After over a decade with solely a handful of cooking for one cookbooks, we lastly bought our first main work. Cooking for One by America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) isn’t a chef’s manifesto or a collections of scaled down recipes from sixty years in the past. There’s no weight-reduction plan focus or convoluted premise. ATK really understands the one cook dinner. They know that we want flexibility, hate meals waste, and that an ideal meal is the very best kind of self care. Cooking for One is trendy, common, and accessible. It’s the well-considered, all-purpose cookbook I’ve been ready for.
if there’s one phrase I would use to explain atk’s model, it is rigor. a recipe is tried ten, twenty, forty instances to get the very best model of a dish. virtually all elements of a technique are mentioned, every measurable high quality is evaluated and re-evaluated. they apply that very same variety of rigor right here, with a lot materials past the precise recipes. the covers let you know precisely how you can arrange your pantry, how you can improvise, how you can use leftover elements. every recipe tells you why it really works with sidebars about non-obligatory substitutions and additions. no stone is left unturned right here… they’ve thought of completely every little thing so you do not have to.
Each kind of dish is roofed: You’ve bought mains, sides, soups, salads, sandwiches, one-pan dinners, and desserts. There are additionally taste enhancers like sauces and seasonings to ramp up easier dishes. Recipes vary from elements (a salmon fillet or plain rice) to finish dishes so you may combine and match, riff as you want, or simply choose a dish and go. Components are straightforward sufficient to seek out and comparatively cheap.
The gems listed here are the methods ATK has found for cooking smaller parts. The trick to an ideal single serving of white rice? Rinse the grains first, then let the cooked rice steam with a dish towel below the lid to catch additional moisture. How do you get one juicy, golden rooster breast? It’s a particular (although very straightforward) dance of lid off, lid on, a little bit liquid, and timing.
For those who’re used to placing subsequent to no effort into your meals, know that this ebook will ask extra of you. As somebody who normally wings it or takes the trail of least resistance, that additional effort was normally definitely worth the finish end result. ATK hacked dishes I’d by no means make as a result of of the hassle cleanup, and leftovers concerned. I’m now making enchiladas or risotto on a weeknight with out sweating a factor. I feel that is one of the ebook’s greatest classes: You need to eat properly, and wanting an ideal meal for your self is purpose sufficient to perform a little extra within the kitchen. 
some quibbles: there have been a pair of instances the place the dish felt a bit sparse or incomplete contemplating the hassle concerned. It is also value noting that many recipes are proven with non-obligatory “stage up” gadgets that are not in the principle recipes. be sure you learn them if you’d like them to match what you see. the recipes aren’t very forgiving (a symptom of all that rigorous testing), so take note of warmth ranges, thickness of greens and protein, and many others.
This is a listing of what I’ve completed to this point. I’ll proceed to replace this listing as I cook dinner up extra of the ebook.
Creamy Cauliflower Curry Soup: It took a bit of work and did loads, but it surely could not be a meal by itself. complemented with stir-fried tofu and greens. additionally dilute some yogurt with the blended soup as a substitute of utilizing cream.
Crispy-Pores and skin Salmon Fillet: The fillet was a little bit overdone for my liking, so I decreased the cooking by a minute on both sides the subsequent time. I cherished the crispy pores and skin.
crispy pores and skin rooster breast: labored as written. it is crucial to pound them to a good thickness or they will not cook dinner properly.
Simple Cuban Black Beans: Nice taste. used a pink bell pepper as a substitute of inexperienced. bought two meals of this with all of the trimmings (cherished the plantain chips for take out).
Glazed meatloaf for one: I made each variations: the ginger garlic with hoisin glaze and the basic with ketchup glaze. i used floor turkey as a substitute of pork and made them a bit bigger so i wanted to cook dinner on a regular basis. very tasty.
Skillet Boneless Hen Breast: Labored out completely.
risotto spring: took a very long time. I felt the strategy may have been hacked extra not directly, like a no-stir baked technique. I additionally missed the white wine!
Roasted Candy Potato Squares: These have been burnt properly earlier than the prompt cooking time, however might not have been reduce thick sufficient. I might cook dinner at 400°f for 10-12 minutes per facet.
Candy potato and bacon wrap: I believed it was fairly skimpy for the hassle concerned. I ate one other meal after this.
Easy ratatouille: I added some thinly sliced zucchini and served over quinoa with a fried egg. I overlooked 1/8 teaspoon of the anchovy paste and it nonetheless tasted nice.
Tex-Mex Cheese Enchiladas: I cherished them a lot I made them twice in a single week, which is fairly uncommon for me. I added some crumbled tofu to the filling. labored as written.
white rice: labored as written.
