Cookbooks
 

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.