The Best Kept Secret: A Cookbook Recommendation

For those who don't know this about me, I spent years working in food service. I flipped burgers, scooped ice cream, sliced bagels, tossed pizza, catered to football players, and waited tables for over 10 years at 5 different restaurants. Needless to say, this is where I learned a lot about food and cooking prior to my formal education.

Over time I will share some of this knowledge with you, but today I will give you the best secret.

While working at my favorite restaurant gig, I used to bug the chef and cooks constantly with questions about food and cooking. They usually didn't mind...they liked that I was actually interested in what happened behind the scenes, unlike most front of the house staffers.

I don't remember why, but one on occasion I asked the chef how to make a good, I mean really good, pasta sauce, like his. He took me to the back office and showed me a cookbook called The Best Recipe. He showed me its recipe for bolognese and pointed out that each recipe was not only a list of steps and ingredients, but an explanation for why each step and ingredient was used, with some basic food science mixed in. He said this book was a great go-to when making something new or when you wanted to learn the hows and whys of cooking.

He let me borrow the book and I used it to make the best sauce I have ever tasted! I also used it to make the best homemade fries and to prepare various vegetables and dishes. It was always spot on and never disappointed me.

For some reason I didn't run out and buy my own copy. And by the time I decided to, the makers of the book had already produced a new version. So I bought the New Best Recipe. It still provides insights, background, and food science, but with different recipes or new versions. It is a great book in its own right, and I highly recommend it, but the one recipe that made me fall in love with the original, the bolognese, just isn't as good.

I don't make the bolognese very often because it takes a long time and because I don't eat meat anymore. But I love making it for friends and loved ones or on a special occasion. And I always try to get my hands on a copy of the original Best Recipe as a reference/refresher.

If you are looking for a cookbook that will teach you something AND give you the best version of a recipe, try this one. Or try one of the other incarnations: 30 Minute, Slow & Easy, Light, International, Vegetable, Skillet, etc. But if you are a new cook, get the original or the New Best Recipe. You won't be sorry!

Now I'm off to get supplies so I can spend tomorrow afternoon making some meat sauce!