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wheatciti

What is your most cherished and well used cook book ?

wheatciti
14 years ago

Now that my kitchen is complete, I need to use it more.

I have acquired quite a few "Company's coming" cook books, however no matter what recipe I try out of them my family doesn't like it enough to have me make it again:-(

I know it must be me, however all the other cooks in the house have had the same end results.

I know I can google any recipe but some times I just seem to want it to come from a book

Any suggestions?

Comments (118)

  • warmfridge
    14 years ago

    John,
    Glad to hear you found that cookbook at a good price. I do hope you like my recommendation. A great source for future cookbooks is www.jessicasbiscuit.com...their selection and prices are generally as good or better than Amazon.

    WF

  • celticmoon
    14 years ago

    The New Best Recipe Cookbook (Cooks Illustrated)

    Joy Of Cooking

    The Way to Cook

    - and I will forever kick mysef for not taking that last WAY "spattered tattered" volume to a local book signing by Julia some years ago...

  • bojideb
    14 years ago

    I also have and love the Taste of Home Cookbooks. Great indexes for searching for ingredients. One of my favorites is a cookbook put together by the ladies from a church we used to go to. The recipes really reflect our midwest area and ethnic mix, and are SOOO good. Looking through it always reminds me of the church potlucks, with the long tables literally sagging under all the yummy foods. MMMMM...

  • oldhousegal
    14 years ago

    Terrific Pacific- lots of great recipes of far off places with flavors that excite the tongue. I love this book so much, that it permanently rests on my counter, even in the middle of a remodel!! Then, of course, there is the internet. I can't do without epicurious.com for a dinner party or just to try something different.
    Julia's The Way to Cook- that one got me started to really enjoy cooking, and I think that is the reason that recipes for Thai food with 45 ingredients don't intimidate me!

  • alice462
    14 years ago

    What a delightful way to spend my early Sat. morning - reading through these wonderful "stories".

    My stand-by/go-to resource is still Joy of Cooking; love all the Cooking Light Annual Recipe books; use epicurious.com all the time. I also enjoy cook books with narrative and the Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper is one of my favorites in this category. I also still love pulling out my mother's recipe boxes and seeing her handwriting on the index cards. I enjoy sharing the stories of many of these recipes with my children when we are in the kitchen cooking together.

  • jsweenc
    14 years ago

    mfhoop, LOVE Foster's Market! We live in Durham... but if I made it over there every day, I'd be in big trouble! I will have to check out her cookbooks whenever I am able to use one again.

  • Stacey Collins
    14 years ago

    My most used is "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters. It is a FABULOUS book full of the best (modern) ways to cook really good, fresh food. I take her basics and riff on them.

    Runner Ups include:
    The Way to Coook, Julia Child
    Joy of Cooking (though I dont use it as much as I did in my 20's....)
    and sometimes the Silver Palate series and Moosewood, and the Victory Garden cookbook for garden vegs.

    And epicurious, of course :)

  • jeanteach
    14 years ago

    I'm really enjoying reading all these posts!
    The cookbook I use the most is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It is a bible of information about food, and has many great recipes. My favorite cookbook, however, is The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, published in 1959. When I was a child I used to read this book for fun. The color photos are really wonderful (see below) and the captions for some of the menus are priceless:
    "She's just moved in, and I think you'll like her."
    "A real old-fashioned sewing bee."
    "Good grief..we'll never get the yearbook out!"
    "I'll be at the League most of the morning."
    It's a real snapshot of an era long gone.


  • pirula
    14 years ago

    I second (third?) Madhur Jaffrey for Indian food. And if you want good arab/moroccan mediterranean, it's hard to beat Paula Wolfert.

    Can anyone recommend a really good Chilean food cookbook?? I love this cuisine, but always eat it out. I think it's time to make it at home.

    Thanks!

  • lucypwd
    14 years ago

    To those of you with, "Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cuisine, is this a cookbook that a novice cook with a "non Indian food" palate could use? I would like to learn more about Indian food, but all the new ingrediants/spices are intimidating. I took a look at the book on Amazon, but it seemed geared to the experienced Indian cook. What do all of you think?

  • gsciencechick
    14 years ago

    Wow, lots of interesting cookbooks here.

    One of my favorites is the original Weight Watchers Turnaround Program Cookbook from 2004. This is probably one of my favorites for easy, healthy recipes.

    I also like "Giada's Kitchen".

  • John Liu
    14 years ago

    I have Alice Waters' cookbook on my shelf, this thread will inspire me to actually try something from it.

    Anyone tried Anthony Bourdain's ''Les Halles'' cookbook? The reviews are good, I like French bistro food, and if there's profanity or vulgarity, that's always a nice accompaniment to heat and flame. Crank up The Clash and sear away.

    You know, I'm realizing I need to purge the cookbook bookcase to make room for Marcella and all the other great recommendations I've read here.

    There seem to be lots of dreck on my shelves - like the n-th ''Outdoor Cooking'' book or those ''super-specialty'' cookbooks that are basically impulse buy novelties. Why did I ever buy an entire cookbook for olive oil? Really.

  • seaglass7
    14 years ago

    OK--this is dangerous. I just ordered two cookbooks to add to my collection based on all your discussions. For my old standby I use the Good Housekeeping 1973 edition and I've purchased many copies to give as gifts off ebay--it's a good source for the older out of print books.

    For something more exotic I like the any of the Junior League of Denver cookbooks--Colorado Cache, Creme de Colorado, etc. Lots of fresh, fun recipes (especially a killer mandarin orange salad with carmelized almonds that has hot sauce in the sweet and sour dressing!). Great stuff.

    May have to go back through the thread and buy some more books.....

  • joannaca
    14 years ago

    I only own two cookbooks: The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, which made me a better cook. And How To Grill by Steve Raichlen.

    I recently checked out Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and am discovering the deliciousness of food cooked in real fat vs. evoo.

    Most recipes I make are from Cooking Light magazine and Epicurious.com.

  • elizpiz
    14 years ago

    Lucy, I don't have the Lord Krishna book, but do check out Madhur Jaffrey. Beautifully written and instructional. Two I would particurly recommend are An Invitation to Indian Cooking and A Taste of India. They are as much stories about growing up in India as cookbooks.

    If it is available, she also wrote a wonderful little book called The Spice Kitchen, which came with a set of Indian spices. It was given to me as a gift many years ago, so I don't know if the cookbook is available still.

    Eliz

  • Susan
    14 years ago

    mm, so mnay wonderful books out there!
    i have an old better homes and garden book of international recipes i like, but my all time fave is mrs appleyard's cooking, and the rest of her series.
    mrs. appleyard was a lady who lived in northern vermont (near me, as it turns out) and wrote a diary/cookbook about her garden, her kitchen and community during ww11. it's a terrific and fascinating slice of time she recorded, from a dedicated cook's point of view.

  • socalusa
    14 years ago

    My "go to" for basics is the falling apart 40 year old Betty Crocker ring bound.
    I have always gotten good recipes from the "donated" recipes in cookbooks from schools and organizations,
    (especially my firefighter cookbooks) because people don't tend to share a bad recipe if their name is attached to it.

    What I find lately though, is that many of the older recipes are just too rich and calorie filled,
    (which of course makes them so good!) so I tend to lean toward the web for inspiration and ideas on cutting the fat, so to say....

    Truth be known, I'm more than a bit ADD if there are 20 ingredients and as many steps involved.
    (I also seem to have amassed a huge collection of recipes I have cut out (my Mom did the same.)
    An upside of the remodel is that I took a day when I couldn't be IN the kitchen
    to go through and purge many of them out.

  • country_smile
    14 years ago

    My all-time favorite, go to "cookbook" is similar to Sweeby's, because for the last 12+ years, when I find an excellent recipe, I type it, put it in a sheet protector and then into a 3-ring binder along with some old family recipes. No ho-hum or average recipes allowed - it has to be great or it doesn't make it into the book. If I spill some ingredients on it, it's not a problem, I just wipe it off. My daughters have requested copies for the future after they finish college & grad school and move out.

    One of the best parts - I can type it in 16 font which makes it easy to read when I have the cookbook set off to the side of my workspace. And, when it gets too full I'll buy another binder and separate main dishes from desserts.

    Here it's opened to 2 new bread recipes I added last week (thanks to maureen and annie.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

  • doonie
    14 years ago

    Any really good Vietnamese cookbooks out there? (I love lemon grass and fish sauce.) And, I'll bet, they have some mighty fine fish recipes!

  • pirula
    14 years ago

    Sadly, no. Not familiar with a good Vietnamese book. But if you like lemongrass a good THAI book is Pat Chapman's Thai Restaurant Cookbook. The cuisines are very different I know, just a thought.

  • lolonwood
    14 years ago

    My McCall's Cooking School three binder set is probably what I reach for first. Then there is a lovely book called Cleora's Kitchen which spans more than six decades of the author's recipes. I also love epicurious.

  • doonie
    14 years ago

    pirula, thanks for the info! A good Thai book would be a treat too!

  • plumberry
    14 years ago

    I have 3 Ina Garten and so far like everything I've made and Los Angeles Times california cookbook (published in the 80's I think but has wide variety of great recipes).

  • Rudebekia
    14 years ago

    "The Vegetarian Epicure," from the 1970s (when I was first cooking). Everything made from it is excellent!

  • John Liu
    14 years ago

    You shameless cookbook junkies owe me $91, because that's what I've spent on cookbooks since this thread began. Peterson/Fish, Hazan/Italian, Bourdain/Bistro.

  • Lee
    14 years ago

    Wheatciti: what kinds of foods does YOUR family prefer?
    What do they order when in a restaurant? Are they strictly meat, potatoes, and a veggie side?
    Or, do family members order dishes in a variety of sauces? Do you gravitate to Italian restaurants -- or Mexican? - or Chinese?
    Once you've come up with a list of your own, then that should narrow down all the wonderful recommendations up above. You could also ask each family member to make a list of the 10 best meals they ever ate.

    You may want to start with very basic simple dishes. Although I have many cookbooks, including many recommended above, I started out with a copy of Fanny Farmer's (but it is really dated) and Betty Crocker. Not everyone has an interest in cooking, others are cooking challenged, and some people are just overwhelmed.

    There's an old book in my library called: Six Ingredients or Less, first issued in 1982, by Carlean Johnson. Yes, it is still in print and used copies are for sale over the Internet, too. Your closest used book store may have a copy; give them a call.

    Jacques Pepin is probably my all around favorite cook, but he's truly a chef in all ways. He is a treasure to watch on my PBS TV station, but I prefer to see him solo.

    Good luck, don't give up.

  • sochi
    14 years ago

    I'm with you John. I'm looking at over $75 of new cook books. This site is a menace! But I want to cook something special for our first 'real' meal in the new kitchen, so why not try a recipe from a GW recommended book? I think I could spend hundreds from Eliz's list alone.

  • socalusa
    14 years ago

    Ditto on Elizpiz's list - a lot of great ideas!

  • ellabee_2016
    14 years ago

    I'm so glad to see someone mention Vegetarian Epicure; thanks, marita40! The curries in that book (and its 'Book 2' sequel) are an excellent, non-intimidating introduction to Ind ian cooking, for those who asked about that.

    For doonie: A thread on the Home Cooking board at chowhound.com on the topic produced these recommendations for Vietnamese coo kbooks:
    Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table Mai Pham
    Into the Vietnamese Kitchen Andrea Nguyen

    If you get and cook from either or both of those, let us know what you think! I've wanted to try making a few Vietnamese dishes for a long time now.

    My mother was mad for cookb ooks, and I inherited her collection. But there are great ones on this thread that should get added to it...

  • doonie
    14 years ago

    ellabee, thanks for the Vietnamese titles! I think I'll be adding to my cookbook collection. All of these new cookbook ideas are exciting. I can hardly wait!

  • histokitch
    14 years ago

    Into the Vietnamese Kitchen is a fantastic cookbook. I have a very short attention span when cooking for some reason, so I don't follow recipes precisely very often (I hate baking--surprised?). What I do like to do is read cookbooks straight through, and steal ideas, or decide to make something, and read 50 recipes online for it and figure it out. Bittman's books work really well for this haphazard method because they lay down the foundations for why things go together/are cooked a certain way, etc. There are a few exceptions to my disorganized thinking (I'm also a messy cook. Imagine that). I follow Ina's recipes pretty well, and I love the ones I've tried in "Arabesque" by Claudia Roden. I have a lot of the cookbooks listed here, and they are all wonderful. Unfortunately for my wallet, I've discovered a few more, too.

  • elizpiz
    14 years ago

    Doonie, another super book to look at is one I mentioned above: Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia. ItÂs not strictly Vietnamese but it sounds like you love Asian food in general, so IÂm sure youÂd enjoy this. At first glance it looks like a coffeetable book and it is beautiful enough to leave out for sure. But itÂs also an amazing cookbook. The writers are a husband and wife who meant while travelling in Tibet, and they have been travelling in Southeast Asia for many years. This book is a journey following the Mekong River, from Yunnan in China to Vietnam. The photography is done by them and it is wonderful.

    JeanTeach, love those photos!! I have a bunch of food company booklets from my mom that are very similar. Whatever happened to glazing all of our food with multicolour "sauces"? :-)

    For the vintage books mentioned here, if you are travelling to (or live in) NYC, there is a fantastic cookbook shop worth seeking out: Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. It's the prefect place to find a replacemnet for a chershed book you lost or simply to lose an afternoon browsing.

    Now, back to compiling my list of books to buy!

    Eliz

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks

  • wheatciti
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I too have now have ordered about $80.00 worth of cook books from Amazon.
    I started out with America's test kitchen and cooks illustrated series to get me started.

    I have written down all other recommendations for future purchases.

    You Gw's have really and truly inspired me!!!

    As for the suggestion to ask my family of their top 10 picks of best meals, unfortunately having 2 teenagers and 2 preschoolers they want
    "happy meals :-(
    or pizza of course take-out
    one request for jellybeans .

  • doonie
    14 years ago

    Yeah! Thanks elizpiz! I have a wish cart full of cookbooks at amazon now!

  • warmfridge
    14 years ago

    "shameless cookbook junkies"

    John, you have no idea...

    {{!gwi}}

  • donka
    14 years ago

    This thread is definitely dangerous! I'll be saving it for my next cookbook buying excursion for sure.

    My favourite falling apart for basics: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook from the 60's. I've got an old special edition version passed down from Grannie to Mom to me.

    Vegetarian and Vegetable Cooking by Christine Ingram is a fantastic veg recipe book. Like johnliu I don't make a lot of vegetarian but this book has amazing soups and side dish recipes.

    If you like Caribbean food, the family go-to book is 'The Art of Caribbean Cooking' by Yolande Cools-Lartigue. It's an older book though so probably hard to find, but contains great, simple homemade favourites like Calalloo, Chicken Curry and Alloo pies.

  • e4849
    14 years ago

    Re: Lord Krishna's Cuisine

    I love it for it's comprehensive and almost encyclopedic nature. It's wonderful for when you have a notion for something, but instead of cauliflower and okra, you have potatoes and spinach.

    It might not be the best for a first-time Indian cuisine cook, only because it calls for the bevy of spices that are not always in your pantry. Once you have an idea of what basic dishes and flavors you like, and you build up a panty of the common spices (thanks to Pezney's spice catalog) you can't find a better vegetarian Indian cuisine cookbook.

  • scootermom
    14 years ago

    This is a great thread. I received a bunch of bookstore gift cards for Christmas, and now I know how to use them!

    My favorites:

    The Joy of Cooking (when I first got it, I didn't use it all that much, but over the years it has gotten pretty tattered and splattered, so I guess I do use it...for reference and recipes.

    The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking - Mai Pham. Love this book; I might look up some of her others.

    Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan. Though I've used this one so much that I don't need to look in it anymore; I know my favorites by heart. I have 5 batches of Marcella's pizza dough rising right now for a youth group supper tonight!

    Other People's Recipes - that's what I call my own binder full of recipes that I clipped from magazines, printed from web sites, and begged from friends/family. Epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, Washington Post food section, and Cooking Light are my favorites. And Cook's Illustrated.

    The Best Recipe and The New Best Recipe. I have them both, you don't need both.

  • donnakay2009
    14 years ago

    Well, thanks a lot, everyone! I called my visiting mom over to have her read this, and then I went on Amazon and bought five of the most oft-mentioned cookbooks I don't have yet. When the Visa bill arrives in a few weeks, many of you will have some 'splainin' to do!!!! My DH had told me a month ago that, because of the kitchen, we really couldn't buy anything else for months....uh, yeah...then I read this.
    Oh, well!

    P.S. Why is this underlining the word mom????

  • warmfridge
    14 years ago

    The site is trying to link your post to an ad for mom's.

  • beejay27
    14 years ago

    My absolute favorite lately has been The New Basics Cookbook--notes I wrote in the margins say OMG!! and Awesome! which is not what I usually write.

    I love those group cookbooks from churches, schools, and special groups. I love some of the little cookbooks I've bought at the grocery store checkout. I often refer to the web or my files of recipes that I've collected from newspapers and magazines.

    +The Betty Crocker Cookbook binder that my mom gave me as a wedding shower gift.

    +Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cook Book--a gift from my parents for my 8th birthday. I still refer to it!

    I'm trying to use my appliances more so have discovered these great books:

    +The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

    +Better Homes and Gardens Crockery Cookbook

    +The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook

    (johnliu you had me laughing so hard!! Thanks!!)

  • pirula
    14 years ago

    Has anyone used The Bread Maker's Apprentice? I'd like to overcome my bread making phobia. This seems like a good one to start with/stay with.... welcome opinions... Thanks!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bread Maker's Apprentice.

  • lucypwd
    14 years ago

    pirula
    Buy a scale and a copy of "Amy's Bread" - Very thoughtful discussions about what is happening during the baking process. Lots of good recipes. They sound complicated, but it is just because she walks you through every step to ensure consistency. There is a new printing out just this month! You can get it through the amy's bread website or amazon

  • chicagoans
    14 years ago

    Great thread! I'm taking notes...

    I have many cookbooks, but hardly crack them open except my New Basics and an ancient Betty Crocker. I like that NB has lots of basic info like roasting charts. I went through a phase where I got lots of "fancy" cookbooks (you know the kind, where every recipe spans pages and needs 37 ingredients...) and I've ended up tossing those. I have a few recipes from a slow cooker cook book that I really like, although an alarming number of the recipes in that book (not the ones I use!) call for a pound of Velveeta. Yikes.

  • iceqween13
    14 years ago

    My old standby cookbook through 40 years is the Pillsbury Cookbook.

    My favorite recipes for entertaining for many years have been "Best of Bridge" (never fail recipes and simple)

    Now I love using: Fine Cooking. They have a monthly magazine and also great cookbooks!!!!

  • morgne
    14 years ago

    Pirula,

    I loved the breadm@kers aprentice, and own a copy, but I would definitely not use it as my introduction to bread making. Try something with less detail. That much might make your brain explode.

    Warmfridge,

    I have well over 400 cookb00ks myself. I probably have 15 books on eggs? And over 60? on bread alone. It's ridiculous but I sure do love having them! My kitchen is designed to give 14 feet of bookshelves one one side... and then wrap around to give 8 more on the other side.

  • warmfridge
    14 years ago

    Morgne,

    I will no longer disclose how many cookb00ks I own. ;-) There's not enough room in the kitchen so they've been relocated to bookcases elsewhere. I love reading them though. Julia Child is an evening's worth of entertainment.

  • morgne
    14 years ago

    OOO. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. My number was stationary at 300 for years... and about 6 months ago I upped the "official" number to 400 because my friends were starting to laugh whenever the subject came up.

    Space for those cookbooks are the reason we bought a house in the first place! My DH said that he will only move those cookbooks one more time in his life.... and after that it's all me.

    Not to worry though, I lie whenever possible and try to say things like "I have a decent amount of cookbooks". It's only in the forum that I come out of the closet.

  • caryscott
    14 years ago

    I have destroyed a couple of cookbooks (from use and being a messy cook). My poor dog eared pocket sized Betty Crocker has gotten a lot of use - good tips when cooking meat and a lot of the baking recipes are foolproof.

    This the Moosewood cookbook I have that is disintegrating (the binding anyway):

    Lots of gems and easy to prepare.

    I have been putting my crockpot to use and have liked this book quite a bit:

    {{!gwi}}

    I have this one on order:

    {{!gwi}}

    I have definitely jotted down a few of the recs from this thread.

  • joann23456
    14 years ago

    The one I use most often is "The Joy of Cooking." People think of it as a basic cookbook, and it is, but there are lots of interesting recipes in there.

    For baking, I love "Rosie's All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed Baking Book."

    I also use "The Way to Cook," by Julia Child a lot.

    I do have more cookbooks, but I'm another convert to Allrecipes.com. Use it all the time, and never disappointed.