Cooks today are looking for more creative ways to prepare side servings of vegetables, rice or grains. They still want the basics like how to make fluffy white rice and mashed potatoes, but they also want to know how to make really good risotto or perhaps a fresh-flavoured dip for crudites. With "Best American Side Dishes", the editors of "Cook"s Illustrated" provide more than 500 recipes for dishes to round off every kind of meal - from weeknight suppers to special celebrations. Packed with more than 250 illustrations, "Best American Side Dishes" shows you step-by step how to prepare vegetables for crudites, clean salad greens, and cut potatoes for frying. Ingredient tastings and equipment testings rate extra-virgin olive oil, mayonnaise, paring knives, salad spinners, and more, so you know just what brands to buy (and which to avoid). Whether you"re looking for just the right combination of appetizers to serve before a special meal or easy sides dishes to serve with midweek suppers, "Best American Side Dishes" is here to lend a hand with all the recipes and know-how you"ve come to expect from the editors at "Cook"s Illustrated".