Anyone Can Cook

Book excerpt: The experts behind the popular cooking platform show new cooks how to get comfortable and be successful in their own kitchens. Since its launch in 2014, the Kitchen Stories app has acquired a dedicated following among seasoned and beginner cooks alike. Now the best of their recipes, expertise, and tips are distilled into this essential cookbook that will help even a timid home chef feel like a pro. Designed with the elegant simplicity their fans have come to expect, Anyone Can Cook focuses on dinners-- for many the most important and stressful meal to prepare. The book offers recipes that take no more than one hour from kitchen to table, and many can be cooked in a single pot or pan. Most importantly, the book is designed to help beginner cooks develop basic skills, stock their kitchens and pantries, and master easy yet elegant meals. From the correct way to hold a knife, the art of sautéing vegetables, and composing the perfect salad bowl, to popular basics such as stir fries, chicken cutlets, meatballs, and sheet pan salmon, the book's instructions are clear, concise, and accompanied by large full-color photographs to match. Best of all, Anyone Can Cook demystifies many techniques and dishes that new cooks think are beyond their skill level, and even encourages adaptations based on diet and preference. If the words "chiffonade" or "homemade pesto" make you nervous, the chefs and editors at Kitchen Stories are here to tell you that anyone, including you, can cook, and cook well.