Chronicle Books, an independent publisher based in San Francisco, created Kitchen Confidant, a handy reference book for anyone who loves to bake, cook or whip up a cocktail. And a reference book it truly is. I wish I’d had this book back when I started challenging myself to bake more (last year).

Contained within the 96 pages is a wealth of information for cooking, baking and cocktail making. A few examples are the basics of stocking a baker’s tool kit and tips on where to store things in the fridge. My favourite section (so far) is the Metric Conversions for Common ingredients. I often have to Google conversions because I have yet to buy myself a kitchen scale; unfortunately, ingredients don’t all weigh the same, so doing this has caused a few… interesting… results. Now I have more confidence when measuring out my ingredients.

And that’s the goal of the Kitchen Confidant – to help home cooks be confident, competent and efficient.

Each of the three sections – Baker’s Handbook, Drinker’s Handbook and Cook’s Handbook – is colour coded. The section is indicated by a colour-appropriate line running along the inner margin. For me, this made it a bit harder than it should be to figure out which section I was in when I was browsing – I would have liked to have the line on the outer margin, so it was easy to see when leafing through the pages. The page numbers are also colour-coded, so that helps.

This is a reference book; and it’s very informative. If you pick up a copy for yourself, don’t expect the narrative to take you on a journey or entertain. Each page serves a purpose and the prose reflects that. It’s a bright, colourful little book that fits perfectly in any nook or cranny in your kitchen.

Kitchen Confidant / $18.50