Joy of Cooking: 2019 Edition Fully Revised and Updated

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Every kitchen should have a copy of The Joy of Cooking. Need to braise a chicken? Joy will teach you how. Want to make strawberry jam? Joy will lead the way. Craving mapo tofu? Joy’s here for you. John Becker and Megan Scott’s fantastic 2019 update of this culinary classic guides home cooks through flan, sourdough, pad thai, fried chicken, cucumber pickles, escabeche, and thousands more American and international recipes; basically, if you can imagine it in your tummy, it’s in the book. While I think everyone should have as many cookbooks as possible, The Joy of Cooking is genuinely the only one you’ll ever need. Recommended By Rhianna W., Powells.com

We welcome the new edition of Joy of Cooking. Based on consumer feedback from the past six years, the authors updated this edition to reflect our modern lifestyle. Included are 600 new recipes and 80 new illustrations, as well as recipes resurrected from previous editions. This is a must-have cookbook. Recommended By Tracey T., Powells.com

In the nearly ninety years since Irma S. Rombauer self-published the first three thousand copies of Joy of Cooking in 1931, it has become the kitchen bible, with more than 20 million copies in print. This new edition of Joy has been thoroughly revised and expanded by Irma's great-grandson John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott.

John and Megan developed more than six hundred new recipes for this edition, tested and tweaked thousands of classic recipes, and updated every section of every chapter to reflect the latest ingredients and techniques available to today's home cooks. Their strategy for revising this edition was the same one Irma and Marion employed: Vet, research, and improve Joy's coverage of legacy recipes while introducing new dishes, modern cooking techniques, and comprehensive information on ingredients now available at farmers' markets and grocery stores.

You will find tried-and-true favorites like Banana Bread Cockaigne, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Southern Corn Bread — all retested and faithfully improved — as well as new favorites like Chana Masala, Beef Rendang, Megan's Seeded Olive Oil Granola, and Smoked Pork Shoulder. In addition to a thoroughly modernized vegetable chapter, there are many more vegan and vegetarian recipes, including Caramelized Tamarind Tempeh, Crispy Pan-Fried Tofu, Spicy Chickpea Soup, and Roasted Mushroom Burgers. Joy's baking chapters now include gram weights for accuracy, along with a refreshed lineup of baked goods like Cannelés de Bordeaux, Rustic No-Knead Sourdough, Ciabatta, Chocolate-Walnut Babka, and Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza, as well as gluten-free recipes for pizza dough and yeast breads.

A new chapter on streamlined cooking explains how to economize time, money, and ingredients and avoid waste. You will learn how to use a diverse array of ingredients, from amaranth to za'atar. New techniques include low-temperature and sous vide cooking, fermentation, and cooking with both traditional and electric pressure cookers. Barbecuing, smoking, and other outdoor cooking methods are covered in even greater detail.

This new edition of Joy is the perfect combination of classic recipes, new dishes, and indispensable reference information for today's home cooks. Whether it is the only cookbook on your shelf or one of many, Joy is and has been the essential and trusted guide for home cooks for almost a century. This new edition continues that legacy.

"A riot of quirkiness and eccentricity, and the mood of the book, which shifts from droll humor to melancholy to gentle vulnerability, is unclassifiable — and just right." –Kirkus

"Ellis' beautiful gouache paintings depict a world that is pushing against the dark with candles and dance and song....The tale is one of hope, anticipation, love, joy and spiritual happiness, culminating with Yule." –Kirkus Reviews, ★ Starred Review

"[T]his cyclical volume offers an alluringly haunting alternative to more familiar seasonal fare — one that is sure to serve as "lights of hope" on a dark season's stage." –Publishers Weekly, ★ Starred Review

"Every kitchen should have running water, a stove, and a copy of Joy." Saveur

"Joy of Cooking isn't a book, but a rite of passage, part of the living legacy of home cooks in America. As such, it covers the breadth of ingredients now commonly available in supermarkets, not simply the ones found in its original pages. It's hard to imagine a better crash course for beginners, or a more comprehensive resource for experienced cooks." Stella Parks, author of Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts

"Joy of Cooking is a mainstay in kitchens throughout America...accessible and comprehensive. The 2019 updated edition is the latest in Joy's long history of working to reflect the current home cook." Food & Wine

"Impressive, timely... Becker and Scott have improved upon a classic without bending it so sharply that it will feel dated in a decade — quite an achievement indeed." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Irma Rombauer self-published the first Joy of Cooking in 1931. In 1936, the first commercial edition was published by Bobbs-Merrill. Marion Rombauer Becker, Irma's daughter, helped revise and update each subsequent edition until 1951. The 1963 edition was the first after Irma's death and was completely Marion's. Her son, Ethan Becker, helped Marion revise the 1975 edition, and then oversaw the 1997 and 75th Anniversary editions. Ethan's son, John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott are the first of the family to be solely responsible for testing, revising, and updating the book since 1975, ensuring the latest edition is given the same love and attention to detail that made this culinary resource an American classic.

Ethan Becker is the son of Marion Rombauer Becker and the grandson of Irma S. Rombauer, the original author of The Joy of Cooking. He attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, but learned how to cook from his mom. An outdoors-man, he is a master of the grill and at cooking game. His outdoor gear and survival and combat knives are sold internationally under the brand Becker Knife and Tool. Ethan and his wife, Susan, a writer, editor, and artist, live in East Tennessee at their home, Half Moon Ridge. His website is TheJoyKitchen.com.

John Becker, great-grandson of Irma Rombauer, grew up surrounded by the natural splendor of the Pacific Northwest. Spending his childhood between Portland, Oregon and the Becker family home in Cincinnati, John learned to appreciate a range of approaches to cooking. Influenced by his father Ethan's improvisational style, and his mother's love of international foods and spices, John has an insatiable curiosity when it comes to food and cooking. After earning an English degree, he helped publish seventeen collections of literary essays before dedicating himself to the family business and updating Joy for a new generation. John currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Megan.

Megan Scott started worked for the Joy of Cooking in 2010, when she and John Becker met and immediately bonded over a shared love of blue cheese. Megan's culinary education began in North Carolina, where she learned to cook from a long line of matriarchs. She grew up in a farming family, shucking corn and snapping green beans as far back as she can remember. She has been a cheesemaker's apprentice, a baker, and an assistant pastry chef, and in addition to her work for Joy she is the culinary director for a marketing agency that specializes in food. Megan lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband John and their two cats, Loki and Kishu.