For Your Reference

On the back cover of one of my favourite cookbooks, it states “Be a faster, smarter, better cook”. And who wouldn’t want to be that? But Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks by David Joachim isn’t really a cookbook in the traditional sense as it is not just a listing of recipes. Rather it’s full of 5000 tips, tricks, shortcuts, solutions and answers to everyday cooking questions to help you cook like a pro. It’s arranged from A to Z and is cross-referenced and organized to make finding things easy, whether you’re trying to figure out how to:
(S) avoid making watery salsa,
(F) organize your freezer (one of my favourite topics in the book)
(C) how to store a coconut; or
(B) how to ripen a banana fast

The book also includes 900 simple recipes that help you master what you’ve just learned when reading about various ingredients or cooking techniques. So find some room on the shelf for this one—it’s like having your own private at-home Cordon Bleu course (for about $20).