cookbooks and the purchasing thereof

3 months ago

I seem to have aquired a cookbook fetish. I love them, and buy them more than I should. My M.O. seems to be that I order them from my awesome local library system, and if it's a good match, I will buy it. If not, less $$ spent. What are your favorites?

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Rho Dodendron

3 months ago

My favourite cookbooks are slim community ones. Members submitted tried and true beloved recipes.

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Comments (37)

plllog
3 months ago
Favorite what? Purchase method? All time favorite cookbooks? Favorite new cookbooks? Favorite reading cookbooks? Favorite making reciipes out of cookbooks?
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Pressure cooker recipes/cookbooks
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Comments (4)
I recently compiled some recipes for a relative to whom I had given a pressure cooker. Here's a long post, but all of these recipes are tried and true. This recipe for Osso Buco is from Lorna Sass's Cooking Under Pressure. I have made Osso Buco both as a slow braise (traditional), and made it in the pressure cooker. I actually prefer the pressure cooker version. Even if you're only cooking for two and using just two veal shanks, don't halve the remaining ingredients; the sauce is wonderful by itself, and any leftover sauce will make a great pasta sauce for the next day. Once you get the Osso Buco started in the cooker, cook up some pasta or rice to soak up the sauce. The gremolata garnish is traditional, but I don't care for it; some authorities, such as Marcella Hazan, don't use it. OSSO BUCO ALLA MILANESE (Braised Veal Shanks, Milan-style) Serves 4 4 veal shanks, about 10 oz each 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup dry red wine or dry vermouth 1/3 cup beef or chicken stock or bullion 2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped 1 stalk celery, sliced thinly 1/2 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced One 14 oz can tomatoes, coarsely chopped, including juice 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg (optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (less if using canned bullion) Freshly ground black pepper to taste Gremolata: (optional) 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest 1/2 cup finely minced fresh parsley Rinse the veal shanks, pat dry, and dredge in flour, pressing the flour into the veal with the heel of your hand. Shake off excess flour. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the cooker. Over medium heat, brown the veal on both sides and set aside on a platter. Add the remaining oil and saute the onions until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the red wine and stir, taking care to scrape up any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, browned shanks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, oregano, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Lock the lid in place and over high heat bring to high pressure. Adjust the heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 18 minutes. Let the pressure drop naturally or use a quick-release method (venting the steam or putting the cooker in the sink and running cold water over it). Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow any excess steam to escape. Prepare the gremolata, if used, by combining the garlic, lemon zest, and parsley. When the shanks are done, stir in the gremolata and simmer for a few minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve. Note: if using smaller shanks, check for doneness after 15 minutes of high pressure. CORNED BEEF WITH CABBAGE AND POTATOES A pressure cooker makes this traditional St. Paddy's day meal much easier. Ordinarily, a corned beef brisket would take 3 or 4 hours to cook. Here it's about a third of that, and most of that time you're not doing anything. --From a meal-planning standpoint, this is a very convenient dish. A packaged corn beef brisket stays good in the fridge for several weeks, and a cabbage has a long storage life as well, so you can have those items available in your fridge for cooking at the last minute. You can make it with just cabbage, or throw in some root vegetables like potatoes and carrots. Either way, it's ridiculously easy and good. The leftovers (if there are any) make excellent sandwiches or hash. 4 cups water or other liquid (see Variations below) 2 large bay leaves 3 to 5 lb corned beef brisket 4 lbs potatoes, scrubbed 1 small (2 1/2 lb) green cabbage Put the water in a 6 qt or larger pressure cooker. Add the bay leaves. Put corned beef in pressure cooker, fatty side up, along with any juices from the package and the contents of any spice pack that may have been packed with the beef. Don't worry if the brisket doesn't fit on the bottom; just let one side point upwards along the side of the cooker. (It's going to shrink a huge amount, probably 50%.) Arrange the potatoes on top of the beef. Lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring the pressure cooker up to high pressure and adjust the burner to keep it just at high pressure. Pressure cook it on high for about 55-60 minutes for a 3 pound brisket, 65 minutes for a 4 pound brisket, or 70-75 minutes for a 5 pound brisket. Then allow the pressure to go down naturally (that is, don't vent the cooker or put it under cold water)--that might take as long as 15 minutes. During that time, trim the cabbage: remove the outer layer or two of leaves, cut the cabbage in half (pole to pole, not through the equator). Cut the dense core out of the stem end of each half and discard. Cut the halves in thirds lengthwise (along meridians, not across the equator). Once the pressure is down, open the cooker and remove the potatoes to a platter, covering with aluminum foil to keep warm. Put the brisket on a platter, fatty side up. If there is less than 1 cup of liquid in the cooker, add sufficient water to make 1 cup. Put the cabbage in the cooker, put the top on, and return the cooker to high; once on high, cook for 3 minutes. You can bring the pressure down quickly now, either by venting the pressure cooker or by putting the cooker in the sink and running cold water over it. Open the cooker and scoop out the cabbage, allowing it to drain, and place it on the platter. Don't try to carve the corned beef until it has rested for a while--it'll shred to bits. Remove a lot of the surface fat from the beef by scraping it with a blunt instrument like a teaspoon. Carve by starting at one corner, carving the corned beef across the grain--otherwise it'll be stringy. Guinness stout goes very well with this. Variations: instead of water, use stout or beer or any combination of those three liquids. CURRY IN A HURRY This recipe from Lorna Sass's Pressure Perfect is a quick and easy way to make a pretty tasty curry. You can make it with chicken, beef, lamb or pork, and vary the hotness by using mild or hot curry paste. 2 tablespoons of mild curry paste makes a pleasant-but-wimpy curry; 4 tablespoons of mild paste makes it pleasantly zingy; 4 tablespoons of hot curry paste makes it very hot, near my limit of tolerance (and I really like hot food). I generally use 2 tablespoons of hot and 2 tablespoons of mild curry paste. This is another recipe that's ridiculously easy yet produces delicious food. If you don't want to mess with the yogurt, peas and cilantro, don't bother--the dish will still be very tasty, but the sauce won't be as rich or velvety-smooth. ( I personally don't like cilantro, so I don't use it.) The recipe calls for 3 pounds of bone-in chicken; I find it easier to use about 2 or 2.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs. --Once you get the pressure cooker up to pressure, make a pot of rice. By the time the rice is done, so is this. 1 cup water 4 tablespoons Patak's Mild Curry Paste 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 3 pounds bone-in skinless chicken thighs or breasts, or 2-2.5 lbs boneless skinless thighs, or 2 lbs. other meat (see chart below) 1 cup plain yogurt 1 1/2 cup frozen peas 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional) Pour the water into a 4-qt or larger pressure cooker and blend in the curry paste. Place on high heat and add the onion and meat of your choice. Lock the lid in place. Over high heat bring up to high pressure. Reduce the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for the time indicated in the chart. Turn off the heat. Allow the pressure to come down naturally. (If cooking chicken, release any remaining pressure after 4 minutes.) Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape. If the chicken or meat isn't tender, cover again and simmer until done. If necessary, skim off the fat that rises to the surface or degrease the broth in a fat separator. Blend the yogurt into 1 cup of the broth. Stir the peas into the curry and simmer until they are defrosted, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and stir the yogurt mixture into the curry. Stir in the cilantro and salt to taste. Serve in bowls over rice. Meat choices Cooking times Chicken (see notes above) 8 minutes high pressure, 4 minutes of natural release, then quick release Beef (boneless chuck, 1" cubes) 8 minutes high pressure, then natural release Pork shoulder (1" cubes) 8 minutes high pressure, then natural release Lamb (boneless, 1" cubes) 12 minutes high pressure, then natural release If using beef, pork or lamb, trim off excess fat and cut the meat into approximately 1" cubes before cooking.. PRESSURE COOKER POT ROAST Chuck roast, 3 to 4 pounds roughly 2 cups onions, 1 cup carrots and 1 cup celery, all finely chopped) Chicken broth 1 large can of mushroom stems & pieces (optional) Black pepper 1 or 2 bay leaves (optional) Trim excess fat off the outside of the chuck roast, but don't be too aggressive--you want to leave some for flavor. If you want to, sear the chuck roast on high heat in a frying pan (that's optional--it'll still taste good if you don't do that). Mix the vegetables and mushrooms, and put half of the mix in the bottom of the cooker with a bay leaf and chicken broth. Give a generous grinding of black pepper to it. Put in the pot roast. It's okay if it comes up the side of the cooker a little bit. Grind some more black pepper on the top of the roast, then put in the rest of the vegetable/mushroom mixture on top of the roast. Reattach the pressure lid and bring the cooker up to pressure on high heat. Once it gets to pressure, cut back the heat to where it's just keeping the pressure on high. Now, don't do anything for a while. After some time (roughly 45 minutes for a 3 pound chuck roast, 50 or 55 minutes for a 4 pounder), turn off the heat. Don't vent the pressure, but rather allow the pressure to come down by itself. It'll probably take at least 15 minutes to do so. During this time, you might want to make a batch of rice or couscous to catch the juices. Once the pressure is down, remove the lid. Remove the roast to a platter. The juices in the pot will be delicious with no other treatment, but if you wanted to get fancy and strain them you could. Slice the pot roast and serve with rice and the pot juices. PRESSURE COOKER COLLARDS While cooking collard greens on the top of the stove can take a long time, these greens are ready in fifteen minutes. This recipe demonstrates two points: 1) pressure cooking will really shorten the cooking time, and 2) with enough bacon, anything tastes good. 1 bunch collards 6 slices bacon First, cut up the bacon into small pieces and start to cook it over medium heat in the bottom of the pressure cooker. While the bacon is cooking, cut the stems out of the collards; discard the stems and put the leafy part in a bowl of cold water as you de-stem the rest of the bunch. Once all the leaves have been de-stemmed, drain the water out of the bowl. Cut the leaves crossways on a cutting board, putting the cut leaves back in a bowl of cold water. Once the bacon is cooked, scoop the bacon bits out of the pressure cooker, but leave the bacon grease in the bottom of the pot. Allow the bacon bits to drain on paper towels. Drain the soaked collard greens in a colander, but don't be aggressive about removing the water; allow whatever water clings to the leaves to stay on the greens. Put the wet leaves in the pressure cooker. (It'll hiss a little when the water hits the hot bacon grease.) Don't worry if the greens fill the cooker higher than 2/3; the greens will shrink an incredible amount. Close the cooker, put it on high; as soon as it comes to high pressure, cut the heat until it just keeps it up to pressure. Cook on high for about 5 or 6 minutes. Release pressure, toss the collards with the liquid in the pot and the bits of bacon you've reserved. Serve with pepper vinegar or hot sauce of choice. (You can substitute a bag of collards already cut up, and that's convenient; you just rinse them and go. You should, though, increase the cooking time a few minutes, because the cut up collards haven't been 'de-stemmed' and the stem takes a little more cooking time.)
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Final[ish] Draft of Lotsa Helping Hands Family-Friendly Cookbook
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OK, here's a quick and easy dessert that's still a good old fashioned comfort food and relative nutritious as desserts go. (grin) Blueberry Crisp-GrandmaÂs ================ 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, unsweetened 2 tbls lemon juice 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup quick oats 1/3 cup butter, softened 3/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt . Heat oven to 375. Arrange berries in ungreased square baking dish (8 inch) and sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine remaining ingredients until crumbly. (I use a pastry blender, grandma used two knives). Crumble topping over berries and bake until topping is lightly browned and berries are hot, about 30 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings. I double this and it still comes out good. Plus blueberries are low in calories, have lots of fiber and no fat, contain antioxidants C, E and beta carotene and have been found to be as helpful in urinary tract health as cranberries. That's why I need ice cream with them, they are just too darned healthy. LOL Blueenough, it's clear that your daughter was a wonderful person and well loved by her family and community. It's always too soon to lose a child, a mother, a wife, and so I'm sending my prayers for strenth and healing to you all. And some blueberry crisp, compliments of my own beloved late Grandmother, Delphia Powell, who left me with my love of cooking and a lot of great recipes. Thanks, Grandma. Annie
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Publish your own cookbook
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Comments (3)
I was trying to think about whether 100 recipes sounded like a lot to me... But then I thought about it as: 15 soups 15 sides 15 salads / appetizers / breads 15 desserts and still having room for: 40 entrees And it actually started to sound like quite a few recipes to me! Emily
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LOOKING for: Cookbook Cover?
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Comments (13)
Trsinc, I don't know which of these are still in print. But if they're not, you can find them, I'm sure, through used book dealers. For starters, to really get an idea of what was eaten during the late 18th century, find a copy of Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book. Jefferson kept meticulous details of what he grew, how it performed, etc. It's been reissued several times by different publishers. "The Virginia Housewife," Mary Randolph's 1824 classic, includes recipes from her days as a plantation manager in the late 1700s, as well as from experiences running a boarding house. A very popular book of its time, it went through 30 editions. "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy," is a British cookbook, authored by Hannah Glass, first published in 1745 and used extensively in the Colonies. Also reprinted a number of times, the 1794 edition is the one that's been most reprinted. "American Cookery," published in 1796 by Amelia Simmons, is the first purely American cookbook. There are also several collections you might look for. One of the best is "The Williamsburg Art of Cookery," which presents recipes from numerous 18th century sources, including both cookbooks and cookery manuscripts. First published in 1938, it was reissued in 1966, and has been in and out of print since. "The Backcountry Housewife," is a publication of the Schiele Museum, written by Kay Moss & Kathryn Hoffman. It was published in 1985 and reissued in 1994---and possible again since then. These should get you started.
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Fun2BHere
3 months ago
So many recipes are available online that the only cookbooks I buy these days are those that are full of stories from the chef/writer because I read them like novels. When I moved in 2023, I culled my book collection of thousands down to only a few favorites. I brought the first three Barefoot Contessa books, my aged Betty Crocker ring-bound, My Little Paris Kitchen, a family compilation and a few that are specific to machines like my rice maker and microwave.

Since moving, I've purchased Wild Figs & Fennel and French Kitchen Lessons, but I haven't read either of them yet so I can't recommend them.

Once I'm interested in a title, I check to see if I can find it at a good price on eBay. Since most of them are reader copies for me and not going into my permanent library, I don't mind if they aren't in perfect condition.

You are really smart to check them in library form first.
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plllog
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
I love books in general, but when I want a recipe, I usually search blogs. You can usually tell which are T&T and good. And they're free. :)

For books:

Purchase method: I like hardbound or spiral (both is awesome but very rare). I know all the reasons to eschew Amazon, but it's easy, guaranteed, easy returns, reliable payment system, useful reviews, etc. I rarely am comfortable paging through a cookbook while standing.

All time favorite cookbooks? Another vote for the ring bound Betty. My first cookbook, a gift from my parents when I was nine, and full of good and reliable recipes.

Favorite new cookbooks? For reading: Does This Taste Funny by Stephen and Evie Colbert--lots of interesting South Carolina recipes, home cooking Americana dishes I know nothing about. For reading and inspiration: Matty Matheson Soups Salads and Sandwiches. The soups, especially. I don't want to work that hard making soup, but they're intriguing. For potential actual making of recipes: Savory Baking by Erin Jeanne McDowell. I haven't had a chance to get into it yet, but I liked looking through it enough to give a copy as a present.

Favorite reading cookbooks? Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America. Also have made a few of the recipes. Ottolenghi and Jerusalem (or just looking at the pictures). Aromas of Aleppo, ditto.

Favorite making recipes out of cookbooks? Black Family Reunion Cookbook by the National Council of Negro Women (a supersize version of Rho's community cookbooks). Most of the recipes are 3x5 card sized, and sometimes five different versions of the same dish. Many are greatness. And my own community cookbooks for the best Passover recipes. Joy. Dated, for sure, and weird, and each edition different, but go-to if one doesn't have the internet or someone's mom for that little hint one needs. Joan Nathan. Ottolenghi and Jerusalem. Betty Crocker. Local Breads by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman.
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PRO
neely
3 months ago
I have become so used to looking up a recipe online these days that I rarely look at my recipe books and haven’t bought one for years. I do have my old favourites and would be upset if I ever lost my Encyclopaedia of European Cooking by Paul Hamlyn which I’ve had for 50 years and it has travelled to Europe and back with me. It only has a few black and white useless photos yet I love to read its recipes.

Overall I tend to read ebooks/ kindle books and I like cooking inspired stories be they mysteries, autobiographies or biographies.

However, recently I did buy a real paperback book, the first in ages … The Upstairs Delicatessen on Eating, Reading, Reading about Eating, & Eating while Reading by Dwight Garner. I thought it was me in a nutshell and I am enjoying it a lot.
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John Liu
3 months ago
We have a book problem here and cookbooks are part of it. You know what happens if you going grocery shopping when you’re hungry - same thing when I am in a bookstore. Now with DD dragging me to used book sales where cookbooks can be had for $1 to $4, the problem is getting worse.

I usually use cookbooks to learn about a cuisine, region, style. Meaning I read them like books, putting Post-Its on recipes that look interesting, and later I may go back and make that recipe or be inspired by a story or picture or technique and make something else. So I like cookbooks with narrative, food writing, chef memoirs, regional explorations, just as much or more than the collections of recipes.

Favorites, some that pop to mind

- “Larousse Gastronomique”, invaluable if you’re trying to learn ”classique” French and generally European cooking from the ground up

- “Plenty“ and Otto Lenghi’s other books, I seldom make the recipes as written because who has all those ingredients? but they inspire trying things

- David Chang’s memoir/cookbook, it was a fun read and made me wish I’d gone down a different path in life, also I got a couple techniques that I use all the time

- Peterson’s cookbook on fish, my usual reference when wondering how to cook . . . fish

- There are a couple “standard”cookbooks on Chinese cuisine in my bookcase that are splattered with decades of cooking spills, dog-eared, broken spines - all good signs

- “When French Women Cook”, part stories and part recipes

- Anthony Bourdain has a Les Halles cookbook that I like, for making bistro greatest hits type dishes

- “The Bread Builders” is a book I read a lot when I was into making bread, the first time. Not a cookbook but more a bunch of essays about bread and bread bakers. Also made me, at the time, feel like I’d wasted my life.

- There is a book on food science, by McGee I think (“Kitchen Science”?), that is really interesting even though despite reading that and watching every “Good Eats” episode I don’t really understand much about why A does X in cooking.
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
This is my favourite cookbook ...

I've long since stopped buying cookbooks.Very few contain more than one or two useful recipes. And I don't like long waffly stories. Same reason I hate blog recipes. Just give me a practical recipe that gives me something new and foolproof. If I find one (rare) I'll print/cut it out and put it in my trusty lever arch.

My entire collection. Note age of most.
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arcy_gw
3 months ago
Pre-internet I purchased very few recipe books. A couple church, Betty Crocker's because it's a staple IMPO, a couple Cooking Light and that's really it. Now I would never buy one. As said above it's so easy to put ingredients into the search engine and find exactly what you are looking for. It' much easier than finding the recipe in a book you liked, especially when it's from a church cookbook and there's no or an odd table of contents!!! The younger generation in my life is very aggressive looking at magazines, ferreting out a chef's recopies but they prop their phones up so even though they are more adventurous seeking out new foods to cook they are not buying anyone's book. The getting it from a library first is a great idea!
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foodonastump
3 months ago
i’m struggling to answer the question but am really looking forward to receiving Les Halles tomorrow. Thanks jyl!
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PRO
beesneeds
3 months ago
I don't let myself bring home cookbooks very often anymore. A year or so ago, I culled down my overflowing collection. A lot of "starter" books that I've since learned on and stopped needing to refer to them. A lot of extras- because no, I do not actually need 10 bread machine books. Or whatever. Most of the read a lot, recipe few sorts of books. Some niche books. Some of them are in good enough shape to donate. Some are not, and I have to still be willing to let them go to compost.

I still have a lot of cookbooks. Several core books. Grandmas Settlement, moms Joy, most of my textbooks from school. A stack of preserving books, another of various baking. Several niche books. A bunch of ethnic specific tomes. Many years worth of those little holiday cookbooks found in the racks at the check out aisles at the store. Mostly halloween and gift jar ones. Some food history. A box full of random pages and pieces. Family written things.

For a while I was on a food cozy mystery kick, and went through a series or few from the library. Some of the recipies in those were interesting. Some were a pass, heh.

I still skim the shelves at the thrift store. Or browse the random garage sale. Hit up the library sales when I can. But since I've let go of a big ole bunch with good reasons, it's been hard to justify picking up more.
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nicole
3 months ago
If I need a tried and true recipe, I look to Fanny Farmer in paperback. Otherwise I purchased ones with pretty photos to stage a bookshelf in my kitchen. Never tried ANY of the recipes. And....they make GREAT gifts If I need something spur of the moment.
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faftris
3 months ago
I used to do the borrow/evaluate/buy routine, mostly for baking books, since I love to bake. Recently, it occurred to me that I make only one or two recipes from each big, heavy book. The books were not "sparking joy." So I copied those recipes and donated most of the books to our library book sale. I feel cleansed.
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donna_loomis
3 months ago
I've collected more cookbooks than I care to count. I looked at the bookshelf this morning and counted more than a hundred hard bound. A woman I worked with long ago scoured second hand stores for old cook book sets and when she had a complete set, she would give the set away. I was blessed to receive a 12 volume "Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, circa 1966". The 12th volume is an index which directs me to which volume and page I can find a specific recipe. That is one of my favorites.

Then, there are the spiral bound books (mostly from churches, and a few put together by our extended families). I have 3 iterations of Better Homes New Cook Books (1 glue bound, 2 old ring binder style). And I can't forget the small digest type sometimes found at the grocery store (probably not anymore).

Most of the books were given to me, but I've purchased my fair share of new or second hand as well. I haven't purchased a cookbook for quite a few years now. As others have mentioned, everything is online, just waiting for me.

I have culled favorite recipes from my books and digitized them, categorized and saved on a hard drive. Easy enough to find when I need them.

Now, I would just like to get rid of the books. About 10 years ago I sold some collections (ethnic, desserts, etc.). I've given very few away. None of the younger generation is interested.

I think I'll see if anybody on our local ND might be interested in free cookbooks. If I find a taker, I suspect they'll resell the books. I don't care. If that doesn't lighten my load, I'll see if Good Will might let me offload them there.
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chloebud
3 months ago
Oh boy, don’t get me started! I finally realized I don’t need any more cookbooks, even if very tempted. So far it’s worked. However, our daughter will occasionally gift me with one (Half Baked Harvest being most recent). If I could only keep some it would be my Silver Palate and Ina Garten collection, along with my very first cookbook from Betty Crocker (her New Picture Cookbook). That would still amount to 20 books…13 from Ina, 6 Silver Palate, 1 Betty Crocker, but far less than the load I have now. Those and the internet are plenty. I also have lots of old issues of Fine Cooking and Cook’s Illustrated magazines I can’t part with…yet.

On a side note, I actually framed some old back covers from CI. Some of those illustrations were pretty nice…front and back covers.
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Sherry8aNorthAL
3 months ago
Mine at the moment.
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hobbitmom
Original Author
3 months ago
Thank you all for your responces. I too use the internet for many recipes. In fact Ive got a huge stack (6 inches high and always growing). I have three ring binders for collecting the tried and true, but I find cookbooks much more inspiring as Im a sucker for the pretty pictures. (Also for pretty wine bottles). CI Cooks Country and Meat and Kenji's Food Lab and The Wok are great, but are huge and can be overwhelming, and too complicated. I know everyone loves Ina Garten, but I have had so many failures with her. Im not sure why. Matty Matheson for my tastes is too fancy. He takes soup and sandwiches to the next level. I'd rather keep things more basic. My favorites these days are Nagi Maehashi, Tieghan Gerard, and I attempt Molly Stevens and Pati Jinich when feeling bold, but I usually scale them down quite a bit ingredients wise. Also, being a west coast gal, Im partial to the west coast cuisine. Thanks again.
Sheeshie
3 months ago
I’m sure i have every title listed here and many more, plus every issue of Cook’s Illustrated since its inception. Ive also borrowed dozens from the library and have several pocket folders filled with clipped paper recipes.

The worst of it is that lately I have become tired of cooking. Alas, despite all my books and good equipment and a freezer and pantry full of good things, not to mention that hub and i still love to eat, I have lost my mojo. Maybe it’s early onset spring fever.
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Elmer J Fudd
3 months ago
Kenji's books are enjoyable to use and read.

Some recipes are more complicated than you may want to do on a particular day. He says himself that any recipe is best used as a guide or starting point, not as something that has to be slavishly followed. "Make it your own".

We tend to prefer simple preparations these days that produce tasty results. When we feel like something that takes more effort than we feel like expending, it's easier to go out.
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hobbitmom
Original Author
3 months ago
I also have about forty VERY old Cooks Illustrated magazines. Long ago, I tore out all the "gift subscription" cards, as they make excellent page markers for other cookbooks. Not what the authors had in mind. Har-Har.
bpath
3 months ago
My favorite is my Joy, and I can’t replace it because it has all my notes, and I added page headings because it didn’t any. Not only does it have recipes, it is a reference with information about the food, what it is, where it comes from, how to select, store, tips on prepping, etc. And every edition seems to be different, with different typefaces. I donated one because it was so hard to read, and another because it just, I don’t know, it just didn’t work.

I use my mom’s 1967 Mastering the Art. It has recipes for making frozen and canned peas taste better! Servantless American cook, that’s me!

I have a community cookbook from a moms-of-young-kids organization I was in. Many recipes are fast and easy and kid-friendly, but not in a dumbed-down way. I still use it and my kids are on their own.

DH does most of the cooking now, and he uses pretty much only AI now! He used to google recipes but so many of them came with a backstory and he is not one for that! Then he does what he wants anyway. When I did all the cooking for the family, I had a subscription to a menu-planning service that included a week of dinner menus (entree, sides) ingredient list for the week, and recipes for the entree. I loved it. I still have them, in two big binders. But because they are organized by week, and I subscribed when it was still kind of young, there is no index so I can’t just look up something I recall.
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morz8 - Washington Coast
3 months ago
I have a weakness for cookbooks and at one time, would sit in the evening and read them like a book - making notes.

I really have too many and should pare down, they are taking up space in my cupboards. And, quit buying them. Does this go back to my childhood when we had exactly one cookbook in the house? Not illustrated, I'm not sure I've even used anything from it since trying to teach myself to cook many decades ago. (in a hall closet along with some other mementos) My mother really didn't care to cook, never did. That (and resulting lack of nutrition) became a problem in her later years when she was alone!

I think I have all of Ina Gartens and do use those. Many others from fav chefs - seldom used. I think the last two I bought I've used not at all. I make pies. Often. I watched a food network show one day where the canadian restaurateur was making the most amazing looking pies and had written a book 'You Wanna Piece of Me'. Of course I had to send for it, have not used it.

Another sitting not yet used is the 'Vegetable Butcher' that is not so much recipes but how to clean and prep every vegetable ever grown in any country. I'm not always intuitive about things I'm not familiar with, know how or even where to buy them. My knife skills could use some real improvement. I do have good knives, maybe if I found a class to take I could get better use from the book. Chop, dice, peel 101 anyone? 😊
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Gooster
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
I do realize now that I have a lot of cookbooks, but I have looked up a lot of them online. I've been comparing recipes for Bourride online and in some cookbooks, and finding wild differences.

Some I use the most include one from Ina Garten, Marcella Hazan (the class), Julia Child, Biba Caggiano, Richard Olney, Mark Bittman (veg centric) and a community cookbook. I also have some American classics (BC, FF, Joy). While I have a number of Asian cookbooks I've yet to find a go to.... I've a large stack of old Cook Illustrated but I often find the recipes a bit fussy.

Online, I often find things at Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Saveur, the Kitchn, Leite's Culinaria etc where I will find a recipe (sometimes excerpted from a cookbook) I will bookmark and download/print. One of my go to veg dishes is from the old ChowHound. This trend is probably while we are seeing cookbooks evolve as well.
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porkchop_mxk3 z5b_MI
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
I have a smallish assortment of cookbooks, many of them bought in the bargain bin at the bookstore. The ones I use most often are Betty Crocker and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Deborah Madison). I'm not a vegetarian but this thing is chock-full of vegetable, grain, and legume recipes.

I do look for recipes on-line but usually look in my cookbooks first to see if those have what I'm looking for. On-line recipes can be very hit or miss IME. I really used to like Epicurious, but that site isn't the same as what it used to be.

What I miss if Fine Cooking. I LOVED that magazine. I still have a stack of old copies that I haven't gotten through yet. I would thumb through the current issue in the grocery, and if it had more a than a couple recipes I thought I might try then I'd buy it. I like their tutorials on different ingredients and how-to's for the recipes. I have gotten so many *excellent* recipes from Fine Cooking over the years.

I also have my own recipe binder where I put clipped recipes, handwritten recipe cards, etc. Re-organizing it is something I really have to get around to doing.
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chloebud
3 months ago
“What I miss if Fine Cooking. I LOVED that magazine.”

Agree! I started subscribing in 2003 and have kept every issue. I still occasionally pull a few out to look through. I also miss their website and cooking forum.

I also used to enjoy Bon Appetit until William Garry (editor-in-chief) died. It went downhill once he was gone.
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Lars
3 months ago
I have a lot of old cookbooks by The Frugal Gourmet that I still use, and I pretty much like everything that I've made from his books.

My favorite baking books include Baking With Julia, and Cooking With Gourmet Grains from the Orowheat Bakery - I used that book when I was baking desserts at Island Restaurant in San Francisco in the mid 1970s.

I got the America's Test Kitchen cookbook a couple of years ago, and I use that when I see a recipe from them on TV that I want to make, but I use Joy of Cooking more frequently.

These days I collect individual recipes online, print them out, and store them in plastic sheet covers in a couple of binder notebooks instead of buying cookbooks. I prefer to customize recipes to the way I like them rather than stick to what someone else likes. Most of the time I do not use recipes at all, unless I am baking something that requires accuracy.
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lisa_fla
3 months ago
Years ago I used to clip recipes from magazines. Now I rarely read magazines. I keep the clipped recipes (plus ones printed from the internet but not tried yet) in plastic labeled pocket folders (cakes,appetizers,etc). My daughter mentioned our library has digital magazines including Allrecipes, Taste of Home, cooks Illustrated-uh oh!

Last week I bought a Taste of Home cookbook at a yard sale for $1 It has 1000 recipes. I have alot of cookbooks, but don’t look at them as often as I’d like.

No one has mentioned Allrecipes.com Great site with lots of recipes with reviews and pictures. I have hundreds of saved recipes in a free online recipe box there. You can make as many categories as you’d like. So easy to go back and find any you have saved.
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jmm1837
3 months ago
I've got a few - ok, quite a few - cookbooks - but I also use the internet a lot and came across Nagi Maehashi(Australian, who has built a website with 1.5 million followers based essentially on comfort food from a variety of cuisines) - she produced her first actual cookbook a year or so ago and it became an immediate best seller here, based entirely on her internet presence. She had no tv presence before that, but she's now been a guest on various cooking shows and has a second book out. Recipetineats, for anyone interested. And yes, I have her books and use her recipes all the time.
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Islay Corbel
3 months ago
last modified: 3 months ago
It's a terrible addiction! I have a ton of books. I keep telling myself that I don't needto buy the book as I'll find the recipes on-line but I love browsing a book. Favourites depend on the time od year, the food I fancy at the time..... the favourite in use at the moment, as Hubby and I really need to shed a few..... ahem..... a lot of kilos, so it's diet time. Slimming Eats made in the air fryer by Siobhan Wightman is by far the most interesting slimming book I've ever seen. The food has flavour and texture - nnoth things often missing from so many diet recipes. Last night was a cheesy veggie pie topped with filo pastry coming in at 346 Kcals for a hefty portion. The previous night warm bacon, halloumi, sweet potato and chickpea salad. Really delicious.

Gooster, I didn't know what the difference was so thank you for bringing up the subject. I guess everywhere has it's fishy soups. Here we have Cotriade. I like it as it's more whole veggie than other soups, if that makes any sense.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotriade#:~:text=La%20cotriade%20ou%20cotriade%20bretonne,crustac%C3%A9s%20et%20fruits%20de%20mer.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourride_%C3%A0_la_s%C3%A9toise#:~:text=La%20principale%20diff%C3%A9rence%20entre%20ces,sert%20avec%20de%20la%20rouille.
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caflowerluver
3 months ago
My favorite that I have used since first published in 1972 is Vegetarian Epicure. Before that it was 1951 Betty Crockers cookbook that was my mom's. She gave to me when I moved out after college. Both are beginning to fall apart. I have quite a few other ones but I don't use them very often. If I want a certain recipe I look it up on the web.
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jehanne hansen
3 months ago
I have put food on the table for over 55 years and I have just about all I need right in my head. I do see something online once in a while or search something online but I got rid of all my cookbooks with the exception of just a couple that were kept for sentimental reasons.

I quit with books almost entirely after the computer came into my life.

We shed most of our books a couple of years ago to make life lighter and I have not one regret over it.

I worked at Borders for years and I brought home so many wonderfully beautiful books and there were some stunning cookbooks. But, they are gone and I am fine with that.

Sometimes I hear of someone planning to issue or publish another cook book and it makes me wonder why. What a small market that must be!

I have a dear friend who loves cook books and actually reads them! She is also a legendary cook.
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annie1992
3 months ago
I love cookbooks and read them like I would read a novel. I like the way a book feels in many hands and I still read a lot, although not as voraciously as I did when I was younger. I have way too many cookbooks and keep thinking I should sort through and get rid of some. I've given some to my granddaughters and still have the Betty Crocker cookbook my grandma gave me as a present in 1974, as well as her well loved Modern Family Cookbook by Meta Givens. I have Cook's Illustrated books and gluten free books and holiday books and Mother's Amish Cooking book and the LaRousse Gastronomique.

I've been cooking since I was small enough to stand on a chair to help Grandma, and I'll be 70 next month, and I still have the first cookbook I ever owned, the Betty Crocker Children's cookbook, LOL. I just like them.

Annie
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Kendrah
3 months ago
Last night as I was cooking Passover Seder, I was fantasizing about writing a letter to Ina Garten asking her to write a Jewish cookbook. I truly love Ina's recipes. I know it wouldn't be a big seller, but she's made enough money already, could be at the tail end of her career, and could do it as a labor love.

Perhaps she'll say yes. She and I are very close -- in my dreams. I often have comforting dreams at night where she and I are close friends, hanging out, and enjoying dessert together.
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pricklypearcactus
3 months ago
I have a small section of cookbooks on my bookshelves. To be honest I find I'm much more likely to use online recipes which I can look up on my iPad. I then tend to copy the recipes I like into a Google Doc and easily access on my iPad or on my phone when I'm at the grocery store trying to recall ingredients. It's sad. I do like cookbooks, but I find them a bit physically awkward to cook with such that I'm able to keep them open and not get food all over the pages.
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plllog
3 months ago
Pricklypearcactus, A couple of decades ago, as I was getting more online recipes, I typed up all the tear sheets from magazines. Quaint, huh? Now I use Mealboard, which is a full on meal planning app, but which has an easy recipe section which doesn't require a lot of field filling. It can be accessed from all devices and the web, so I think it's like your docs. I can also put in recipes that CF people post as pictures, though they're harder to read than straight text, since they go in the space where the picture of the food goes. I bet you could also put those in your Docs, maybe even better quality, and if so, you could also make pictures of recipes in your books that you want to make, and put them in Docs as well.

That said, there is something special about beloved old cookbooks with the food stains on all the best recipes...
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amylou321
3 months ago
I do not use cookbooks for recipes. Or very very rarely have I done so. The cookbooks I have are entertaining to read. I am someone who HATES those recipe sites where the author has to ramble on and on about the recipe before sharing it. BUT, I like certain cookbooks that do so, go figure. I got them for the pleasure of reading, not instruction or inspiration in the kitchen.

For example, anyone remember the Two Fat Ladies? I have several of their cookbooks, both the joint efforts and their individual ones. The recipes are AWFUL. Nothing in any of them I would consider eating really. But, they are fun to read. Jennifer Paterson had a little paperback edition of all her columns in the Spectator which included her recipes. I bought it for a dollar. It was so fun to read, very funny. She and Clarissa Dickson Wright, the other Fat Lady, had very interesting lives.

Another example, Nigella Lawson. I enjoy reading her cookbooks. They are MASSIVE, with so many recipes they cannot all be good. I always enjoy her cooking shows, though I would say we have differing ideas when it comes to certain food related things. But she is a talented writer and entertaining as well. I have several of her books, bought cheaply second hand. I like her Christmas one the best, it makes me feel cozy.

Other than these, I have a few cookbooks that I bought as fundraisers, mostly from my truck drivers who are selling it for their churches. Nothing in those very exciting if I am honest, though they recipes are solid and good, but the dishes in them are not something an experienced southern home cook would need a recipe for. And I have a couple that were gifts. A couple barefoot contessa ones from my mom, I have a taste of home one that was sent to me for free because i entered a recipe in a contest and while it did not win, they did put it in their book, and sent me a copy as a gift, and thats it. I do not think I have even opened the BC ones. I used to watch her show a lot, a lot of what's in her books was probably on the show.
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chloebud
3 months ago
“I was fantasizing about writing a letter to Ina Garten asking her to write a Jewish cookbook.”

You should, Kendrah! For years now I’ve thought she should write a “Holidays“ cookbook, although it would likely include several recipes from her other books.
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rob333 (zone 7b)
3 months ago
I have an entire shelf of binders. Filled with recipes I've printed out, or yanked out of magazines (Saveur and Cooking Light, mostly). I was able to add my mother's printed out recipes to them. Those. And The Joy of Cooking. Everyone should have the cooking bible.
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