Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests - The Thoroughly Tested Guide to Roast Chicken, Pasta, Biscuits, and More
Language: English
Published by William Morrow Cookbooks, 2026
- Hardcover
- Used

Seller: Housing Works Online Bookstore, New York, NY, U.S.A.Housing Works Online Bookstore
AbeBooks seller since December 20, 2004
Condition: Used - Very good
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- Title
- Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests - The Thoroughly Tested Guide to Roast Chicken, Pasta, Biscuits, and More
- Author
- Quittner, Ella
- Publisher
- William Morrow Cookbooks
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0063357682
- ISBN 13
- 9780063357686
- Item weight
- 1 pound
Named a Best Cookbook of 2026 by Bon Appétit and Food & Wine
As featured in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, CN Traveler, Gourmet, The Today Show, LitHub, and more.
A charmingly obsessive, thoroughly tested exploration of the best ways to cook and bake your favorite foods.
Some might think the “best” roast chicken means “most efficient without sacrificing juicy meat,” while others might think “best” is the one that you won’t be able to stop thinking about for years, no matter how long it takes in a sous vide bag. When writer Ella Quittner (creator of Food52’s “Absolute Best Tests”) is cooking or baking something, she cannot rest until she’s tested every method she can to arrive at the best result. Even if that means traveling to Tokyo to learn the trick to extra juicy tsukune for her tender meatballs or spending time in the Alabama Black Belt gathering intel from the pros for her flakiest biscuits.
In Obsessed with the Best, Ella walks you through the results of 24 head-to-head tests of cooking methods to help you find the perfect choice for your palate. From these building blocks, Ella shares more than 100 recipes, grounding you in minimalist techniques that maximize flavor, and sharing creative options as jumping off points for your own favorite flavors. Recipes include:
- Under-Pressure Flaky Biscuits, Fluffy No-Special-Equipment Buttermilk Pancakes, and a failproof Caramelized Shallot Soft Scrambled Eggs with Comté
- Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Insurance Cheese, Rigatoni with Vodka “All’Amatriciana,” and more than a dozen optimized veggies, like Braised Tomato-Butter Cabbage.
- Entrées like Triple-Secret Tender Meatballs, One-Hour Roast Chicken, Opulent Slow-Roasted Chicken, and Lemon-Butter Cold-Poached Shrimp
- Sweets like Overachiever Extra Brown Butter Bakery-Worthy Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Soft & Tender Yellow Cake, and Actually Manageable French-ish Buttercream
Punctuated with reported essays on people, places, or things obsessed with “the best”—be it a bacon evangelist from Iowa who flies annually all the way to Kofu, Japan, to throw a “Porktober Fest” in the middle of a seasonal celebration of a feudal lord, or an international spin through different pasta-making methods from Osaka to Tuscany—Obsessed with the Best is precise, informative, personal, and fun in equal measure.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Ella Quittner is a journalist, screenwriter, and humorist who writes about obsession, culture and food. She has contributed to New York Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Baffler, T Magazine, Food52, Bon Appétit, Saveur, Food & Wine, and many other publications. Ella grew up back and forth between the West Coast and East Coast. She has explored much of the United States and beyond, stopping to find the best bite every single place she goes (even La Guardia).
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Housing Works Online Bookstore
New York, NY, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since December 20, 2004
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Housing Works Used Book Cafe is an independent open bookstore in New York City that presents great used, new and antiquarian books, good coffee, the opportunity to hear from many of the best writers and performers in America and the chance to make a difference in the fight against AIDS and Homelessness, in New York City and the world. We are a non-profit bookstore relying on volunteers to help run the store. Housing Works provides housing, health care, job training and advocacy for people living with HIV and AIDS. Fighting AIDS One Book At A Time…
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