There is one that I used frequently. "Cooking of India" by Santha Rama Rau. I could easily get lost in the dishes in that cookbook for a week or maybe even more. I love Middle Eastern Cuisine...

Carolyn

Years ago, I decided that I eventually wanted to live in a more rural area than that in which I had lived most of my life. Having spent a year in a rural town at one point, and realized how hooked I had been foods one often couldn't get in small towns ( I just about went nuts craving a variety of ethnic dishes I had been used to obtaining with no trouble), I embarked on a mission to prepare!

"Japanese Cooking- a Simple Art" is an excellent primer for Japanese food, I have had it for years. But, for folks who just want to dabble, without actually making their own dashi (fish stock) etc, there is a great 'starter' book titled, "Japanese Cuisine for Everyone" which is part of a 'quick and easy series' published by JOIE inc., author, Yukiko Moriyama.

Likewise, a truly wonderful guide to Chinese Cuisine is, "The Complete Chinese Cookbook," by Jacki Passmore and Daniel P. Reid, published by Exeter Books. BUT, again, it is might be better for beginners to pick up a copy of, "Chinese Cuisine," published by Huang Su-Huei, Wei Chuan's Cooking, author Huang Su-Huei.

For my excursions into Indian food, I've several favorites. The simple starter would be, (believe it or not) Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking, recipes by Raghavan Iyer. Next step is a Williams Sonoma book, "Savoring India," a Murdoch Book, "The Food of India," and then Suneeta Vaswani's, "Complete Book Of Indian Cooking."

When I explore an unfamiliar cuisine, I like to choose a few dishes that I have eaten in good restaurants, and then try a few different recipes for each dish. This way, I discover which cookbooks have recipes tailored (so to speak) to my taste. Also, after making a dish from several different recipes, I find that I don't get 'recipe bound,' and instead learn the dish and can make adaptations to suit myself.

I do live in one of those smaller towns--just south of Daytona Beach. The land of NASCAR and coleslaw wrestling. Oh, don't forget Bike Week!

What visitors and others don't understand, is that the quality of life is great here because others want to live here, too. Good doctors, great food--Thai (we have three good restaurants), really good Italian (of course--sun, shrimp, etc.). Now we also have Japanese, German and Indian food with some interesting fusions. A small personal bakery that makes good bagels. As good as NYC? Probably not. Alas, no good barbecue. Really good restaurants are few and far between, because the average income in the area won't support them.

If I were to live from just one cuisine and just one cookbook, I would use "The Classic Italian Cookbook: The art of Italian cooking and the Italian art of eating" by Marcella Hazan, 1983. If I had to absolutely branch out, it would be with Thai--"The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking" by Mai Pham, 1995. This location embraces both cuisines with availability of fresh fish, shrimp, fruits (ordinary and tropical) and vegetables.

I've lived in Denver, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, and I would not trade my home for any other location! In those cities, it takes a substantial income to sample and savor the exciting foods of well known chefs. Here, we can talk to the owners and their staff cooks, ask for recommendations (get giggles in return sometimes) and get lovely meals for not a whole lot of money. Yes, we will spend, but we don't have to, and that's the way we enjoy! We are recognized as individuals, and most times as friends. It is so not like a big city!

We don't have all the ingredients available, but Amazon is amazing ... it arrives quickly. We have substantial population areas within 70 miles so Whole Paycheck is available ... just not convenient.

If I were to take a substantial amount of time to tutor myself in a "cuisine" unfamiliar to me, it would be baking. And within that, since I'm not at all interested in sweets, I would pursue breads and savory doughs.

Can anyone recommend a good tutorial for a very novice baker??

seagrass

seagrass -

Go to the library and check out "CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher, and if you have time, next check out "BakeWise", also by Shirley. That should give you a great beginning in the secrets of baking. Shirley is that spunky gal with a twinkle in her eye, often seen on Alton Brown's show explaining some kind of cooking/baking science. She has "salt & pepper" spiked hair.

I doubt that I could do one cuisine for a whole week, much less two! That said, right now though, I could do several days worth of what I would call 'Island Cooking' (grilled chicken, pork, limes, pineapple, mangoes).

If you are interested in classic french cuisine, I would highly recommend Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. It is more of a guide book than a recipe book. Below is a link to reviews posted at Amazon.com. I believe that if you were to cook from this book for a week, at the end of the week, you would have mastered some fine techniques. Maybe I ought to do that too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews of Julia's Kitchen Wisdom

Grainlady - thanks for the info - I'll check out Shirley's books. Best to you in the New Year.

seagrass

I was thinking how nice it would be if I could just focus on one issue of my cooking magazines. I am really enjoying the new issue of Cooking Light. My problem is that my husband and father won't eat anything they are not familiar with and so I often just get to enjoy the recipes in my imagination. Oh well I can dream!
Joann

Dittos on Shirley Corriher's 'Cookwise'--excellent book, although it isn't about one particular cooking tradition. If you have an analytical/scientific approach to cooking, this is just the ticket.

If you wish to learn Louisiana cuisine, I can make a recommendation: an excellent introduction to Louisiana cooking is Richard Collin's 'The New Orleans Cookbook'. Very highly recommended if you want to pursue Cajun/Creole cuisine. I have a hundred or so cookbooks, and this is on my 'desert island' list; if my house burned down tomorrow, this is one of the first cookbooks I would replace. If you want authentic Louisiana cuisine (I grew up there, and I know whereof I speak), get this book and go to town. Gotta admit it's a sentimental favorite in that this is the book that really taught me how to cook.

Hmm. It's out of stock at Amazon and Borders. Hopefully it isn't going out of print; at any rate, lots of them are available at addall.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: new orleans cookbook

Arley - I got "The New Orleans Cookbook" as a gift many years ago. I'm famous for my chicken jambalaya and I have that cookbook to thank for the recipe!!! A northerner, no less lol.

seagrass

I'm with ci_lantro in that I like variety so much I wouldn't want one cuisine for a week (unless I was vacationing there!). But for anyone who'd consider picking Italian, I'd go with Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. That book has never led me astray, and has a huge range of mouthwatering options...

A great idea! I did do Asian dishes for a whole week but not from one cookbook. Something NEW to try for 2011:)

As usual, I find Rachelellen's post full of wisdom. It gives me some of the guidance I want.

Cooking the same cuisine (not the same dishes) for one week straight would be no hardship at all for me. When I returned from a one week trip to Italy I cooked nothing but northern Italian food for at least three weeks. There was nothing monotonous about it. That experience has faded. I need another trip to Italy for a refresher course.

I don't see the need to limit the experiment to a single cookbook, although that could be an effective way to do it, given the right book. Books I would recommend are:

Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji
The Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo
Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni
The Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy

These books are similar in approach and format although about different cuisines and by different authors. They provide a solid foundation for cooking each cuisine.

Again, I say that switching to another ethnic cuisine for an extended period of time is a fine idea. Those for whom that is their native cuisine eat it daily year after year don't they?

Jim

Seagrass--thanks for the comment. If you are adventurous at the end of the summer when sweet corn and tomatoes are in abundance, give the Chicken Macquechoux recipe a try. Incredibly delicious.

As far as my next project, I'm getting a new stove this week with high powered gas burners; the next step will be getting a wok and working my way through 'The Breath of A Wok' by Grace Young.

Seagrass, King Arthur flour also has some on-line baking tutorials, if you don't want to go to the library on a snowy day, just fire up the computer!

My favorite bread book is Bernard Clayton's "Breads", Readinglady sent it to me and I've used it more than even the "Beard on Bread" book by James Beard.

One cuisine? Elery would like to try more Indian food, and so far I've not liked anything with curry in it very much. I don't have a cookbook, though, and I already checked for one at my small local library, so it looks like the internet is my source for recipes for that.

Annie

Ditto on Clayton's bread book. I like that he lists timings for kneading the dough with a stand mixer as well as kneading by hand... As my fingers get less flexible over time, I'm not ashamed to have a machine do the bulk of the work.

Annie, try the Italian Batter Bread recipe in that book. Very easy, very delicious.

It's funny Annie, I want to like Indian cooking too, and I'm trying to make more of the dishes from that cuisine, but very little of it rings my bell. Do I "like" it yes, but I find it "just OK" at best. One thing for sure, I have discovered I don't like fenugreek, so any curries with that in it I don't like.

I'm sort of doing what you suggest right now John, I'm gradually working my way through "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" by Beth Hensberger. There are 365 or so recipes in it, and I can only eat about a loaf of bread every two weeks, so I'll be working on that project for quite a while!

I can't buy any more cookbooks until I make my way thru all the Internet linked recipes I have in my "Favorites" folder. That will take me about five years. There are several themes there--Indian, Middle Eastern, Czech (for BF), low fat desserts, cookies, some of my favorites from the British Isles (like baram brack or however you spell it), and lots of low calorie ones.