Mark Bittman - Mark Bittmans Kitchen Matrix: More Than 700 Simple Recipes and Techniques to Mix and Match for Endless Possibilities

For years Ive said, If you can cook 10 recipes, you can cook 10,000, and while Ive always felt it was true, Ive never believed it more strongly than I do right now. Writing this book has convinced me all over again that from simple recipes spring nearly endless possibilities.

Real home cooking, to borrow an old but apt clich, is a marathon, not a sprint. Its something you do day to day, week to week, season to season, year to year, forever. Most of us who cook on a regular basis dont constantly come up with brilliant and innovative dishesId probably be out of ideas in a monthnor do we slavishly follow recipes to the letter; Id be bored in a week. Instead, we stake out a sweet spot somewhere in the middle; we learn how to cook a handful of basic dishessalad and vinaigrette, tomato sauce, or soup, for instanceand what to do with everyday ingredients, like chicken breasts, shrimp, or potatoes. As soon as were comfortable with core recipes and techniques we begin to improvise, swapping cilantro for parsley, say, or braising in coconut milk instead of wine, or grilling instead of broiling. We embrace the small but meaningful variations that can transform the identity of a dish, make an old favorite taste like a new creation, and turn a modest repertoire of recipes into a lifetime of wonderful meals.

This book showcases and encourages the kind of creativity and flexibility that make daily cooking not just doable but also pleasurable. And it takes little more than a glance at the chapters hererecipes come in multiple guises: some are conventional with ingredient lists and steps; others are more radical with directions scarcely longer than a tweet. Many are meant to facilitate improvisation in the kitchen, catering to all sorts of cooking styles and preferences.

Whether you like to stick to the script or cook off the cuff, undertake all-day projects or bang out fast weeknight meals, plan a detailed menu or shop first and ask questions later, there is something here for you. With this combination of recipes, art, and text I hope to depict as richly and inventively as I can just how infinitely gratifying cooking can be.

GROUND RULES

All recipes serve four unless other-wise noted.

Salt and pepper is assumed for every recipe (except desserts) where its not mentioned explicitly. Use your judgment, but do use salt.

When neutral oil is specified you can use grapeseed or corn oil (safflower and sunflower are fine too).

Olive oil means extra-virgin.

All lemon and lime juice should be fresh.

All butter is unsalted.

All cream is heavy (whipping) cream.

Flour is all-purpose unless otherwise specified.

For scallions, use both white and green parts unless specified.

For ingredients that dont have specific quantities listed, use your judgment and taste, taste, taste.

Even for seasoned home cooks, the idea of entertaining can be daunting. But it doesnt have to be. For the most part, any dish thats good enough to cook for yourself is good enough to serve to a crowd (and theres not a recipe in this chapter or any other that Id hesitate to make for guests). What youll find here ranges from simple snack foods, like dips and chicken wings, to fancy fare, like tartare. None of it is particularly onerous to prepare, which helps eliminate needless panic and lets you pay as much (or more) attention to your guests as to the food youre serving them. There are also plenty of other apps, hors doeuvre, and dinner party showstoppers scattered throughout the book, to name just a few.