La question du jour - cookbooks

[Stinky The Clown]

There have been a few posts recently about cook books - old and new. I'd love to hear what your cookbook thoughts are.

What's your favorite .... or least liked?
How many do you have?
Why do you buy one and not another?
Do you regard them as "light reading" or as bibles?
Do you actually follow the recipes or are they simply an inspirational starting point?

For me, they're each worth whatever I pay for them if I get even one recipe or inspiration from them. In view of this, I have a lot of them. I particularly like the ones that give a flavor for a place, a culture, or a country with text above and beyond the recipes. I like pictures, too.

My personal favorite is Naples at Table, by Arthur Schwartz. It is a cookbook very targeted to the cooking of the area in and around Naples, Italy, where most of my family is from. I have found written out the recipes I grew up with and discovered some that my family never made. This is one of the few cookbooks that has some recipes that I actually read and follow.

I also follow pretty closely any recipes for Asian foods. I don't understand the culture and cooking philosophies (or know all the flavors) sufficiently well to improvise.

How about you?

[Shakespeare]

1. I have a whole bookshelf in the dining room just for my cookbooks!

Which speaks as much to my book addiction as it does to my love of cooking. ;-)

My favorite is Julia Childs' The Way to Cook. WONDERFUL basic tips on classic dishes, with an emphasis on French cooking (but of course).

From there, the range is quite broad--cookbooks on just about every kind of ethnic food imaginable (heavy emphasis on Italian and Cuban), cookbooks on breadmaking, cookbooks on vegetarian dishes (I'm not vegetarian, but grow a lot of veggies, and always look for new & different ways to prepare things), Christmas cookbooks, a few Junior League cookbooks from around the country (good for homey/comfort food recipes), and everything the Silver Palate has ever published. Another few on NY food. A few old Southern Living cookbooks. And my new sub-collection, wine country cookbooks (which I'm picking up everywhere here in Sonoma county).

My sentimental favorite is an old edition of the red gingham, 3-ring Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, because it's got recipes my mom made growing up (newer editions alter many of the recipes, so I went on an eBay hunt for the same 1960s edition my mom has). Their banana nut bread and sugar cookie recipes are my favorite.

What I'm cooking determines how closely I follow the recipe. If it's something I've cooked before, or similar to, then I might only give it a cursory glance. New stuff I'll follow to the letter the first time around, and baking recipes I never, ever alter.

[livetohike]

2. Good questions!

My favorite cook book is the Slovak-American cookbook my Grandmother gave me - for sentimental reasons and good ethnic recipes. A second favorite is The Art of Vegetarian Cooking by Betty Wason. No longer in print, but it's where I started cooking vegetarian meals back in the late 60's.

My least liked is a cookbook for vegetarians that advocated putting Brewers Yeast in every dish (this cookbook came out in the early 70's). I have thrown it away.

I collect cookbooks. I don't think I have ever counted them though.

I only buy Vegetarian cookbooks. While I am no longer a Vegetarian, I rarely eat meat.

They are light reading.

The recipes are a starting point. I like to experiment.

[WritersBlock]

3. Wow.. where to start...

I can't tell you the name of my favorite one, because it's missing the cover pages. I think it was one of those old farm co-op recipe books published back in the 50's or 60's. They were probably published all over the country, but this looks like it's from the Texas panhandle area. It only has cakes, cookies, pies, etc., in it. It was my Mom's, and looking back through the recipes is like a look back into my childhood, even though I can't think of any specific favorite recipe right now.

The one I least like is any of the Delia Smith ones; doesn't matter which. It's not that some of the recipes aren't good; it's her superiority. AND she says enchiladas are made with flour tortillas. Makes me wonder if she's bothered to do research into any of her other regional recipes, because she sure skipped the Tex-Mex research.

I'm pretty sure I have less than a hundred cookbooks, but I haven't counted, and they're all over the house. My "usuals" are on the dining room sideboard within easy reach.

Can't say why I buy one over the other all the time; it depends on what I'm trying to learn. I bought the Delia books because we saw the TV series & some of the recipes looked interesting. I never bought another TV chef cookbook except for a Gary Rhodes "New British Classics," which is fabulous. I've bought vegetarian cookbooks to try to get ideas to make meals more interesting for my better half. I bought a beautiful Thai cookbook because we love Thai food. The reasons vary.

Light reading or bibles? Oh, no, no, no... I regard them as tummy-shopping! :9 :9 :9

And I try to follow baking recipes, but I usually look upon other recipes as something like scaffolding or a building framework. :D

[eyesroll]

4. I have a whole bunch

I have a few from the Culinaria series -- they're beautiful, and there's even some good recipes in them. Still, more eye candy.

My favorite $8.00-on-the-remaindered-table acquisition is this giant book on how to cook just about anything -- it's got a lot of step-by-step instructions on techniques, not just finished recipes. That one's an encyclopedia -- but since I did read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid, I can sit down and read this one too. (I forgot the name of it, though.)

And I have just about everything Alton Brown's ever produced, because (A) I want him and (B) food science is fun. (Mostly B.)

For baking, I follow the recipes religiously (except for simple substitutions, like m&ms for chocolate chips in cookies). For other cooking, I'll improvise.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. "(Mostly B.)"

Oh really?

[eyesroll]

13. What? Food science :is: fun.

:D

[wildeyed]

5. I have three that I use everyday.

Joy of Cooking, new edition

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin

I also have my three ring binder where I put recipes I get out of the paper, from friends and online.

I get cookbooks from the library, and if I like them, sometimes I will purchase my own copy.

I am not a very creative cook, plus I am still learning. Mostly I just want something yummy and I don't worry too much about being creative. I will tweak recipes if I don't have ingredients on hand or I am short on time.

[NMDemDist2]

7. only a few made the "cut" to live in the wooden tray on top of the fridge

in the Feng Shui'd kitchen incarnation

the Household Searchlight book from 1939

and from the late 70's and early 80's I have
Betty Crocker
Better Homes and Gardens
Joy of Cooking
Good Housekeeping
Julia Child's Kitchen

I have a couple others, a crock pot cookbook, an American Cooking school Irene Chalmers series on Fine Fresh Food Fast

I only use them to refresh my memory of a technique usually

Most of the recipes I use lately are off the web (and many of those from this forum) in a red file folder :D

[wildeyed]

12. Maybe I will get the Julia Child next time I go to the library.

Seems like one of the classics to have.

[tishaLA]

8. I have about 20

and I have about five in regular use. Recently, my favorites have been Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way, and I actually follow his recipes, even if I deviate a bit from them; The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and Barefoot in Paris cause I love Ina and her recipes and she makes French food so enjoyable in the second book (it's food porn); The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook because it has recipes that inspire me to make and try things I've never made or tried before; and How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman because it's better than The Joy of Cooking IMHO and provides as much inspiration as anything I know.

ETA: I forgot that the only food bible I have is La Varenne Pratique. I don't know how I lived without it.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Does anyone else like the Williams Sonoma series?

I'm not a big Williams Sonoma fan (I think they have good stuff, but it all seems way overpriced.) In any case, they have this small format series of "one topic" cookbooks ...... Italian, Vegetables, Salads, Risottos, Fish, Grilling, etc., etc., etc.

I have a few of these that I've gotten at various places heavily discounted. I find I like the sensibilities of the recipes. I've gotten a few good ideas from them and have even followed a few recipes verbatim.

[Shakespeare]

10. I do.

I find them kind of hit-and-miss on quality from book to book, but in general I like them very much. I have their books on pasta, risotto and grilling. Would love to have a few more.

[The empressof all]

11. I learned on the Settlement Cookbook

I even have my original copy stored away in a box somewhere. I then moved on to Joy of Cooking, All the Moosewoods, and the Julia Child's. Now I rarely follow a recipe but do use them for inspiration. My only exception is for baking and candy making which I see more as science and measurements need to be more precise.

[merci_me]

14. Love my collection!!

Probably the Southern Living Annual Cookbooks are my favorites

I have literally hundreds of cookbooks. I have a 6ft wide x 6-1/2ft high cabinet that's over flowing. Plus I have them stashed several other places. I also have 15 photofile boxes of clipped recipes and maybe half a dozen shoe boxes of unsorted recipes.

I'll have to learn how to post pictures on this site and take a couple of my open cookbook storage.

I like the spiral-bound club and church cookbooks, the prize winner cookbooks and many ethnic and party ones with wonderful
pictures. I don't like ones that waste space (IMO) talking about recipes (unless it's background on the country) and the books with one recipe on a page types. I'm not into "gourmet", either.

I think of them as reference books, neither "reading material" nor a bible.

Rarely to I follow the recipe exactly, more than the first time, if that, with the exception of baking. Baking I follow very closely the first time, though I may make changes. Say I might use almond extract instead of vanilla, pecans instead of walnuts, apricots instead of peaches.......that sort of thing.

Mary

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

15. I have serveral hundred cookbooks.

my husband says I have a thousand but he's full of it. It's only a 7 foot high by 8 foot long shelf.

My favorites are the Saveur{/i] cookbooks. I've had one bomb in all the recipes I've done. I also like everthing Julia has done. She takes a ten page recipe & breaks it down into bits that can be done ahead. I can stun my guests into awe. LOL. Many of the Junior League books are very good. The first one from Palo Alto has some of the best recipes I've ever made. Also, San Franscisco A la Carte. There are lots of others I like just fine. Some have maybe one or two recipes that are great, but they're worth it just for those.

I'm sorry, but my least favorite are the William-Sonoma books. I have one they did on entertaining & a couple of others. The dishes were way overpriced to fix & complicated & weren't that good. (I didn't think-certainly not for the money & time that went into them). I also didn't like the way they ripped off the Beautiful Cookbooks theme. Oh, by the way, I like the Beautiful Cookbooks very much

[Lugnut]

16. I have several favorites

From my good sized collection. Some of my favorite recipes are in my Biba Caggiano books. I like the church group books for ethnic dishes. The really old Betty Crocker Cookbook I got as a wedding present back in the mid 60s is the most stained so that shows it's importance.

My favorite source for recipes isn't in a book. When my mother had to go to assisted living following her second stroke she gave me her recipe box. It was like inheriting a million dollars.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. "It was like inheriting a million dollars"

Isn't that the truth! I had my mother and my aunts write down every one of their recipes for things I remembered as a kid but they hadn't made in years .... or only made for holidays. None of them had anything written down. They just made them as they rememebered how "Mama" made them. Funny how each of them remembered it differently! Those recipes, in their own handwriting, are so very special to me.

[Lugnut]

24. They sure are heartwarming

My mother never used a recipe for Pieroghi. Many years ago we made them together so she could measure everything to have something, anything written down to guide me. I've used those written instructions many times and have always had a good result.

[eleny]

25. What nationality are you?

[Lugnut]

30. Well...

My paternal grandparents and maternal grandfather were Slovakian immigrants. My maternal grandmother was a Ukranian immigrant. Since we can't seem to find any info about when they came to America I don't know what the country configuration of Eastern Europe looked like. I've always been told it was Czechoslovakia which would be Slovakia today.

[Mandate My Ass]

18. LOL, it's almost like picking a favorite child

Just kidding. I love them all though. Two faves are Patrica Wells' Trattoria Cooking and Elodia Rigante's Italian Immigrant Cooking. I mention those two specifically because I have actually followed recipes from their books which is quite unusual for me.

Both of my Julia Child books come next. I have so many eye candy ones I can't even count them. One year my boss gave me an autographed Georges Perrier cookbook which I love but have never made anything from it. I also like my Mediterranean and Morrocan cookbooks which I do kinda sorta follow the recipes and as an extra bonus were found on the clearance racks.

I guess I get the most cooking mileage from old copies of my Bon Appetit magazines. I can get them online but I love the mag and I've had a subscription for years. I refuse to throw them away even if I've never made a single recipe from it.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. "Elodia Rigante's Italian Immigrant Cooking"

I love that book .... and hate it. Actually, I don't hate it at all. I've even given it as gifts.

So why might I hate it?

I had a dream of doing a cookbook when it became obvious that any bozo could write one and get away with it. Being as much a bozo as any other bozo, I started. My idea was to do one on exactly this topic - immigrant Italian cooking. And I had this great idea for a format .... family photos and family stories interspersed with recipes.

As you know, owning this book, I got beaten to the punch! And funnily enough, this book, while "by Elodia Rigante" is actually mostly written by her son ... who is only a year or two older than me, as I recall.

Seriously, this is one terrific cookbook for the Italiophiles amongst us. But *very* focused and *very* "inside".

I don't think it is still in print.

[Mandate My Ass]

20. Write it! I'll buy it.

Seriously, many of her recipes are things my gramma used to make and never wrote down. Some are variations of hers, some totally new to me.

Comfort food is supposed to be the next big thing in the food world. I don't think this market is saturated by a long shot and what's more comforting than Italian comfort food? Healthy too. Give it your own personal spin and I bet it'd work.

p.s. thanks for the "scoop" on the book. I didn't know that.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. It is still in print .... I think ...... here's a link

I was wrong. This book is still in print. Amazon, at least, has it. Maybe. Are those listing for new or used? Not being an Amazon, I have no idea what I'm looking at.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1885440022/002-6644209-4767230?v=glance

[merci_me]

23. Amazon translation and using your instructions....

Amazon has a total of 15 copies available. Seven are new from them for $25.46. There are another 8 copies available through re-sellers, starting at $10.98. Some of those will be used and some will be new from overstocks, etc. You can click on the "8 new and used" and there will be a full description of the eight.

Now I'm trying to post a picture, using your instructions, but I haven't a clue if it will show up and if it does, it may be gigantic, since I have no idea how to resize.

For anyone wondering, this is the book in question and the picture is from my online album of pictures to jumpstart my brain on how I do my Christmas decorating from year to year. Thus the little pick of greenery and tiny plaid box. It's not always there.

Anywho in preview this says my link contains an illegal code, so if it doesn't show up in the post, I've been saved. If it does show up, I may need a bail bondsman. LOL



Mary

[eleny]

21. I've got so many that it's hard to pick

I guess I'm partial to my Lithuanian cookbook. It brings back so many memories. But to be honest, all my cookbooks are collecting dust. The first place I go when I want ideas for recipes is the internet. Recipes, tips and help when I get stuck. It's just so vast.

One thing I have here that I often reach for is something I cut out from two consecutive issues of Woman's Day magazine in the late 1970s. They're seasoning charts for all different kinds of individual foods and then for desserts and salads. I cut out the six charts into plastic protectors. I like to experiment, so just knowing what herbs and spices marry well with a certain food is all I need to perk up a dish.

[yellowdogintexas]

26. I easily have over 100 cookbooks. I have collected them for

years.

My favorites are the institutional or charity kind where lots of folks put their best recipes in .

I buy for what I am really interested in at the moment.

I consider them good reading, and sometimes I just sit down and read one like I would read a novel. some of them are bibles, too.

I follow recipes to the letter when I am trying out a new type of dish or food, or if it is a technique I haven't mastered. If it is a cake or other type of baked item, I am very meticulous as baking works best when everything is in balance and changine a recipe puts the chemistry needed for a good baked product totally out of whack.

With soups, stews, main dishes, salads, etc. I experiment lavishly.

my favorite cookbooks are dogeared, dirty, with bits of food and loose flour on the pages!

I use Silver Palate Cookbook a lot, and Julia Child. Every so often, I take all the cookbooks that have migrated to the kitchen, go through them, return the must have handy ones to the kitchen and take all the others back to the big bookshelf upstairs and bring in some others, just to inject some variety.

One of my friends just emailed me tonight with an idea she has for putting together a cookbook for our kids who are either college age or just starting off in their own place and need good easy stuff to fix. There will be about 30 or 40 people contributing to this one, and it should be really neat. Each of us will contribute two or three of our best and easiest dishes ..it will be fun.

[fortyfeetunder]

27. Southern Living collection

A neighbor gave me a couple as a wedding gift, and I decided I wanted the whole series. Then I bought the annual books (I have 7 years worth) and anytime I see one of their books on sale, I get them, like I found a few at the dollar store a few weeks ago.

I like Southern cuisine, but probably cook it lighter than the recipe calls for (I hate greasy, fried stuff). But many of the recipes are basic ingredients and do taste pretty good...

[randr]

28. Ethnic cook book collection

Having cooked many meals for family and friends over the years has benefited me with the accumulation of many cook books as gifts. A lot of them. Mostly ethic and regional varieties.
I still pull out the same books whenever challenged:
Joy of Cooking
New York Times Cook Book
Splendid Soups-Peterson
And my favorite regional source:
Chesapeake Bay Cooking-Shields

[politicat]

29. Hm.... good questions

What's your favorite .... or least liked?

Well... for paper book type cook books, the one I use most is probably an old Fannie Farmer and a couple of random ones I inherited. I'm not near them, so I can't give titles. I also have a basic international one that's good for technique.

For non-paper ones, it's a combination of the SOAR, my mac, my Clie, and Palm's DropBook ebook maker. I tend to download recipes and use my handheld as a cookbook.



How many do you have?

A gazillion.

Why do you buy one and not another?

Sentimental - if it has something that reminds me of my lost friends and family, it might get bought. I like decent tech writing in them, pictures are optional. It has to be well written, though, and preferably lay flat.

Do you regard them as "light reading" or as bibles?

Stereo instructions. They're to be used to set things up properly.

Do you actually follow the recipes or are they simply an inspirational starting point?
For baking, absolutely until I feel comfortable experimenting (like changing sweeteners, flours or addins). For other cooking? Depends. I usually try to master a dish and then do variations, noting them on big post-its in the book.


Pcat

[MediumBrownDog]

31. Anything by Bittman, and Cook's Illustrated....

I love Mark Bittman's stuff, I have 'Fish', 'How to Cook Anything', and 'The Minimalist Cooks Dinner.' Cook's Illustrated's 'The Best Recipe,' and Julia Child's 'The Way To Cook' are great standards.

I'm also a big fan of Bert Greene's 'Greene on Greens' I get 'La Cucina Italiana' magazine and cook a lot out of that as well.

[Stinky The Clown]

32. " ...... 'La Cucina Italiana' magazine ...... "

I get that every month ....... a liddle food .... a liddle wine ...... a liddle travelogue ....... a liddle culture. What's not to like? :)

[MediumBrownDog]

35. Exactly. Totally yummy magazine all the way around!

n/t

[Hans Delbrook]

33. Favorites are my Bibles

;-) The Cake Bible, The Pastry Bible, The Bread Bible

I think Rose Levy Beranbaum is a goddess. She is so "scientific" about baking - I love it. I've learned more from her than anyother cookbook author. One of my biggest scores is her Christmas Cookie book that I found in a used bookstore w/ her autograph in it! I can't believe someone gave that up.

I also love my three Tuscan cookbooks - reminds me of my time there.

I lost count as to how many I have - I have a bakers rack full. I love cookbooks - I read them for "fun." I consider all recipes (except complex pastry ones and all of Rose's) as jumping off points.

[grasswire]

34. the original "Rose" operated...

...the most fabulous restaurants with cakes galore. I don't know if any are still in operation. I remember having huge slices of cake at her places.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

36. I have many recipe books, but my all time favorite book is *drum roll*

Madeleine Kamen's The Making Of a Chef.

The reason I love this book is that it teaches all aspects of cooking..everything from light to dark rues, how to make one's own butter, learning how to use aromatics, how the cut vegetables for maximum flavor, making stocks etc.

My other favorite cookbook is Justin Wilson's book but the title is evading me at the moment.

[Tab]

37. Such a topic

I guess it comes down to what kind of a cook you are.

Some are very strict recipe followers. Others, like me, are experimenters.

Not that one is better than the other - far better experimenters than I have written down recipes, just that I happen to get off on fooling with recipes - sometimes to good effect, sometimes not. Anyway, I trend toward books on technique.

In that vein, these are my primary references:

Think like a chef - Tom Colicchio - absolutely excellent book, imo.
On Food and Cooking - Harold McGee
Roasting - Barbara Kafka
The Way To Cook - Julia Child
Sauces - James Peterson
The French Laundry Cookbook - Thomas Keller
Savoring Spices & Herbs - Julie Sahni

The last, "spices", is really because of my needing to understand more about what goes with what.

The French Laundry Cookbook is not theoretical, but I'm just in awe of Thomas Keller, so I figured anything that gives me any insight into what he does would be worth it.

"On Food and Cooking" is very scientifically oriented - the actual chemistry of what happens when you cook. Some of the stuff is over my head, but if I'm looking for theoretical, how much closer can you get? Apparently too close, but if you really want to know what's going on when you cook, read that book.

Regular recipe books are good too. I have a friend who used to be a head chef and he had apparently hundreds, if not thousands, of cookbooks, and he'd read them for enjoyment. His mother apparently had thousands upon thousands (she was an obsessive collector). I find myself reading books looking for patterns myself - I wanted to cook, say, chicken cacciatore, and found many recipes; instead of picking one, I looked for common elements, and said, well, apparently to do chicken cacciatore, you at least need a, b, and c. So, in that fashion, I do read cookbooks (or look up recipes online).

But if you're going to buy a book, I seriously suggest Tom Colicchio's "Think like a chef" - purely technique.

Also, there are videos available from the Culinary Institute of America
cookbooks:
http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/cookbooks.htm
videos:
http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/training.htm

I haven't ordered any yet, but plan to do a couple of the basic videos.

[Bluebear]

38. Doubleday is my old standby

My encyclopedia, never steered me wrong. I use it more for cooking times, ingredient information, etc.

Current favorites are

The Korean Kitchen by Marks and
Modern Greek by Harris

[ElaineinIN]

39. I've got probably about 250

My favs: the Julia Childs and Joy of Cooking and Rose's Bibles--nothing new here!

Also : I have Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone...its cgeat

For learning, I have the new professional chef, the CIA cookbook... it costs a pretty penny, but if you need to know how to clean sea urchin, there's nothing like it.

I also have the Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Freiberg, again, pretty costly, but if you need to know how to make a pig out of marizpan....

Soup and Bread, by Cresent Dragonwagon is great--it contains my Super Bowl traditional Bear, Cheese and Potato soup,

On the downside, I'm also short on the Asian cookbooks... I've never found one that really explained the techniques or the combinations well enough that I felt like I understood what I was doing and could start doing substitutions. Any suggestions?

[Stinky The Clown]

40. Asian Cookbooks

I'm right there with you when you say: "Asian cookbooks... I've never found one that really explained the techniques or the combinations well enough that I felt like I understood what I was doing and could start doing substitutions"

I am very timid about substitutions in Asia recipes because I just don't understand their construct or spices as well as I should. I'd love to find an Asian cookbook that goes into more technique rather than being just another tome of recipes.

[NMDemDist2]

41. think ying and yan according to this website

Prepare your mind before you begin creating your newly appointed Asian kitchen. Asian cooking is founded on the principle of yin and yang, or the balance of opposites: dark and light, soft and crunchy, sweet and sour. Some perfect examples to get you started are: ginger and sesame oil, plum sauce and vinegar, soy sauce and garlic, noodles and bean sprouts.

http://www.ehow.com/how_13806_stock-pantry-asian.html

The Key to Chinese Cooking (1977)
Irene Kuo
One of the best Chinese cookbooks written. Clearly stated and explained, the recipes work every time. A cooking instructor in New York City, Kuo's instructions are right on. She never messes around and hits the mark. Reprinted in 1996, you can sometimes find it in used bookstores or on closeout. I own two copies, just in case my dog-eared one falls apart. The explanations of basic Chinese/Asian cooking techniques are fabulous.

here's a amazon.com list of Ms Kuo's book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394496388/qid=1109377180/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-0078796-7604140?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[Mr. McD]

42. I really don’t use cookbooks that much anymore.

I guess my favorite cookbook is one called The Creative Cooking Course I have had it around 20 years. Some great recipes though some are complicated. I have around 60 cookbooks still and I thinned them out just a few years ago.

I have over 80,000 recipes in Mastercook format that I have collected from the web and other places. I get many recipes from http://www.epicurious.com/.

I love Bon Appetit magazine.