MY FRIENDS JACK & JILL would buy pre-packaged boiled water if they could. That pretty much sums up their fondness for the kitchen. They don’t like any of it – the chopping, the handling, the frying, the sautéing, the baking, the boiling, the steaming or the cleanup – they’d rather just be eating! On the few occasions that they have forced themselves into the kitchen, they have only gotten disheartened and angry for the terrible way they wasted their time.

This book has a no nonsense approach in teaching you exactly what you need to know to get started with cooking. The chapters in this book have been written with a beginner in mind, and strive to address all aspects of the cooking process from shopping for groceries, pots and pans to the actual mechanics of cooking and presentation of various dishes. Each chapter also contains a list of takeaways at the end. The book also includes a variety of recipes that have been arranged and labeled for quick retrieval. Here’s how each chapter flavors the pot:

Part I
Chapter 1, Why cook?, answers the burning question that almost every novice cook has. Quite simply, this chapter lays the foundation for the rest of the book by diving right into the question and providing seven compelling reasons for you to start cooking today. The chapter also provides a roadmap for the rest of the book.