From the perfect pot roast to the fragrant complexity of braised endive, there’s no food more satisfying than a well-braised dish. The art of braising comes down to us from the earliest days of cooking. Today, braising remains as popular and as uncomplicated as ever. Molly Stevens’s All About Braising is a comprehensive guide to this versatile way of cooking, written to instruct a cook at any level. Everything you need to know is here, including: a thorough explanation of the principles of good braising with helpful advice on the best cuts of meat, the right choice of fish and vegetables, and the right pots 125 reliable, easy-to-follow recipes for meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables, ranging from quick-braised weeknight dishes to slow-cooked weekend braises. 16 color photographs, 50 line drawings
Winner of 2005 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook
Winner of 2005 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook
Included as one of the Top 10 Cookbooks of 2004 by Food & Wine Magazine
Included in The Village Voice Top 10 Best Cookbooks Of All Time, October 2009
Selected by Cooking Light as one of their picks for the top 100 cookbooks of the past 25 years (and among one of their top 6 “Best Technique and Equipment Books”).
Links to find it on Amazon, or from an independent bookseller.
More praise for All About Braising
“…Assuming we’re settling in for a long, spiritually challenging winter, comforting and fragrant food seems the thing to be cooking. You’ll find just that in Molly Stevens’s ALL ABOUT BRAISING: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking (Norton, $35). Stevens is a beautifully clear writer who likes to teach; I wasn’t surprised to learn that she was once on the staff of La Varenne, Willan’s cooking school in Burgundy. Some of her tempting recipes are very easy (sweet braised whole scallions with lemon and tarragon), some more elaborate (salmon fillets braised in pinot noir with bacon and mushrooms). All are transformative…” — New York Times Sunday Book Review Food, Corby Kummer, December 5, 2004
“Every year we review dozens of good cookbooks to find the great ones. Here’s a preview of our picks for the next edition of F&W’s ‘Best of the Best.’… …Slow cooking may seem out of step with our fast-paced world, but it doesn’t have to be. Braising won’t produce dinner in 30 minutes, but once the ingredients are in the pot, as Molly Stevens points out, they require remarkably little attention from the cook. The recipes—both traditional braises, such as the delicious Short Ribs Braised in Porter Ale with Maple Rosemary Glaze, and unexpected ones, like Braised Whole Chicken with Bread Stuffing & Bacon promise superb home cooking.” —Food & Wine Magazine, The Very Best Cookbooks of 2004, Kate Heddings, December 2004
“The Best of 2004: Food Books Reviewed….Another meaty American book is All About Braising by Molly Stevens (Norton, £25): a surprisisng topic for a large monograph. Stevens ranges from creamy braised Brussels sprouts to Vietnamese braised scallops, but her concern is mainly carnivorous. Excellent on technicalities, she elucidates 150 examples of one-pot cooking…” — London Independent, Christopher Hirst, December 2004
“Molly Stevens has rescued the underappreciated cooking technique with a book that extols its homey, flavorful virtues.” — In Praise of Braising, Timothy Q. Cebula, Boston Globe Correspondent, November 10, 2004
“Molly Stevens, you have now joined Marcella Hazan and Mark Bittman in my nascent cookbook collection.” — Emily Weinstein, New York Times Diners Journal Blog, December 2008
“Stevens’ recipes range from the familiar (Yankee pot roast) to the exotic (squid roulades braised with white wine and tomatoes), and the strength of the book is that she approaches each recipe with the same calm, clear, straightforward voice of the teacher she was and – through her writing – still is.” — Vermont Sunday Magazine, Marialisa Calta, August 2, 2005
One Potato, Two Potato: 300 Recipes from Simple to Elegant
Everyone loves potatoes. This book transports cooks beyond the usual side dishes and introduces them to the secrets and specialties of great chefs and cooks the world over. Roy Finamore and Molly Stevens show how to prepare spectacularly simple appetizers, including dips, chips, and show-stopping cocktail potatoes made from a few ordinary ingredients. They presents dozens of soups and salads, including rich Summer Vichyssoise and Herb Garden Potato Salad. There are more than fifty main-dishes, such as Sunday Lamb with Proper Roast Potatoes and Chicken Stuffed with Potatoes and Shiitake Mushrooms — not to mention a sophisticated rendition of Shepherd”s Pie. The potato turns up as the hidden ingredient in breads (Potato Cheddar Bread with Chives) and in such desserts as moist Farmhouse Chocolate Cake. Finamore and Stevens show how to master crisp steak fries, silky mashes, and sumptuous gratins. A bonus feature of the book is the sweet potato, in dishes from a delightfully nostalgic Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow to an urbane Semifreddo with Chocolate Sauce.
Find it on Amazon.
To purchase a copy from an independent bookseller, please click here: One Potato, Two Potato
The 150 Best American Recipes
Finalist in the 2007 IACP annual Cookbook Awards.
An ultimate resource: a can’t-live-without-it collection of the most exciting recipes of the last decade. Out of literally tens of thousands of recipes that have appeared in print — in cookbooks, magazines, newspapers, and even in flyers and on the Internet — from the deservedly famous to the wonderfully obscure, from top-flight chefs to unknown but gifted cooks — two of the food world’s most respected writers chose the most distinctive. Then came the key step: extensive testing in their own kitchens. If the dish wasn’t spectacular, it didn’t make the cut. Finally, they pitted their favorites against one another and chose the winners: the very best of the best.
Scores of brilliantly simple dishes that are sensationally delicious. The best recipes from the great chefs and cooks of the era, including Jamie Oliver, Thomas Keller, Judy Rodgers, and Alice Waters.
Miraculously quick, remarkable everyday dishes that you’ll want to make countless times and share with your friends.
Holiday dishes that are certain to become instant traditions in your family.
Valuable tips and techniques to make all your cooking easier.
Find it on Amazon or from an independent bookseller: 150 Best American Recipes
The Best American Recipes 2004-2005
Hailed by People, the New York Times, Food & Wine, CBS This Morning, the Wall Street Journal, and other media around the country as the perfect choice for any cook, The Best American Recipes is the most wide-ranging and extensively home-tested collection of its kind. Series editors Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens track down the tastiest and easiest dishes of the year from sources as diverse as an amateur cooking contest in California and the Web site of a family-run Vermont food company. With recipes culled from world-class chefs and publications ranging from Ina Garten’s prim Barefoot in Paris to Maya Angelou’s rip-roaring Hallelujah! The Welcome Table to Harley and Davidson Family Recipes, editors McCullough and Stevens have compiled a daydream-inspiring yearbook of American cooking. Dedicated home chefs would do well to add at least one of the book’s main dishes to their arsenal; with favorites like Tagliatelle with Crème Fraîche and Arugula and Scandanavian Salmon Stew with Mushrooms and Dill to choose from, it shouldn’t be hard to shake up any family’s evening lineup. The desserts chapter alone will make this a must-have for culinary enthusiasts. The recipes use ingredients available at any corner market, so even inexperienced cooks working in a sparsely equipped kitchen can turn out delicious, eye-catching dishes.
To order from Amazon, click The Best American Recipes 2005-2006: The Year’s Top Picks from Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and the Internet (150 Best Recipes)
New England
No book series documents the dynamics of contemporary American regional cooking like Williams-Sonoma’s New American Cooking. Ingredient-driven, this series describes each dish through what’s locally raised, be it fruit, fish, fowl, or beast.
New England reflects the foods, recipes, and ways of cooking that distinguish the region from the rest of the country. In addition to such classics as chowder, pot roast, and bread pudding, this collection explores the vibrant palate of New England’s contemporary cuisine. At the same time, it offers a lively portrait of the eclectic mix of foods and people that set the Northeast apart.
To purchase a copy, please click here: New England (Williams-Sonoma New American Cooking)