Anne Willan's Cook It Right: Achieve Perfection with Every Dish You Cook

This is the best cookbook I own. Although not all of the ingredients are available where I live, I still rely on this cookbook for everyday cooking and for entertaining. The recipes are simply delicious and always turn out well. And if by chance the dish does not, Anne Willan has included quick fix tips with easy last-minute solutions. Great photography clearly shows when something is undercooked, overcooked or perfect. A wonderful visual training guide. There are so many recipes that are my favorite. One my guests always ask for is the Classic American Cheesecake (page 293) served with Chocolate and Stout Sauce (page 138). Both are easy to prepare. You do have to make the cheesecake a day in advance as it has to be left in the oven 12 hours after baking and turning off the oven. It is worth the wait, a smooth and creamy cheesecake everytime!

This book is big, heavy and loaded with not only delicious recepies, but tons of information about food preparation as well and it is chucky jammed full of gorgeous color photographs so good you're mouth waters just looking at the pages. The hot and sour soup on page 23 is to die for and the Coffee and rum raisin parfait in the dessert section is a dessert just to impressive to describe and I can't praise the pecan truffles enough. This is just one heck of a neato-jet cookbook. Not only do you get receipes with ingrediants and instructions, but many of the receipes include promlems you might encounter while preparing the dish, for example the "Grilled Pork Chops with Classic Barbecue Sauce" on page 83 explains under the problems section why your effort may have come out dry or overcooked, why it may be tough, tasteless or too salty. I know, if you're a person who has been cooking forever, loves a good receipe and owns a zillion cookbooks, as I do, then this will be self evident, but for a beginner, it's nice information to have. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

I used to cook a lot, but got away from it for many years -- eating out in restaurants while I pursued a career. I read an article about Anne Willan in our local paper, and had to try one of her books. I'm not ready to make the fancy French dishes (although I would like to eat them) so I decided to buy a simple book and practice the basics again.Ms. Willan explains many basic recipes in this volume. This is a nice cook book to give a new cook, or it might be a housewarming or bridal gift. I gave it to myself. I especially like the photos that show how things should look. There are photos of how things shouldn't look too, with explanations about why you got the results you did. I recommend this book if you're beginning for the first time, or beginning again.

This book is unique in that the pictures show different states of properly cooked, under or over cooked foods. Also gives tips how to salvage any mistakes that have been made. I have been cooking for years, and learned alot just from flipping through the pages.