Book excerpt: The Joy of Cooking for a new generation: A collection of easy-to-make, delicious, and original recipes from the kitchens of Blue Apron—the beloved national meal-delivery service—featuring 165 step-by-step, technique-driven dishes that will transform novice cooks into confident home chefs and will excite experienced cooks too. Named for the uniform of apprentice chefs in professional kitchens, Blue Apron has made its mark from its exemplary meal-delivery service, but its true passion is culinary education—a value that infuses their commitment to providing healthy, sustainably sourced, seasonal foundations for creative cooking. Now in The Blue Apron Cookbook, this trusted national brand steps into the kitchens of home cooks everywhere, taking its familiar step-by-step instructional style to a new level in a technique-driven cookbook intended to build confidence and expertise through meals that are as beautiful to look at as they are mouth-wateringly delicious to enjoy. Organized around essential meals that explain both the "how" and the "why" of cooking techniques, The Blue Apron Cookbook excites, educates, and inspires. With the help of 800 stunning color photographs and unparalleled step-by-step instruction, amateur home cooks will grow into competent home chefs, perfecting and creating variations of classics ranging from roast chicken to risottos, pastas, soups, salads, and desserts. Each chapter starts with the basics and builds from there—as you cook through the recipes, even experienced cooks will appreciate the basics in a new way, learning how one dish or technique can be transformed into many others. Today’s cooks are hungry for real culinary expertise, and eager to cook smarter and better. A cookbook that reflects the tastes and trends of the moment while honoring the traditional methods and flavors chefs have perfected for centuries, The Blue Apron Cookbook is poised to become the go-to resource for anyone looking to truly master home cooking.