When comparing How to Cook Everything vs The Improvisational Cook, the Slant community recommends How to Cook Everything for most people. In the question“What are the best books for learning how to cook?” How to Cook Everything is ranked 1st while The Improvisational Cook is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose How to Cook Everything is:
Each chapter starts with "Essential recipes", which are the building blocks for the more complicated foods that follow.
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Pros
Pro Well organized
Each chapter starts with "Essential recipes", which are the building blocks for the more complicated foods that follow.
Pro Pragmatic recipes allow for learning by doing
As a beginner book, it functions like a food dictionary or thesaurus.
Pro Organized by Ingredient
Start with the ingredient you want to eat and explore from there.
Pro Very widely read and used book
The book was published in 1998 and has become very well known. This is a revised edition though, so you will find more up to date content.
Pro Includes over 2000 recipes
Pro Not just a book of recipes.
The book teaches you the basics and then how to improvise based on them - how to deviate from the original recipe. It teaches how to play with food and builds your confidence.