Vegetables Every Day: The Definitive Guide to Buying and Cooking Today's Produce, with Over 350 Recipes

I don't know that I have much to add to the previous 23 reviews, but I cannot say enough positive things about "Vegetables Every Day." I own 30-40 cookbooks and after five years of ownership this one remains by far the one I use most often -- multiple times every week. This cookbook is simply without peer for its incredible breadth of vegetable side-dish recipes; its ease of preparation, with minimal exotic, hard-to-find and hard-to-afford ingredients; and its healthful preparations that really highlight (rather than masking) the vegetables involved. Bishop is no fat-phobe, even calling occasionally for a tablespoon or two of butter, but these certainly aren't recipes where health takes a back seat to taste. Most importantly, though, this book succeeds by making EVERY vegetable lovable. I can't tell you how many vegetables I used to *think* I hated, before I tried them as prepared by Bishop. Beets, turnips, parsnips, cauliflower, kale -- he makes all not only palatable but wholly enjoyable. I can't recall ever having had a misfire with any recipe in this book, and by now I've probably made about two-thirds of them. I work in PR and have joked to friends (while proselytizing on behalf of Jack Bishop) that someday when I leave my current job I will go do PR on behalf of "Vegetables Every Day." If you are a home cook who uses cookbooks, do yourself a favor and add this one to your collection.

`Vegetables Every Day' is by Jack Bishop, a very intelligent craftsman of cookbooks similar to James Peterson, Molly Katzen, Rose Levy Beranbaum, and Pam Anderson. Each is skillful at creating very useful reference books on various aspects of cooking. And, it should be no surprise that both Bishop and Pam Anderson are current or past senior staffers at `Cooks Illustrated' magazine. It is a great treat to have two of these skillful authors both do excellent books on vegetables, and to have the two books done from two so different points of view that one will feel no pangs of waste by owning both. Bishop's book is certainly the more accessible of the two, as the material is presented in a very straightforwardly encyclopedic presentation. There are uniform articles on 66 different vegetables, a veritable celebration of the variety of vegetables available through part or all of the year round. Among these 66, there are the old favorites such as broccoli, carrots, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, and onions. Alongside these there are new favorites brought to our attention by hours of watching Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Jaime Oliver such as Artichokes, Broccoli Rabe, Cardoons, Celery Root, Dandelion Greens, Fava Beans, Fennel, Soybeans, Turnips, and Zucchini. At the far end of familiarity are Boniato, Burdock, Calabaza, Chayote, Jerusalem Artichokes, Kohlrabi, Malanga, Sorrel, Taro, and Yuca. These are the veggies which should be approached with one of my favorite Alton Brown `Good Eats' moments when he recommends that you walk into your megamart with fresh eyes on the lookout for unfamiliar products and investigate what can be done with these little gems. Bishop is not only intent on providing things to do with newly available produce, he is intent on making cooking all vegetables, especially the old standards with a new set of recipes to make them more interesting and to make cooking them more fun. One excellent case in point is asparagus that everyone either boils or steams and dresses with some creamy sauce. Since everyone already knows how to do this, Bishop doesn't bother to give recipes for these. Rather, his nine asparagus recipes include three roasting methods, a grilling recipe, two sautee recipes, a recipe with Chinese noodles, a recipe with a vinaigrette, and an asparagus frittata. Every article, regardless of how many recipes may be given, has the same seven (7) paragraphs in the introductory article. The first paragraph simply introduces you to the vegetable and gives you a general idea of the appeal and usability of the vegetable. The next paragraph on availability gives the best season for the produce and whether or not the vegetable is currently available year round in American markets. The third paragraph on selection gives us criteria for whether we want to pick up today's selection of a species or let it alone. The paragraph on storage is especially useful, as there is probably very little wisdom handed down from your Ea

This unique cookbook, organized by vegetable, is invaluable. I keep it on my counter so when I open the refrigerator to prepare a meal and find only radishes, mushrooms, and/or celery in the vegetable bin, I can turn to that vegetable and find a delicious way to prepare it. I consult it when I want to know how to store a vegetable. I consult it when I've found a new-to-me vegetable in a recipe and have no clue how to select one in the grocery store. I've found many recipes that have become favorites. I couldn't believe how delicious asparagus is roasted. And it's the same with mushrooms; roasting concentrates their flavor amazingly; you'll never think of plain button mushrooms as boring again. I've served them to guests for appetizers; they always love them. And who would think to braise radishes?? It's a GREAT way to use those radishes that have been in the fridge for too long. There are lots of gems in this cookbook. It's one of my TOP FIVE COOKBOOKS that sit out on the counter and get used again and again. No glossy photos, just plain good advice on every page. Update 2010: Believe it or not, seven years later I stand by this review. This book has never left the top of my kitchen counter and I turn to it regularly. I'm just sayin ... :-)

I'm a reasonably decent home chef who's trying to expand his vegetable repetoire, and I love this book!The genius is the organization - by vegetable! Each chapter explains how to buy the vegetable, then gives you a half-dozen ways to prepare it. If you've ever felt lost or overwhelmed in the produce aisle (Can humans really eat kale? What can I do with jicama?), this book is for you. Or if you're just in a hurry (I need a side dish, and there's still broccoli in the fridge), turn to "B" and flip through a half-dozen recipes. I stopped using Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" after I got this book. Jack Bishop's approach is straightforward, easy to follow, and the recipes taste great the first time.

After hearing an interview with Jack Bishop on NPR, my wife and I were intrigued enough to order the book. Four of the five recipes we've tried thus far have been outstanding, to the point where we're building entire meals based on them. For instance, we both like broccoli, but didn't know the best way to cook it. Now we do. I've never liked green beans, but we tried Bishop's recipe for roasting them, and I'm suddenly hooked! In short, if you've been wanting to bring more vegetables into your diet, buy this book!