As more people get serious about cooking at home, they look to dress up old recipes. The easiest and most effective way of doing this is by using a sauce, salad dressing or marinade. The addition of one of these elements can turn a simple meal into a spectacular meal.

Grilled steak with a rich mushroom sauce. Pomegranate vinaigrette dressing on fresh greens. These are just two examples of the incredibly delicious yet easy-to-prepare recipes featured in this book, and many are accompanied by tips and techniques. Cooking school chef George Geary provides recipes such as:

• Salad dressings and salads -- creamy two-cheese italian, Chinese chicken salad, tabouli
• Stock-based sauces and brown and white sauces -- poultry stock, champagne sauce, bechamel
• Pasta sauces -- fast and easy marinara, wild mushroom sauce, slow-cooker garlic and onion tomato sauce
• Marinades and rubs -- Caribbean jerk marinade, American BBQ sauce, curry rub
• Salsas, butters and spreads -- watermelon salsa, gorgonzola scallion butter, smoked salmon cheese spread
• Dessert sauces -- milk chocolate sauce, pecan-praline sauce, raspberry coulis, almond crunch fondue.

• 368 pages, paperback.