Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook (8th Ed.)

The gift edition of Betty Crocker's New Cookbook is a handsome, boxed, spiral-bound version of this staple in American cooking. Recipes for heartland classics like Buffalo chicken wings, sour cream coffee cake, deviled eggs, Cincinnati chili, and meatloaf are joined by such international favorites as Steak au Poivre, enchiladas, spaetzle, gazpacho, and risotto. The rather dry, utilitarian text is studded with explanations for cooking techniques as basic as ingredient-measuring and as nuanced as deep-frying; precise and lucid, these directions are never condescending, which should comfort novice cooks while still offering useful refreshers to more experienced hands in the kitchen. A fine, all-around introduction to casual, home-style American cooking.