Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites

Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman is what a modern cookbook should be. Each recipe has a full-color glossy picture of how it should turn out. The pages themselves have a slick, glossy finish–a splatter could be wiped off without permanently marking the page. Each recipe also has about half a page of why and how it came to be, told with enjoyable self-deprecating humor, real life examples of success and failure, modesty, and enthusiasm. The recipes themselves are not difficult nor do they require mail-order ingredients. Their genius is in good-tasting combinations, recipes adapted from other countries, serendipitous successes, and old favorites dressed up in new sauces, dips, and dressings. The author accomplishes this without taking herself too seriously. Her style is what you would expect as you talk with close friends sharing cooking catastrophes and accomplishments. The book’s sections are divided by breakfasts, salads, soups, sandwiches, vegetables, meats, sweets, and snacks. That means nothing until you’ve had sticky toffee waffles, broccoli melts, smoky sheet pan chicken with cauliflower, or a single cookie as big as a salad plate full of chocolate that is unforgettable. This is a very readable, workable, enjoyable cookbook, not only for its recipes but for its entertaining prose as well.