Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes To Repeat

by Molly Baz

If you seek out, celebrate, and obsess over good food but lack the skills and confidence necessary to make it at home, you’ve just won a ticket to a life filled with supreme deliciousness. Cook This Book is a new kind of foundational cookbook from Molly Baz, who’s here to teach you absolutely everything she knows and equip you with the tools to become a better, more efficient cook.

Molly breaks the essentials of cooking down to clear and uncomplicated recipes that deliver big flavor with little effort and a side of education, including dishes like Pastrami Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Onions and Dill, Chorizo and Chickpea Carbonara, and of course, her signature Cae Sal. But this is not your average cookbook. More than a collection of recipes, Cook This Book teaches you the invaluable superpower of improvisation though visually compelling lessons on such topics as the importance of salt and how to balance flavor, giving you all the tools necessary to make food taste great every time. Throughout, you’ll encounter dozens of QR codes, accessed through the camera app on your smartphone, that link to short technique-driven videos hosted by Molly to help illuminate some of the trickier skills.

As Molly says, “Cooking is really fun, I swear. You simply need to set yourself up for success to truly enjoy it.” Cook This Book will help you do just that, inspiring a new generation to find joy in the kitchen and take pride in putting a home-cooked meal on the table, all with the unbridled fun and spirit that only Molly could inspire.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Culinary, Food and Drink

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2021

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I buy a LOT of cookbooks. And love reading them, and getting inspired, but to be honest...rarely do I make more than 2-3 recipes from any one book. Cook This Book is immediately going on the "priority" cookbook shelf in the kitchen - that small collection of 15 books that I reach for again and again. Molly's palate is impeccable, and I've made a dozen recipes from this already, with another dozen still flagged to cook through in the coming weeks. Most recipes, I don't even make adjustments too - another cookbook rarity for me. Molly's expertise in writing recipes for home cooks who don't want to stand in the kitchen for hours is really on display in this volume. Oh, and if you need more Molly - do go join her patreon. Fresh new recipes weekly are another bonus inspiration, and there's already been a few that are put into the regular rotation, as they are so very good. Buy this book! Then Cook This Book!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not entirely sure why I bought this book. I think it was the cover (which you should never judge by, did you know?) and the graphic design. I wish I’d had a flick through in the shop beforehand though, because this just isn’t the type of food I like to cook or eat.

First off, it’s a lot of meat. Like, a lot. And dairy. The vegetable section feels more like a chapter of side dishes than anything you could eat satisfactorily as a main meal. That’s obviously my fault, though, and doesn’t reflect in my rating, I promise. The book does not claim to be a vegan-friendly one, but I was willing to overlook that (and have loved many cookbooks that aren’t vegan) if the writing was good.

Unfortunately Molly’s writing style just isn’t for me either. I’m sure she’s a genuinely lovely person, and this sweetness does come across in her writing, but I do like a bit more from my writers than describing something as “crispytown, USA”. Whilst the writing is easy to read, it borders on simple and, sometimes, childish (“flaky-flake?”). Her introductions to the recipes didn’t entice me to make them.

There are also run-on sentences and comma splices which sounds pedantic but absolutely infuriates me when reading something that has been professionally edited and published.

I also don’t like books that contain an entire chapter dedicated to salads. It’s not a recipe, it’s a salad.

But, hey ho, on to the next one.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revisiting now that I have Cooked a few things from this book. Omg. Molly Baz shows you that you don’t need a million fancy ingredients to make something delicious. She also writes her recipes in a way that is so easy to follow and shop for.

And the FLAVORS of all of her recipes- WOW.

This book is a must for all home cooks!!!

[Hannah Degn]

I made some delicious dishes this year AND feel like I'm a better cook. Mostly, I love how Molly lays out the recipes with the techniques and grocery list. It helped me to really develop a successful pantry system and work on a few go to dishes that I can really whip out in a time crunch.

[Rani H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

her husband described her food well: fun, funky, farty. Molly Baz is a genious. she also had us eating 5 HEADS of garlic in one week. black pepper, lemon, and garlic seem to be here flavor go-tos. i'm buying the book because i made so many of the recipes and loved them all:

-pastrami roast chicken with schmaltzy onions and dill was probably my favorite. the onion and garlic were like candy.
-milk-braised chicken with bacon, beans and kale.
-spiced, grilled and swaddled chicken thighs with the works. such a good recipe. i have made it twice, and it will be an heirloom for sure.
-strip steaks au poivre--this pan sauce is absolutely heavenly. next time i might just skip the steak and drink the sauce.
-crispy buttered shrimp with 20 cloves of garlic. wish i would have used better quality shrimp. but otherwise, perfect in all ways.
-poached fish with creamed leeks and toasty hazelnuts. it was decadent for sure. i farted dumpster for a day. but it was almost worth it.
marinated lentils with spiced walnuts and lotsa basil. the ratios on her dressing. how can the be so well-balanced?
charred cabbage with salty peanuts and nuoc cham. do you know how it feels to have half a cabbage inside of you? i do.
-k-bas and cabbage soup. cabbage and beans. farty? check. my husband and i ate the entire 6 servings in one meal. go figure.
-the right way to make popcorn. the only way i'm making popcorn from now on. tons of butter and nutritional yeast.

[lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is SO instructional and reads SO well in Molly’s voice. I was a huge fan of the BA test kitchen and still follow Molly’s pages. I haven’t made anything in the book yet but will update once I do! The educational bits at the beginning and end explain everything I’ve been trying to learn from online recipes for the past year or so, when I got into cooking for myself. This woman is incredible and I’ll buy anything she writes!!

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction and recipes themselves were very much set up in an "explain it to me like I'm 5" way, which was probably tedious for some people and made me (a dummy) stoked. I appreciated every time she told me to make sure my plate was lined with a paper towel because I am one of those people who will literally just do what the instructions tell me to do. Then my boyfriend will walk into the kitchen and say "that's very clearly not what they meant." Well, I didn't have to guess what Molly meant! And if I did, there was a QR code to show me how to do it.

There's only a few recipes I'll actually repeat, but I learned a lot!

[Gina P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t usually leave reviews for cookbooks, but I feel like the truth about this one needs to be put out there. The graphics are interesting and appealing… and that’s about all that is appealing about this cookbook.

The cutesy titles, the wet and messy food photos, the strange combinations of ingredients… some of them actually made my stomach churn. (Chicken soup with six stalks of celery and prunes? Tomato soup loaded up with soggy bread? Soft-boiled eggs over greek yogurt topped with browned butter? What!?)

Not to mention, this cookbook claims to be a guide for the beginner home cook, but the recipes call for many expensive and (where I live) hard to find ingredients. For example: salmon roe, broccolini, burrata, mortadella, scallops, and more. If I had and could afford these lovely ingredients, I wouldn’t dare waste them on these recipes. Mortadella used to flavor a pot of beans? I don’t think so.

I suspect also this cookbook may have been sponsored by the Celery Council, because the author uses celery often in her recipes—and in large quantities. Most of the recipes center on meat and bread, but if there’s going to be a vegetable, it’s celery. If you love celery and think, “Why not make Ants on a Log into a salad?”, then this may be the book you’ve been waiting for.

For the record, I knew nothing about the author going in. I saw a review that said someone had cooked a ton of the recipes and loved them, which is always a good sign, but I now find that doubtful. (Or else we must have very different tastes.) It feels like the author said, “Let’s take a basic recipe and add one ingredient that makes it strange and unaccessible” for almost every recipe in this cookbook.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am several generations older than the cookbook author Molly Baz so maybe that’s my problem. From the book design, the messy/sloppy arrangement of the food in many of the photos, the harsh lighting of all the photos, to the relentless slang/abbreviations and even occasional expletives, this book is way too in-your-face for me. I appreciate the author’s mission but the voice of this book is almost a complete turnoff to me. I did look at every recipe but I don’t intend to try any.

[Amanda Lagerfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Molly Baz's recipes and this book is exactly what I would expect her to produce. There is a great mix of recipe types in this book from difficulty level to the types of foods presented. The recipes are creative and delish and Molly was able to organize it in a way that cooks with any level of skill will be able to master these meals. I truly detest cookbooks that require obscure ingredients that can only be found in specialized stores in one region of one city in the country and this book does not do that. All the recipes in this book are accessible and you can easily change an ingredient or two to your taste to make these recipes yours. Also the graphics of this book are beautiful and flipping through it makes me so happy. So far I have made 4 recipes and each one was better than the last.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes look decent, but I couldn’t get past the eye-searing graphic design. It’s more appropriate for posters trying to catch your attention across a busy subway station, not for conveying detailed, nuanced information. The recipe font is too small and cramped plus weirdly formatted, which makes it hard if I need to glance quickly at the next step in the middle of preparing a dish.

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in one go and made the kimchi ranch chicken tonight to celebrate- love u molly

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love how the recipes are fairly simple, yet flavorful. I borrowed this cookbook from the library, tried three recipes and decided that I needed to buy my own copy asap.

Recipes Tried:
-Pastrami roast chicken with schmaltzy onions & dill - Very easy and flavorful recipe. I couldn't find a whole roast chicken that wasn't 5 or more lbs so I ended up just getting 3 lbs of chicken breasts. Turned out great and the leftover chicken is very versatile. Ate the leftovers as a chicken sandwich and as a salad topping.
-Caesar-ish potato salad with radishes & dill - I cut this recipe in half. Loved how summery this tastes with the fresh dill. A little dry though. Next time I make it I would probably make a little more of the dressing that goes on the potatoes than the recipe calls for.
-Tomato toast with cheddar & smoky mayo - Love everything about this recipe. Would suggest cutting the smoky mayo recipe in half though. The recipe is technically for two pieces of toast but I had a ton of the smoky mayo left over.

[Saoirse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one of my favourite cookbooks ever!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A co-worker recommended this one to me, as I was looking for some new recipes. I had never heard of Molly Baz before but I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this cookbook and found several recipes I’m excited to try!

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I was waiting until I made the brisket to review this book (?) but brisket is always $45-ish, so. I do really like this cookbook, despite the sometimes eye-rolling names Molly Baz uses (Sweetie P’s are, you guessed it, sweet potatoes. EYEROLL.) and the presence of cottage cheese (sneaky cottage cheese salad on p. 186–no thank you!).

I really appreciate the way this book led me to try dishes with ingredients I don’t usually like, like raw celery. “Pork Sausages with Mustardy Lentils and Celery” really worked for me because the celery was sliced *very* thinly and tossed with lemon, parsley, and oil, a slightly tart and crisp relish.

I’m always trying to trick myself into eating more lentils, and the “Marinated Lentils with Spiced Walnuts and Lotsa Basil” (small eyeroll) was quite good. Cooking nuts in oil/cooking an oil for salad dressing is an interesting technique I hadn’t done before. The pasta with red lentil and pork ragu was also really tasty.

I rarely cook with lamb (it seems a bit cruel, and sometimes the taste is off-putting, and it’s really expensive), but I went out of my comfort zone and made the minty lamb meatballs with crispy cabbage and tahini, surprised at how well it came out (and how fancy my husband and I felt eating it!).

I recommend the Spicy creamed greens with bacon and dill and the Big Shells with Escarole, too. There were a few misses here—in the “Milk-Braised Chicken with Bacon, Beans, and Kale,” the chicken skin gets soft and flabby and comes off in an unappealing way, and crisping up the skin first seems like wasted effort. For me, the orzo al limone was watery and meh.

Finally, I made one of the desserts in a cast iron skillet: “Seedy Sweet Potato and Ginger Snacking Cake.” I was suspicious of putting so many sunflower seeds and sesame seeds on top of the cake, but it gave it a great variety of texture and flavor—soft and crunchy, salty and sweet—that was a welcome surprise. Up next is the Miso Apple Tart, if I can ever remember to buy almond butter. Maybe on the same day brisket is on sale.

[Daniel Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll start off by saying this book won’t be for everyone, and that’s fine. She wrote the recipes the way she speaks which grates on a lot of people. But like let this woman make a book that caters to her fans and not appeal to the masses. I think what this cook book knocks out of the park is the addition of QR codes. I’m a very visual person, especially when cooking it’s such a visual activity. So it’s nice to see the techniques done in such short videos. I’m also such a picky person and this book(and Molly in general) has introduced me to a bunch of ingredients I usually would stay away from.

And long live the Cae Sal.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've followed Molly for a couple of years now, after discovering her from the BA kitchen. I read the entire book cover to cover before cooking anything and was really excited to try some recipes. The intro portion was a bit tiresome for me since I don't consider myself a beginner in the kitchen, so I already knew all of that info, but I did appreciate her fun tone and think it would be very helpful for those who are beginners.

But the food... MOLLY. KNOWS. FLAVORS.

So far I've made the Hot 'n' Crispy Chicken Cutlets with Kimchi Ranch, the Charred Brussels with Soy Butter & Fried Garlic, and Raw & Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Sesame and Lime.

They were ALL out of this world... Molly's flavors in all recipes I have made from her (including online recipes) are so freaking balanced it's insane. Even my boyfriend who is a fried chicken fiend (and hardly gets it, so anytime he does he is very happy) loved the brussels sprouts more (and he hardly cares for those normally)! I'd say that's a win in my book - I'm very much looking forward to cooking more from this book.

[Anna W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to see this book as I follow Molly Baz’s Instagram and I’m constantly sending a delicious recipe to a friend captioned “I WANT.” That’s said, I’m sad to report that many of the recipes did not sound appealing to me.

To be fair, I am only one of many, many readers. I *did* find a handful of recipes I’d like to try at some point, but nothing jumped into my brain as “I WANT” as much as I expected.

The format of the recipe pages were easy to read and nicely laid out; I also liked that she included QR code’s to link to videos of certain cooking processes (ie—best way to chop an onion, delobing a pepper, etc.). Otherwise I found much of the design of the book distracting and unattractive (again, maybe this is just me!).

Overall the cookbook fell flat for me. I am happy though to have a cookbook to donate to the library that others may greatly enjoy. 😊🍽

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This cookbook is an absolute mess. The layout is horrible. The photos do no favors for the recipes. The recipes encourage you to use QR codes (that might be helpful for some). The pages 35-36 in bold letters tells you to stop and I’d advise that you heed that advice. There are a few recipes that are okay but even the titles of them are off putting. But the author gets 2 stars - she wrote a cookbook and got somebody to publish it. That’s more than a lot of people have accomplished.

[Rachel Oglesby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molly Baz is my actual hero as a woman AND as a cook! I love that her recipes are so flavorful and simple, and I love that I have learned lots of really tangible things from this book that I can apply to cooking outside of CTB. I could eat Dijon lentils all day. Just saying. I think that anyone who is even curious about learning how to approach a kitchen should get this and cook through it. K bye.

[Sarah Cetra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will return to review fully once I cook some of these, but every single recipe looks incredible, and from reading through, I can tell this will be a hit for me. The QR code’s for different techniques is genius.


Tbh, the author can come off as trying too hard to be quirky but the recipes themselves seem really solid & creative.

[Mary Coder · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS COOK BOOK!! I just bought it for myself for mudders day!! I was inspired by
@freddsters on TikTok & IG. Watching him cook Molly Bazs' recipes regularly kept me SERIOUSLY hung-a-ree!! I will update as soon as I start experimenting with it!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the graphic design (and QR codes), and very approachable vibe this cookbook has. Definitely catered toward a younger demographic and those new to the kitchen - would recommend if you fall in that target audience.

Learned quite a bit in the intro section prior to the recipes, and inspired to try some of these (I marked down about 10-15 I’d like to try). A loooot of the recipes are heavy on the dairy/meat, which isn’t exactly what I’m looking for - so I picked out the few meat dishes and salad/veggie/dessert dishes I might be interested in. Some of the veg recipes seem a bit sparse, and likely are sides rather than main entrees. Anyway, with all that said, I’ll revisit this review once I try some recipes.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working through recipes in this book entirely changed my relationship to cooking. The way the recipes are doled out is so user friendly - specifically for time management. Telling when to chop an onion (not listing it as a prepped ingredient at the top of the recipe) really made all the difference for me. Always making sure to list the measurement in the body of the recipe not just the ingredient which has to be cross referenced with the ingredient list is genuinely a game changer to a beginning cook. I was a complete novice at 35 but after about 4 months I am cooking every single meal for my wife. I truly love this book.

[RJ Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful, irreverent, and well designed cookbook I’ve seen. The photography is styled perfectly, typography is beautiful and fun, and it’s written just like Molly Baz talks abbreviations and all.

Full disclosure: we haven’t cooked anything from this yet so the star rating *could* change. But just from reading I’ve already learned so much and it’s so great to read through and look at that I’m already giving it 5 stars.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't in this book for the fundamentals, just the food. That being said, what I read of the tips and introductions seemed very interesting and informative.

My biggest issue is all the cutesy shortening of words. It works in videos, but it's hard to read. I don't always know what she's referring to, even after reading the recipe headlines.

Aside from that, I had a great time flagging recipes in this book. SO many yummy dishes to try.

Two other highlights: she utilized QR codes instead of trying to explain finicky techniques and included a list of other cookbooks to reference in the acknowledgements. Both are genius moves, as far as I'm concerned.

[Brittany Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like I’ve cooked enough out of this book to definitively give it 5 stars. Every recipe I’ve tried has been so packed with flavor. Molly’s persona permeating through every page is just icing on the cake. I have recommended this cookbook to just about anyone who will listen.

[Heidi Goehmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven’t cooked a bad meal from in here yet. The recipes are not overly complex while curating deeply complex flavors. I love the honest and spunky descriptions and informational tidbits. Sign me up, i’m a Molly Baz fan now. Looking forward to the next installment.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marking this as finished because I read through all the educational parts of this book tonight, but have yet to finish cooking all the recipes. 5 stars because every recipe has been a hit and I always look forward to preparing the next.