"I was blindsided by Sam Stern's new book, expecting a shiny little edition of dorm room style food and finding instead a fully developed voice with truly delicious looking recipes and text.  Virgin to Veteran is a magnificent tome of thoughtful cooking, incisive tips and excellent advice on how to shop, organize and achieve tastiness on every level.
This is destined for the coveted "most stains on the cover due to excessive use" prize in the Batali kitchen library."

                                                                                   --Mario Batali