Get started cooking now with Cooking Basics For Dummies, 5th Edition! Are you looking to dig yourself out of microwave dinners and learn the ropes of home cooking? Cooking Basics For Dummies, 5th Edition takes the intimidation out of cooking and helps you start cultivating your culinary prowess in no time. From learning fundamental cooking techniques like dicing, chopping, and saut?ing to creating delicious, easy-to-follow recipes, you'll discover how to cook up crowd-pleasing meals the whole family will enjoy—all without breaking a sweat! Even if you've never cracked an egg, this friendly, practical guide gives you all the ingredients to become a superior home cook. In plain English, it explains step-by-step how to master popular cooking techniques, such as dicing vegetables, hard boiling an egg, making quick and delicious sauces, planning menus, stocking your pantry, and so much more. Packed with more than 150 easy-to-follow recipes for every meal of the day, from mouth-watering mains to sumptuous sides to delectable desserts Helps you master grilling, slow cooking, baking, roasting, pressure cooking, and more Includes tips on adapting meals to meet the latest dietary trends, such as low-sugar, low-sodium, low-fat, plant-based, and vegetarian diets Covers shopping at farmer's markets and buying organic foods Cooking Basics For Dummies, 5th edition is for every beginner cook or polished chef looking for a refresher on breathing new life into home-cooked meals.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part I: Getting Started with Cooking 5 Chapter 1: Cooking with Confidence 7 Creating a Cook-Friendly Kitchen 8 Declutter your countertops 9 Let there be lighting 9 Organize your pantry 10 Introducing Major Appliances: Friends, Not Foes 11 Stovetop and oven 11 Microwave ovens 13 Refrigerator 15 Freezer 16 Dishwasher 16 Garbage disposal 17 Kitchen Safety 101 17 Now Get Crackin’! 19 Chapter 2: Investing in the Essential Tools 21 Collecting Your Cookware Basics 22 Picking Pots and Pans 23 Doing some comparison shopping 23 Buying the essentials 24 Getting fancy 28 Selecting Tools for Mixing and Baking 30 Considering Small Appliances 33 Graters and Mashers and Peelers, Oh My! 36 Chapter 3: The Bare Necessities: Stocking Your Pantry and Fridge 39 Dry Goods: The Pantry’s Backbone 40 Stocking Up on Baking Supplies 40 Spicing Up Your Life with Herbs, Spices, and Seasonings 42 Working with herbs 42 Studying spices 45 Peanut Butter and Beyond: Bottled and Canned Goods 46 Cooling It with Refrigerated and Frozen Staples 49 Squeezing the Melon: Buying and Storing Fruits and Vegetables 50 Where to purchase produce 53 Going organic 54 Selecting, Buying, and Storing Meat, Poultry, and Fish 54 Beef 54 Chicken 56 Fish and other seafood 58 Part II: Know Your Techniques 61 Chapter 4: The Cutting Edge: Working with Knives 63 Buying Knives for All Occasions 63 Investing in the three essentials 64 Adding to your knife block 65 Shopping wisely 65 Caring for Your Knives 67 Storing and washing 67 Sharpening twice a year 67 Honing before each use 68 Using Knives Correctly (and Safely) 69 Chopping, Mincing, Julienning, and More 69 Chopping and mincing 70 Julienning 72 Cubing (or dicing) 72 Halving tough-skinned vegetables 72 Slicing 73 Paring 74 Carving Poultry and Meats 76 Showing a turkey or chicken who’s boss 76 Cutting a pot roast 77 Slicing a leg of lamb 78 Handling a ham 78 Chapter 5: Boiling, Poaching, and Steaming 79 Water, Water Everywhere Now What? 79 Making Hard- and Soft-Cooked Eggs 80 Giving Your Veggies a Hot Bath 82 Parboiling, blanching, and steaming veggies 82 Boiling and steaming a dozen fresh vegetables 83 Making vegetable purées 85 Poaching and Steaming Seafood 86 Chapter 6: Simply Sautéing 93 Knowing When to Use Oil or Butter 94 Combining Sautéing with Roasting 95 Making Great Sauce from Bits in the Pan: Deglazing 96 Getting Versatile with Your Sautéing 97 Vegetables 97 Firm, rich fish 98 Chicken and turkey 98 Beef 98 Chapter 7: Braising and Stewing: Slow and Seductive 109 Cooking in Liquid 110 Browning before braising 110 Taking time to stew 110 Braising greens 111 Keeping Herbs and Spices in Check 112 Chapter 8: Roasting Poultr y, Meats, and Veggies 123 Roasting the Right Way 123 Seasoning your roasts 123 Brining to retain moisture 124 Searing meat before you roast 124 Basting during cooking 125 Taking a rest 125 Roasting Times and Temperatures for Poultry and Meat 126 Putting Poultry in the Oven 130 Mastering Roasted Meats 132 Beef 132 Pork133 Ribs 134 Ham 134 Lamb 136 Remembering (to Roast) Your Veggies! 137 Chapter 9: Coals and Coils: Grilling and Broiling 153 Mastering Your Grill 154 Charcoal grilling 154 Gas grilling 155 Grilling with wood chips 156 Marinating for Flavor 157 Perfecting Your Grilling Technique 158 Making Each Dish Delicious 159 Burgers 159 Chicken 159 Vegetables 160 Steak and pork 161 Seafood 161 Chapter 10: Baking Basics 171 Don’t Wing It: Measuring with Care 172 Measuring dry ingredients 172 Measuring wet ingredients 173 Measuring other types of ingredients 174 Working with Eggs 174 Breaking with care 174 Separating an egg 175 Folding, Whipping, Kneading, and More: Getting the Techniques Right 176 Perfecting Your Pie Crust 179 Making Cakes and Quick Breads for a Sweet Treat 182 Part III: Expand Your Repertoire 191 Chapter 11: Conquering Breakfast 193 Starting the Day with the Incredible, Edible Egg 193 Understanding the grade, size, and color of eggs194 Deciding whether to splurge on specialty eggs 194 Cooking Perfect Eggs 196 Simply scrambled 196 Frankly fried196 Perfectly poached 197 Beautifully boiled 197 Craftily folded omelets 198 Oven-worthy frittatas and stratas199 Making Mouth-Watering Breakfast Meats 199 Breaking the fast with bacon 199 Spicing it up with savory sausage201 Steak-ing your claim (to breakfast!) 201 Taking a Tour of Breakfast Breads 202 French toast 202 Pancakes and waffles 202 Blending Your Way to a Healthy Breakfast 202 Chapter 12: Super Soups and Savory Salads 215 Mastering Essential Soup Skills 215 Sautéing meat and vegetables first 216 Thickening your soup216 Skimming soups and stocks 218 Enriching store-bought stocks 218 Peeling and seeding a tomato 218 Showing garlic, onions, and herbs some respect 220 Trying Your Hand at Puréed Soups 220 Stimulating Your Palate with Fresh Salads and Dressings 221 The soul of the salad: Crisp, fresh greens 221 Skipping the greens but keeping the salad 227 So many dressings, so little time 227 Ten easy salad ideas 231 Chapter 13: From Sides to Mains: Great Grains and Pastas 245 Sprucing Up Standard Rice 245 Checking Out Other Grains 247 Canoodling with Everyone’s Favorite: Pasta 249 Don’t sweat the fresh stuff: Dried versus fresh pasta 250 Pasta tips and tricks 250 Name that pasta: Pasta types and cooking times 252 Topping Your Pasta with the Perfect Sauce 252 Chapter 14: Making Sensational Sauces: Fear No More 267 Starting with the ABCs of Sauces 267 Deglazing for Delicious Pan Sauces 269 Whirling Light Blender Sauces in Minutes 270 Sweetening Things Up with Delectable Dessert Sauces 271 Chapter 15: Delectable Desserts 283 Creating Creamy Chocolate Sweets 283 Finding the Indulgent Side of Fruit, Fresh from the Oven 284 Collecting Cookies: All You Need Is a Glass of Milk 285 Taking on Tiramisu 287 Part IV: Now You’re Cooking! Real Menus for Real Life 301 Chapter 16: Taking It Easy with One-Pot Meals 303 Slow Cookers: Small Input, Big Output 303 From Oven to Table: Simplicity in a Casserole Dish 304 Chapter 17: Making More (and Better) for Less 317 Creating Big Dishes for Small Bucks 317 Crowd-pleasing chili 318 Stir-fry for pennies 318 Dressing Up Your Meals with Super Sidekicks 318 Root vegetables 319 Seasonal vegetables 319 Dried beans 319 Chapter 18: Going Global with Asian and Mediterranean Dishes 327 Discovering the Asian Pantry 328 Stocking up on Asian staples 328 Starting with the basics: Asian noodles 330 Getting it right with Asian rice 331 Exploring the World of Mediterranean Cooking 332 Meeting popular Mediterranean meats 332 Goat cheese and feta cheese 333 Olives 333 Preserved lemons 334 Chapter 19: Quick Picks: Cooking with Fewer Ingredients 349 Whipping Up Dinner with Convenience Foods 349 Keeping Things Simple and Delicious 350 Chowing down on cheese 351 Serving more-substantial meals quickly 352 Seeing the Pasta-bilities! 352 Chapter 20: Summertime Soirees 361 Planning the Menu 361 Mixing Fruity Drinks for Thirsty Crowds 363 Preparing in Advance for a Stress-Free Party 364 Chapter 21: Feeding Holiday Hordes: Festive Winter Menus 375 Planning the Menu 376 Getting Yourself Organized 376 All about Turkey 377 Teasing the Palate with Fresh Dips 379 Scrumptious Stuffings and Sides 380 Last Man Standing: Holiday Desserts 381 Warming Up with Holiday Libations 382 Part V: The Part of Tens 395 Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Think Like a Chef 397 Know the Basic Techniques 397 Use Only the Freshest Ingredients 397 Get It Together 398 Understand Flavor Combinations 398 Think about Your Plate 398 Plan Your Menus in Advance 399 Be Thrifty 399 Don’t Be a Slave to Recipes 399 Simplify 400 Above All, Have Fun 400 Chapter 23: Ten Common Cooking Myths 401 Marinating Meat Tenderizes It 401 Searing Meat Traps in the Juices 401 Basting Chicken Creates Crispy Skin 402 Adding Oil to Pasta Water Keeps It from Sticking Together 402 Using Quality Olive Oil Is Important for Sautéing or Pan-Roasting 402 Using a Garlic Press Extracts More Flavor 403 Soaking Dried Beans before Cooking Improves Flavor and Texture 403 Adding a Potato to an Oversalted Soup or Stew Reduces the Saltiness 403 Cooking with Wine or Spirits Burns Off All the Alcohol 403 Rinsing Raw Mushrooms Causes Them to Absorb More Water 404 Appendix A: Glossary of 100 (Plus) Common Cooking Terms 405 Appendix B: Common Substitutions, Abbreviations, and Equivalents 413 Index 419