The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen
Bee Wilson
(Author)
Description
Do you wish you could cook more, but don't know where to start? Bee Wilson has spent years collecting cooking "secrets" ways of speeding cooking up or slowing it down, strategies for days when you are stretched for time, and other ideas for when you can luxuriate in kitchen therapy. Bee holds out a hand to anyone who wants doable, delicious recipes, the kind of unfussy food that makes every day taste better: quick feasts from a can of beans; fast, medium, and slow ragus; and seven ways to cook a carrot.
Alongside thoughts on how to cook when you're alone, with children, or just plain tired, Bee offers 140 recipes including:
- the simplest chicken stew even the pickiest of eaters (aka children) will love
- Zucchini and Herb Fritters, a Grated Tomato and Butter Pasta Sauce (with or without shrimp), and other ways of making your box grater work for you
- salads to savor, like a tuna salad with anchovy dressing
- leisurely projects like an Aromatic All-Purpose Curry Powder and quicker food for friends (try Bulgar and Eggplant Pilaf with pistachio and lemon)
- the loveliest red curry sauce you can make in your instant pot
- universal desserts, or those gluten-free and dairy-free sweets that you can serve no matter who comes over, like a Vegan Pear, Lemon, and Ginger Cake
With advice on seasoning, cleaning up, and choosing the best equipment, Wilson reimagines modern cooking and brings the spark back into everyday meals. As Bee says, "There's still magic in the kitchen, if you know where to look."
Shall we cook?
Product Details
Price
$40.00
$37.20
Publisher
W. W. Norton & Company
Publish Date
September 26, 2023
Pages
432
Dimensions
7.41 X 10.24 X 1.27 inches | 3.13 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780393867633
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About the Author
Bee Wilson is the author of six books on food-related subjects. The cofounder of TastEd, a food education charity aimed at giving children opportunities to experience fresh vegetables and fruits in a joyful way, she writes for a range of publications, including the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal.
Reviews
Bee Wilson is . . . a witty and informed companion on everything from marmalade to table manners.--Ed Cumming "The Telegraph Magazine"
The Secret of Cooking is just magnificent. Part cookbook, part kitchen philosophy, it's beautifully written, eternally wise and impossible to put down. Plus recipes you'll return to again and again.--Tom Parker Bowles, on Twitter
Wisdom and notes from a lifetime of reading, thinking, cooking, and eating. And it's not just about food but about how we live, and how we look after ourselves and each other.--Diana Henry
Bee Wilson is the ultimate kitchen friend: smart, funny, conscientious and patient, this is a book you'll want to spend time with, in and out of the kitchen.--Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer, authors of Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East
Reading The Secret of Cooking is like sitting in a warm kitchen with an exceptionally articulate friend. I don't need a lot of convincing to pick up a pan, but Wilson's tips are so clever, her recipes so tempting, and her vignettes of family life so candid, that this is a book I can read for pleasure alone.--Niki Segnit, author of The Flavour Thesaurus
It's not often that a genuinely game-changing cookbook comes out, but this accomplished, approachable and helpful book--its writing as nourishing as the recipes--is most definitely it. Quite frankly, there's not a kitchen that should be without a copy of The Secret of Cooking.--Nigella Lawson
Earnest and accommodating. . . . It's no surprise that Secret is as much a joy to curl up with as it is to cook from; you'll be reminded of Wilson's endearing prose every time you peel a carrot or reach for a metal spider.--Bettina Makalintal "Eater"
I somehow got my hands on an early copy of Bee Wilson's The Secret of Cooking, and I've been using it ever since. A lot of cookbooks promise a less stressful, more enjoyable, life in the kitchen, as this one does. But you only have to look at Wilson's section headings to know she is going to be true to her claims. . . . She is about probability, not possibility; she wants her reader to cook for the life they have rather than for some impossible fantasy existence, because this is how she cooks herself, every day. Every page is full of tricks and shortcuts and substitutions: 15 pages alone are devoted to that simple but immensely useful and versatile bit of kit, the box grater. (NB it really isn't just for cheese.)--Rachel Cooke "Guardian"
A wonderful book filled with great things to eat, and wisdom, wit and much kindness.--Susie Boyt, author of Loved and Missed
Bee Wilson might be the most honest food writer out there. . . . In addition to simple, comforting recipes that she really truly walks you through, [The Secret of Cooking] is packed with advice on 'cooking from a standing start' (i.e. when your best self didn't think to soak the beans overnight) and three things she knows to be true about feeding picky young eaters. (Each of her three kids was particular in their own way.)--Jenny Rosenstrach, author of Dinner: A Love Story
The Secret of Cooking is just magnificent. Part cookbook, part kitchen philosophy, it's beautifully written, eternally wise and impossible to put down. Plus recipes you'll return to again and again.--Tom Parker Bowles, on Twitter
Wisdom and notes from a lifetime of reading, thinking, cooking, and eating. And it's not just about food but about how we live, and how we look after ourselves and each other.--Diana Henry
Bee Wilson is the ultimate kitchen friend: smart, funny, conscientious and patient, this is a book you'll want to spend time with, in and out of the kitchen.--Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer, authors of Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East
Reading The Secret of Cooking is like sitting in a warm kitchen with an exceptionally articulate friend. I don't need a lot of convincing to pick up a pan, but Wilson's tips are so clever, her recipes so tempting, and her vignettes of family life so candid, that this is a book I can read for pleasure alone.--Niki Segnit, author of The Flavour Thesaurus
It's not often that a genuinely game-changing cookbook comes out, but this accomplished, approachable and helpful book--its writing as nourishing as the recipes--is most definitely it. Quite frankly, there's not a kitchen that should be without a copy of The Secret of Cooking.--Nigella Lawson
Earnest and accommodating. . . . It's no surprise that Secret is as much a joy to curl up with as it is to cook from; you'll be reminded of Wilson's endearing prose every time you peel a carrot or reach for a metal spider.--Bettina Makalintal "Eater"
I somehow got my hands on an early copy of Bee Wilson's The Secret of Cooking, and I've been using it ever since. A lot of cookbooks promise a less stressful, more enjoyable, life in the kitchen, as this one does. But you only have to look at Wilson's section headings to know she is going to be true to her claims. . . . She is about probability, not possibility; she wants her reader to cook for the life they have rather than for some impossible fantasy existence, because this is how she cooks herself, every day. Every page is full of tricks and shortcuts and substitutions: 15 pages alone are devoted to that simple but immensely useful and versatile bit of kit, the box grater. (NB it really isn't just for cheese.)--Rachel Cooke "Guardian"
A wonderful book filled with great things to eat, and wisdom, wit and much kindness.--Susie Boyt, author of Loved and Missed
Bee Wilson might be the most honest food writer out there. . . . In addition to simple, comforting recipes that she really truly walks you through, [The Secret of Cooking] is packed with advice on 'cooking from a standing start' (i.e. when your best self didn't think to soak the beans overnight) and three things she knows to be true about feeding picky young eaters. (Each of her three kids was particular in their own way.)--Jenny Rosenstrach, author of Dinner: A Love Story
