Ina Garten

It's hard to believe that The Barefoot Contessa cookbook was published as recently as 1999, because its author, Ina Garten, has become so indispensable to home cooks around the country and the world. Garten brings together devotion to brilliant flavor, a natural and profoundly personal elegance, and an understanding of that special sustaining community that emerges around a shared meal. If there's one thing that sets Ina Garten's books apart from others, it's their savvy sense of what kind of gentle guidance will let those of us struggling along at home feel ready to leap into new cooking challenge, and in her new book Cook Like a Pro she offers insights into the methods and tricks that she and others use to make the most out of every item in the refrigerator and every tool in the kitchen. So, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, what better time, we thought, then to sit down with the master herself?