No More Takeout! is a cooking manual for today’s busy world that speaks in the language that everyone understands – visually.

“You will save a bundle, enjoy the process and when all’s said and done, you’ll leave that phone on the hook, knowing just how much better your own cooking is over that same old micro-waved takeout. “ - SH

NMT is a how-to guide that builds confidence for the novice and offers ideas to the experienced amateur cook, serving as a resource book that can be referred to time and time again.  Whether a first time cook completes each and every step or a returning cook merely wants to extract a helpful hint, each page has something for everyone and on any level.

More than a recipe tome, NMT provides the reader with page after page of illustrated, bullet-pointed instructions on how to cook just about anything. 

Since timing is everything, we teach readers how to use Steve’s Plan of Work to accomplish any meal, so everything comes out in the end on time, and is perfectly presented.

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But faced with an empty kitchen and a fridge stocked only with bottled water and last night’s pizza, where does the average guy or gal begin?   NO MORE TAKEOUT demonstrates why time in the kitchen doesn’t need to be a freak-out session.  Beginning with basic cooking principals peppered with illustrative anecdotes gleaned from Hartigan’s years of experience, the reader will learn, step-by-step, how to make must-know dishes such as the perfect burger or sublime mac n’cheese.  Hartigan will then progress though more complicated meals such as roast chicken and pan seared fish all the way to learning how to put together seasonal menus that will please even the most snobbish foodie guest.   On a very basic level, Hartigan’s organized method will teach any non-cook how to pull off a decent dinner (plus appetizers, soup, salad and dessert), never again to be terrified by a piece of fish or exasperated by an uncooperative sauce.   His instruction will also provide a platform for any reader to develop a cooking and entertaining repertoire.  In short, you will learn how to conquer your kitchen.

NO MORE TAKEOUTis also presented by someone who has been there, done that.  Stephen Hartigan is not only an internationally experienced chef and culinary instructor who has cooked at such places as The Ivy and Le Caprice in London, was named one of the top chefs in Ireland, moved to New York to head up private dining at Café Gray and now works as the personal chef for one of the world’s top entertainment lawyers; Steve is also someone who understands the rub.

And the rub is this: most cookbooks on the market seem to be written for someone with a degree from the Cordon Bleu, i.e. volumes full of recipes with scant real instruction.  That, or they are the size of encyclopedias and just as intimidating.

Sure, faced with an impending date or visiting future in-laws, you might be more inclined to phone in reservations at the local French bistro.  But this kind of solution can get old and expensive.  Plus, as we mature and our relationships progress, our companions often demand more than what the delivery guy can show up with.  Rather than offering a reconfigured version of the same old thing, NMT establishes new territory - basic instruction paired with useful methodology and tons of confidence building tips (because cooking is all about confidence, says Hartigan), not to mention some killer ideas for serving up truly memorable meals.