Shell out the $50 for the America's Test Kitchen Complete Cookbook. I personally collect cookbooks, but as far as "needing" them goes, you can make the ATK your only one and still spend years without eating the same thing twice. (I do recommend their whole line, though. It's great.)
It's beginner-friendly, contains recipes for everything from biscuits to bibimbap, and (in my opinion) best of all, it doesn't just say "here's how we did the thing," it says "here's why we did the thing this way." My banana bread recipe is from ATK and I've literally had people tell me they hate banana bread but love mine. The secret? Microwaving the bananas. Yes, really. I took their method and applied it to hamantaschen filling and created a little bit of heaven.
It's $50 well-spent, although it's often on sale and cheaper (right now it's $30). And if you're so hard up you can't even get it on sale and have nobody you can ask for a birthday gift, you can often find old editions for a couple of bucks at library sales.
Also: Alton Brown and I are both begging you, do not get the gadgets and gizmos. You do not need them. That sandwich maker will get used once and gather dust. Garlic zooms are adorable but hard to clean. That "all the brownies will have crunchy edges" pan just burns stuff. If you want a waffle iron, get one that converts to a flat griddle. Gizmos are made to part you from your money, not to make your life easier. I own exactly two gizmos: a 1980s French fry cutter I inherited from my mom, and a mini waffle maker I bought before I learned this rule.
--to take your French toast from good to "oh my GAWD," add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to your batter.
--any recipe with chocolate, tomatoes, or red meat can be made better with a pinch of espresso powder.
--making bread is much easier than you think, but it is time-consuming.
--any food you buy on "manager special" must be edible by law, but you should eat or freeze it within 24 hours. They're selling it that cheap to try and make a profit.
--kosher meat is more expensive but tastes better and lasts longer.
--don't wash your chicken. It doesn't actually accomplish anything cooking won't, but comes with an added bonus of splashing chicken germs all over your sink and counter and potentially bruising or tearing the meat.
--Greek yogurt isn't usually worth it unless you need it for a no-substitutions recipe.
--to extend your meat and make your sloppy joes more nutritious, dice carrot, onion, and bell pepper and toss them in with your hamburger to cook. You can do up to a third of the mixture by weight and the effect on the taste is minimal, if noticeable at all. (By the way, this hack is Gordon Ramsay-approved. When his son was still a tiny thing Ramsay was struggling to get veggies into him and asked Twitter for suggestions. I provided this as the way I used to sneak veggies into the kids I babysat and he loved it.)
--black beans are a tasty and protein-packed substitute or extender for red meat.
--I strongly suggest learning to forage. I grew up eating mushrooms out of my grandma's yard (GET A MUSHROOMER TO GO WITH YOU IF YOU CHOOSE TO FORAGE MUSHROOMS--there are a ton of deadly lookalikes and guidebooks aren't always helpful), and now I pick my own amaranth right out of my backyard.
--learn what your "cooking staples" are based on what you cook, rather than "every cook should have these" lists. For example, a lot of people will keep spaghetti on hand for a quick meal. I hate spaghetti. You will never find it in my cabinets. But you know what you'll never find my kitchen bereft of? Onions. I will spend my last fifty cents to make sure I have an onion. Last year I ended up with about thirty pounds of onions, stored them in a cool dark cupboard, and it took me four months to use them all by myself BUT I USED THEM ALL. One person. Thirty pounds.
--butter is always on sale at Christmas. Stock up and freeze it. I only pay full price for butter because I have a Winco and their full price often beats Kroger sales.
--the Bitches will also tell you this, but it bears repeating: brand loyalty is almost always overrated. I'm a little bit of a brand snob about some things because I try to purchase kosher as often as possible and a lot of generics aren't kosher, but if there's a kosher generic version I'll get it.
--with that said: do a little research on your brands and always go brand-name with olive oil (I recommend Terra DeLyssa), honey (I recommend finding your local beekeeper, but if you're not near anybody, look up Gray Fox Farms from Washington and support an indigenous land rehabilitator), and maple syrup (Trader Joes store brand is actually real). These foods are commonly faked, which is to say they may have undeclared additives (for example, cutting olive oil with canola oil to bulk it out; adding corn syrup to honey for the same reason) or be a lower grade mislabeled as a higher grade to get a better price (for example, selling regular olive oil as extra-virgin). It's worth paying the extra to get the real versions of these items. If you eat a lot of seafood you should also get it from a local market, not a chain shop--it's common to label poorer-quality fish as high-demand fish to make a buck.
I hope this helps. â€ïž
