The days may still be long, with a hot still afternoon and crickets in the middle, but the pace of school and work is picking up for everyone. Cooking's more of a crunch. And though you sometimes get an inspiration for dinner, it's usually not at 5:45pm when you walk in the door from work or driving your kid back from soccer practice.
A couple new fall cookbooks aim
to serve the busy family cook. America's Test Kitchen, as
usual, takes the maximalist approach with The New Family Cookbook, a tenth-anniversary
reissue of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
(Is it my imagination, or are cookbooks considered "classic"
getting younger and younger? If you find yourself suddenly
needing a straight-ahead recipe for muffins or a stir-fry or
chicken breast, you can be sure you'll find one here.
One Pot, from the Martha
Stewart Living team, is just a little over a tenth the size (120 vs
1100 recipes), but some may be drawn to its focus. It's got
stews, roasts, pastas, casseroles - all sorts of dinners you can
throw together in a single cooking vessels with a little finesse.
And if the vegetables sometimes get short-shrifted?
It's not too hard to throw some salad greens on the side and
call it healthy.
One thing that's kind of funny to me is that both jackets feature a cast iron skillet. That's a theme these days. The 21st-century cast iron skillet has somehow transformed from rustic icon into shorthand for "capable home cook". Plus, it photographs better than non-stick and looks artier than stainless steel. Who knew?