Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

I've done a lot of cooking, and a lot of learning how to cook, since college, because neither of my parents did a lot of cooking or ever really taught me when I was younger. Even so, with years of dinner prep under my belt, most of the time it's a recipe or bust. I have a very small handful of meals I'm confident making without a recipe, but I had no idea why those worked, just that if I did the same thing time and again, it worked.

This was a great, if hefty in size and information, primer on the basic building blocks of cooking, what flavors work together, and how to elevate even regular, routine meals with just an extra sprinkling of salt or splash of lemon juice. There's even mini cooking lessons throughout and in the recipe suggestions in the back, which I hope to try, but I also learned quite a lot throughout the reading that I took back to the kitchen with me as I went (and declared to Matt as Fun Facts). I liked learning about Nosrat's learning to cook, and her experiences in famous kitchens even if I never plan to set foot in one; she is a lively and passionate teacher with a great sense of humor, and the drawings and charts throughout were delightful. I'm personally a pescatarian (mostly vegetarian) for health reasons, but I found good useful information even among the sections that were more meat-heavy.

This one's going to live in my kitchen and be referred to often.