Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence by Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence Reviews

• 
  Jg

  This is *the* perfect cookbook for beginners, not just in terms of recipe ease. It has extremely helpful hints for people who've never set foot in a kitchen: Essential Equipment and Tools, How To Measure Ingredients, All About Knives, Pots and Pans for Cooking, Pans for Baking, etc. It would be an awesome cookbook for a newlywed couple, a young adult living on his/her own for the first time.
  
  Take note though, I'm referring to the 1998 edition; it appears there is an updated edition (2008 I think).
• 
  Samantha Zee

  This book helped me learn my way around the kitchen. The recipes are all classic comfort food with simple ingredients that you can improve as your confidence improves, but are also delicious as is. Many of these recipes became a staple in my kitchen over time!
  
  And if you are brand BRAND new to cooking, this book is great. It walks you through how to cook almost all the major meats, multiple ways. It explains how to cut the foods, what the equipment is needed, how to set up said equipment, etc. It really is great for beginners and the best part is, EVERY PAGE HAS A PICTURE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT, which is something more cookbooks should follow.
• 
  Jordyn Reese

  Super simple, great for beginners
• 
  Ava ☕

  Impressive and a must-have for beginning cooks. I picked this up in a second hand shop and even though it was published 15 yrs ago (1998), the information is universal and timeless.
  
  My 11 yr old is branching out beyond baking (she is my Red Velvet Cake and Pie Queen). While this cookbook is not geared toward children, my daughter easily navigated the skills and techniques, tips, recommended tools, and of course we are plowing through the perfect "staple" recipes which are quite good (Betty C in the house!). Ill be teaching my teenage boys from this as well.
  
  The sections are indexed by grilling, pasta, salads, treats, main dishes, etc...and also includes sections on metric conversion, basic equipment and gadgets, how to measure wet/dry ingredients, purchasing knives, food safety/storage, substitutions, and even a section on three "get-together" meals (e.g. Thanksgiving dinner)...just to name some highlights.
  
  A huge plus is that I dont crack the spine to keep this open. The hardback with spiral binding makes for easy hands-free reading. Traditional book binding in any cookbook should be banned.
  
  I highly recommend this for first time cooks, or for someone seeking more confidence in the kitchen.
• 
  Julia

  I learned to cook using this cookbook and recommend it to people I've met that are just starting to learn their way around the kitchen. This cookbook has some great recipes that I still make even though I have advanced from beginning cooking. There is a photo for every recipe and the cookbook is spiral bound so it lays flat. My favorite recipes are the Parmesan Dijon chicken and the twice baked potatoes! If you sit down and take some time to really read through the non-recipe parts of this cookbook you will learn so much! I don't think this cookbook will ever leave my shelf!
• 
  Andrea

  I love this cookbook. I don't make many of the recipes from it anymore, but for a while I did. I like that it has a lot of information in it especially about things that other cookbooks already expect you to know. Simple things that I didn't know like, the proportion of water to rice to cook, how long to bake chicken breasts, and how much bottled juice is equal to one lemon.
  I love all the pictures. It has spoiled me on pictures to where that is one of my important factors in picking up a cookbook.
• 
  Elaine Skinner

  My family always cooked from scratch, so when I got married I wanted to continue the tradition. Unfortunately I was better at eating then I was cooking those first few weeks! I bought this cookbook after a few failures, and WALLA, delicious meals! Since then I have mastered homemade breads, cakes, pies, tender roasts, and many other things I thought were beyond me!
  
  The meatloaf recipe in this book is to die for! My family requests it often! I highly recommend this book for people who have a desire to cook but don't know where to start!
• 
  Selah

  My mom used Betty Crocker points to buy me a set of dishes and this book as a wedding gift, over 15 years ago. I wasn't a complete beginner, but this book was a huge help! I still have it, although it's missing the cover and several pages, and I use recipes from it frequently.
  
  Ignore the 1 star review that says this uses lots of prepackaged ingredients. A few recipes do, but most recipes call for standard pantry spices, fresh ingredients, and some frozen fruits / veggies (usually with instructions on how to use fresh as well).
• 
  DelGal

  This book has plenty of information for the new cook (and even veteran ones who forget the info) such as Measuring Guide, prep techniques, suggestions for kitchen gadget essentials, extensive glossaries of ingredients and cooking terms, and information on food storing, temperatures and storage. Of course this book also contains good basic recipes - but nothing too fancy. Recommended for new cooks, doesn't have anything too exciting however, for the advanced cook.
• 
  Allison

  This book has some great tips in it and I love the different recipes!!! Can anyone say CHOCOLATEPALOOZA!!! well yeah, probably everyone ages4 and up but can you say it 10 times fast? LOL maybe a molten lava cake cupcake for a certain graduation party I've been hearing about? These recipes are so simple and easy but with great reminders to tell people what not to do and how to make your recipes edible!!!
• 
  Holly

  A good beginning cookbook. Not a how-to manual, but a cookbook with simple, everyday recipes, with lots of pictures and very helpful tips placed in their appropriate context. For instance, a recipe for Cheese enchiladas has tips (with photos) on how to soften tortillas and how to fill them, things an experienced cook would already know but a beginner might need explained.
  The last chapter is filled with helpful lists, charts,and pictures about techniques, terminology, substitutions, etc.
• 
  Ginnie Grant

  Boosk like this irk me. When you see "easy" "fast" and "cheap" they think that it has to be laden with the kid of overly processed lab created ingredients that are slowly killing us off. Beginner's need to learn to cook with real fresh foods too. Books like this prey on those who don't have a lot of money, are busy parents and don't have much food and cooking knowledge. It makes me so mad!
  
• 
  Christy

  I totally adore this book. It is my go-to book on my recipe shelf for answering any questions I have about cooking. Last night I brought it out for the umpteenth time for a chicken dinner. There are no stupid questions when it comes to cooking basics and this book is all about answering the big and small questions about everything from grilling to broiling. Thanks Betty Crocker.
• 
  Mickey

  This was my first Cookbook that I ever purchased. It was ok at first for basic cooking. After time I learned to expand on the recipes.
  If your looking for a great basic cookbook I would get Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything: The Basics".
• 
  Amy

  This is the BEST starter cookbook EVER! Actually, I refer to it quite a bit, great tips on pretty much everything.
• 
  Mamabear

  I bought this book for my son when he had one of his first apartments. It is very basic, very explanatory.
• 
  Jaspreet

  This was a great book for learning how to cook.
• 
  Mindy

  This is one of my favorite cookbooks. I love the meat loaf!
• 
  - Ny-Oshi";D0ra !

  - its diffrent from foodxs dat i ussally eat !
• 
  Liz De Coster

  First came across this sometime in 2005/2006. Finally tracked down an older library copy recently to refresh my memory of the recipes I recall enjoying.
• 
  Abdul

  Sadly not as illustrative as I like cook books to be.
• 
  Angie

  I received this as a wedding present 12 years ago and I'm still using it! It is truly basic, easy to use, and the recipes are good, and a good point to start from if you want to customize a recipe.
• 
  Kenneth Baird

  Purchased this in the inexpensive (CHEAP) book section at Borders or Barnes and Noble some years ago. It's sort of an "old reliable." Good basic recipes with clear instructions.
• 
  Dominique Lamssies

  I cannot recommend this book highly enough. This book covers all the basics in a way that even the most inept in the kitchen person can understand. I know because I am one!