"The first time I stepped into a Sur La Table store many years ago, it instantly became my favorite kitchenware store, and it still is. Its variety never fails to surprise me. I have always found what I needed or even what I didn't know I needed until I saw it there." --Marcella Hazan, godmother of Italian cooking in America and author of Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Things Cooks Love: Implements. Ingredients. Recipes., the first in a series of Andrews McMeel Publishing books by the trusted culinary authority Sur La Table, speaks to the love that cooks of all levels feel for their tools. Whether you're passionate about the gorgeous copper pot you just received as a gift, a rice cooker you have always wanted to try, or your grandmother's well-aged cast-iron skillet, award-winning author Marie Simmons provides inspiration to make the best use of your cookware along with delectable recipes to enhance the experience.

Since the 1972 opening of its flagship store in Seattle's Pike Place Market, Sur La Table has become the destination of choice for iconic chefs from Jacques Pepin and Martha Stewart to Mario Batali. A favorite of culinary connoisseurs and gadget gurus alike, Sur La Table sells the A-to-Z of kitchenware and prides itself on teaching how to properly buy, use, care for, and cook with your newfound kitchen additions.

Things Cooks Love presents more than 100 satisfying recipes along with 125 detailed descriptions of commonly used and more unusual kitchen implements. Simmons focuses on how to choose basic cookware, and then branches out to an international array of essentials for Asian, Mexican, French, Indian, Iberian, and Moroccan kitchens. Each recipe includes preparation and cooking times, serving portions, and implements necessary to prepare the dish. Alternative cookware is offered for kitchens that aren't stocked with the exact cookware or tools.

Unlike any other tool-focused book on the market, this book celebrates the deep connection between cooks and their treasured tools. Things Cooks Love is more than a reference tool or a cookbook--it is a cook's book.

"This globe-trotting collection from the Seattle-based cookware chain Sur la Table uses cooking equipment as its inspiration. Authored by Simmons, who writes for Food & Wine and Cooking Light, this book recognizes that having 'the most suitable tool' is critical to fun and successful food preparation. In the opening chapters, Simmons outlines the basic items a home cook should stock, like a peeler and whisk, before moving on to more sophisticated tools, e.g., a karahi (an Indian wok) and mattone (an Italian terra cotta press). From there, the book is organized by implement: a recipe for a chef's torch, for example, is Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes with Bubbling Mozzarella; a pommes anna pan produces, well, Pommes Anna with Herbs and Mushrooms. The recipes appeal to a new cook with their precision, so homemade crepes or fresh sushi will seem accessible, especially with the most suitable tool at hand." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The first book in a new series by the trusted culinary authority Sur La Table speaks to the love that cooks of all levels feel for their tools. Award-winning author Simmons provides inspiration to make the best use of cookware along with delectable recipes to enhance the experience.

With a successful direct-mail catalog, e-commerce site, cooking class program, and more than sixty stores coast to coast, Sur La Table shares its passion for the tastes of the world with people who love to cook and entertain, enticing aficionados and curious beginners alike with its amazing selection of cookware and tools.

Marie Simmons is an award-winning author of eighteen cookbooks, popular cooking teacher, and established food writer. Her work has appeared in Food and Wine, Cooking Light, and Eating Well, and she has written a fifteen-year monthly column in Bon Appetit and articles for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Marie has won two James Beard awards and a Julie Child award. She lives in the Bay Area.