Cookbooks

[3894]

This thread is dedicated to a fellow collector of vintage cookbooks, Cousin Not Afraid.

Do you have some titles you swear by? The kind of cookbook where you'll eventually make a large percentage of the recipes?

I'd like to start the thread off with my newest find, Secrets from a Caterer's Kitchen by Nicole Aloni (HP Books, 2000). I'm thinking of throwing a rather elaborate party, yes, but the recipes are also ones I can make anytime. In fact, I've never seen a better collection of terrific whizz-bang fast recipes anywhere.

You need this book. Really.

So what book(s) do I need?

[Gemini Cricket]

I don't know if it's a good one, but a lot of kitchens I visit have that red and white checkered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I'm thinking that there's something Stepford about it...
:D

[Ghoulish Delight]

We've got the Better Homes and Gardens. It's good as a reference for basic techniques, not so much for interesting recipes.

[blueerica]

With the exception of baking, and perhaps a few other detailed cooking events, I mostly refuse to use a cookbook. I actually learned how to cook from cookbooks, but in recent years (again, with the exception of baking), I've decided it's better to know how ingredients work and taste together than one teaspoon of this and a third of a cup of that. I end up with some disasters once in a while, but it's usually easily fixed (especially since it's not baking) - plus, after I survey what's out in the garden and what's in the fridge, it ends up being a breeze to come up with something that maximizes what I've got.

Not that I'm ragging on cook books. I adore them for baking. I've been dying to make a carrot cake again, and I've forgotten my old recipe. So, I'll probably be cracking open a cook book in a week or two.

[Kevy Baby]

I need to get GusGus into this thread. She too is a collector of cookbooks, though most of her collection is contemporary.

I need to find a cookbook from a restaurant called Grandma's Place (or something like that) that is in Yreka, CA. We bought it mostly for the contributions of a five-year-old.

[3894]

I've decided it's better to know how ingredients work and taste together than one teaspoon of this and a third of a cup of that.

I know what you're saying but using cookbooks doesn't imply slavish imitation of a given author's recipes. When you reach a certain proficiency and ease in the kitchen, recipes should be a jumping-off point and a good cookbook can offer a new point-of-view.

[BarTopDancer]

I have:
Better Homes and Gardens
Vegan with a Vengence
Linda McCartney World cookbook
A few Chinese cookbooks
and the best cookbook of all.

The internets!

[Ghoulish Delight]

I too prefer flavor improv, but that doesn't leave cookbooks out of the picture for me. I consider myself very good at picking good flavors, but I don't know everything. Cookbooks help expand my range, as well as help with technique. Choosing the right flavors is half the battle, knowing how to prepare the ingredients is another thing.

[katiesue]

I have my cookbook from Kindergarten where the parents all contributed recipes -would that be considered vintage (1972)?

[3894]

I have my cookbook from Kindergarten where the parents all contributed recipes -would that be considered vintage (1972)?

Yes. Does that make anyone else feel personally vintage?

The cookbooks you recommend don't have to be vintage. I really love Sara Foster's The Foster's Market Cookbook. There are several but the first is the very best, IMO.

[Ponine]

Oh wow. I have a ton..... cookbooks are my weakness. Or one of.

I have one from the 50's, let me find it and I will let you know.

[Prudence]

My 1953 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook should count as vintage. Bonus points for the vintage newspaper clippings tucked inside.

[Stan4dSteph]

I got The Best of America's Test Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/Best-Americas-Test-Kitchen-2008/dp/1933615192/ref=sr_1_5/105-0258486-1174812?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186675341&sr=8-5), although mine is the version from 2006 I think. It's a good reference, and also explains why things work and why others don't.

[blueerica]

I guess that for me, cookbooks are a step-by-step guide for making something completely new. After the first, or maybe second time, I'll never look at the recipe again - the knowledge is already inside of me. I feel fortunate enough in my experiences to have tried a wide range of cuisines from around the world.

The ultimate educational tool, for me, has been watching Good Eats with Alton Brown over the last.. I don't know.. five years? Knowing how each ingredient works is such an efficient means to get whatever is in my head to come out. If I don't have the knowledge, of course I will lean on a recipe one or two times, though a cookbook will go mostly unopened for me - and I'd rather have the space to put a new kitchen appliance or tool. ;)

I used cookbooks for years - like I said, it's how I learned how to cook. But I've found that I don't open them - making the internet and Alton Brown better tools for me.

Haha, checking out the Test Kitchen link that Steph provided... now that's a cookbook I'd love!

[Matterhorn Fan]

I got The Best of America's Test Kitchen, although mine is the version from 2006 I think. It's a good reference, and also explains why things work and why others don't.Steph, how veg-friendly is that one? Are there lots of pictures?

I was interested when it came out, but it was always shrink-wrapped in the store.

[Stan4dSteph]

Steph, how veg-friendly is that one? Are there lots of pictures?

I was interested when it came out, but it was always shrink-wrapped in the store.Not very many pictures. It's similar in style to Cook's Illustrated magazine, so not too many photos, all black and white. Most of the pictures in it are illustrations, not photos.

I'll have to let you know about veg. friendly. There are sections of the book dedicated to meat, with separate chapters on the common ones - chicken, lamb, beef, pork.

[katiesue]

Williams Sonoma Ice Cream
Better Homes and Gardens circa 1982
The New Southern Cookbook
TIME/LIFE Lowfat Cooking
Better Homes and Gardens Kids Cookbook circa 1973

[Not Afraid]

If I had to get rid of all of my cookbooks choosing 5 to keep, the keepers would be:
The Greens Cookbook
The Moosewood Cookbook
The Cake Bible
The Tassajara Bread Book
The Silver Palate Cookbook

[3894]

Steph, how veg-friendly is that one? Are there lots of pictures?

Cooks Illustrated rules. Any project they do - it automatically rules. These people write wonderful cookbooks. They do have one that is specifically vegetarian. It's called The Vegetarian Year, I believe. It's by one of their editors. I have it and use it quite a bit.

[Matterhorn Fan]

Must...resist...amazon.com...

Actually, my mother will be asking soon what I want for Christmas. Now I know what to tell her.

I love cookbooks. Most of mine are the "bargain table" variety, and the recipes show it often enough that I should reevaluate my cookbook shelf.

[Stan4dSteph]

Cooks Illustrated rules. Any project they do - it automatically rules. These people write wonderful cookbooks. They do have one that is specifically vegetarian. It's called The Vegetarian Year, I believe. It's by one of their editors. I have it and use it quite a bit.Yes! I have been just reading through it to expand my culinary knowledge, but I've referred to it often for "how to" on certain things in addition to recipes.

[cirquelover]

Now this is something up my alley! I have at least 1,000 cookbooks. I used to have one with recipes from Mary Lincoln but my ex MIL took it when her son left!

I have lots of vintage, some of which I still use.
The 1963 Betty Crocker cooky book, it still comes out for use.
A 70's Betty cook book
A 60's Mike Douglas
70's Better Homes & Gardens. assorted

I have a ton of the Pillsbury bake off little paperback books
Many regional cookbooks, even from Australia

I have a Readers Digest Creative Cooking which is great. It has recipes for every season and tells you what's in season. It has pictures of lots of fruits and veggies.

I also have a mass collection of HP books, most from the 70's and 80's. Do they even still publish books?

Most recipes are just a guideline for me, unless I'm trying something completely new. Sometimes I peruse them just to get new ideas for flavors or for a new idea.

My grandma gave me a subscription to Quick Cooking for many years so I have a lot of those laying around.
I don't even want to talk about the old Bon Appetite and Choclatier magazines in the garage! Of course I have'nt seen them for years so they shouldn't count, right:blush:

[Prudence]

I've got a copy of two 16th century cookbooks. And excerpts from others. (And some I access online - mostly Italian.) Been meaning to pick up a few others - Huswife's Jewell and such.

I have a new Mediterranean cookbook that looks interesting, but I haven't had time to cook lately. I also have new Lebanese and Indian cookbooks that I have yet to test out. Hmmm....

I love the pictures in the Williams-Sonoma series. That's my food porn.

[lashbear]

Too many to count (surprise, surprise)

I have a lot of 50's and 60's cookbooks,
A couple of 30's
and one really special one from the Queensland CWA (Country Womens Association) dated (I think) 1917 - I'm scanning it cos it's starting to crumble.

[Strangler Lewis]

We have lots of cookbooks, new and classic. Too many to use productively, really. I also have a few old time cocktail recipe books that call up bygone eras of respectable dissipation.

[€uroMeinke]

We have lots of cookbooks, new and classic. Too many to use productively, really. I also have a few old time cocktail recipe books that call up bygone eras of respectable dissipation.

Mmmm - The Gentleman's Companion, never had a better cocktail book

[Mousey Girl]

I Hate To Cook Book

My mom has a copy from the 60's-70's and I have a copy that was reprinted in the 90's. It is fun to read, and has some decent recipes. She talks about using wine in the recipies, but it is for the cook not the food.

I also have a few books I have picked up to enhance my baking addiciton, different cookie and sweets recipies.

[3894]

I've got a copy of two 16th century cookbooks.

Have you made any of the dishes? You undoubtedly know the late-medieval cookbook put together by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970's. It was bread for a plate and stew with nutmeg or cinnamon, as I remember.

A 60's Mike Douglas

Is it actually Mike Douglas cooking or people who came on his show?

The Tassajara Bread Book

Really good, eh? amazon here I come ...

[Prudence]

Have you made any of the dishes? You undoubtedly know the late-medieval cookbook put together by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1970's. It was bread for a plate and stew with nutmeg or cinnamon, as I remember.


Actually, I wasn't familiar with those. There are apparently two from the Metropolitan Museum of Art - one from Richard II's time and one Elizabethan. (Incidentally, the Elizabethan era was a time of major culinary shift as well.)

I've made a bunch of the dishes from the one I have. Really tasty, actually. There are a number of things that are in the "regular" meal rotation.

[Snowflake]

I don't collect vintage cookbooks, but I do love the 40 or so that I do have. I do not cook out of them nearly as much as I would like since most of my cooking is for me.

I do swear by my Henry's Hunan cookbook (local SF Hunan place) and any of the Italian cookbooks I have (Marcella Hazan, Rao's and at least a dozen others).

I used to have the 1950's edition of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, I think this is the cookbook I learned how to make a caesar salad from (I remember the big picture of the wooden salad boat). A lot of what was in there was pretty scary as I recall.

I also cook regularly from Madhur Jaffrey's Vegetarian cooking and an Indian cookbook I can't recall the title.

[Snowflake]

Now this is something up my alley! I have at least 1,000 cookbooks. I used to have one with recipes from Mary Lincoln but my ex MIL took it when her son left!

Wow! I am impressed! 1000 cookbooks! :snap:

[Not Afraid]

Really good, eh? amazon here I come ...

My tried and true Popover recipe is from there - although popovers are pretty basic. I've taken some classes from Ed Brown. He's a wonderful guy, a great teacher and a Buddhist monk.

I used to make bread quite frequently. The El Fornaio Bread Book is also really good for those lovely crispy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside loafs.

[Ponine]

I have a tad more time today, but still no titles. <sigh>

I just like cookbooks. I've recently started thinning my collection. I got rid of many cake books that I had.
I dont bake much anymore, and I dont work in chocolate, what did I need them all for?

I have a ton of the point of sale pillsbury and such books... esp the Kid ones, and the Halloween. If you show me food made into a spider on the cover, I will more than likely buy it.

I believe my Betty Crocker book is from 1960, and at times I swear by the Better homes and Gardens.
But beyond that... Emril and Alton and Rachel, if they wrote a book, I have it.
101 ways to Make..... Have it.

I used to get a ton of use out of What to Cook when there is Nothing in the House to Eat.
And the Frugal Gourmet books are very well used....
What else, what else... Binders full of clippings.....

[3894]

I believe my Betty Crocker book is from 1960, and at times I swear by the Better homes and Gardens.
But beyond that... Emril and Alton and Rachel, if they wrote a book, I have it.
101 ways to Make..... Have it.

Yours is a life well spent, Ponine. :)

Last summer, a friend lent us her house in Wyoming while she was in Alaska. She's a chef and her house has many, many cookbooks. Shelves and shelves of cookbooks and all her binders of notes from the culinary institute she went to (in Rhode Island? or was it Massachusetts?) She had recently sold her own successful café and had written a cookbook of those recipes.

Anyway, of all the houses to summer in, the house of a chef ain't a bad choice.

[cirquelover]

That sounds like a wonderful place to spend a summer!! Did you get some great recipes from her collection? I would have spent my time browsing her books and playing in the kitchen!

The Mike Douglas book is guests from the show. I love the old photos too. My Mom was a fan of his.