Vivian Howard - This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking

IF YOURE LOOKING FOR VEGETARIAN OR GLUTEN-FREE RECIPES, more than half of the food in this book is one or both, so dive in. But note, Little Green Dress and Vs Nuts contain anchovies in their whole form or in Worcestershire sauce. To make them and the recipes that use them vegetarian, remove the anchovies and swap the Worcestershire for the soy sauce of your preference. And go ahead and leave out the bread, croutons, or crackers to make many more dishes gluten-free.

MY FIRST COOKBOOK,Deep Run Roots, is a love letter to Eastern North Carolina, the place Ive lived my whole life. Its as much a historical document as a cookbook, and of it Im extremely proud. But Deep Run Roots really doesnt represent the way I cook at home most days. Thats a little different than you might expect.

At home and at my home-away-from-home office (a place we affectionately call VHQ), Im a modern day domestic engineer who calls on a roster of flavor heroes to make simple food fantastic food. These things, my kitchen MVPs, my tricks-to-delicious, are what this book is about.

If you come on this journey with me, if you go to the mat and make a hero or two, and then make a recipe or three that builds on that hero, I promise with every ounce of my highly accomplished self that you will be inspired.

This book will change the way you cook, the way you think about whats in your fridge, the way you see yourself in an apron. I swear on my dog Gracies grave that you will be empowered, confident, dare I say even nimble, in your kitchen. Your journey to make your cooking taste good will shatter the chains of recipes youve struggled to follow. It will reshape, even streamline, the time you spend feeding yourself and the ones you love. Boring, bland dinners of basic Brussels sprouts and boneless skinless chicken breasts will be nothing more than limp dry memories in your house. You will emerge both kitchen magician and domestic god. Youll know what to do and when you need to do it to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all the nuggets in between remarkable moments in your day, because when Im done with you, youll be certain as a sultan that This Will Make It Taste Good.

The funny thing is that when I set out to write this cookbook I was bound and determined it was going to be simple. The recipes would be exciting of course, but the nexus of it was that anybody anywhere could whippy-dippy-do them from start to finish in less than an hour. If you had no knife skills and cooking didnt bring you joy, then this book would be for you. If youre more Walmart than farmers market, this book would be yours too. And of course if you love cooking and all things in the kitchen, youd find plenty of joy in here too.

Im happy to say thats where this book ended up, but it took a little while to figure out how to get there.

There were problems immediately with the lowest-common-denominator approach. Turns out that simple too often turns into uninteresting or boringnot exciting or fun. I broiled tomatoes and wished I could add deeply caramelized onions to the topping. I made vegetable soup and missed the onions broth-defining depth there too. I stewed pots of beans in the name of easy and marveled at how basic they tasted. I seared fish and steak and wondered how to properly exalt both without an herb-y, punchy crown. I made lackluster dressings and pan sauces and offered store-bought suggestions for vegetable relish, pesto, and fruit preserves to help those sauces along.

My palate and my teachers soul were not pleased. So I decided to do the thing that felt most natural. I decided to cook like I really cook.

I realized that my mission isnt to protect you from time in your kitchen, its to help you make the most of it. So I resolved to open up my pantry and share the shelf full of tricks I use every day to make simple food taste good. I would be honest about how my experience as a chef shapes my experience cooking at home. Id bring my green sauce, my furikake, and my preserved citrus out of the closet and expose their power. Id give them names and bios that mirror their personality and demystify their purpose. Id show you how to make them, organize them, store them, and exploit them to good end.

This book will change the way you cook.

Like a belt that lends me a waist when Im feeling baggy, my little arsenal of condiments and components brighten, deepen, and define the food I cook. Recipes themselves, they make basic stuff taste complex. Damn right they deserve their own book!

I guess youd call this next-level meal prep or meal prep for people who want to cook food that tastes really freaking good. I mean, think about it. Why do meal-prep apostles suggest you roast asparagus on Sunday just to ruin them in the microwave on Wednesday? Why on the last night of your precious weekend do they want you to boil quinoa without a legit plan to make it taste good? Why is dry-grilled, boneless, skinless chicken breast a good way to save time? I appreciate the intention, but Im here to tell you theres a better way to eat well without taking all night to cook dinner.