Milk Street

February 21, 2022
In this latest from the team at Kimball’s Milk Street (Milk Street Vegetables), a single pan takes on global cuisines to offer a delicious range of accessible dishes. With a home cook’s efficiency in mind, recipes are grouped by the time it takes to prepare them (an hour, 45 minutes, under 30 minutes); the method (stir-fried, roasted, baked); and dish type (pasta, sandwiches, grains). Influences and techniques reach far beyond simple geography, evident in the way ketchup lends a sweet counterpoint to the spice in Trinidad pepper shrimp, and in the elements that ensure success when dry-frying Sichuan beef with celery (salt being a main one). Quinoa goes from understated to elevated—cooked in the style of risotto in a quick poblano-corn side dish—and a Georgian stew serves as the inspiration for braised bone-in chicken with herbs. Descriptions and origins for regional dishes—such as Syria’s harak osbao (lentils and caramelized onions) and Sweden’s pyttipanna (meat and potato hash with celery root)—are provided in the headnotes, offering a tasty opportunity to brush up on one’s culinary knowledge, while “don’t” tips designed to avoid missteps (“Don’t brown the meatballs aggressively”) lend solid guidance along the way. Kitchen adventures beckon in this expansive and appetizing collection. Agent: David Black, David Black Agency.

Starred review from October 1, 2022
There is perhaps no better time for a cookbook like this than our current era, in which a double line on a test strip sends a household into temporary isolation with the accompanying panic of ""but there's no food in the house!"" Milk Street comes to the rescue, viewing simple pantry and freezer staples in new ways. But this is not subsistence, minimal-ingredient cooking; rather this book leads cooks to think about how to build a dish. This approach, Kimball says, can teach us how to ""behave like a real cook who can make something delicious from whatever is available."" And so, with some guidance and the addition of a few flavor-dense ""must-haves"" like tomato paste, olives, kimchi, or canned chipotles in adobo, staples like canned beans, tortillas, potatoes, and ground meat can become anything: hearty salads, soups with layered flavors, one-pot meals, or kicked-up family favorites. Substitutions are ample (we're behaving like cooks, remember?) and flavors circle the globe. Preparation times range from quick dinners to more elaborate projects and set-and-forget recipes to bake and simmer. Bits of culinary instruction are worked into many recipes, further emphasizing that this beautifully photographed and thoughtfully organized guide is a method of cooking, not just a cookbook.

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