The return of a classic food book: James Beard's own selection of his favorite columns and recipes, distilling a lifetime of kitchen wisdom into one volume.
 
In Beard on Food, one of America's great culinary thinkers and teachers collects his best essays, ranging from the perfect hamburger to the pleasures of oxtails, from salad dressing to Sauce Diable. The result is not just a compendium of fabulous recipes and delicious bites of writing. It's a philosophy of food--unfussy, wide-ranging, erudite, and propelled by Beard's exuberance and sense of fun.
In a series of short, charming essays, with recipes printed in contrasting type, Beard follows his many enthusiasms, demonstrating how to make everyday foods into delicious meals. Covering meats, vegetables, fish, herbs, and kitchen tools, Beard on Food is both an invaluable reference for cooks and a delightful read for armchair enthusiasts.

 

"In matters of the palate James Beard is absolutely to be trusted…He is always on target."--Chicago Tribune
 
"James Beard has done more than anybody else to popularize good food in America."--New York Times
 
"Beard was an innovator, an experimenter, a missionary in bringing the gospel of good cooking to the home table."--Craig Claiborne
 
"Too much of James Beard can never be enough for me."--Gael Greene

Often referred to as the dean of American cookery, James Beard authored dozens of books on cooking and food before his death in 1985. Today, his Greenwich Village town house is home to the James Beard Foundation, the country's preeminent performance space and center for the culinary arts.
 
Mark Bittman is a food columnist for the New York Times and the author of the bestselling cookbooks How to Cook Anything and The Best Recipes in the World.