Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests [Hardcover]

Named a Best Cookbook of 2026 byBon App?titandFood & Wine

As featured in theNew York Times,New York Magazine,Bon Appetit,Food & Wine,CN Traveler,Gourmet,The Today Show,LitHub, and more.

A charmingly obsessive, thoroughly tested exploration of the best ways to cook and bake your favorite foods.

Some might think the “best” roast chicken means “most efficient without sacrificing juicy meat,” while others might think “best” is the one that you won’t be able to stop thinking about for years, no matter how long it takes in a sous vide bag. When writer Ella Quittner (creator of Food52’s “Absolute Best Tests”) is cooking or baking something, she cannot rest until she’s tested every method she can to arrive at the best result. Even if that means traveling to Tokyo to learn the trick to extra juicy tsukune for her tender meatballs or spending time in the Alabama Black Belt gathering intel from the pros for her flakiest biscuits.

InObsessed with the Best,Ella walks you through the results of 24 head-to-head tests of cooking methods to help you find the perfect choice for your palate. From these building blocks, Ella shares more than 100 recipes, grounding you in minimalist techniques that maximize flavor, and sharing creative options as jumping off points for your own favorite flavors. Recipes include:

• Under-Pressure Flaky Biscuits, Fluffy No-Special-Equipment Buttermilk Pancakes, and a failproof Caramelized Shallot Soft Scrambled Eggs with Comt?
• Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Insurance Cheese, Rigatoni with Vodka “All’Amatriciana,” and more than a dozen optimized veggies, like Braised Tomato-Butter Cabbage.
• Entr?es like Triple-Secret Tender Meatballs, One-Hour Roast Chicken, Opulent Slow-Roasted Chicken, and Lemon-Butter ColdlC'