--- product_id: 323482 title: "How to Cook Everything: The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food – With 1,000 Photos: A Beginner Cookbook and Essential Guide to Fundamental Cooking Techniques" price: "€ 60.20" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/323482-how-to-cook-everything-the-basics-all-you-need-to store_origin: PT region: Portugal --- # 600 demo shots of core techniques 185 beginner-friendly recipes 1000+ step-by-step photos How to Cook Everything: The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food – With 1,000 Photos: A Beginner Cookbook and Essential Guide to Fundamental Cooking Techniques **Price:** € 60.20 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🍽️ Cook like a pro, one photo at a time! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** How to Cook Everything: The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food – With 1,000 Photos: A Beginner Cookbook and Essential Guide to Fundamental Cooking Techniques - **How much does it cost?** € 60.20 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pt](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/323482-how-to-cook-everything-the-basics-all-you-need-to) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Smart Kitchen Wisdom:** Special sections simplify complex topics like grains, seafood, and vegetable groups for savvy shopping and prep. - • **Core Skills Demystified:** 600 demonstration images break down essential techniques like cracking eggs and recognizing doneness. - • **Beginner to Pro Progression:** 185 recipes designed to build your skills progressively, making cooking approachable and fun. - • **Creative Freedom Encouraged:** Tips and variations empower you to personalize dishes and elevate your culinary creativity. - • **Visual Mastery at Every Step:** Over 1,000 vivid photos guide you from chopping to plating with confidence. ## Overview How to Cook Everything: The Basics is Mark Bittman’s ultimate beginner cookbook featuring 1,000 photos and 185 recipes that teach fundamental cooking techniques with clarity and style. This visually rich guide breaks down essential skills through 600 demonstration images and practical tips, making it the perfect kitchen companion for novices eager to build confidence and master versatile, delicious meals. ## Description The next best thing to having Mark Bittman in the kitchen with you Mark Bittman’s highly acclaimed, bestselling book How to Cook Everything is an indispensable guide for any modern cook. With How to Cook Everything The Basics , this essential cookbook for beginners reveals how truly easy it is to learn fundamental cooking techniques and recipes. From dicing vegetables and roasting meat, to cooking building-block meals that include salads, soups, poultry, meats, fish, sides, and desserts, Bittman explains what every home cook, particularly novices, should know. 1,000 beautiful and instructive photographs throughout the book reveal key preparation details that make every dish inviting and accessible. With clear, step-by-step instructions, Bittman’s practical tips and variation ideas, and visual cues that accompany each of the 185 recipes, cooking with How to Cook Everything The Basics is like having Bittman in the kitchen with you. This is the essential teaching cookbook, with 1,000 photos illustrating every technique and recipe; the result is a comprehensive reference that is both visually stunning and utterly practical. Special Basics features scattered throughout simplify broad subjects with sections like "Think of Vegetables in Groups," "How to Cook Any Grain," and "5 Rules for Buying and Storing Seafood." 600 demonstration photos each build on a step from the recipe to teach a core lesson, like "Cracking an Egg," "Using Pasta Water," "Recognizing Doneness," and "Crimping the Pie Shut." Detailed notes appear in blue type near selected images. Here Mark highlights what to look for during a particular step and offers handy advice and other helpful asides. Tips and variations let cooks hone their skills and be creative. Review: An easy to follow cookbook for beginners and pros. - This book by Mark Bittman is one of the most approachable, confidence-building beginner cookbooks you can buy. It does exactly what the title promises: teaches fundamentals without overwhelming you. The layout is wonderfully clean, the tone is friendly, and the step-by-step photos—over a thousand of them—make techniques like chopping, sautéing, roasting, and seasoning instantly understandable, even if you’ve never cooked before. Speaking of the photographs, the food actually looks like something you could prepare and be proud of, not some ultra-stylized art piece that looks great but could never be eaten. Just sayin’. Bittman focuses on real kitchen skills, so you actually learn why things work, instead of blindly following instructions. The dishes themselves are simple, flexible, and forgiving, which is perfect for new cooks. Overall, this book lets you confidently step into the kitchen and removes the fear of cooking. It sets you up to make consistently good food at home because you’ll actually understand what you’re doing. It’s a practical, confidence-boosting guide that earns its place in any starter kitchen. Even if you are not a beginner, I’ll bet you’ll still find some inspiration between these pages. Highly recommended. Review: It's hard to described how much this has helped my cooking... - I'd shared cooking duties for years with my wife, and my subtle teenager summed it his take on my skills: "Dad, your cooking just has a low upside." Ouch! After one too many comments I decided to really learn to cook. So I thought, like any skill, the first step was to fully master the basics, then branch out. So, you can see how I was attracted a book titled "How to Cook Everything - the Basics." As a non-chef interested in learning fundamental skills, here's why I found this book so valuable: - Each recipe introduces you to new skills, starting easy and progressing to more advanced. Even if you don't cook each recipe, you learn a lot just reading through them. - There are pictures showing you how to prepare the dishes. For example, there was a pumpkin pie recipe that showed exactly when to recognize that it should come out of the oven - with just a bit liquidy in the center. While this could have been described, I found it much easier to understand visually. And there are full-color visuals like that for every recipe. - Each recipe includes variations, so you can start to learn how to improvise - what works with what. That also makes the recipes much more varied. - Really helpful for me, he emphasized "taste and adjust" for all your cooking. I never really did that and am learning that it can make the difference between okay and very tasty. - If you go through all the sections, you'll be inevitably be introduced to things you'd never have considered. We made bulgar with feta and shimp. I honestly had never even heard of bulgar, but it was quite tasty! - In the beginning of the book, there's a few sections about what you should have in your kitchen by way of utensils, spices, etc. That's probably in other books but I found it helpful. - I think it introduces you to a very wide range of food types and cooking skills, so that after you've plowed through it you can feel confident you've at least been exposed to most techniques. For me, the big test was Thanksgiving dinner, which I'd never cooked before. In addition to turkey, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, glazed carrots, and homemade pie. To say my family was amazed was an understatement, and I felt like the How to Cook Everything made it seem simple, and not very stressful. I would like to point out some downsides: - I also purchased the Kindle version. While it's a fine complement to the book, I wouldn't suggest buying it instead of the book. Why? They changed the order somewhat and I found the tips/pictures for preparation pretty hard to follow. - Remember when your third-grade teacher said, when you open a new textbook, you need to "break the binding?" I didn't do that and after a couple months the pages started falling out. So, do open the book the the middle, stretch the pages flat, and so so for every 50 pages or so. - If you're already an accomplished cook, or just not a clueless as I was, this might be too basic. He has a lot of other books I'm sure would be better for you. BUT, if you never learned the basics, read through the book, try a select set of recipes, and you'll be amazed with your new-found cooking expertise! Bon Appetit! ## Features - This is the essential teaching cookbook, with 1,000 photos illustrating every technique and recipe; the result is a comprehensive reference that’s both visually stunning and utterly practical. - Special Basics features scattered throughout simplify broad subjects with sections like “Think of Vegetables in Groups,” “How to Cook Any Grain,” and “5 Rules for Buying and Storing Seafood.” - 600 demonstration photos each build on a step from the recipe to teach a core lesson, like “Cracking an Egg,” “Using Pasta Water,” “Recognizing Doneness,” and “Crimping the Pie Shut.” - Detailed notes appear in blue type near selected images. Here Mark highlights what to look for during a particular step and offers handy advice and other helpful asides. - Tips and variations let cooks hone their skills and be creative. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #10,371 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Vietnamese Cooking, Food & Wine #2 in Scandinavian Cooking, Food & Wine #4 in Soul Food Cooking, Food & Wine | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,688 Reviews | ## Images ![How to Cook Everything: The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food – With 1,000 Photos: A Beginner Cookbook and Essential Guide to Fundamental Cooking Techniques - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71yr0CJdoAL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An easy to follow cookbook for beginners and pros. *by S***Y on March 30, 2026* This book by Mark Bittman is one of the most approachable, confidence-building beginner cookbooks you can buy. It does exactly what the title promises: teaches fundamentals without overwhelming you. The layout is wonderfully clean, the tone is friendly, and the step-by-step photos—over a thousand of them—make techniques like chopping, sautéing, roasting, and seasoning instantly understandable, even if you’ve never cooked before. Speaking of the photographs, the food actually looks like something you could prepare and be proud of, not some ultra-stylized art piece that looks great but could never be eaten. Just sayin’. Bittman focuses on real kitchen skills, so you actually learn why things work, instead of blindly following instructions. The dishes themselves are simple, flexible, and forgiving, which is perfect for new cooks. Overall, this book lets you confidently step into the kitchen and removes the fear of cooking. It sets you up to make consistently good food at home because you’ll actually understand what you’re doing. It’s a practical, confidence-boosting guide that earns its place in any starter kitchen. Even if you are not a beginner, I’ll bet you’ll still find some inspiration between these pages. Highly recommended. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ It's hard to described how much this has helped my cooking... *by J***R on December 18, 2014* I'd shared cooking duties for years with my wife, and my subtle teenager summed it his take on my skills: "Dad, your cooking just has a low upside." Ouch! After one too many comments I decided to really learn to cook. So I thought, like any skill, the first step was to fully master the basics, then branch out. So, you can see how I was attracted a book titled "How to Cook Everything - the Basics." As a non-chef interested in learning fundamental skills, here's why I found this book so valuable: - Each recipe introduces you to new skills, starting easy and progressing to more advanced. Even if you don't cook each recipe, you learn a lot just reading through them. - There are pictures showing you how to prepare the dishes. For example, there was a pumpkin pie recipe that showed exactly when to recognize that it should come out of the oven - with just a bit liquidy in the center. While this could have been described, I found it much easier to understand visually. And there are full-color visuals like that for every recipe. - Each recipe includes variations, so you can start to learn how to improvise - what works with what. That also makes the recipes much more varied. - Really helpful for me, he emphasized "taste and adjust" for all your cooking. I never really did that and am learning that it can make the difference between okay and very tasty. - If you go through all the sections, you'll be inevitably be introduced to things you'd never have considered. We made bulgar with feta and shimp. I honestly had never even heard of bulgar, but it was quite tasty! - In the beginning of the book, there's a few sections about what you should have in your kitchen by way of utensils, spices, etc. That's probably in other books but I found it helpful. - I think it introduces you to a very wide range of food types and cooking skills, so that after you've plowed through it you can feel confident you've at least been exposed to most techniques. For me, the big test was Thanksgiving dinner, which I'd never cooked before. In addition to turkey, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, glazed carrots, and homemade pie. To say my family was amazed was an understatement, and I felt like the How to Cook Everything made it seem simple, and not very stressful. I would like to point out some downsides: - I also purchased the Kindle version. While it's a fine complement to the book, I wouldn't suggest buying it instead of the book. Why? They changed the order somewhat and I found the tips/pictures for preparation pretty hard to follow. - Remember when your third-grade teacher said, when you open a new textbook, you need to "break the binding?" I didn't do that and after a couple months the pages started falling out. So, do open the book the the middle, stretch the pages flat, and so so for every 50 pages or so. - If you're already an accomplished cook, or just not a clueless as I was, this might be too basic. He has a lot of other books I'm sure would be better for you. BUT, if you never learned the basics, read through the book, try a select set of recipes, and you'll be amazed with your new-found cooking expertise! Bon Appetit! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely a necessity if you're not a professional chef with years of education. *by G***Y on August 22, 2026* The pictures fill in the guess work Absolutely helpful to me. Very concise and easy to follow. Lots of tips are given also! Great book all the way around. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pt/products/323482-how-to-cook-everything-the-basics-all-you-need-to](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/323482-how-to-cook-everything-the-basics-all-you-need-to) --- *Product available on Desertcart Portugal* *Store origin: PT* *Last updated: 2026-09-08*