are easily over 200 recipes in these chapters. Again, these recipes are generally easy to create and the recipes may also contain additional information on the ingredients that are used. The ingredients should be readily available anywhere though you are recommended to seek out farmers' markets and local producers.

The book has some illustrations throughout though most do not depict the recipes. They are more of ingredients and cooking tools. I generally believe cookbooks should contain photos of at least some of the recipes. With an introductory cookbook, with basic recipes, it may not be as necessary for photos. Though I don't think it would have hurt to add a few.

I would definitely recommend The Art of Simple Food as an introductory cookbook. It is thorough, informative and easy to use. And its philosophy is certainly compelling. With the holidays approaching, this would make a good gift even.