Cookbook author and food activist Mark Bittman is known for tackling big topics. His 1998 “How to Cook Everything,” revised for a 10th anniversary edition in 2008, is an award-winning encyclopedia of 2,000 recipes. It’s considered a “Joy of Cooking” for a new generation, a hefty, one-stop reference with a style that’s relaxed, thorough and flexible.

Since then, he’s written 15 more cookbooks, including “How to Cook Vegetarian,” “How to Bake Everything” and last year’s “How to Grill Everything.”

His new cookbook takes on the challenge of getting dinner on the table. “Dinner for Everyone” is organized by 100 iconic dishes — Bittman prefers to call them “concepts” — that are done three ways: easy, vegan and “all out.” For paella, there’s a broiler verison of shrimp paella (the easy dish), vegetable paella with ripe tomatoes, green beans and eggplant, and the more complex mixed paella with mussels. The Korean barbecue concept has an easy roast brisket, vegan seared rice cakes and a 10-hour project, Korean BBQ at Home.

“As we got deeper and deeper into it, we had this idea for a kind of umbrella with three things underneath it,” he said, explaining the concept for the book. “It started as good, better, best, or something like that. We ultimately decided that instead of going from good to better to best, we would do these three different things.

“I think here are the three things that people want: They want fast and easy because everybody claims they don’t have enough time, and a lot of people don’t know how to cook, and obviously learning how to cook fast and easy is the way to start.

“People know they need to be eating more plant food, so they want to know how to eat more plant food.

“And then there’s cooking for friends and family … relaxing and cooking over time and doing things the right way, in a leisurely and sometimes more luxurious fashion. It’s a show of nurturing, a show of love. Not that cooking fast isn’t. But you know, it’s a social occasion with really good food that you have spent some time on. It’s something to celebrate. I haven’t done recipes like that in a while and I wanted the opportunity to do those.”

The vegan versions of the 100 concepts are the recipes he’s most proud of. “I think the vegan recipes are the most exciting part of this book, frankly. They are the best vegan recipes you’ll find.”

BITTMAN’S PHILOSOPHY about food is largely flexitarian, a diet high in plant foods that includes some meat and fish. He said he doubts he’ll ever be a vegetarian, but he advocates adding more plant food to our diets, for both health and environmental reasons.

Bittman is on the faculty at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and lives in a small town 60 miles north of New York City.

His career began with many years as a food writer and columnist at The New York Times, where his “Minimalist” recipe column ran for 13 years. In 2011, he became a columnist for that paper’s op-ed page. It was said to be the first “food-focused” opinion column at a major newspaper.

In those columns and two essay- style books, “Food Matters” in 2009 and “VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00” in 2013, Bittman explored difficult topics about food politics, such as the deterioration of the American diet with the rise of convenience and nutrient-poor foods, and how global livestock production is hastening climate change.

“I think around 2000, even in the late ’90s, I could see that food was going in a less-than-wonderful direction,” he said. “Right after I wrote ‘How to Cook Everything,’ I started to think about ‘How to Cook Vegetarian.’ That was really an important moment. … I thought the writing was on the wall and we were going to be eating more plant foods, and that it was important to be able to cook them. It was kind of a 10-year journey. And it hasn’t let up, really.”

A decade after the publication of “Food Matters,” he said people are getting the message. “I think ‘Food Matters’ and even to some extent ‘VB6’ were before their time,” he said. “But they weren’t wrong. There’s a lot being said about this stuff now. To the extent that they were influential, great. I think that now is the time.”

THIS RECIPE for making Korean BBQ at home is from the “all out” category of the new cookbook, requiring 10 hours of preparation and cooking time, but the individual techniques are not complicated.

KOREAN BBQ

Adapted from “Dinner for Everyone” by Mark Bittman (Clarkson Potter, hardcover, $40)

• 1 pound skinless pork belly
• 3 to 5 pounds spareribs, cut into 1/2-inch slices across the bone (flanken style)

>> Sparerib marinade:

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
• 1 Asian pear, peeled and grated
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

>> Pork belly marinade:

• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup mirin
• Salt and pepper, to taste

>> Dipping sauce 1:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 dates, pitted
• 1/2 cup kochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

>> Dipping sauce 2:

• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1 tablespoon soju or vodka (optional)

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Put pork belly in an ovenproof skillet and roast, uncovered, until at least 1/4 inch of fat has accumulated in the skillet, 1-1/2 to 2 -1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, whisk sparerib marinade ingredients together in large bowl. Add spareribs and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to overnight.

Reserve rendered fat for another use and let pork belly cool slightly, then slice 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick.

>> To make pork belly marinade: Whisk together soy sauce and mirin in medium bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add pork belly; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to overnight.

>> To make first sauce: Pour 1 cup boiling water over the dates. When they’re soft, chop them and add to a blender or food processor with the kochujang and sesame oil. Puree until smooth.

>> To make second sauce: Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast, shaking pan occasionally, until seeds are golden and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Combine in small bowl with remaining sauce ingredients; whisk to dissolve sugar.

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for direct and indirect cooking. Or heat a large grill pan over 2 burners until smoking hot.

When grill is ready, cook spareribs: Let any excess marinade drip off the ribs, then put them directly over the heat. Cook, turning as soon as they release easily, until both sides are charred and the meat is barely cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and brush grates clean.

Shake off excess marinade from pork belly and put slices directly over the heat. Cook, turning occasionally and transferring the pieces to the cool part of the grill during any flare-ups, until cooked through and the edges are charred, 10 to 20 minutes.

Serve meats hot, with both sauces for dipping. Serves 6 to 8.

>> Controlling flare-ups: Be vigilant so you char the meat without burning. Prepare hot and cool sides of the fire, and turn the meat often, moving it to the cold side of the grates (or to the edges of the grill pan) if any fat drips down and ignites, or if the marinades threaten to burn.

Nutritional information unavailable.