Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have loved both prior editions of this book, going back 20 years, and I still have both prior editions and cook from them regularly. While I have only had this new edition for about a week now, I have concluded that Mark Bittman has dialed back the showy, "project" cooking that has been part of his prior HTCE books. In this edition, there are certainly a selection of complicated recipes, but the overwhelming majority of the content here is what I would call the things we actually make and eat today. Perhaps with a broader palate for international ingredients, but that is to be expected. (We all eat differently than we did 20 years ago.) HTCE 20 is just as proscriptive as ever, but with a pronounced bias toward home cooking---not chef-style excess. Yes, important recipes reappear, but so do new recipes for, say, kimchi rice and microwave fish tacos. This would be an excellent book for graduates and other young people setting up their first kitchens. It is also a good choice for experienced cooks looking for a reference work to inspire their own creativity. In all, a very worthy revision to a cornerstone work.