by Mark Bittman

There are recipe cooks and there are by-the-seat-of-your-pants cooks. If you’re the latter, then you’ll no doubt appreciate Bittman’s latest book. Part periodic table of the elements, part visual dictionary, Kitchen Matrix is a cookbook like you’ve never seen.

Each section begins with an ingredient, dish, or culinary technique (mushrooms, say, or kebabs) and includes 3–5 (or more) recipes. Recipe Generators give a universal outline and multiple iterations for a dish like paella or grain salads. Got some chicken cutlets in the fridge? Kitchen Matrix will tell you what to do with them, 10 different ways.