One great cookbook: 'The Cook You Want to Be'

And the way you want to eat — now

Book cover of 'The Cook You Want to Be' by Andy Baraghani
Hit recipes and helpful advice are the centerpieces of Andy Baraghani's book
(Image credit: Penguin Random House)

Trends go and come, but deliciousness is forever. Andy Baraghani would know. During his tenure at Bon Appétit magazine in the late 2010s, he was at the molten epicenter of food media influence. His sway continues on social media today, and his debut cookbook, "The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to Impress," won a James Beard Award in 2023. This is a tome very much by an author of the moment and a writer who transcends it.

Foundational ingredients

Those pickled chiles — and chiles in general — have no connection to Baraghani's childhood. "I'm not sure where my taste for the spicy stuff came from," he writes. "Both my parents have a low tolerance, but it's difficult for me to not make most of what I cook just a tad spicy." A guess: Years of cooking in restaurants, like Berkeley's Chez Panisse and New York City's Estela, along with eating in boundless others, instill an urge for salt, heat and acid. These, he knows, are some of the tools for transforming food from simply good to staggering.

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Big flavors, versatile dishes

Let's be clear: Baraghani's food is superb. He has a way with, for example, cucumbers. His eat-with-everything cucumber salad, dressed with grated ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and crushed sesame seeds, honors its name. It complements both kicky stir-fries and long-braised meats. Fried toasts with either vinegar and herbs (again!) or tomato and garlicky mayonnaise are sublime appetizer-snacks.

I have cooked his pork chops with toasted garlic and spicy capers at least four times. Each occasion I mutter and curse as I eat. The interplay of meaty, spicy, sharp and green in the pairing of seared pork with a quick sautéed sauce of capers, thin garlic slices, red pepper flakes, parsley and red wine vinegar is all that is righteous about cooking and dining. It is also a pristine representation of why "The Cook You Want to Be" sings. Shrewd technique, cunning flavor combinations and an author who not only wants you to succeed but shows you the trailheads to arrive there.

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Scott Hocker is an award-winning freelance writer and editor at The Week Digital. He has written food, travel, culture and lifestyle stories for local, national and international publications for more than 20 years. Scott also has more than 15 years of experience creating, implementing and managing content initiatives while working across departments to grow companies. His most recent editorial post was as editor-in-chief of Liquor.com. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Tasting Table and a senior editor at San Francisco magazine.