CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day

by Pam Anderson

Collects basic dishes that can be prepared more easily to accommodate today's hectic lifestyles, pairing culinary essays with simple recipes for such fare as oven-barbecued ribs, easy chicken Parmesan, Caesar salad without raw eggs, and quick chocolate cake. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

348 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2002

About the author

PAM ANDERSON is the author of the best-selling The Perfect Recipe, Perfect Recipes for Having People Over, and the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great. She has been the food columnist for USA Weekend for the last eight years, is a contributing chef to Fine Cooking and Runners World, and writes a weekly blog for the Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times.

For more about Pam, please visit www.threemanycooks.com."

Reviews

[Linda Hartlaub · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was an eye-opener as far as the details of recipe development. The tedious testing and re-testing, trying different percentages of ingredients together with substitutions and note taking makes me glad that I am not a recipe developer.

The book had a selected number of recipes, not a major compendium like many books. Unfortunately I skipped over large sections of red meat recipes. The recipes are clear and concise and would make an excellent book for someone new to cooking. The author is very thorough.

The major criticism I have is that the design of the pages is not friendly to aging eyes. The page green section headers on the tan pages simply doesn't stand out enough for easy reading. Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

[Lucyzoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to creating cookbooks, Pam Anderson is one of THE best. She's the author of my favorite cookbook, Perfect Recipes For Having People Over, and The Perfect Recipe. In CookSmart, Pam teaches you how she tested the recipes and came up with the final version. If you're an expert in the kitchen, you probably already know much of the "whys;" however, if you're still learning, you'll love taking the journey and finding the perfect recipe for every day meals. Enjoy!

[Mishqueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a few recipes from this book that are super helpful in their explanations. I rated the few recipes I liked, but honestly the majority I didn't feel a great need to try. Very good for a beginning cook, though.

[K Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this cookbook. The pork tenderloin is foolproof. There are no pictures, but the content is what knocks this cookbook to the next level. Pages and pages for pasta salad, yes please. It took me years to appreciate this cookbook, now I use it all the time.

[False · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former Chief Editor for America Cooks, the recipes are well tested before offered to the public. I photocopied a ton out of this book...wanting to try all.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great basic recipes, perfected.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pam Anderson's CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day is a collection of comfort-food favorites that she's perfected through a long process of trial and error. From her own experience as a chef, cookbook author (The Perfect Recipe), and food columnist for USA Weekend, Anderson has created a rigorous approach for selecting the best possible recipe for any given dish, winnowing out weaker, less satisfactory recipes in several stages.

She starts by reviewing several recipes for the same dish.

For example, Anderson noted that the conventional method of making fajitas included marinating the meat before it is cooked, which, in her opinion, masks the rich flavor of steak.

In her version, the fajita meat gets a spice rub before cooking and then a brief, post-cooking sauna-like repose in a simple mixture of lime juice and garlic. The resulting fajitas have the relaxed subtle flavor of garlic, lime, and cumin that complement rather than overpower the tender steak.

This book provides good instruction for the beginning chef, demonstrating how to use the basic techniques to perfect one's own recipe. But there is a lot to read, so be warned. This book is a time commitment if attempting to read cover to cover, and it doesn't necessarily work in the real-time experience of looking and cooking. However, if you're searching for a collection of great, gourmet-style recipes for home-cooked favorites, CookSmart is a pretty wise choice.

Teresa Simanton

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Anderson brings her wide experience and easy style to this latest offering. She takes the recipes one step further, explaining the testing method of each, much in the style of Cook's Illustrated where she was the former executive editor.

Highlighting such dishes as Oven-Fried Chicken That's as Good as Fried, 90-Minute Pot Roast with Rich Red Wine and Onion Gravy, and Pasta Salad, Anderson caters to cravings for comfort food.

Once the principles of pasta salad have been explained, for example, a number of versions are put forward, from Greek-Style Pasta Salad with its creamy vinaigrette, through Pasta Salad with Smoked Salmon and Asparagus, to Asian-Style Pasta Salad with Chicken, Baby Corn and Snow Peas.

The home cook will feel at ease with the recipes, which have been designed for simplicity; the more advanced cook, interested in the whys and hows, will be able to apply the principles learned to other areas of food preparation. By combining both audiences so successfully, Anderson has once again produced a winner.

Publishers Weekly

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You Can Trust Pam, Every Time!

I am someone who does a lot of having people over. Because I feed guests so often, I do not always have time to do a trial run with my menu. Pam Anderson's cookbooks are wonderful because I have complete confidence that her recipes will turn out as promised, every time. Cook Smart is similar to her other cookbooks: ultra-perfected versions of familar standards.

If you are looking for innovation, novelty, or inspiration, this book will probably disappoint. If, however, you want to cook the things you already love in the best possible way, this will become your new go-to book. My favorites from this book: Big Beautiful Cinnamon Buns and Blue-Ribbon Chili.

Megan Hill

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So many favorites!

This book reads like a novel. I love the essay that prefaces each recipe. Very entertaining reading. As for the recipes, I love the pot roast. That has become a favorite. The cinnamon rolls are fabulous. And the waffles recipe is the best I've ever tried. They really do stay crispy like she promises.

The only flaw is the pumpkin pie recipe. The filling was way too much for the 9" pan size recommended. If overflowed in my oven causing a HUGE mess. I live at a pretty high altitude, so maybe that was the problem too.

meringue

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift. I have been reading through it and plan to try out a variety of the sauce recipes it contains.

[Jovy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting...but it does give you good tips on getting a meal ready. Pam takes all the cooking or chef language that is sometimes difficult to understand and makes it simple.

[Kathy B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this cookbook. She has some great recipes in this cookbook. I love how she breaks down the steps it took for her to create the recipe.