How to Cook

An empowering collection of delicious, practical recipes that will teach young adults and kitchen novices all the skills they need to cook for themselves—from a James Beard Award-winning chef and author.

Acclaimed chef, TV, star, and dedicated father Hugh Acheson taught his teenage daughters that cooking is an essential life skill. But he also knew that people don’t need to cook like a chef to feed themselves and their friends. Really, they only need to learn a handful of skills to enjoy a lifetime of cooking.

So, in How to Cook, Hugh distills the cooking lessons that everyone should master into twenty-five basic building blocks: easy-to-grasp recipes that can turn anyone, young or old, into a confident home cook. Each of these recipes teaches a fundamental skill, such as roasting or whisking together a classic vinaigrette, and each stands alone as a stellar back-pocket basic. After laying the groundwork, Hugh then offers recipes that expand on these foundations, whether it’s remixing the flavors of one of the basic recipes, or combining a couple of them, to show you how you can produce a lifetime’s worth of dishes.

This is the book Hugh is going to give his kids as they head off to college, knowing that they’ll be prepared to feed themselves for the rest of their lives.