Your Cookbook Arsenal
hey guys!! im here to ask you guys what are some of the best cookbooks you have ever had? your cooking bible? my goal is to make a list, and slowly buy them when i can so that by the time im out of college, i have a good arsenal at my disposal. (i am also doing this w a book list of classic novels) Ever since i can remember, i have loved cookbooks. when i go to a new person's house, its where i am instantly drawn, the cookbooks. any kind, any specialty is appreciated. so far i have the joy of cooking and how to cook everything on my list. (i know we have a thread about the best for beginners, but i want a wide range of experience levels and types of cuisine)
so guys, what are some of the best/favorite cookbooks out there? any kind, any specialty, just list your favs!
thanks!!
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24 Comments:
My dogeared all time favorite is Modern Italian Cooking by Biba Caggiano. Everything I have ever cooked out of it is wonderful...cooking with it tonight as a matter a fact.
I have many many cookbooks, sure don't need anymore but i keep buying them...
sammie at 3:44PM on 04/15/09
I find that I don't actually tend to use recipes when I am making something, but read them at random times to get ideas for later. My favorites are always locally made ones from like the Wednesday Club or some Ladies Church group. I just like seeing all of the old fashioned recipes for the great, but maybe not so fancy, Southern standards I grew up with.
However, the cookbook I know I can rely on constantly is the Cooking Light complete recipes book (from about 10 years ago, with blueberry pound cake on the cover). Even though I don't always cook light, I really enjoy their approach and the book is a great balance between unusual or difficult recipes with easy everyday stuff.
cdp1223 at 3:55PM on 04/15/09
I love all of Ina Garten's cookbooks and I use the joy of cooking (1997 edition) almost like a reference book, but I tend to get inspiration from magazines (and thier websites) like Fine Cooking, Eating Well, and Saveur.
bleuberry at 4:06PM on 04/15/09
My four must have's are: Mark Bittman's how to cook everything, Joy of cooking, The Settlement cookbook, and either the original Moosewood Restaurant book or Moosewood Cooks at Home.
Beyond those, The Silver Palate is great for entertaining, and The Vegetarian Epicure or Laurel's Kitchen are both accessible and old school vegetarian classics. If you are into chocolate, my all-time favorite is Chocolate on the Brain by Kevin and Nancy Mills- it never misses.
Embackus at 4:12PM on 04/15/09
In our kitchen, we turn to Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa at Home," Abel & Cole's "Cooking Outside the Box" and Fannie Farmer. And the Food Lover's Companion, which comes in handy with the Abel & Cole cookbook, since it's a British cookbook and calls for crazy things like rocket (arugula) and swedes (rutabagas)
popcornfordinner at 4:16PM on 04/15/09
David Rosengarten: "It's All American Food" Has all the great Americanized ethnic food, plus American classics. He's great about suggesting alternatives to hard-to-find ingredients for those of us in more rural areas without access to ethnic groceries.
Mollie Katzen: Original Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook. In the summer, I become a de facto vegetarian and this book is a classic vegetarian one.
Jamison and Jamison: Texas Home Cooking and American Home Cooking. Tex-Mex/grilling in the TX volume and breakfast recipes in American volume are great,
James Beard: American Cooking (original version; it's obtuse but encyclopedic in scope)
Jansen: More-with-less (a Mennonite classic. I LOVE it for simple food, vegetables and bread recipes).
And do subscribe to a foodie mag or two--Gourmet and Saveur are the ones I cook out of the most. Subscriptions are cheap. Good luck and have fun cooking!
FoodieSearching at 4:39PM on 04/15/09
Chris Kimball's The Cook's Bible
Silver Palate (I had wondered why everyone raved, now I know)
King Arthur's baking (not the cookie one, the everything one. well, both really)
AliceBlue at 4:40PM on 04/15/09
Joy of Cooking
Bittman's How to Cook Everything (these two are used as cross references)
Any of Ina Garten's books - delicious entertaining, solid recipes
Silver Palate books - good fancy food - and just for good reading
Food Lover's Companion - excellent dictionary of food for when you want to know exactly what saffron is, for example
I recommend checking cookbooks out from the library and looking at them before purchasing. Someone's fave may not be yours...
sarajane at 4:42PM on 04/15/09
My cooking bible is most definitely The New Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman.
But Larousse Gastronomique is also excellent.
They are both hefty books and you could spend years learning and cooking from them.
Jperezish at 4:53PM on 04/15/09
I like Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" for the explanations and pictures. I also like that recipes are grouped by main ingredient. It's a go to reference for lots of stuff.
BTW, I have dozens of others. And there is always the internet....
whoot at 5:11PM on 04/15/09
I'm slowly amassing the entire run of Time Life's Foods of the World. They were produced in the 70s, and the pictures are just stunning. Each set is a hardcover with said photos, essays about the culture, and some recipes, accompanied by a spiral-bound volume that is all recipes. These are the books I'm drawn to during midnight snacks, when I'm kneeling on a kitchen chair and eating saltines with butter.
marzipanda at 5:19PM on 04/15/09
Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything
I love all of Ina Garten's cookbooks, and I highly recommend her Back To Basics, Barefoot Contessa Parties and the first Barefoot Contessa Cookbook to beginners.
An older edition of The Joy Of Cooking - preferably from the 1960's or 70's are much better, IMHO, than the newer edition, and can be picked up cheapo easily on eBay, garage sales, etc.
The Settlement Cookbook is another must-have classic.
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and Martha Stewart's Cookies are essential; I also use her Everyday Food: Great Food Fast a lot.
And I recommend Shirley Corriher's books - Bakewise and Cookwise are exceptional as they explain how things work and how ingredients interact in detail - they go way beyond recipes. You'll learn what flour, cuts of meat to use where, how and when, etc. - and greatly improve your improv cooking skills. She's one of Alton Brown's mentors and has appeared often on his shows.
The Silver Palate cookbooks are also among my most used for many years.
Molly O'Neill's New York Cookbook
Maida Heatter's Book Of Great Desserts, Book Of Great Chocolate Desserts, Cookies are also exceptional, but might be a little advanced for a beginner.
Craig Claiborne's original New York Times Cookbook (the blue cover) and his Southern Cooking
Giada De Laurentiis' cookbooks are also great - most of the recipes are available on foodtv.com, so you can save yourself some money. Mary Ann Esposito's Ciao Italia cookbooks are good too.
MMinNYC at 5:40PM on 04/15/09
you have never heard of him unless you live in south louisiana but frank davis is a local cook, he's half italian, half cajun and he loves to cook and eat. he has 4 cookbooks and i own all of them. he cooks the way the we old timers down here actually prepare meals. there is also one other one i enjoy, it's by john folse and if you order it online it will be delivered on a forklift, it's that large but full of cajun and creole recipes. (there is a difference between the two)
olddad at 7:34PM on 04/15/09
I'm moving away from more general cookbooks into ones that have a specific theme -- either a regional or cultural theme, or specific ingredients, cooking methods, or dishes.
And I've also been looking at books with more technique or more explanations (cultural or scientific) as opposed to just a bunch of recipes.
Favorites? That's impossible. Although lately I've been spending a bit of time with Baking with Julia.
dbcurrie at 7:40PM on 04/15/09
The Joy Of Cooking
Baking with Julia
The Cake Bible
Tamales
New Professional Chef
The Professional Pastry Chef
Bernard Clayton's Book of Breads
How to Bake
Any of the Barefoot Contessa and Martha Stewart books.
therealchiffonade at 9:55PM on 04/15/09
My most treasured cookbooks are personally nostalgic:
I learned the basics of cooking from my mom's well-used and spattered version of the Better Homes & Gardes New Cookbook. When I went to college, I received a copy of my own.
A binder full of scanned recipes, both handwritten and clipped from newspapers and magazines by my great-grandmother--they all include her own notes and comments.
I have a few cookbooks compiled by local church groups, hospital foundations, etc. from where I grew up. The recipes certainly aren't all gourmet, but they are time-tested and will always remind me of home!
thehostess at 11:29PM on 04/15/09
Joy, Bittman, New Pro Chef, MS's cooking school, sub to CI, Silver Spoon
sailordave at 11:32PM on 04/15/09
I use cookbooks as reference material. I am surprised that no one else has mentioned these. The Southern Living Cookbook. The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook.
Also a big fan of community cookbooks; especially the Junior League.
supersu75 at 1:53AM on 04/16/09
Foods and Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas -- an excellent resource, and beautiful, classic, Spanish recipes -- I've had my copy for over 15 years and refer to it often.
And I don't know if this is available in English, but the "Cuban Bible" is Cocina al Minuto by Nitza Villapol -- I dare you to find a Cuban household w/o this in the kitchen -- my mom's copy is yellowed and bound together w/ tape, missing both covers -- still used every day. It is essential for classic Cuban recipes.
gbania at 11:33AM on 04/16/09
The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking cookbook by Marcella Hazan is my favorite cookbook of all time. If I could own only one cookbook, this would be it. I have made pretty much everything in it and only had one recipe come out poorly. I give it as gifts to friends, and always as part of a bridal gift. It is spattered and written upon and beat to hell and I doubt I'll ever stop using it.
The Joy of Cooking is a great go-to. For me, not so much the newer editions. My personal preference is the 1973 edition (it's pretty much the one I learned to cook with) and has never failed me.
For baking, definitely The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I'm not a baker. I don't even like to bake. I use this book, the stuff comes our wonderfully. Plus, it has some great pictures and pretty much holds your hand thru the process.
chisai at 12:06PM on 04/16/09
Julia's "The Way to Cook"
James Beard's "Theory and Practice of Good Cooking"
Julia's " Baking with Julia"
Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible"
NO_Pam at 1:35PM on 04/16/09
joy of cooking
beard on bread
betty crocker's cookbook
the cake doctor
gastronomeg at 2:14PM on 04/16/09
foodnetwork.com
vegetariantimes.com
the recipe collections from Cooking Light magazine
MadelynRodriguez at 2:32PM on 04/16/09
I got most of my cookbooks at used book stores, usualy after falling for them as library books--so take sarajane's advice.
My advice is: Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian and World of the East Vegetarian cooking, then the rest of her books, especially for Indian food. Also for Indian food, Julie Sahni's Moghul Microwave (wish she had a tip for getting the vindaloo fragrance out of your micro, though) and her vegetarian cookbook. Anything by the Moosewood group for healthful and delicious food. Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery is a great and inspiring read.
And you will have a great foundation since you already have Joy of Cooking on your list. Do try to get a 1964 or 1975 edition.
SallyMutant at 1:40AM on 04/22/09