Consider picking up a copy of the Joy of Cooking, or another good encyclopedic cookbook. In Joy, at least, the recipes are fairly concise -- but there's a wealt

Consider picking up a copy of the Joy of Cooking, or another good encyclopedic cookbook. In Joy, at least, the recipes are fairly concise -- but there's a wealth of other info in there: how to tell when specific vegetables are ripe, cuts of meat and their uses, etc. It's one of the only reference books I actually use, in any genre.