Hundreds of tested recipes scaled down to serve two, from weeknight dinners to desserts, with advice on shopping and avoiding waste
Recipes sized for two
Most recipes are written for four or six people, which leaves couples and small households halving quantities, guessing at cooking times and dealing with leftovers. America's Test Kitchen tackled the problem by reworking hundreds of recipes specifically for two. The book covers everyday dinners, soups, pasta, one-dish meals, vegetables, grilling, slow cooking and desserts, with tips on smaller pans, using up partial ingredients and shopping efficiently.
Who will enjoy it
Couples, empty nesters, students sharing a kitchen and anyone tired of scaling down family-size recipes.
What you will get
A large, practical cookbook of recipes reworked to serve two people, with careful testing, clear instructions and advice on avoiding waste.
The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Nonfiction · Small-household cooking · Tested recipes · Everyday meals
Length
440 pages · ≈ 13 h
More about this book
The book's value lies in the testing. Scaling a recipe down is not simply a matter of halving quantities: pan sizes, cooking times and seasoning all change, and the test kitchen has worked through these problems so readers do not have to. The result is a reliable collection of familiar dishes that come out right in smaller amounts.
The range is wide, from quick weeknight meals to roasts, casseroles and baked desserts sized for two, and many chapters include notes on using up leftover ingredients, such as half a can of beans or the rest of a bunch of herbs. The instructions are clear and detailed, in the house style, and there are helpful notes on equipment.
The recipes lean towards classic American home cooking, so readers seeking bold global flavours may want a second book. The layout is dense, with fewer photographs than many modern cookbooks. A newer, expanded anniversary edition is also available. For everyday cooking for two, though, it is a dependable reference. It also makes a practical gift for anyone setting up a first shared kitchen or adjusting to a smaller household after the children have left home. About 440 pages in the America's Test Kitchen paperback.
The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook
The Complete Slow Cooker
The Science of Good Cooking
All Creatures Great and Small
Snacking Cakes
Around My French Table
The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
The Tao of Pooh
How to Be a Domestic Goddess
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics