Burnt Toast And Other Disasters

A gifty, funny, and practical guide to transforming the most lackluster of ingredients into a delicious meal, making bad food good and making good food even better, from the author of the New York Times bestselling and IACP Award–winning Twelve Recipes. Dinner is looking meh. Maybe the stove was left unattended for just a second too long for your original plan; maybe the on-sale meat at the supermarket isn’t looking quite worth the savings after two days in the fridge. Do you waste food and time trying to start from scratch, or money ordering takeout? No, you face up to the facts, step up your game, and transform that cooking conundrum into a delicious meal. The best way to do that? Follow the guidance of Cal Peternell, a chef coming out of the restaurant kitchen to meet cooks where they are with this funny, practical manual for making Bad Food Good. Though many pro chefs may be able to get their sustainably sourced, locally grown, 100 percent grass-fed, organic ingredients and gently guide them through careful preparation to a simply sublime dish, most of us don’t achieve farm-to-table perfection in every step of the process. From facing down third-day leftovers that have lost a little of their luster to the limits of their local supermarket’s quality, many home cooks start at a disadvantage. With his signature dry wit and years of experience cooking for everyone from high-end restaurant patrons to his hungry family, Cal Peternell is here to level the playing field with this bag of tricks for turning standard (or substandard) fare into a meal to be proud of, troubleshooting such situations as: Making the best of burned food (Burned your toast? Time to make Cheesy Onion Bread Pudding!) Hacking packaged food (including 5 variations on “Hackaroni and Cheese”) Things restaurants often do wrong and you can do better (including pesto, queso, bean dip, ranch, and more) Spicing up lackluster vegetables (Brocco Tacos dazzle both in name and in flavor) Snazzing up dishes with “special sauces for the boring” (including vegetable purees and an infinite variety of savory butter sauces) Cal also includes a series of hilarious Old Man cocktails, ranging from the Bitter Old Man (one part bitter, one part brandy) to the Wise Old Man (8 ounces water and a good night’s sleep). Up your cooking game by learning how to spin anything in your pantry or fridge into something special with Burnt Toast and Other Disasters.

Winner of the 2015 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Award Forewords by Alice Waters and Michael Pollan In this dazzling, full color cookbook and kitchen manual filled with lush photographs and beautiful drawings, the chef of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse offers basic techniques and essential recipes that will transform anyone into a confident home cook. When his oldest son was leaving for college, Cal Peternell, the chef of San Francisco’s legendary Chez Panisse, realized that, although he regularly made dinners for his family, he’d never taught them the basics of cooking. Based on the life-altering course of instruction he prepared and honed through many phone calls with his son, Twelve Recipes is the ultimate introduction to the kitchen. Peternell focuses on the core foods and dishes that comprise a successful home cook’s arsenal, each building skill upon skill—from toast, eggs, and beans, to vinaigrettes, pasta with tomato, and rice, to vegetables, soup, meats, and cake. Twelve Recipes will help home cooks develop a core repertoire of skills and increase their culinary confidence. Peternell tells you what basic ingredients and tools you need for a particular recipe, and then adds variations to expand your understanding. Each tip, instruction, and recipe connects with others to weave into a larger story that illuminates the connection between food and life. A deeply personal book, it was written by the chef alone and it glows with warmth and humor as he mulls over such mundane items as toast and rice to offer surprising new insights about foods that only seem exceedingly ordinary. It’s a book you’re as likely to keep by your bedside as your stovetop. With Peternell as your guide, the journey is pure pleasure and the destination is delicious. Twelve Recipes features gorgeous color photos and inset illustrations by Peternell’s wife and sons (all artists), and forewords by celebrated chef Alice Waters and New York Times columnist and bestselling author Michael Pollan.

A delicious new memoir from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry A family history peppered with recipes, Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good offers a humorous and flavorful tale spanning three generations as Kathleen Flinn returns to the mix of food and memoir readers loved in her New York Times bestseller, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry. Brimming with tasty anecdotes about Uncle Clarence’s divine cornflake-crusted fried chicken, Grandpa Charles’s spicy San Antonio chili, and Grandma Inez’s birthday-only cinnamon rolls, Flinn—think Ruth Reichl topped with a dollop of Julia Child—shows how meals can be memories, and how cooking can be communication. Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good will inspire readers (and book clubs) to reminisce about their own childhoods—and spend time in their kitchens making new memories of their own.

With over 1 billion video views and counting, the smash-hit online food channel TWISTED has rescued countless viewers from the dreaded mealtime apocalypse. Now you too can step into the light. TWISTED: THE COOKBOOK features a collection of TWISTED's most foodgasmic, mind-bending and downright hilarious creations, as well as some never before seen, grade-A bangers. Whether it's game day with your pals, a night in with a special someone, an epic party or a sluggish Saturday morning, these 30 tried-and-tested recipes have got you covered. Whatever you decide to cook—whether it's the Fajita Cake, Camembert Hedgehog Bread, Breakfast Nachos, Pizza Donuts or Snickers Salami—this is food porn at its most gratuitous.

An Amazon Editors' Holiday 2021 Gift Pick! An Amazon Best of the Month Editors' pick for Cookbooks, Food & Wine From the creator of the popular What’s the Difference? newsletter, a whimsical and practical reference for food nerds and novices alike, covering dozens of culinary topics, that clears up confusion over similar terms, techniques, dishes, and more. Do you know the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Bourbon and rye? Crumbles, cobblers, and crisps? Most people don’t, even a number of home cooks—which is why they turn to Brette Warshaw. Inspired by her hit newsletter What’s the Difference?, this irreverent yet informative reference makes clear the differences between things that are often confused in the kitchen, on the plate, behind the bar, and everywhere in between. Featuring 70 percent new material and favorite entries from her website, What’s the Difference? covers more than 100 culinary topics, including: All-purpose flour vs. bread flour vs. pastry flour Bacon vs. Pancetta vs. Speck vs. Pork Belly Creme Fraiche vs. Sour Cream Jams vs. Jellys vs. Preserves Broccolini vs broccoli vs broccoli rabe Caramel vs butterscotch vs dulce de leche vs cajeta Filled with charming illustrations What’s the Difference? is essential for anyone who wants to feel more confident in the kitchen and at the table.

Celebrate the joys of a great day in the kitchen and a meal shared with family and friends with this follow-up to the bestselling, IACP Award-winning Twelve Recipes, featuring next level, home-cook-friendly recipes for occasions large and small. Twelve Recipes provided the basic techniques and recipes for essential home cooking. Now, A Recipe for Cooking takes home cooks to the next level. Cal Peternell gives you everything you need to cook for big get-togethers, holiday feasts, family occasions, and for a special dinner for two. He organizes the recipes by season to help cooks plan their meals from first bite to last—how a meal should start, what should be the main attraction, what should be served alongside, and how to choose the perfect finish. Illustrated with charming color photos and drawings, A Recipes for Cooking offers a range of delicious, easy-to-master fare: Savory Tart with Onions, Olive, and Anchovies; Shredded Zucchini Fritters with Basil Mayonnaise; Citrus Salad with Ginger, Cilantro, and Saffron-toasted Pistachios; Fish and Shellfish Soup; Rolled Pork Loin Roast Stuffed with Olives and Herbs; Lasagna Bolognese; Belgian Endive Gratin with Gruyere and Prosciutto; and a Blood Orange and Buttermilk Tart. Each of Cal's recipes utilizes the freshest, most delicious ingredients of each season. Here are meals to share with close family and good friends—to laugh, drink, and cook with—as well as dishes that give you some quiet time in the kitchen, slicing, seasoning, and simmering. With food to make introductions, to commemorate, to celebrate, even, on occasion, to gently instigate, A Recipe for Cooking is Cal Peternell at his wittiest, warmest, and most inspiring.

2019 James Beard Award Nominee From the author of the New York Times bestselling, IACP Award-winning Twelve Recipes comes a charming vegetable-focused cookbook with sixty recipes that add depths of flavor using three key ingredients: almonds, anchovies, and pancetta. Celebrated chef and home cook Cal Peternell likes to eat today the way people have been eating forever: with vegetables at the center of the plate, seasoned with a little bit of meat or fish to make a meal savory and satisfying. A little of the right kind of meat goes a long way, and in this book, the right ones are anchovies and pancetta, along with almonds, because nuts are the meat of the plant world. Cal uses them first for flavor, but also because it makes sense: taking savory little bites is inarguably better than big meaty mouthfuls. The salt in anchovies and pancetta draws out and enhances flavors, enriching the rest of the dish, and almonds compare favorably fat-wise and can bring a major flavor boost, especially when they’re ground up. This kind of cooking is healthy, leans toward sustainability, and is economical in a way that pleases both palate and pocketbook. The simple, flexible recipes in this book include Baked, Stuffed Vegetables with Almonds, Currents, Saffron, and Breadcrumbs; Steamed Clams with Almond and Parsley Butter; Roasted Sweet Pepper and Egg Salad with Anchovies, Olives, and Capers; Penne alla Tuna-nesca; Bacon-wrapped Potato Gratin; and Creamy Salsa Rustica with Egg and Pancetta. Cal’s old-new way with vegetables gives them small gifts of tasty goodness that will inspire readers to their own mealtime creativity.

Burning toast, a sizzling sidewalk, volcanoes erupting at a science fair... Danger lurks everywhere, and not a firefighter to be found. Ted knows it is time to become Firefighter Ted. It’s the least a helpful bear can do. In this eBook with audio, the adorable Ted takes on an important job with imaginative flair.