Review: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

You might not consider sitting down to read a cookbook from cover to cover, but with some cookbooks you should. Through the onslaught of celebrity chefs, catch phrases and cleverly named shows on Food Network, and the bandwagon jumpers of reality TV competition format TopChefHell’sKitchenAmericanIronChef shows- its good to find out that some people still write down recipes intended for us, the huddled masses, to cook.

I have been a fan of Mark Bittman for some time now, ever since I went off to college and received his first How To Cook Everything. Honestly, Mom, I was a little insulted. “I can cook!” I thought. But with Bittman, I could cook Everything. His first book was incredibly easy to follow, versatile, and allowed me to make a meal out of whatever was crammed in the mini-fridge and some strategically spent cafeteria money. Since that first book, Mark Bittman has entered the realm of the celebrity chef. He has a weekly column in the NY Times and has a show on PBS, but I won’t hold that against him.

In my mother’s generation it was the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (and my copy is well worn) but with the focus on organics and healthy fats, it seems that it is time for some chefs who can see past the whole cream and butter (no offense Paula Dean). Even more specifically, as we age into and past our quarterlives, those metabolisms that allowed you to eat half a large pizza and a six pack and not gain an ounce are going to slow down. Its time to take better care of ourselves before we start seeing the Nordic Roller Total Diet and Gym Prepackaged Meal infomercial as a solution.

Enter, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. I am not a vegetarian and neither is Bittman. He notes that the changes in the world are pushing us all towards a semivegetarian lifestyle. Our current levels of consumption when it comes to meat and fish are not sustainable and thus, let us embrace the tofu now. But that’s the key in having a vegetarian cookbook written by a non-veggie. Bittman understands the wary nature of Omnivores (and the more extreme Atkinsovores) to eating a more plant-rich diet.

Yes, there is a chapter (and a bevy of recipes) on tofu- the most earth shattering recommendation being to freeze your soy. I’ve been a hippy from the moment I took my first breath and tofu has always been a regular part of my diet. By freezing it, the water in the tofu expands, making larger bubbles so that when you defrost it, you have a chewier (read- better), restaurant quality tofu. If that wasn’t worth the price of purchase, I don’t know what is.

But Bittman keeps giving me reasons to gush. Like the first cookbook, this one is very flexible. His “Muffins, Infinite Ways” allows you to take whatever you have: rotting bananas, dried fruit, sour cream, onions, leeks, oats, nuts, etc- and turn them into delicious muffins (I have oat flour, peach, banana, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, soy muffins on my counter right now!). He gives a basic recipe for ice cream and over a dozen variants depending on your tastes and ingredients (Saffron anyone?).

Adding to the ease of the recipes is the format of each section. We get a rundown of the philosophy of the chapter (desserts- while generally vegetarian to begin with- are written with a vegetarian, health-conscious mindset), the general ingredients involved (a “Flour Lexicon” and a “Leavening Lexicon” reside in the chapter on Breads, Pizzas, Sandwiches, and Wraps), charts when needed to explain differences (with one chart for “everyday herbs” and another for “specialty herbs for enthusiasts”), and some step-by-step illustrations on things that may give you trouble (want to see how to prepare fennel?).

Each recipe is also marked with a symbol to designate if it is fast, if parts of it can be made ahead, or if it is vegan (or easily made vegan). Now, again, I am not a vegan, but I did replace milk in my diet with soy milk and have reduced the amount of other animal products that I eat (I still love a sharp looking leather shoe- come on PETA come and get me). When cooking for a vegan, it’s a challenge- which is sometimes part of the fun. The few vegan cookbooks I own are highly labor intensive and require ingredients that must be ordered from the Internet. While they produce great dishes, that kind of cooking is not for me- at least not every day. Knowing that I can cook “Pasta with Lentils” (on pg 454) with basic staples and not have to worry that I will be poisoning my vegan friends with cramps in the middle of the night is quite a relief. And I didn’t even have to get out the food processor.

Who cares about the book, how are the recipes? As a girl who never knows when she will make it to the grocery store and wants to cook a meal that is healthy but also doesn’t taste like cardboard, Bittman’s recipes are gold. He uses simple tricks to make your home cooked veggie meals taste as good as that fru fru restaurant in your nearby big city. Add some sake or veggie stock to your fried rice and you’ve got the secret of Thai restaurants everywhere. He has made my everyday standards more interesting and healthier. Next on my list is Beer-Glazed Black Beans. I expect it to be a hit.