Lots of variations on a theme, which provides plenty of options. Would be an excellent book to add to one's library. ( )

One of the best cookbooks I have, it explains the steps of a recipe and then gives a chart showing several different adaptations for that recipe. There are great photographs and clear definitions. Everything is defined and techniques are clearly explained. I love that if it calls for a spice mix, there is a recipe for that spice mix. I make everything from scratch and despise recipes that list as ingredients things like "box of cake mix" or "jar of sauce". Nothing of that sort here. Thisisa boom that teaches people how to cook without a cookbook using what they have available and according to their particular tastes. One great thing is how I can quickly look at a chart and see if I can adapt a recipe to make it safe for my son who has serious allergies to dairy and nuts. There are also plenty of vegetarian and vegan recipes and ones that can be adapted to be vegan or vegetarian. There is a quite a lot of direction on how to cook different types of meat dishes, so I don't think I would purchase it for someone who never eats meat. But my family eats meat only once or twice a week and there are plenty of recipes of all kinds. I could probably plan our menu for a year and never repeat the same thing twice using this cookbook. ( )

While I really liked the concept of the book, the only "recipe" I tried (for Chicken Pot Pie) just wasn't that good. ( )