Cocinar mejor. Más de 500 utensilios, 100 recetas y técnicas paso apaso. (Better Cooking. More Than 500 Tools, 100 Recipes and Techniques)

Culinary author and former Guild of Food Writers vice president McFadden presents a comprehensive, richly photographed manual for selecting and using cooking tools and electronic kitchen devices. The utensils, ranging from the ordinary to the esoteric, comprise everything from garden-variety bowls and measuring spoons to the Danish aebleskiver pan and a falafel press. Divided into 13 sections according to cooking technique—e.g., cutting and peeling, braising and stewing, measuring and weighing—the book includes a primer on the pros and cons of preparing food with various metals and other materials and a listing of the manufacturers whose products are featured. Culinary all-stars Jamie Oliver and Jill Dupleix, among others, share recipes for dishes as simple as a banana-cardamom smoothie to more involved creations, such as homemade tortellini. Accompanying each recipe is a list of the utensils needed to prepare the dish. With clear, step-by-step instructions on using culinary tools for fundamental techniques like trussing a chicken and deglazing a pan, the book would prove most useful to budding and hobbyist cooks. Those with more advanced skills may find the information too basic. Highly recommended for bookstores and public libraries.—Pamela Corante, Los Angeles