Some of Your Favorite Cookbooks
Right now Philadelphia is hosting the 22nd Book and the Cook event that pairs cookbook authors with local restaurants. In past years, the event has brought Philadelphia such food stars as the late Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, Ming Tsai, and many more.
So I thought it would be fun to learn more about YOUR favorite cookbook authors and YOUR favorite cookbooks. I am a big collector of cookbooks but like many home cooks, I don't use them as much as I would like to.
I often refer to recipes for ideas, but when it comes time to put together a meal during the week, I usually come up with something on the fly or fall back on one of my old standards. This is something I'm hoping this blog will get me away from doing. By having to attempt and write about new recipes, I'm forcing myself to come up with new ideas and techniques.
What Are Some of My Favorite Cookbooks?
Wow, this is a tough question since I have so many that I love to just read and get ideas from. I do, however, look for certain essentials like:
- Is the book easy to navigate?
- Are the recipes written for a home cook?
- Can I make these recipes by myself or do a need a team of assistants to prep the meal?
- Are the ingredients readily available or will I have to go to several specialty markets to find what I need?
- Do the recipes appeal to me? By this I mean, would I want to make them for my family and friends?
- How much prep is involved and how long will it take to prep and prepare each recipe?
- Do the recipes make sense? Are the descriptions clear and accurate?
- How are the photos and illustrations?
These are some of the questions I ask myself before spending the bucks on a new cookbook but to be honest, sometimes I look at the cover and say, "This looks interesting. I have to have this book."
So to answer my question, I learned to cook with The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins and still refer back to it occasionally. It is a great reference book when you don't know what to make but have many ingredients.
I also refer to any of Marcella Hazan's Italian cookbooks especially Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. If it's Italian that I'm cooking, I'm sure I can find what I need to know in here.
Another cookbook that's been around for a while but still available is Incredible Cuisine by Chef Jean-Pierre Brehier from the PBS cooking series. Every recipe I've made from this cookbook has been great. Simple, easy to follow, available ingredients and something I would be happy with if I were served at a restaurant.
So those are a few of my favorites. What about you?
Who are your favorite cookbook authors?
Which cookbooks did they write that you really like? Why?
What is your favorite recipe from those cookbooks?
stephanie
I have three standby favorites.
The first is Discover Dayton. It was put out by the Junior League in Dayton in the 70's. I kept stealing it from my mother. They finally reprinted it a few years ago and she bought me a copy!
The second is called, Where There's Smoke, There's Flavor. It's by a German woman and a French man. It's has the best ingredients, photos and ideas.
The third is actually a cookbook that I ordered off of the internet. It is the All Recipes Cookbook. I rarely order things through the mail, but this one was worth it.
Karla
I love "the one armed cook" I'm a single mom. I work full time, and never learned how to cook. Now i'm faced with a baby, to feed... aaahhh... this book made things easy for me. It's simple for someone who isn't secure in the kitchen.
Christie
I never learned how to cook growing up, so I've been slowly picking up techniques and tips since I finished college. Now that I'm married the pace has picked up a bit, best of all, I'm starting to enjoy cooking more and more. I only have a few cookbooks, but I wouldn't part with them. The Better Homes New Cookbook is great when I need basic information. I have a Betty Crocker Entertaining Basics cookbook that has some great ideas for entertaining (I've gotten rave reviews on the lasagna) and a Bon Appetit Breakfasts and Brunches cookbook that has an Oat Waffle recipe I love and a boiled egg covered in sausage recipe called Eggs Trattoria that has become an Easter tradition for my family. My current favorite though, is my subscription to Cooking Light magazine. I love knowing that most anything I choose from it will be pretty healthy. Somethings the ingredients are out of the ordinary, but I often substitute with simpler items and still get great results. A favorite from this winter was a Lentil Stew with Roasted Winter Vegetables.
Miriam
I like "How to Eat" By Nigella Lawson. Some of her other books are interesting, too, but I prefer this one (her first, I think). As to a particular recipe, it would have to be the one about cooking ham in Coke. Strange sounding, but utterly delicious!
MaryG in Littlestown PA
So many cookbooks, so little time. . .
I own dozens of cookbooks and love to read them like novels. There are a few, however, that I find myself consulting on a regular basis (like most of us, I suspect). Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything" is a great practical resource, despite the absurd title. "The Joy of Cooking" is a classic, of course, and with good reason. "The Best Recipe" from the folks at Cook's Illustrated is the place to go if you want to know every single blessed thing that goes into preparing the dish, paragraph upon paragraph before you get to the actual recipe. And I guess my favorite "celebrity chef" is Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame, with her practical and user-friendly approach to preparing good food.
And then there's the internet, where you can find anything, anytime---a veritable paradise for obsessive recipe-seekers like myself. Ah, it's a great big wonderful world of food out there!
iPont
I learned how to cook with and got a lot of mileage out of The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. Both of these have a lot of good, basic information, and lot of good, basic recipes. I haven't gotten a lot of "outstanding" things from these cookbooks, but they definitely give you a good foundation and a wide variety of recipes.
However, the book that I am most enamored with today is The New Best Recipe. This is absolutely the best cookbook I have ever used. I have made a lot of different recipes from this book and I have found exactly two where I didn't like the results. Judging from the great results in all of the other recipes, I am willing to put the blame on myself and say that I probably did something wrong for those two. Not only do they give a wide variety of recipes, they explain in excruciating detail why you should use "this ingredient" instead of "that ingredient". There is a lot of description for each recipe, including all of the things they tried, like using pancetta instead of bacon, or using a sauce pan instead of a skillet. They also have some product recommendations, like the best brand of canned tomatoes and the best Dutch oven. For a techo-geek like me, this stuff is invaluable. I don't simply want to know what to do; I want to know why.
I also have to say that The Silver Spoon was one of my biggest disappointments. This is apparently the equivalent of The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook in Italy. Italian brides have been getting this book as a wedding present for 50 years. It was just translated into English, so I bought it. I turned page after page wondering when I was going to get to all of the "good" stuff. I never did.
stephen Andrews
My favorite cookbook and the one I use as a refernce the most is The Escoffier Cook Book by Escoffier. It is not easy to read, has no pictures and you have to get creative with the ingredients. But anytime I want to know the basics of how to cook a food this is where I turn to. Even when I am using a receipe from another source I always like to crossreference to this book. I like your web site it provides me with some inspiration and knowledge with just a few mouse clicks.
Jackie
Unlike some of the posters here, I have cooked for 35 years or so. Like The Reluctant Gormet, I have a large collection of cookbooks but usually cook without following a specific recpe. My favorite book is "Southern Food" by John Egerton with the subtitle, "At Home, On the Road, In History". Each year when the yellow squash is ripe from my garden, I make squash casserole from Egerton's recipe, and yes, it has no canned soup. I, too, use the computer for recipe ideas and a favorite website is The Reluctant Gormet. Great blog. Thanks.
Dennis
I am 52 and have been cooking since I was about 12. My current favorite cook book is "The Key too Chinese Cooking" by Irene Kuo. Not does it include recipes it also explains technique. She has you cooking native chinese in a very short time. I also like "The Gold Cookbook" and "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook". I prefer the older more labor intensive style of cooking because it is the only way to get that taste.
Judy Petersen
I used the standards when I first got married also, and have worn them out. But I find that my two favorites, and the ones I turn to for everything from everyday meal ideas to meals special enough for company, are The California Heritage cookbook produced by the Junior League of Pasadena and Come Into the Kitchen by Jackie Olden. I have at least 150 cookbooks and I love and use most of them at some point. Quite a few are ethnic cookbooks, Mexican, Chinese, and Danish. But I most often turn to the two I mentioned. They are varied and interesting.
Falan
I like the new Daisy Martinez cookbook. "Daisy Cooks " Its filled with lots of Spanish recipes and its home cooking Spanish food I remember growing up.
I also like my own cookbook "Housewife Cuisine" by Falan Taylor its filled with great home cooking and all of my favorite Italian recipes Iearned in Italy.
I often cook from what is kying around in the kitchen but cookbooks are an obssession of mine and I have a book cases dedicated to cooking materials.
Its very relaxing to be in my kitchen cooking recipes from places I have been to recipes handed down from the 1930's my grandmother taught me. Even though I am just 21 I have an amazing history with food and my relationship deepens with every meal.
Larry Wilson
My favorite cookbook is Woman's Home Companion Cookbook 1946 Edition with introducton by Dorothy Kirk. Why? This is the cookbook my mother used and it's the cookbook that introduced me to a lifetime of pleasure in preparing meals for those I love. It was the 1950s and I was about 10 years old when my mother had to start working full-time to help support a family of seven. I would come home from school, look up something interesting in the cookbook, and prepare a meal for my 3 brothers, sister, Mom and Dad. When Mom and Dad would arrive home around 6:00PM dinner was on the table. By the time I was 12 my brother would only eat the biscuits if I had made them !! My well-worn cookbook was recently replaced with a like-new one that I found on the Internet.
Kelly
As a rule, I prefer cookbooks with lots of glossy photos. I simply love to get inspired visually, BUT I also love "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison. Yes, I am vegetarian, but the recipes in her book are so consistently great, that everyone should have this one handy. I also love the "Silver Palate Cookbook". I can't say I have a favorite cookbook author, except for perhaps. I just scanned my cookbook shelf and she's the only author who appears more than once!
Mary Rogers
I do not know if I am too late to make mention of the cookbooks that I use most often but here they are. I use the Moosewood Cookbook as I do some vegetarian cooking since I married a vegetarian and the recipes and illistrations are great. I also enjoy the pampered chef's cookbooks which has very tasty treats, main courses and side dishes. For old time favorite recipes I use the Household Searchlight cookbook which use to be given away through the Household magazine subscription out of Topeka, Kansas. It teaches you how to make the basics like catsup, etc
MaryG in Littlestown PA
Right on, Kelly. Deborah Madison's book rocks, even if you're not vegetarian.
ral
After many, many years of buying and collecting cook books I found one publication with recipes that are fool proof.
Everyone should do them self a favor and subscribe to Christopher Kimball's COOK'S ILLUSTRATED. Each and every recipe has been tried and tested many times in his test kitchen before they are published. Just follow each recipe EXACTLY as written and anyone can become an instant gourmet chef.
Skagitman
Ditto on COOK'S ILLUSTRATED. Never have I tried a recipe from the magazine or one of their cookbooks that failed. I especially like Christopher Kimball's BEST RECIPES. Of my collection of over 300 coojbooks I enjoy those which (1), instruct, (2) show plenty of pictures for presentation, and, (3), use reasonably easy-to-find ingredients. I started cookingt 25 years ago as therapy from a stressful career. In concentrating on a recipe I forgot about everything else. My family and friends enjoy it!
Don Lainhart
In my opinion, without a doubt, the best cookbook ever is Julia Child's "Mastering The Art of French Cooking". So detailed, so easy to follow, it is the quintessential book for all those interested in French cuisine. I have made many recipes from this book, none of them failures I probably have 200 cookbooks, and I have always said that if you get one good recipe from a cookbook, it is worth the price. When you get a hundred from one book, it is priceless.
Tom
3rd vote for Cooks Illustrated. Not only do the recipes work well, but they also explain what worked or didn't
(ingredient, technique, ect ) in the trial variations of the recipe. This is our deserted island cookbook.
Estelle
I love to read cookbooks and their writers, they inspire me--I loved Bert Greene, MFK Fisher, and Laurie Colwin. "Mastering..." is my bible, though I doubt I've ever followed a recipe in the book --instead it taught me the basics and made me fearless. I love old, church, and group cookbooks for the sense of history and place. I would rather watch Ina Garten and Chris Kimball than read their books. I love the Silver Palate books, anything by Martha Stewart, Perla Myers and Marian Boros. I digest cooking shows and magazines again more for inspiration--I am not a food snob and have been lucky enough to dine in many fine restaurants, but in the end, I would rather cook for my friends, family and myself. Reading has freed me to shop anywhere, to gather ingredients, and to play in my imagination so that I can create a spirit of sharing and celebration with all those who join hands around my table.
G. Stephen Jones
Wow, Estelle, you must be a wonderful self-taught cook. I knew most of your favorites, but I can't wait to go find a few. - RG
Vanessa Hart
The cookbook I use most is CHEF CHERI'S HASTY TASTY MEALS. It's high fiber, low fat, low sugar, and low sodium. Great for lowering your cholesterol. Most of the recipes are fast and use a pressure cooker.
Abe
I have 2 favourite cook books... Well I have many many more, but the 2 I can't live without are "MealLeanYum" ("Millenium") and "The Food Processor Bible" both by Norene Gilletz... I'm a certified Chef and also an instructor (Hospitality/Culinary Arts) and even though I have lots of favourite books, you can't go wrong with either one of those two.
Cheers and keep cooking!!!
Sandra
My favorite cookbooks are those by Jeanne Lemlin. Although I am not 100% vegetarian, her recipes are satisfying and hearty. Every recipe I have made out of her cookbooks has been a total success.
philip weinstein
Bistro Cooking at Home, by Gordon Hammersley of Hammersley's Bistro in Boston
Patrick Jager
My two favorite cookbooks are "The French Laundry Cookbook" by Thomas Keller and "The Barbeque Bible" by Steven Raichlin. Some of Thomas Keller's recipes are complex and ethereal. He also demonstrates how to take a few well-chosen ingredients to create magic. His recipe for braised beef is amazing. He shares the tricks of the restaurant trade converted for home use. "The Barbeque Bible" is encyclopedic in depth while staying conversational in style. Every aspect of grilling is addressed and illustrated with stories from Steven's barbeque quest around the globe. My favorite is the simple yet elegant Tuscan steak he encountered at an Italian country inn. Delightful to read and taste.
Chef Jim
OHMIGOD! I have exactly the same experience as Larry whose answer is dated 4/24. Only we were a family of 5, and I was 13, and the Women's Home Companion was the 1945 edition that my Father's mother gave my mother for their first Xmas. I also learned to cook from that book and have since had to replace Mom's dilapidated version with one from the Internet! I have about 250 cookbooks, a bit of a collector, and can't part with any of them. My favorite is usually whichever new one I'm reading at the moment. But one that stands out as having inspired me is Tom Collichio's Think Like a Chef, a great read and of course superb recipes. I have many books by Nigella Lawson, the Barefoot Contessa, Martha, Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey, Julia Child, et al. Of course, the reference books are The Doubleday Cookbook, BH&G (red checked spiral) Fannie Farmer; The New Way to Cook; The New Basics, and other Silver Palates. But the ultimates are The Art of French Cooking Vol 1 &2! Just received Surreal Gourmet Bites by Bob Blumer great appetizers!
As far as magazines go, we'd need another thread for them but outstanding are Fine Cooking and Cooks Illustrated.
Carrie Pergantis
I really learned how to cook with Pam Anderson's "How to Cook Without A Book" - extremely easy to follow and makes everyone think you're a pro! Ditto for her online newsletter, "Cooknik", available at AllRecipes.com. This letter plans your menus each week and even provides a shopping list. I've also never gotten a bad recipe out of any of the Southern Living Cookbooks.
Amy Brizendine
I have two favorite cookbooks that I use so often that they never leave my kitchen counter. First is "Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's" by Rita Van Amber. The other is "Saving Dinner" by Leanne Ely. This comes complete with menus and shopping lists. I also love cooking magazines and subscribe to way too many!
Sophia Marie
I have used the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook over and over again since I was married five years ago-- it doesn't leave the kitchen counter. But I also recently purchased "Dining on the Nile:Exploring Egyptian Cooking" by Sally Elias Hanna -- a great book that cooks since I love Middle Eastern food.
Dinah Miranda
I started cooking with Elizabeth David's "A
Book of Mediterranean Food" and also enjoyed a very old edition of the French Tante Marie which I inherited from my mother and from which I learned how to make 'blanquette de veau a l'ancienne'. Recently I enjoyed Pam Anderson's "The Perfect Recipe" for many excellent basics and the best and easiest chicken stock ever. However, my favorite of all is Claudia Roden's "A Book of Middle Eastern Food", which kept me alive all through medical school, in spite of the many substitutions I had to make for ingredients which were unavailable at the time.
Sandy
My very first cook book was The Encyclpedia of Creative Cooking when I was 18 years old. I still have it and it's favorite place is on my kitchen counter. I have tried so many recipes out of it and had success most of the time. It covers everything from meat to vegetables to desserts to basic pastry making. It includes colorful pictures and step by step instructions. Lately I have been experimenting with different herbs and flavors and creating my own family cook book of dinners my whole family enjoys. When you have a six year old who won't eat anything and a twelve year old who eats everything in sight, coming up with creative, healthy and tasty meals everyone in my family will enjoy is challenging but worth it in the end when they say dinner was geat mom!
Dorothy
I have to agree that the Better Homes and Gardens is still one of the best, as is my favorite cookbooks from local churches because they have all the favorites I grew up with a church dinners.
I feel blessed that my father pastored a little white church on a hill in a wonderful community where all the ladies were dependable in their recipes.
Luanne
My very first French cookbook which was $1.00 with Book of the Month Club special...Modern French Culinary Art by Henri Paul Pellaprat. published at least 35 years ago!!!
Sharon
American Home All Purpose Cookbook is my favorite "oldie" for basic recipes. A Spoonful of Ginger by Nina Simonds has provided many wonderful new recipes when I feel creative in the kitchen.
Linda
American Home All-Purpose Cook Book (1966) is my absolute favorite. In fact I'm trying to locate 2 more copies because my daughters and I have worn it out! I learned to cook with this book and it contains many recipes that have become our family favorites. The general cooking info is priceless. Many books are bigger, many more costly, but this is the BEST.
Linda
My favorite is my old Betty Crocker Cookbook... It has all the basics, which I love, and many my mom cooked throughout the years growing up!
Jan
I'm a collector and my old farmhouse pantry houses the collection and has room for little else. There's one shelf of the most used cookbooks. I never use a recipe, but I read them like novels and try to master the techniqes contained in them.
I think people tend to find comfort in using the cookbook(s) they grew up with. I'm no exception. My mother attended the Fannie Farmer Cooking School in Boston in the early forties and I still have her classroom cookbook and I refer to it often. I also have several other editions from the fifties, sixties, and seventies. What I like about the book is that there are a lot of techniques explained - the basics you really need to know. When I went to college I got Joy of Cooking which is still on my most used shelf, along with the Tassjara Bread Book, Betty Crocker Cookbook for Children (laugh if you must, but there's a layer cake recipe in it that cannot be equaled!), Child's The French Chef Cookbook , James Beard Cookbook, and a few other classics.
Lamyra McFaddin
I also love the New Basics Cookbook and use it lots....as well as several others by these authors. One of my other all time favorites is the Charleston Receipts. I was born in South Carolina and lived the most of my life before moving to Brasil four years ago, so love the lowcountry recipes in this book.
Living in Brasil has presented some challenges in finding the ingredients we are accustomed to in the States, but we have wonderful things that are available here....especially the variety of fresh fruit year round.
Thanks for your site and all the work you put into it.
ann
just discovered your site, love it.
Sheryl
Is it possible to get in touch with Larry, who wrote on April 25th and who has a Woman's Home Companion Cookbook. I can't find mine and it has the recipe for the caramels that I always make at Cmas time. Mmmm... so good!
Chefathome
As some of you above, I collect cookery books (and am downright obsessed with food and all things culinary). My favourite cookbook criterion follow:
Recipes that are challenging and that require unique and difficult-to-obtain ingredients. To me half the fun is to get my hands on lovely ingredients that I often must order for (I live in rural northern Canada).
Books that challenge you to improvise and not necessarily use recipes.
Encyclopedic cookery books jam-packed with the hows and whys of food science.
I l0ve books that I can read through like novels, over and over.
These are amongst my favourites:
"The Flavours of Olive Oil"
"The Spice and Herb Bible"
"French Laundry"
"The Improvisational Cook"
"On Food and Cooking" and "Molecular Gastronomy"
"Club Cuisine"
"Culinary Artistry"
"All About Braising"
"Meat"
"Professional Chef"
"Amuse Bouche"
"Sauces"
Most of Jamie Oliver's books, especially "Italy"
My very favourite reference book is "Larousse Gastronomique".
"The New Best Recipe" is interesting as it describes experiments with food and recipes.
As someone mentioned above, my greatest disappointment is "Silver Spoon". There was a lot of hype - it is very basic and not unique enough.
I am getting hungry just thinking about the books!!
Shanina
"Sheryl said,
on December 17th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Is it possible to contact Larry, who wrote on April 25th and has a Woman's Home Companion Cookbook? I can't find mine, and it has the recipe for the caramels that I always make at Christmas time. Mmmm, so good!"
I've got this cookbook as well, so if you are still in need of the recipe, e-mail me at "[email protected]" ~ happy to help if I can 🙂
sophia
My favorites are teaching books and some reference books, books that tell how and why. At the top of the list are Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and his "Technique", and anything they coauthor.
I use Sharon Tyler Herbst's "Food Lover's Companion" on a regular basis, and my latest new informers are the America's Test Kitchen "Family Cookbook" which is loaded with helpful techniques and tips, and Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything".
"Culinary Artistry" is an intriguing book with one chapter in particular worth the purchase price, in my opinion, where a chart is given for flavors and foods that go well together. A chapter about chefs and their preferences is equally informative.
What I don't like are cookbooks full of recipes with cutesy names for new combinations that are of questionable merit - things like "walnut caviar". Man those things bug me. I don't think reliable products/ideas need to be gimmicky, and it always serves me more as a caution than a come on. But,
chacun a son gout.
Shelley
I have enough cook books to start my own cooking show. But my two absolute must haves are. Five Roses Cook Book- inherited from my mom. The American Womans Cookbook - inherited from my grandma.
Gail
Can't tell a lie, "The Joy of Cooking" is my favorite book for great recipes and the one I turn to all the time for information, how to's, how long, etc. I am also a big fan of Cook's Illustrated Cook Books.
I read these books instead of novels!
For those who want to learn about the Art of Cooking...."Larousse Gastronomique" is the encyclopedia of item and procedure names, ingredients and techniques.
Also, I am an avid cookbook reader, have hundreds & hundreds and I love 'em all!
AndreaS
I am looking for an old red and white "double Daycookbook. i am looking for this so i can give it to someone who lost theirs when he was a teen. i would love to reunite him with his all time fav. cookbook. but the trouble is. i cant find it. i know its the late 60s or early 70s addition. and as far as i know its self titled "double Day cookbook" i know its red and white can anyone help me? email me.... [email protected]
Rosa
WOW! I can't believe it. Not ONE comment mentions Rick Bayless. He is THE cook to follow when in search of truly authentic Mexican food. He is knowledgeable beyond description and his recipes and results are to die for.
Diana
And Laurel's Bread Book for whole grain baking that tastes great.
Diana
Really like the Gourmet cookbook - now comes with a CD too. Nearly everything I've made out of there has been amazing. Salmon cooked on the stove over the salt bed, turkey chili with tomatillos, salmon burgers with watercress and water chestnuts (ground mixed together), cookies, a chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and pickled red onions...
Also still kept the Better Homes and Gardens one. Has a lot of handy basics, like how long to cook different obscure grains or beans, and how to make gravy or turkey. Lemonade. Basic but great if I forget something. Does anyone have a great middle eastern or tapas book?
Sanskriti Chada
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Thank you - RG
Siron
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Babino Hanniya
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