Need a cool way to handle hot chiles? Looking to cut down on kitchen clean-up? Let the readers, contributors, and editors of <i>Fine Cooking</i> magazine show you the way. <i>How to Break an Egg</i> is a one-of-a-kind resource of more than 1,400 kitchen-tested tips, shortcuts, and ingenious solutions to culinary emergencies, all organized in an easy-to-access format for quick reference or more leisurely reading. Look under Basil in the Ingredients chapter and you'll find tips for drying it, keeping its bright green color, and making your pesto go further. Look under Cookies in the Cooking chapter for clever ways to roll out cookie dough without it sticking, or to form perfectly shaped cookies, or to get just the right texture you want in your chocolate chip. You'll also discover tips on cookware and utensils, serving, storage, clean-up, and kitchen safety.<br> If disaster strikes, flip immediately to When Things Go Wrong, an invaluable chapter of troubleshooting charts, whether your soufflé is falling, your cheese sauce is curdling, or you've just discovered you don't have the right size pan for the cake you're in the middle of mixing up. In Handy Kitchen Techniques, you'll find 42 basic prep techniques, from trussing a chicken to clarifying butter, illustrated step-by-step in full color.<br> The perfect reference for cooks at any level, <i>How to Break an Egg</i> will be your indispensable go-to kitchen resource.<br> "In my cooking classes and on my radio show, I get those thorny questions regarding recipe disasters. Phew! Now I won't hve to make up 'creative answers' anymore. For the solution to every culinary dilemma, run out right now and pick up a copy of ,<i>How to Break an Egg</i>."<br> --Tom Douglas, restaurateur and author of <i>Tom's Big Dinners</i><br> "No kitchen is totally complete unless this book is on the shelf. It's a wealth of information, and I personally could not do without it!"<br> --Paula Deen, author of <i>Paula Deen&Friends: Living it Up, Southern Style</i><br> "How do you create a warm place to proof bread or make a quick cup of buttermilk? Ever think of cutting cheesecake with a fishing line or defatting stock with ice cubes? The answers to these and hundreds of other practical questions rarely addressed in even the most sophisticated cookbooks are provided in this revolutionary new reference manual no serious cook can do without. I've waited a lifetime for an authoritative, sensible, reliable kitchen companion such as <i>How to Break an Egg</i> and cannot recommend the book highly enough. Just reading through it is an invaluable class in itself."<br> --James Villas, author of <i>Crazy for Casseroles</i> and <i>Biscuit Bliss</i><br><br> "This is a terrific resource reference book and one that I think every cook, whether just beginning or old pro, will find helpful on a regular basis. <i>Fine Cooking</i> has been one of my favorite culinary magazines for a long time and <i>How to Break an Egg</i> reflects their friendly, researched, and illustrated approach that I look forward to reading every month."<br> --John Ash, restaurateur and author of <i>John Ash Cooking One on One</i><br> "A good chef never serves his or her mistakes. Now you don't have to. Finally a fix-it manual for your kitchen."<br> --Tom Colicchio, Chef/Owner of Craft restaurants and Gramercy Tavern