We've had ethnic cookbooks, regional cookbooks, appetizer and dessert cookbooks, and books about a particular kind of food - soup, say, or salsa. But in the past few years, there has been a mini-trend developing for compendium cookbooks.
These are the encyclopedias of cooking, the ones that tell you how to prepare everything from soup to nuts, from asparagus to zabaglione. The new ones are aimed at those baby boomers and others who eschewed cooking when they were growing up, and now are scrambling to learn.
"People haven't learned to cook since between when I learned to cook and now," said Mark Bittman, the 48-year-old food journalist, editor and cookbook author whose latest book is "How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food" (Macmillan, 1998, $25).
And that lack of cooking skill, in his view, is a shame.
"I'm not a super-passionate person, but in the last few years, I've developed almost a mission: I want people to cook. I want them to cook, and I want them to eat together."
Thus from Bittman's book you can learn to make lamb medallions with shallots, tarragon and red wine - and you can learn to make basic popcorn. Real, not microwaved, popcorn. You can learn to make Linzer torte or simple buttered peas. Or how to de-beard a mussel or chop an onion.
"It really is a basic book," said Bittman, who was in town recently to promote the book. "Two different people said to me, 'It's so great you told how to make popcorn.' "
Bittman's book is one of those addressing "a real need for getting our most basic cooking questions addressed," said Lisa Ekus, whose Hatfield, Conn., firm specializes in publicity for cookbook authors.
Others that have come out in recent years - some of which are newly revised - are: "The New Joy of Cooking," by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker (Scribner, 1997, $30); "The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook," by David Rosengarten with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca (Random House, 1996, $35); "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook," by Marion Cunningham (Knopf, 1996, $30); and "The Woman's Day Cookbook," by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley and the editors of Woman's Day (Viking, 1995, $24.95).
In addition, a pair of recently revised books offer compendium breadth with a professional spin: "The New Making of a Cook," by Madeleine Kamman (William Morrow, 1997, $40) and "On Cooking," by Sarah Labensky and Alan M. Hause (Prentice Hall, 1998, $49.95).
Ekus said the compendium books are needed not just for the boomers but for a whole new generation of cooks in their 20s and 30s - because cooking has changed in the 47 years since the first edition of "The Joy Of Cooking" appeared, or the 102 years since Fannie Farmer published "The Boston Cooking School Cook Book."
"The old standbys that I learned to cook from are decades old," Ekus said. "The new books are updated with all the new products that are in the market, and with all the new techniques," such as grilling and stir-frying, that have become popular.
Bittman said, "The old 'Joy' and the other cookbooks were about cooking from the first half of the century, a time when most American food that was codified and written down was French. Now French is just one influence among many - actually one influence among secondary influences, since Italian [cuisine] has become so dominant."
David Styrmish, president of Jessica's Biscuit, a mail-order bookseller based in Newton, Mass., said compendiums are usually pretty good sellers, partly because they make great gifts. The recent compendiums have been extremely popular, he said.
However, the company's current No. 1 seller is Bittman's "How to Cook Everything." Interestingly, the No. 2 seller is "Jean-Georges," a book Bittman collaborated on with New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
"Americans have this new, recent bipolar disorder about food," Bittman said. "They either have to have the best food in the world at a four-star restaurant, or they go to McDonald's and tank up on fast food."
Most of the food served at an upscale Italian restaurant - dishes such as veal with tuna sauce and risotto with seafood - "wouldn't be out of the range of a home cook," Bittman said. People just need a little guidance, he said.
Bittman spent about four years working on the book, learning so much in the process that when he got to the end he went back and rewrote the beginning.
"The beginning wasn't good enough any more. I had begun to see the real pattern of cooking. For instance, what's braised beef? What's the universe of braised beef? It's liquid, beef and aromatics."
It's just the details that make the difference between a Thai-style dish and Irish stew, he said.
"It's an assembly thing. There's a basic recipe and variations on a theme - if you learn that, you're really learning to cook."
Like most compendiums, Bittman's book is full of tips, techniques and other information, both general and specific. There are also lots of illustrations and - his personal favorite touch - lists.
The lists include "Thirteen Poultry Dishes You Can Reheat," "Twenty-Nine Vegetable Dishes That Are Good at Room Temperature" and "Six Simple Ideas for Ice Cream."
The books aimed more at cooking students or professional chefs also offer detailed information on such things as how to sharpen a knife, how fish is graded, or the names of all the "stations" in a professional kitchen.
Besides a glossary, menu suggestions and index of illustrations, Bittman's appendixes list "Fifty Books I'd Rather Not Live Without." He includes the Dean and DeLuca book, Madeleine Kamman's book and the new "Joy."
"Even with 1,500 recipes in " 'How to Cook Everything,' " he said, "I'd never say mine is the last cookbook you'll ever need."
Pasta With Radicchio, Pine Nuts and Raisins
Serves 4
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 heads (about 3/4 pound to 1 pound) radicchio, trimmed and shredded
4 to 5 anchovy fillets (with their oil, if any; rinsed and picked over if salted), roughly chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 pound bucatini, perciatelle or linguine
1/3 cup dried currants or raisins
1/4 cup pine nuts
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Warm the olive oil for a minute in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring, until translucent. Add the radicchio, the anchovies and the tomato paste; stir to combine. Turn up the heat a bit, and cook until the radicchio becomes tender, about 5 minutes.
Cook the pasta in the pot of boiling water. Add the currants and pine nuts to the sauce and season with salt and pepper.
When the pasta is done, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid, and place in a large, warm serving bowl. Add the radicchio sauce and toss together, adding as much of the reserved cooking liquid as necessary to keep the dish moist and saucy.
Real Buttered Popcorn
Serves 4 to 6
2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
1/2 cup popping corn
4 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter (optional)
salt to taste
Place the oil in the bottom of a large, deep saucepan (6 quarts or so) that can later be covered and turn the heat to medium. Add 3 kernels of corn and cover.
When the 3 kernels pop, remove the cover and add the remaining corn. Cover and shake the pot, holding the lid as you do so. Cook, shaking the pot occasionally, until the popping sound stops, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter if you choose to use it.
Turn the popcorn into a large bowl, drizzle with the butter, and sprinkle with the salt. Serve immediately, if possible; popcorn is best when hot.
Note: To make cheese popcorn, sprinkle the hot popcorn with finely grated Cheddar, Parmesan or other hard cheese and toss. Or, toss with any seasoning you like.
Stir-Fried Beef With Onions
Serves 4
3/4-pound flank or sirloin steak
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons peanut oil (preferred) or vegetable oil
2 large or 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon peeled and minced or grated fresh ginger, plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 cup stock (commercial or homemade) or water
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce or soy sauce (see note)
Slice the beef as thinly as you can; it's easier if you freeze it for 15 to 30 minutes first. Cut the slices into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until it smokes. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the onions. Stir immediately, then stir every 30 seconds or so until the onions soften and begin to char slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Season the onions with salt and pepper, then remove them; keep the heat high.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, then the garlic and tablespoon of the ginger; stir and immediately add the beef. Stir immediately, then about every 20 seconds or so until it loses its color, just a minute or two longer; stir in the onions. Add the stock or water, the hoisin or soy, and the remaining ginger; let some of the liquid bubble away and serve immediately, over rice.
Note: Hoisin sauce is available in Asian markets or in the Asian foods sections of supermarkets.
Pear Clafouti
Serves 4 to 6
1 tablespoon butter, more or less, for greasing the pan
1/2 cup sugar, plus some for dusting the pan
about 4 pears, peeled, halved and cored
3 eggs
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup heavy cream or plain yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
confectioners' sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a gratin dish, about 9 inches by 5 inches by 2 inches deep, or a 10-inch round deep-pie plate or porcelain dish; sprinkle it with sugar, then invert to remove the excess. Lay the pears in 1 layer in the dish.
Beat the eggs until foamy. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and beat with a whisk or electric mixer until foamy and fairly thick.
Add the flour and continue to beat until thick and smooth. Add the cream, milk, vanilla and salt.
Pour the batter over the pears. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the clafouti is nicely browned on top and a knife inserted into it comes out clean. Sift some confectioners' sugar over it and serve warm or at room temperature.
- Recipes from "How to Cook Everything," by Mark Bittman
Pub Date: 11/11/98