Brilliant Recipe-Free Cookbook

My favorite new book on cooking has no recipes. "Notes on Cooking" by Russell Reich and Lauren Braun Costello, is like the food version of the essential writing manual “The Elements of Style.”  The concise, witty compendium includes 217 bits of wisdom, outlined into sections like “meat,” “bread & pastry” and more abstract topics like “the cook’s role.” Some highlights:

#38: Be wary of single-use gadgets.
#84: Command the heat.
#114: Stock is its own ingredient.
#150: Chicken is the test of a cook’s versatility.
#217: Always be cooking.