How to Cook Without a Book

by Pam Anderson (Broadway)

It's ironic to have to read a 300-page cookbook to learn how to cook without one. But since Pam Anderson is the teacher, it's well worth the time and attention. She's the former executive editor of Cook's Illustrated, kind of the Consumer Reports of recipes where writers try countless minute variations to give readers the absolute best. Anderson did the same in her best-selling The Perfect Recipe: Getting It Right Every Time (first published in 1998), in which she waxed poetic on macaroni and cheese, roast turkey and other favorites after trying scores of modifications.

This time around, Anderson relays the recipes and techniques she thinks are so crucial that you should know them by heart. And, as usual, she's quite methodical about the whole thing. Each chapter has a mnemonic rhyme (more about that later); a step-by-step narrative about the technique; a recipe, presenting the technique in its simplest form; easy variations, exemplifying how the technique works; and the key points of each technique in a glance box. As any teacher can tell you, this kind of presentation is an effective learning tool—hammering the same information into the student from different angles and formats. And you'll undoubtedly become intimately familiar with, say, tomato sauce, pasta, salads, soups, potatoes and many other dishes after Anderson states her case.

After you follow her instructions for simple tomato sauce (extra-virgin olive oil or butter, garlic or onion, tomatoes, ground black pepper and salt and minced fresh parsley leaves), it's only a few easy steps to variations like tomato-basil cream sauce; tomato sauce with wild mushrooms and tomato sauce with zucchini and basil, among others.

Once you get the hang of sautéeing chicken cutlets, you move effortlessly on to turkey cutlets, pork chops and fish fillets. Ditto with pan sauces. You can throw away those bottled or powdered poor imitations forever once you master the glance box: "Measure pan sauce ingredients in a measuring cup (liquid, often wine, always totals 1/2 cup); pour liquid into hot skillet once meat, poultry or fish has been removed; reduce liquid to 1/4 cup; tilt the skillet and whisk in butter (1 tablespoon) or cream (2 tablespoons) and spoon over each portion and serve."

Even if you've never made pan sauce before, you'll then probably easily be able to whip up Anderson's suggestions: red wine-dijon sauce; Marsala wine sauce; Sauternes sauce with figs and pistachios; sweet vermouth sauce with prunes; and port wine sauce with dried cranberries.

Since such choices are so simple and are direct outgrowths of the initial basic recipe, you probably will be able to memorize them, as Anderson hopes. And, if you need more assistance, she gives you those cute mnemonic rhymes at the beginning of each chapter. Catchy phrases are clearly in line with memory experts' advice on how to help remember information. Therefore, for frittatas, you'll read, "Cook eggs without stirring till set around the edges. Bake until puffy, then cut into wedges." For tomato sauce, "Heat fat and garlic, then cook it for two. Add canned tomatoes and simmer for a few." And for sautéeing, "Heat butter and oil, swirling them around. Add meat, seasoned and coated, and cook until beautifully browned."

If you're already a pro when it comes to all these basics, the book would certainly make an invaluable gift for a kid who'll be living for the first time on his or her own or a newlywed. Another outstanding book in this genre is Cheryl Sindell's Cooking Without Recipes from 1997 (Kensington), which adds scores of literally one-paragraph gourmet recipes to a beginner's culinary vocabulary. In either case, the only words you'll have to remember are "You're welcome," for all the thanks you'll receive.

The following will give you a taste of Anderson's accomplished work. It's her basic tomato sauce recipe with two of her variations. Her chapter includes 16 additional easy permutations.

RECIPES
—Simple Tomato Sauce
—Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce
—Tomato Sauce with Capers and Black Olives

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