Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, Lousy CD
Review: I have over 40 cookbooks and How to Cook Everything is, I think, the best of the bunch - easily competing with The Joy of Cooking, Fanny Farmer Cookbook and The New Basics Cookbook. Virtually every recipe is quite excellent and the book is chock full of great tips and cross references, ie. Six Quick Ideas for More Flavorful Pizza Dough.
That said, the new CD is not great. While they have some good movie clips from Super Chefs, the program is difficult to navigate through. One of the best features of a good program would be to put together a custom menu and print off a shopping list. This can be done at a basic level but any deviation from the designer's plan (like more than one vegetable) or scaling up one of the menu recipes is impossible to incorporate back into the menu. Overall, the CD is quite disappointing.
Buy the cookbook for the truly excellent recipes and great format - not for the CD.
Rating:
Summary: It will never leave your kitchen...
Review: In our home, there are two types of cookbooks: show books & useful books. The show books adorn our shelves with their sleek, glossy covers and get used once in a blue moon. The useful books have dog-eared pages, broken spines and the occasional stain from an overzealous pasta sauce. Using wear-and-tear as a standard for value, then Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" must be worth more than gold to me.Bittman's recipes are everything I look for in mid-week fare. The ingredients and instructions are presented in a clear and easy-to-follow fashion, many dishes can be made with modestly stocked cupboards, and most dishes take less than an hour from start to finish. The recipes are very receptive to on-the-fly changes from cooks who like to head off the beaten path, and some even come with suggested alterations (if you feel that you just have to follow the instructions). Three chicken dishes in particular (Cutlets w/ Lime Sauce, Curried Chicken Breasts, and Cutlets Roasted with Tomatoes, pgs 391-394) can be served week after week and still seem fresh and new with only minor tweaking. "How to Cook Everything" is a perfect selection for anyone who would like to build their repertoire of easy but flavorful dishes. Whether you are an experienced or novice cook, this collection will be a worthwhile addition to your library.
Rating: 
Summary: A necessity in the kitchen.
Review: This book has inspired me to return to the kitchen. Being a practicing physician with limited free time, I had given up cooking and was mainly dependent on the microwave. HTCE sets a perfectly balanced tone-- easy preparations, low-key and enthusiastic approach, and delicious results. However, I was disappointed to see that several of the recipes in HTCE were repeated also in Bittman's Minimalist books (Minimalist Cooks Dinner, etc...) Since each of the Minimalist books costs about the same as this book, I recommend getting only HTCE and if you are curious about other recipes, borrow the Minimalist books from friends or the library.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read, easy to use, fun to cook with
Review: What really makes this cookbook the best I've ever used is Bittman's colorful commentary and tips with an occasional personal antedote. He doesn't just give a recipe for cooking lamb, something I tried for the first time recently, he gives variations to basic recipes which allows for hundreds of combinations and let's me cook with ingredients I have on hand. I felt confident cooking a meat I had never tried before. He mentions to the reader that it might be a good idea to try out the creme brulee before trying to impress guests, I ignored his advice of course, and despite the fact its presentation was lacking, everyone loved the flavor and texture.
If I could have only one cookbook, this would be it without question, the lists and illustrations are fabulous and the recipes are explained in a way that I feel more than confident trying new things.
Whether needing a simple macaroni and cheese recipe or an exotic dessert I go to this cookbook first and since owning I haven't needed another.
Rating:
Summary: Amateurs look like professionals with ease
Review: Most cookbooks aim either too high - taking for granted that you know how to use a chinois - or aim too low and include only simple recipes. This book offers the truth about cooking and leads the reader through fantastic recipes with ease. Bittman explains where you can take short cuts and where you have to be careful. He includes both common and rare recipes. For example, my 13 year old son and I made a raspberry/red currant/port wine sauce for chicken. I have used Bittman's book to make my own stocks which are flavorful and so superior to canned stocks, that I will never be able to return to the cans. The recipes are complete and organized in a way that makes preparing the ingredients ahead of time logical. Most inportant for me is the honesty of the descriptions. I have never found another cookbook that does not underestimate preparation time to make the recipe appear easier. Bittman's descriptions are extremely accurate. The book is also very well illustrated with pictures that actually show how the preparation should proceed. For example, he shows how to truss a chicken, but then explains how unnecessary the whole trussing is. And finally, he includes great recipes that you would need three books to find otherwise. If you only buy one cookbook, this is the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: But it fell to pieces right away!
Review: I love this book! Rather than limiting recipes, it gives formulas -- templates -- that you can use to infinitly vary the things you cook and enable you to use what's in season, or on special, or in you fridge or cupboard at the moment. The sidebars of useful lists -- 12 chicken recipes you can serve cold -- are especially useful. The only complaint I have, and it's sort of a big one, is that it (a hardcover) began to fall apart within a month. Now mine is in chunks! It's so annoying, considering that I have well-used cookbooks that are over 50 years old and still going strong. The publisher must be using an inferior bindery.
Rating:
Summary: YUM!
Review: I wish everything truly was in here. My husband got an itch to try to cook some enchiladas and, unfortunately, this book didn't have such a thing in it.
However, the recipes are great. If you are just getting into cooking, this a good start. Mark Bittman spends a HUGE amount of time explaining how to do everything from picking out veggies and fruits to cooking a whole chicken. There are useful diagrams and tips on changing around the recipes.
This cookbook is truly the best I have so far,
Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasantly Surprised by This Book
Review: For the longest time I was skeptical of the title "How to Cook Everything". This book does have most everything in their selection of recipe, but better yet, they are excellent recipes. I love this book because it tells you how to prepare food in many different ways. This book is simple to read, laid out well, and the recipes are easy to follow. While this may not be a beginner cookbook it is quite good, and you will be sure to be pleased with this book. In many ways it reminds me of the Joy of Cooking books with a more contemporary feel to it.
Bittman is kind enough to give menus and other suggestions so you won't be wondering what would go with the fine meal you just prepared. A very nice added touch. The book also gives basic information about various foods their storage and preparation. This book is a wonderful addition to any cook book collection.
Rating: 
Summary: great, if you AREN'T into home style, old-fashioned cooking
Review: If you want to implement the "latest and greatest" styles of cooking then this book is fine, but if you prefer to make (or *learn* how to make) recipes that are like your grandmother used to do that are accessible --what might be refered to as "homestyle," or "comfort food"-- then this book ISN'T for you. My recommendation would be to get a copy of both "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook" and "The Fannie Farmer Baking Book" by Marion Cunningham. With these two books and a subscription to "Taste Of Home" magazine (a source that I found only by accident that is one of THE *GREATEST* collections of "real people food" recipes that I've found in the last twenty years) you'll get off to a wonderful start. You can learn how to cook, bake, and all of those little tips on cooking that your mother might not have taught you. (Personally, my own mother detested even having to go *near* a kitchen, so I didn't learn how to cook until I was in my twenties. Now I'm 40 and only recently began to feel comfortable in the kitchen. I don't worry quite so much that I'll give someone food poisoning, or that I'll accidentally cause an explosion and have to call the fire department to come rescue me from a floury, sugar coated inferno. <G>)
Rating:
Summary: Life saver
Review: As a single guy, I know how much chicks like it when you cook for them. The recipes in this book--and the basic instructions on everything from how to fry an egg to making baked eggplant--really make you look good. If you need a how to guide or just an arsenal of recipes at the ready, get this. Only a few illustrations, but if this bachelor can handle it, anyone can.
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