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The Complete Summer Cookbook: Beat the Heat with 500 Recipes that Make the Most of Summer's Bounty
The only cookbook you'll need during the year's warmest months
A hot day and hanging over your stove were never meant to be. When fresh produce beckons but you haven't much energy to respond, these recipes help you settle into a more relaxed kind of cooking designed to keep you and your kitchen cool. Untether yourself from the oven with make-ahead meals best served cold (or at room temp), like Poached Salmon with Cucumber and Tomato salad and Tzatziki. Fix-and-forget recipes like North Carolina-Style Pulled Pork made in the electric pressure cooker won't steam up the kitchen. Equally easy are dinner salads; we've got enough to keep them interesting and varied, from Shrimp and White Bean Salad with Garlic Toasts to Grilled Caesar Salad. Barely more effort are fresh summer recipes requiring the briefest stint in a pan, such as Beet and Carrot Noodle Salad with Chicken or Braised Striped Bass with Zucchini and Tomatoes.
Ready to take the party outside? You'll find all you need for casual patio meals prepared entirely on the grill (from meat to veggies, even pizza). Throw a fantastic cookout with easy starters, frosty drinks, and picnic must-haves like Picnic Fried Chicken, Classic Potato Salad, and Buttermilk Coleslaw. Visited the farmers' market? Find ideas for main dishes as well as sides inspired by the seasonal bounty, plus the best fruit desserts worth turning on the oven for. To end your meal on a cooler note, turn to a chapter of icebox desserts and no-bake sweets.
A hot day and hanging over your stove were never meant to be. When fresh produce beckons but you haven't much energy to respond, these recipes help you settle into a more relaxed kind of cooking designed to keep you and your kitchen cool. Untether yourself from the oven with make-ahead meals best served cold (or at room temp), like Poached Salmon with Cucumber and Tomato salad and Tzatziki. Fix-and-forget recipes like North Carolina-Style Pulled Pork made in the electric pressure cooker won't steam up the kitchen. Equally easy are dinner salads; we've got enough to keep them interesting and varied, from Shrimp and White Bean Salad with Garlic Toasts to Grilled Caesar Salad. Barely more effort are fresh summer recipes requiring the briefest stint in a pan, such as Beet and Carrot Noodle Salad with Chicken or Braised Striped Bass with Zucchini and Tomatoes.
Ready to take the party outside? You'll find all you need for casual patio meals prepared entirely on the grill (from meat to veggies, even pizza). Throw a fantastic cookout with easy starters, frosty drinks, and picnic must-haves like Picnic Fried Chicken, Classic Potato Salad, and Buttermilk Coleslaw. Visited the farmers' market? Find ideas for main dishes as well as sides inspired by the seasonal bounty, plus the best fruit desserts worth turning on the oven for. To end your meal on a cooler note, turn to a chapter of icebox desserts and no-bake sweets.
464 pages, Paperback
Published April 21, 2020
227 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
America's Test Kitchen
255 books615 followersAmerica's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.
Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!
Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.
Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!
Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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October 11, 2020This beautiful, dense book, is filled with a ton of recipes! It's a gorgeous book, it's well-laid out, and there are delicious, tested options for just about everyone.
The chapters are as follows:
Small bites (dips, spreads, and accompaniments; finger-food appetizers; chilled soups; and a couple recipe extras such as croutons and dipping sauce)
Dinner-size salads (salads with meat and chicken, salads with seafood, vegetarian salads; grain, rice, and pasta salads; foolproof vinaigrettes and bold salad dressings, recipe extras)
Burgers, sandwiches, and tacos (along with various sauces and toppings for each)
Mains inspired by the farmer's market (a huge variety of dishes and flavors, largely vegetarian and vegan dishes, though various dishes have meat while still heavily featuring veggies)
Keep cool with counter top cooking (featuring recipes for a traditional slow cooker and recipes for an electric pressure cooker)
Dinner off the grill (chicken, beef, pork and lamb, fish and shellfish, vegetables and pizza. There are also notes about the other chapters in which to find grilled tacos and burgers as well as grilled salads.)
Picnic-table favorites (salsas, dips, and spreads; poultry, meat, and seafood; side dishes; desserts)
Summertime sips (about half alcoholic and half not)
Seasonal sides (side dishes featuring summery flavors and produce, as well as some recipe extras)
Preserve the season (jams, preserves, and jellies; vinegar pickles; fermented pickles; tomatoes; condiments)
Summer fruit desserts (simple fruit desserts; shortcake and trifles; cobbler, crisps, and sonkers; pies and tarts; cakes; foolproof pie crusts)
Icebox and frozen sweets (ice pops; puddings; cakes and cookies; pies; ice cream and more; ice cream sundae bar)
The book also begins with tips for summer cooking and eating, tips for storing produce, some sample summertime menus, and a review of ATK's favorite summer equipment (everything from citrus juicers to spiralizers to nonstick pans and grills). It ends with nutritional information for the recipes, as well as an index. In addition, useful information and sidebars are scattered throughout the book. For example, the chapter on "small bites" features guides on how to assemble a cheese plate and how to prepare crudites. Several recipes include guides on how to choose and prepare specific ingredients, and much more. And, like every ATK book, at the beginning of each recipe is a paragraph on "why this recipe works". It describes what the recipe is, gives an overview of the process, sometimes has special notes about particular ingredients used in the recipe, and sometimes contains background information about the dish and where it's from.
This book had great layout. It's eye-catching, but also useful. Color-coded labels next to the recipes indicate if it is "fast", "no-cook", and/or "make-ahead". I like the way the chapters are organized, too, and that they have sub-categories. It makes things easy to find not just in terms of ingredients, but also moods and cravings. Many recipes have a color photo, but since there are such a high number of recipes, not every single one has its own photo.
Like almost all ATK books, this one is geared towards omnivores, so although many recipes in the book are vegetarian (and sometimes vegan), I wouldn't recommend it to a full-time vegetarian, due to all the recipes that include meat or are based around meat. Otherwise, a great book that will get you hungry for summer produce and summer flavors!
The chapters are as follows:
Small bites (dips, spreads, and accompaniments; finger-food appetizers; chilled soups; and a couple recipe extras such as croutons and dipping sauce)
Dinner-size salads (salads with meat and chicken, salads with seafood, vegetarian salads; grain, rice, and pasta salads; foolproof vinaigrettes and bold salad dressings, recipe extras)
Burgers, sandwiches, and tacos (along with various sauces and toppings for each)
Mains inspired by the farmer's market (a huge variety of dishes and flavors, largely vegetarian and vegan dishes, though various dishes have meat while still heavily featuring veggies)
Keep cool with counter top cooking (featuring recipes for a traditional slow cooker and recipes for an electric pressure cooker)
Dinner off the grill (chicken, beef, pork and lamb, fish and shellfish, vegetables and pizza. There are also notes about the other chapters in which to find grilled tacos and burgers as well as grilled salads.)
Picnic-table favorites (salsas, dips, and spreads; poultry, meat, and seafood; side dishes; desserts)
Summertime sips (about half alcoholic and half not)
Seasonal sides (side dishes featuring summery flavors and produce, as well as some recipe extras)
Preserve the season (jams, preserves, and jellies; vinegar pickles; fermented pickles; tomatoes; condiments)
Summer fruit desserts (simple fruit desserts; shortcake and trifles; cobbler, crisps, and sonkers; pies and tarts; cakes; foolproof pie crusts)
Icebox and frozen sweets (ice pops; puddings; cakes and cookies; pies; ice cream and more; ice cream sundae bar)
The book also begins with tips for summer cooking and eating, tips for storing produce, some sample summertime menus, and a review of ATK's favorite summer equipment (everything from citrus juicers to spiralizers to nonstick pans and grills). It ends with nutritional information for the recipes, as well as an index. In addition, useful information and sidebars are scattered throughout the book. For example, the chapter on "small bites" features guides on how to assemble a cheese plate and how to prepare crudites. Several recipes include guides on how to choose and prepare specific ingredients, and much more. And, like every ATK book, at the beginning of each recipe is a paragraph on "why this recipe works". It describes what the recipe is, gives an overview of the process, sometimes has special notes about particular ingredients used in the recipe, and sometimes contains background information about the dish and where it's from.
This book had great layout. It's eye-catching, but also useful. Color-coded labels next to the recipes indicate if it is "fast", "no-cook", and/or "make-ahead". I like the way the chapters are organized, too, and that they have sub-categories. It makes things easy to find not just in terms of ingredients, but also moods and cravings. Many recipes have a color photo, but since there are such a high number of recipes, not every single one has its own photo.
Like almost all ATK books, this one is geared towards omnivores, so although many recipes in the book are vegetarian (and sometimes vegan), I wouldn't recommend it to a full-time vegetarian, due to all the recipes that include meat or are based around meat. Otherwise, a great book that will get you hungry for summer produce and summer flavors!
July 3, 2024
If you are looking for a sheer volume of ideas, meet your new best friend. 500 recipes is a lot of recipes. The down side is that there are loads of what I consider to be repeat recipes. EX: the burger section contains Classic, Well-Done, Turkey, Buffalo Chicken, Lamb, Salmon, Tuna, Black Bean, Bacon, Vegan, and Portobello. Same with the taco section, sandwich section, salad section... It's great if you need loads of ideas!
June 30, 2020
Great summer cookbook with lots of promising recipes!
July 19, 2020
Pictures of recipes? Yes.
Commentary on recipes? Yes.
Nutrition facts? Yes, in the back.
Recipe Style? Very fresh with lots of produce.
Any keepers? Yes.
Commentary on recipes? Yes.
Nutrition facts? Yes, in the back.
Recipe Style? Very fresh with lots of produce.
Any keepers? Yes.
August 22, 2020
Liked this one a lot! Another I checked out from the library that's on my "to purchase" list.
September 22, 2020
the MOST ESSENTIAL SUMMER COOK BOOK !!!!
October 30, 2020
Another great resource for ATK. i found quite a few well designed recipes and new ideas in this book. Well worth reading.
February 20, 2021
Fabulous. Tons of great recipes.
August 4, 2022
I want to make almost everything in this! I love America's Test Kitchen.
August 20, 2024
some wonderful recipes
cookbooks
September 8, 2024I don't love the formatting, but there's quite a few recipes I could see myself making. A difficulty level closer to weekend cooking rather than weekday cooking.
October 10, 2023
a salad recipe (with fresh corn) and one of the ice cream recipes lead me to believe this is an amazingly good cookbook. The argument that was laid out about why I should use crushed sugar cones instead of crushed graham crackers for a pie crust was convincing, so I tried it- and I'm never going back! It was great advice!!!
October 18, 2021
So many amazing recipes! As a salad lover, those really jumped out at me. There are tons of light, fresh dishes full of flavor. While the book focuses on summer produce and there is a lot of grilling, these recipes can be made anytime of the year.
October 16, 2021
Nice, but nothing stood out.
August 17, 2022
The picnic table favorites section was stuff my family would like. However everything else did not catch my eye
August 31, 2022
Lots of different recipes. I like that desserts were included as well.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews