There are no perfect recipes, only perfect...

There are no perfect recipes, only perfect dishes. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. One of the most dedicated strivers is Pamela Anderson, executive editor of Cook’s Illustrated magazine--in itself a hornets’ nest of recipe improvement. Her first cookbook, “The Perfect Recipe” (Houghton Mifflin, $27), is a collection and amplification of the types of stories she’s done for the magazine. For those who are familiar with the work, that speaks for itself. Anderson tests and retests recipes, trying to come up with the one that works best. The results are sometimes surprising. They are always interesting--whether you agree that they’re perfect or not.