This is the handbook for the starter cook - ingredients and techniques are listed alphabetically for quick and easy reference - everything from Apples to Zesting.

Want to know how to make croutons? Look it up. Want to know how to poach an egg? It's there. Never remember how long to cook corn on the cob? You'll find it in here.

With over 150 entries, this book does what no recipe book does, it gives you the basic methods and techniques for dealing with vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry, grains, legumes, pulses, breads, pasta, - even how to pop corn, with advice on how to clean, store, prepare and cook each entry.

It also contains many line drawings to show clearly techniques such as dicing, slicing, coring fruit, rubbing in fat. Where appropriate there are very simple recipes such as a basic broth, a straightforward crumble, a fish pie - in fact dishes which will use the skills you will develop from reading the book.

Not only is this unique book essential for the beginner it is also perfect for the experienced cook as well in providing all those basics that most of today's sophisticated, complicated cookbooks never have in them, so if you can never remember the quantities for a Yorkshire pudding batter or at what temperature to roast a chicken, this book is for you. It has a place in every kitchen.

Janet Macdonald is a full time writer and editor and has written many books. Her last book was Pumpkins and Squashes, also published by Grub Street. She lives in Kent.